Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
We are so grateful and proud to have worked with Fatima* to record her poem about her experience of domestic abuse, and recovery.
Her words are powerful and courage formidable, this is a poem everyone should hear.
*Fatima is a pseudonym to protect her identity.
Futures Theatre are proud to be partnering with Scottish Women’s Aid to bring their new production Never Vera Blue to the 2018 Edinburgh Festival.
The play is the second commission from Futures creative engagement programme An Alternative Life which we delivered from 2015 to 2017. During 2016 we worked in partnership the Gaia Centre (run by Refuge) in Lambeth, London, engaging with a phenomenal group of women who were all survivors of domestic abuse. We invited top female artists to deliver short courses throughout the year which resulted in the group writing a song and poetry, recording a podcast and making a short film. We recognised the vital work of front line services and wanted to use our resources to add value to their work; An Alternative Life allowed women to grow in confidence and develop skills in order to live full lives. We passionately believe in the value of working creatively with women who have experienced trauma:
“Creative work is a really safe way of trying out, taking risks and realising what you can and can’t do and just waking up all those bits of the brain that have been all cramped up” – Participant, 2016.
Playwright Alexandra Wood was commissioned to work with the group throughout the year and write a play informed and inspired by their stories and experiences. Never Vera Blue is an extraordinary response and wrestles with the question which angered and frustrated our participants ‘Why doesn’t she just leave?’ Alexandra wrote a multi layered script which interrogates this question with empathy and understanding. We invited women participating to come on the journey of this production with us; from initial readings of the script to rehearsals to full production. We were joined by women for a London preview at Camden People’s Theatre which was a particularly moving evening. The following day one of the women emailed to talk about the experience:
“What an amazing play!!! The actress is outstanding. Thank you for believing in me, my confidence has grown and going back to work has helped me to thrive in my ability to recognise who I am further.” – Participant, 2018.
Audiences joining us during the festival in The Old Anatomy Lecture Theatre in Summerhall can expect an incredible performance from Laura Dos Santos who plays ‘The Woman’ in this one woman show. The resilience, humour and strength of the women we worked with burns bright at the heart of the story. Upon leaving, they will hear the voices of those women in the song they wrote and recorded with Martyna Baker in 2016:
“Cause I’m ready to just be me
And I’m ready to live happy
Yeah I’m steady cause I’m lovin’ me”
Never Vera Blue is showing at Edinburgh Fringe Festival until the 26th of August. For more information or to book tickets visit the website here.
CW: mentions of violence against women, personal account of rape, forensic medical examinations, trauma.
When my court case was dropped, my appeal failed and my rapist walked free, it was more than just devastation I had to deal with. Since then I’ve carried with me a profound and cavernous sense of grief I know not how to shake off.
After two years of intrusive interviews, internal exams, long periods of police silence and soaring anxiety, I was denied the burial I needed to move on from.
The sense of injustice remains just as palpable to me as the day it slipped from my officer’s mouth. The words fell into her lap as she sat on my couch, face downcast, staring at her knees. Slow and heavy, they hit me like a fist to the gut. And yet there they were. And there they remain. A fist to the gut. Just as palpable.
I haul this dead loss with me everywhere I go, through every new job, every new relationship. Endlessly, I look for a place to put it to rest, but I find nothing. Life rolls on. I feel the same.
So imagine the fire ignited in me when I realised there was legislation on Britain’s doorstep that would put the wellbeing of survivors like me first, not that of our perpetrators. And then the escalating anger that came from understanding that, like so many other women’s rights issues, it too had been swept under the UK Government’s carpet.
The Istanbul Convention (IC) is a sophisticated piece of legislation that outlines a survivor-focused approach to prosecution, ensures the adequate funding of women’s services and the strategic implementation of prevention of violence against women in all forms – be it female genital mutilation (FGM), rape, domestic violence, or so-called honour-based violence.
It is comprehensive, it is effective, and it is designed by women – absolute experts in law, trauma, therapy and justice – for women. As such, we – the survivors, service workers and allies that make up IC Change – will not rest until it is properly passed into law.
David Cameron actually signed a pledge to see the Istanbul Convention made law back in 2012. Now, as we near the end of 2017, after the harassment scandal of Westminster and the viral impact of the #metoo movement, the need for the Istanbul Convention is increasingly critical. Not least because there are some great strategies Parliament could very well use to tackle the culture of misogyny it seems to be so confused about dealing with.
Earlier this month, thanks to the law we, together with former MP Dr Eilidh Whiteford, passed in April this year, the first ever public government report into the progression of the Istanbul Convention was issued on time and by the deadline. Yet, despite promises made by Theresa May, Home Secretary Amber Rudd and overwhelming cross-party support, it showed little of the advancement it deserves. It was not good enough, and we demand to see more.
We must continue to hold the UK Government to account for this. We must continue to be heard. We must continue to fight – as a very real, very human 51 per cent of the United Kingdom – to be protected from harm and respected as equals. And as ever, we look to Scotland to help us achieve this goal.
Scotland as a nation has already made great strides towards the advancement of gender equality in Britain, not least for its very vocal campaigning against the rape clause, the two-child tax credit limit and, let us not forget, the furthering of the Istanbul Convention through the work of MPs such as and Gavin Newlands and former MP Dr Whiteford.
But there is more that needs to be done – and we need Scotland’s help to do it.
Support us, support our cause, and make sure IC Change remain an ever-present force in Parliament to be reckoned with. Sign our petition, follow us on Twitter, and support us as we continue to campaign to see this battle, one of so many thousands of women, finally ended. We all deserve to see the injustice of gender-based violence buried for good, and if we can do it in the next few years, it will, at the very least, make the suffering I have felt that little bit more bearable.
– Jen Selby, IC Change
Scottish Women’s Aid are proud to have worked with many organisations to support the progression of the Istanbul Convention, including Engender and Women’s Aid Federations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
