November 25th - International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 25 November

PRE-LISTENING

1. What does "domestic violence" mean?

2. What do you think the impact of domestic violence is on its victims?

3. Can you offer definitions for the following words? 

abuse

victim

perpetrator

domestic violence

empathy

compassion

Now, listen and focus on the overall theme and mood of the song.

Now, answer the following questions:

What is the main message of the song?

Who is the song about?

What happened to the girl in the song?

How did the man treat the girl?

What is the singer's call to action?

Discussion:

• How does the song make you feel?
• What is the singer's perspective on domestic violence?
• What can be done to prevent domestic violence?
• How can we help victims of domestic violence?
• What role can music play in raising awareness about social issues? 

Writing Task:
Write a short essay or poem expressing your thoughts on the song and the issue of domestic violence.

Now, use the following words to fill in the gaps in the text below:

victim

inevitable

include

surge

unreported

record

scale

change

endemic

gravity

million

staggering

national

perpetrators

issued

result

unacceptable

constitute

iceberg

Police in the UK have released a report highlighting a serious 1. _____ in violence against women and girls. The report states that levels of misogyny and criminal acts against women are at 2. _____ levels. More than one 3. _____ such crimes have been reported in one year. This may be just the tip of the 4. _____. There will be a substantial number of instances of violence that go 5. _____. 

London's Metropolitan Police wrote about the 6. _____ of this problem. It said: "Violence against women and girls is 7. _____, systemic, and a threat to society on the same 8. _____ as terrorism." It added that crimes against women 9. _____ 20 per cent of all recorded crime. It said: "We must act to change the 10. _____ reality for women and girls." 

The report was 11. _____ by the UK's National Police Chiefs' Council and the College of Policing. Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth called the statistics "12. _____". She said: "Violence against women and girls is a 13. _____ emergency. We need to move forward as a society to make 14. _____, and no longer accept violence against women and girls as 15. _____." The police said: "One in every 12 women will be a 16. _____ of violence. One in every six murders is a 17. _____ of domestic abuse. One in 20 people - more than two million of them – will be 18. _____ of violence against women and girls in their lives." It said gender-based violent crimes 19. _____ harassment, murder, online sexual abuse, rape, and stalking.

Delete the wrong word in each of the pairs of italics.

November the 25th is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. It was starting / started by the United Nations General Assembly in 1999. The UN asked governments, international organizations and NGOs to raise / rise global awareness of this terrible and widespread problem. This is particularly important in the many / most countries where the issue of / for violence against women is hidden / hid. Women all over the world are the victims of domestic violence, rape, psychological torment and other form / forms of abuse. There is no country in which women are freely / free from violence. The UN said violence against women is a barrier to achieving equality, human rights, development and peaceful / peace.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is observed on November 25 because of a horror / horrific historical event. On this day in 1960, three sisters were brutally / brutality killed in the Dominican Republic. The Mirabal sisters were politics / political activists. They campaigned against / anti the corrupt government of that time. Throughout their political activity, the women and their husbands were put on / in prison and beaten many times. This did not dampen their desire for / by political change. President and dictator Rafael Trujillo ordered their execution. The sisters became known was / as the "Unforgettable Butterflies". They symbolized the victimization of women and were commemoration / commemorated in novels, poems, songs and books.

The Taliban has taken a harsh new step, banning women from hearing one another’s voices and severing one of their last means of connection. This measure builds on an August decree forbidding women from speaking or showing their faces in public, an attempt to erase them entirely from public life.

Meryl Streep recently spoke on behalf of women and girls in Afghanistan, sharing “A squirrel has more rights than a girl in Afghanistan today because the public parks have been closed to women and girls by the Taliban.” Since the Taliban took control in August 2021, in just three years, women and girls have seen their rights and freedoms systematically stripped away.

In Afghanistan, women are not allowed to look at men who they aren’t related to by blood or marriage, their faces, and bodies must be completely covered before they leave their homes, and they’re prohibited from going to schools, gyms, parks, or sports clubs. They are barred from most forms of paid employment.

Women’s full participation and equality in society is a fundamental human right that is essential for a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world.