Finding Our Courage to Speak and to Speak Out

In a space where women have learned to self-censor, to not speak with another woman because of the negative perception that can be extended to them, the story circle takes on an unimaginable value. I am humbled by the courage shown by these women, women who continue to struggle against the onslaught of patriarchal discrimination, and not just discrimination, but unabashed violence. Here are women who face danger as soon as they step out from their homes, they risk it, because they have to survive. Yes, it is a survival issue. It has come to this. For the rest of us, in countries, where there are still spaces to be who we are, to claim control over our own bodies and to claim our human rights, we shy away from this struggle, and we find reasons to do so.

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