By Jessica Mayberry | Founding Director
VV was founded because of a visceral anger that women’s voices are the most silenced in society, and that women’s issues are what is least discussed in public spaces and the halls of power. Today, our own network of more than 200 Community Correspondents comprises 56% women and every video-activist, women and men alike, is committed to gender equality.
This year, one of the projects we're most proud of is our campaign ‘Dismantle Patriarchy.’ This campaign aims to start conversations around gender biases in day-to-day life through stories of women and men, who face, negotiate and challenge everyday patriarchy.
50 Community Correspondents across 16 states are running discussion clubs, where women gather to watch videos and then discuss gender-based discrimation and violence, and actions they can take to stop it. These clubs are helping women take courageous steps, on the small invisible aspects of patriarchy that few are aware of, let alone discuss.
In Community Correspondent's Yashodra's club, women organized to help a widow participate in the ceremonies at her daughter's wedding. Though this was her 4th child's wedding, she'd never been allowed to get close to her children during the wedding. Why? Because she's a widow, and widows are bad luck. After watching a video about the practice of veiling, the conversation had led to ways that widows are oppressed, and the group decided to help their friend take the momentous step of speaking up for her rights in this most sacred of Indian traditions, a wedding ceremony.
In Community Correspondent's Rohini's club, women laughed and laughed as they said their husband's name for the first time in their lives, out loud. In their communities it is expected that a woman considers her husband as her God, and so it is disrespectful to address him by his direct name. Many of the husband's protested, but months later, for many of the women, they are finding equality in the conversations they have at home.
There are numerous other stories emerging from these clubs, related to work allocations, education of daughters and the rights to file domestic violence complaints. They all stem from our visceral belief at Video Volunteers that the first step in ending oppression is to speak about it.
I would like to close this report with my favorite childhood ‘starfish story,’ which I often think of as I walk on the beach near my home in Goa, India, with my sons. One day a mother was on the beach picking up star fish that were washed away during high tide. "Why are you doing that, Mom?" asks her daughter. "There are so many. How can that make a difference?" "Well," said the mother, " it made a difference to this one”. Every day our Community Correspondents amaze me with their steadfast belief that one person CAN make a difference. I invite you to watch and share their videos, and join our effort in any way you can.
In gratitude,
Jessica
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