'Violence against women is a men’s issue'

LOS ANGELES, United States (Kurdistan24) – In an initiative to encourage men to support gender equality, Los Angeles Chapter of the US National Committee (USNC) for UN Women held a successful media summit at Youtube Space on Saturday.

The USNC Greater Los Angeles Chapter for United Nations Women organized the #HeforShe event.

The program included a keynote speech and a panel discussion with industry influencers, celebrities, and public figures discussing how women are portrayed in the media.

"A HeforShe understands that standing up for gender equality is standing up for humanity," said Cathy Hillman, president of the LA Chapter.

Soraya Fallah, a Kurdish activist who has been involved with the LA Chapter of UN Women since 2012, said the campaign calls on men globally to stand up against injustice.

“Our vision has been to think globally and act locally. As an activist who wants to take Kurdish feminism discourse to the international arena, I found LA chapter a great place to start a dialogue around Kurdish women issues,” Fallah said.

Fallah says Kurdish men have supported women movements in different ways. She explained that men have helped her organize events, participate in various conferences, and have covered her events in the media.

“They have helped me bring awareness about discrimination and violations that women face through legal, religious, and social institutions and the patriarchal culture that has prevented real economic and social progress for women,” Fallah stated.

She believes that to ensure that half of the Kurdish society is not handicapped because of gender-based discriminations, it is time to get more Kurdish men involved with the movement.

In February, it was indeed a Kurdish man who spoke at USNC, LA chapter of UN Women and declared that “Kurdish women fighters were made, not born.”

Dr. Amir Sharifi, a linguistics Professor at California State University, Long Beach, spoke about the Kurdish women movement in Syria and Turkey to a group of diverse Americans.

“The fact that Kurdish history has been largely secular has paved the way for a group of women to shine. However, most have suffered multiple levels of oppression,” Sharifi said.

“They had visible enemies: repressive states they find themselves in; and invisible enemies: the culture and tradition of their nation,” he added.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon siad during a special event for the HeForShe campaign at the United Nations Headquarters, “One in three women is a victim of violence—but this is a men’s issue.”

“Men are responsible for most of the threats and violence against women. Often, these men are close to the victims—fathers, husbands, boyfriends or supervisors,” Ki-moon concluded.

Reporting by Ava Homa

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany