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From 23rd to 24 th March 1985, a workshop and exhibition against violence against women was organised to commemorate International Women's Day. This event witnessed the attendance of more than 1,000 women, men and youth. Four main issues were highlighted:
- physical violence (rape, domestic violence and sexual harassment);
- portrayal of women in the media;
- prostitution; and
- laws that discriminate against women
The pioneers of this initiative were the Association of Women Lawyers (AWL), Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC)-Women's Section, Selangor and Federal Territory Consumers Association-Women and Media Section, University Women's Association, and Women's Aid Organisation (WAO).
This event gave impetus to three important developments in the history of the Malaysian women's movement and the violence against women campaign:
- It was the day that broke the silence shrouding violence against women. Crimes against women were named and they became a national concern;
- Submission of the Memorandum on All Laws that Discriminate Against Women to the then Ministry of Justice by the National Council of Women Organisations (NCWO) in 1986.
- The emergence and formation of women organisations such as the All Women's Action Society (AWAM) (formed in 1985 and registered in 1988), Sabah Women Action Resource Group (SAWO) (formed in 1986), the Women's Development Collective (registered in 1988), Women's Crisis Centre (now Women's Centre for Change) (registered in 1986) and Sarawak Women for Women Society (registered in 1986).
Since 1985, the Joint Action Group Against Violence Against Women (JAG-VAW) has continued to focus its efforts on championing issues related to violence against women, Islamic family laws, and other laws that discriminate against women. JAG-VAW was later renamed as the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG).
Today, JAG's core members are: the All Women's Action Society (AWAM), Sisters in Islam, Women's Aid Organisation (WAO), Women's Centre for Change (WCC) Penang , Women's Development Collective (WDC), and Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC)-Women's Committee.
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Why violence against women?
When JAG-VAW took on violence against women as a priority issue, this was in response to the increasing number of rape cases that were reported in the media. Women's rights activists then believed that such issues could potentially unify women across class, geographic location, culture and religion.
Globally, the United Nations designated 1976-1985 as the "Decade for Women". This resulted in two significant events:
- the Convention on the Eli mination of All Forms of Discrimination Against W omen (CEDAW) entered into force in 1981. The Convention reaffirms the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and emphasises the eradication of all forms of discrimination against women such that there is real (substantive) equality between women and men;
- the third UN World Conference on Women in Nairobi, Kenya, that called for greater commitment of governments towards eliminating discrimination against women, in particular through capacity building of national machineries for women.
These international developments took off as a result of a growing momentum created by women's movements, and in turn gave impetus to a global campaign to eliminate violence against women. This subsequently had an impact on women in national contexts - such as in Malaysia - who also felt the need to take up these issues at the local level.
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