Actress and activist Kelly Rutherford wrote this for the Huffington Post. Here's an excerpt:
Violence against women and girls is a global health issue. In some countries it is estimated that as many as seven out of 10 women are beaten, raped, abused or mutilated. This is not cultural. This is criminal. As conscious beings, we understand that when lives are fragmented by the acts of physical violence, our whole community suffers. So what can women, girls and the men and boys that love them do about it? We need to make a true commitment towards cultural transformation.
Through the work of the United Nations Women for Peace, we are called upon to actively challenge the deeply rooted underpinnings of violence against women. And in doing so, we must no longer support the status quo. Our silence on these issues can be deadly.
Recently, I came across a study conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC's Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study is the one of the largest investigations ever conducted to assess associations between childhood maltreatment and later-life health and well-being. The study concluded that a child's exposure to violence, including witnessing his or her mother being beaten, is a major risk factor for the leading causes of today's illnesses. This study demonstrates how violence is not limited to physical injuries. But instead, exposure to violence is also linked to social, emotional, and cognitive impairment, the adoption of health risk behaviors, disease, disabilities, social problems and premature death.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-rutherford/abusing-women-is-criminal-not-cultural_b_4914388.html
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