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A young woman from Zimbabwe reports: - “My uncle used to beat me with electricity wires. Before I went to live with my uncle and auntie, I stayed with my big sister’s mother, and my brother used to take me into the bush. Then he raped me. I was eight or nine. I was scared. He said 'I’m going to beat you if you ever tell anyone.’”

Maria Mutungi is from Ghana. Her husband died, her in-laws took all her possessions—including farm equipment, livestock, household goods, and clothing. They insisted that she be “cleansed” by having sex with a social outcast as a condition of staying in her home. They paid a herdsman the equivalent of U.S. $6 to have sex with Maria, against her will and without a condom. She said, “I tried to refuse, but my in-laws said I must be cleansed or they’d beat me and chase me out of my home.” The in-laws eventually forced her out of her home anyway. She and her children were homeless until someone offered her a small, leaky shack. No longer able to afford school fees, her children had to drop out of school.

These are some of the stories we can hear. But there are many stories that remain hidden. Even in this millennium women are suffering violence within their family, or in the society. The reason for their suffering is often given as “cultural” or “religious”, but society still accepts this violence, and many women themselves are accepting this situation.

According to the ILO-Geneva Bureau for Gender Equality, “Gender based violence covers a range of injustices-from systematic rape to pre-birth sex selection to female genital mutilation. Globally, at least one in three women and girls have been beaten or sexually abused in her lifetime. Usually, the abuser is a member of her own family or someone known to her”

“A large study in India found that 43.5 per cent of women reported that they were psychologically abused by their partners, and 40.3% reported that they were physically abused. 50% of women who were physically abused reported violence during pregnancy”

Violence against young women can have a serious impact on their future lives.

“Girls who are targeted for violence are less likely to complete their education. A study in Nicaragua found that children of female victims of violence left school an average of four years earlier than other children”

The International Young Christian Workers movement (IYCW), denounces all kinds of violence against women. We believe where there is violence anywhere in the world we have to raise our voice. We have to fight for our rights.

Our international Young Women Workers Campaign demands:

• respect for young women workers’ dignity
• equal rights and opportunities for women to studies, leisure time, and work;
• the right to maternity;
• the right for women to decide freely about their lives and future;
• the elimination of all forms of violence and abuse against young women workers, and,
• increased participation and role of women in all decision-making bodies and representation in society.

Many national member movements of the IYCW are taking actions to achieve these demands. In Zimbabwe, Ghana, Namibia, and Gabon for example, young women workers are organizing against the spread of HIV Aids and giving education to young women.

The YCW of Sri Lanka is net working with other organizations to develop actions related to violation of the right to organize, the right to decent living conditions and an end to the sexual abuse of young women workers in the Free Trade Zones.

In Peru and Paraguay, the YCW is developing action demanding the rights of domestic young women workers to freedom from sexual abuse, the right to holidays and the right to education.

To support and strengthen these actions, the IYCW is planning to have an international exchange between young women workers in September, 2008 in Sri Lanka. We hope to bring together the experiences and action related to the cultural, religious, social, and political reality of young women workers in different continents, to learn from each other, and discover the means to change this situation.

Together, we continue our struggle to build a just world for all young women.


Geethani Peries
Young Women Workers Working Group