There is a basic right that anyone should have; man, woman, boy, girl, old man or grandmother and it is the right to feel safe at home. If the pandemic has shown anything, it is that this, in Colombia, is far from being a reality for everyone.
Why is there so much domestic violence in our country? Why are patterns of abuse perpetuated in our culture? What is the link in the chain that we have to break so that this does not continue to happen? Why a sad commemoration of “Women’s Day” is needed for us to remember how history, culture, religion, economics, politics, literature, etc. they have relegated us to a secondary role.
I do not want to fill this article with statistics but, just to name a few, calls to report violence on line 155 increased by 100% during the pandemic. Of course, this situation of confinement forced us to coexist 24/7, for which few people were prepared, perhaps none, and the demons of each one began to emerge behind the masks that each one wears to survive and interact in the best possible way. In China the pandemic left a trail of divorces never seen before, here in Colombia it left a trail of violence, some silent and others reported, which we had not seen before. Can you imagine the abuser locked up with his victim? How many girls and boys who suffer harassment and sexual assault were at the mercy of their pedophiles all this time, without being able to count on the support or relief of their hours at school or school, their second safe space, which sometimes is not either . This pandemic left us much more than a virus, it left us poverty, death and violence, a lot of violence.
I’m not a sociologist, I’m not a psychologist, I’m just a woman who thinks and wonders how to change things. I am raising a girl and I hope that when she is a woman and gets married, she will not fall into the hands of a physical, psychological or economic abuser, because there are many types of abuse, some more subtle than others, but all equally painful. I have extremely intelligent friends, with brilliant careers truncated by putting themselves in the shadow of men who could not stand their brilliance, that’s why they simply overshadowed and dominated them, relegating them to secondary roles, when they could have been protagonists of their lives and their environment. I also have friends married to wonderful men, who have supported them in their careers and allowed them to project and succeed. I hope that my daughter finds a good partner who supports her and together they can grow and develop their best potential, because I believe that it is possible. When I got married myself, I found a man who was not intimidated by my intelligence, on the contrary, he admired her and was attracted to her, he loved that I wrote and without a doubt it was one of the reasons why he fell in love from my.
What I am teaching my girl is that her value as a human being and as a woman does not depend on anyone other than herself, who does not see it and appreciate it is not worthy of being with her, be it boyfriend, friend or boss, I also want you to know that your potential is infinite and that you can do a great service to society and your country in whatever area you decide to pursue. I trust her and I hope that the great love that I give her every day is the basis for the great love that she should have for herself, I hope that this will keep her away from abusive relationships in the future, because if a woman loves herself to she herself will never accept being treated for less than what she is: a true gem.
– .
