Documenting Violence Against Women
Anuradha Chenoy
THE SEARCH FOR JUSTICE by Kumari Jayawardena and Kishali Pinto- Zubaan and IDRC/CDRI, 2017, 436 pp., 850
December 2017, volume 41, No 12

The recent ‘me too’ campaign on social media has once again shown the extent of sexual harassment of women in all societies world over. It has also established the determination of women to fight back. The extreme form of violence against women is rape, rooted in patriarchy, gender inequality, misogyny, exclusion and discrimination, all of which are cloaked in an innate structure of male supremacy and sanction to control through force. All of South Asia is embedded in traditions that have reinforced gender inequalities and violence. The everyday sexual harassment and violence is worsened in situations of armed conflict, which has been endemic in South Asian histories. The layers of sexual violence and gender inequality are sustained through practice, norms, acts of state, society, community and individuals. The book under review seeks to document such violence and the search for justice in the case of Sri Lanka.

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