November 25 was International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and December 10 is Human Rights Day. We thought it fitting that our newsletter come out during this period.

In our employment law practice, it is still the case that a surprising number of clients who come to see us are women who have suffered humiliating and discriminatory treatment in the workplace and elsewhere, sometimes including assaults, sexual torture and the use of date rape drugs. Gender violence is a human rights issue, not a women's issue. Internationally and locally, violence against women is still a reality, and it does not serve our social conscience or our governments to turn a blind eye. Even in our local news, we read of honour killings, dowry deaths and domestic violence, including murder. Beyond that, there are serious international problems to address, such as sex trafficking, war rape, genital mutilation and sex selective abortion and infanticide.

We applaud Attorney General Wally Oppal for drawing attention to the problems of violence against women in the Asian community in this province. We note that, beyond having these 16 days as a reminder to think about these difficult matters and bring them forward in our consciousness, we need to keep working on the laws and the social context education that informs the laws and their implementation. Cultural change comes slowly, through continuing hard work, just because a change in gender violence is difficult to achieve is no reason to push it off the agenda.

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