Events to mark Women’s Aid campaign

KILRUSH will host several events to mark 16 Days of Action Opposing Violence Against Women from this Thursday until Friday, December 10.
Kilrush Community Centre will host the opening event on Thursday from 6pm to 7pm. This will include a candle-lit vigil and the unveiling of a Magdalene Laundries memorial plaque, the launch of the Breaking the Silence DVD and an outside broadcast by Raidió Corca Baiscinn.
At Kilrush parish masses on Saturday evening and Sunday, families and victims of abuse will be remembered, while a decoupage workshop will be held in Vandeleur Street from 10am to 12 noon on Monday.
Next Tuesday, Kilrush Family Resource Centre will host a car maintenance and electrics workshop from 2pm to 4pm, while a coffee morning will be held in John Paul Estate Community Centre next Wednesday from 11am to 1pm.
Several additional events will be held the following week from Thursday, December 2, including the launch of the In Her Shoes exhibition in Vandeleur Street on December 4 from 2pm to 4pm and a self-defence workshop on Tuesday, December 7.
For more information on these events, contact Mary at 9056611 or Viv at 9052173.
Earlier this year, Women’s Aid announced detailed figures of calls to its domestic violence national freephone helpline in 2009. Callers disclosed over 14,613 incidents of physical, emotional, sexual and financial abuse nationwide last year. Women’s Aid noted an increase in disclosures of women being abused, controlled and stalked through technology.
Many callers disclosed that their current or former boyfriends, husbands and partners were using many forms of technology to control, coerce and intimidate them. This included a variety of telephone, surveillance and computer technologies. Women revealed that their home and mobile phone calls were monitored, as well as all of their texts. Some spoke of how their phone conversations were being recorded, while others found cameras secretly installed to monitor their every movement at home.
Margaret Martin, director of Women’s Aid, commented, “Domestic violence is a huge problem within Irish society. This year, we are particularly concerned about the growing trend of women being monitored and harassed through technology.
“We have heard from women whose online use was being tracked and scrutinised and whose partners demanded access to their private email and social networking accounts. We also heard from women whose partners and ex-partners had placed lies about them on internet sites,” she said.