MASS EDUCATION:
An Antidote For Violence

Violence in our society has reached cancerous proportions. It manifests itself through the violence of unemployment, lack of educational opportunities, and physical and sexual violence against women.

As a traditionally dominated group, women feel the effects of violence in the home, at the workplace and through the various forms of sexual abuse which have extended to rape and murder of children.

At the same time, men, who are unfortunately the major users of violence, are themselves victims of their own violence and of the traditional expectations of them as men. Society, like a fish trapped by an octopus, is caught in the tentacles of the cancer of violence.

It was against such a background of violence that the first International Women's Day came into being. On March 8, 1908 women workers in New York , USA held a really to demand trade union rights which would ensure fair wages and safe working conditions. The success of the rally encouraged women in other American cities and other countries to organize for their rights. In 1910, March 8 was officially celebrated as International Women's Day. Today, 78 years later there is a greater need to rally around

Cont. on pg 2

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR MASS EDUCATION