Presentation to the Canadian Panel on
Power and Control Against Women

by Wanita J. Koczka

The focus must shift from violence to identification of the issue in terms of power and control.

It is my experience that women face violence and threats of violence every where in everyday life. The list is endless: violence at home, in the workplace, at school, on the street, in the media, in religious organizations, and in agencies set up to serve women such as hospitals, social service agencies, and mental health centers. The violence women and their children experience is evident. What is not evident or spoken is the root cause of this violence.

Power and control, and the need of the male system to maintain the status quo, is what we should be speaking of. The focus must shift from violence, which is a form of oppression and control, to the identification of the issue in terms of power or the misuse of power by a dominant group (men) to maintain the submissiveness of another group (women).

The widespread and daily incidents of violence (power and control) towards women and children lead me to believe that violence is in the same category as racism and sexism, and is necessary to maintain white male-dominated power systems - is therefore, systemic in nature.

Violence, like racism, is an ideology - an outcome of a systemic process of domination and exploitation in unequal relationships. Any approaches/solutions to deal with violence must deal with the imbalance of power and control, and with the institutionalization and systemic perpetuation of violence at all levels: political, social, economic, religious, legal, individual, home, community, etc.

The impact and inter-relationships of violence is clear. Violence, and threats of violence, toward women and children are interwoven in all our institutions. It cannot be addressed with the fragmented approach presently being used.

I point out that the panel is using a "white male system" tool, in terms of the work and the mandate of the panel, to describe what has been called "a woman's problem." This process uses linear male logic and requires that victims "name" the violence so that it can be identified as real. Male research requires identifying, naming, objectifying and reinterpreting what women know, experience and feel before the concerns may be acknowledged. This process is not acceptable! It continues to perpetuate, trivialize and subordinate the events in women's lives.

Exposé devant le Comité canadien sur la violence faite aux femmes

par Wanita J. Koczka

Il faut nous concentrer sur les causes profondes de la violence, soit le problème du pouvoir et du contrôle et le besoin que ressentent les hommes de maintenir le statu quo. Le Comité a recours à un outil utilisé dans le monde des hommes blancs pour définir un "problème féminin". La recherche masculine exige que l'on détermine, objectiviste et réinterprète ce que les femmes savent, expérimentent et ressentent avant de reconnaître ces inquiétudes. Des femmes et des enfants meurent, et beaucoup continueront de vivre des situations extrêmement dangereuses pendant que nous définissons et étudions le problème. Il faut se servir des méthodes auxquelles ont recours les femmes pour comprendre, évaluer et trouver des solutions. Voici quelques suggestions: enseignement de l'optique féministe de l'existence et de modèles holistes, apprentissage, résolution de problèmes, gouvernement; refus de se prêter aux systèmes qui permettent aux hommes de perpétrer des actes de violence contre les femmes et les enfants; financement de longue durée de programmes qui abordent tous les aspects de la violence faite aux femmes; adoption d'idées axées sur les femmes, souples et holistes quant à la vérité, l'équité, la justice et le droit.


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