A Woman's Worth Conference

Announcements

Chong Ching Liang — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:24:19 +0000

This social movement has now ceased. Thank you all for your interests. This is an important social issue. While the social movement exercise has ceased, please continue to bring awareness to this topic. Talking about it may help more people and help reduce its occurence in our society.

a social project by the students of:

School of Interdisciplinary Studies

Our Fund-O-Meter

The S.T.O,P! Campaign and “A Woman’s Worth” Conference have adopted PAVe as our official charity and launched several fund-raising initiatives. The tally from completed efforts is reflected here.

Present Tally:
SGD$ 6667.65 (as of March 15, 2010)

Past Tally:

SGD$6367.65 (28/02/2009)
SGD$6001.65 (31/01/2009)
SGD$5793.90 (30/12/2009)
SGD$ 5193.90 (31/11/2009)
SGD$ 4453.90 (31/10/2009)
SGD$ 4193.90 (30/09/2009)
SGD$ 1453.90 (31/08/2009)
SGD$ 963.90 (31/07/2009)

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Buy A Shirt And Help a Victim of Relationship Violence!

Buy a S.T.O,P! Campaign Shirt and help us make a difference in the lives of those who may be less fortunate than us. All proceeds from the sales of the t-shirts will be donated to Centre for Promoting Alternatives to Violence (PAVe). This is a project initiated and ran by the Innovation and Enterprise in Action students from the School of Interdisciplinary Studies. Click here to access the order page.

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Detailed Breakdown of Fundraising Efforts By Ngee Ann Polytechnic Students:

Carwash : SGD$ 30.00
(Koh Kim Chuan, Dhamiri Zulhusmi B Thahir, Muhammad Zhafran B Zainudin, Chai Ching Rong, Shafaruddin B Sahdion)

Chari-Tees – Fundraising T-Shirt Sales : SGD$3900 and counting.
(Goh Sing Nam, Wang Xiao Han, Jessica Lim Xi Mei,, Zhang Jia Wei)

Flag Day : SGD$ 933.90
(Ang Man Ling, Ho Chie Heng, Ho Qi Hui@Ho Rui Sheng, Felicia Khoo Hoon Sian, Jonathan Yeo Si Jie)

Photo-Essay Fundraiser: $300.00
(Muhammad Amirul Zulkifli, Muhammad Ridhwan Mohamad, Joshua Lim Xuan Xin, Syed Syafiq Syed Hussein, Tan Jun Hao)

Street Soccer Fundraiser: $190.00
(Vivegan S/O Narayanan, Wong Cai Ying, Sim Xiangrui, Zhu Yan Jia, Chua Jun Chang)

STOPMotion Competition: $140.00
(Geraldine Lee Mei Yee, Jolin Ong, Loh Chuan Junn, Kathy Hang Pei Fang, Crystal Tilini Nanayakara, Dawn Lazaroo, Lim Siew Rong, Kate Chan Yu Qing)

STOPMotion Competition: $200.50
(Priscilla Su, Katherine Lesmana, Serene Yap, Amala Kannan, Benjamin Liew, Jonathan Chua, Sarali Laili, Yap Li Yu, Chua Zong Ling, Nguyen Quang Linh, Edwin Chiou)

Vivegan S/O Narayanan

Wong Cai Ying

Sim Xiangrui

Zhu Yan Jia

Chua Jun Chang)

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The Conference

Chong Ching Liang — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:00:34 +0000

A Public Education Initiative to
Raise Awareness About
Relationship-based Violence
Ngee Ann Polytechnic Convention Centre
09 November 2009
0930-1300hrs

Guest of Honour/Keynote Speaker:

Dr Kanwaljit Soin, Civil Rights Advocate, Nominated Member of Parliament (1992-1996)

The Conference Programme details can be found here.

Why “A Woman’s Worth”?

The conference title “A Woman’s Worth” is the work of Edwin Chiou. It is a deliberate critique of the gender imbalances within a patriarchal society and addresses the following issues: Is sending off a daughter to be married as a foreign bride akin to selling a woman? Does paying a virginity package for a foreign bride equate to the buying of a woman? How much is a woman worth? Is there gender inequality in seemingly equal and meritocratic Singapore? If there is, is the violence that is sometimes effected on women a reflection of how lowly women are valued in a male-oriented society? After all, while there are abused men, the victims of relationship violence are overwhelmingly female.

The choice of title reflects the growing maturity of the group of 11 students who embarked on a learning journey to Vietnam in March 2009 to find out more about foreign brides in Singapore. In the course of this study trip, they saw for themselves the difficulties faced by the rural poor in Vietnam and learnt that it was not just poverty but also the spectre of domestic violence among the poorest segments of Vietnamese society that compelled their women to leave their homes to become foreign brides in a strange land.

As they further explored this issue of domestic violence upon their return to Singapore, they discovered that this is also an issue that exists in our own society. The students felt that they could and should do more to raise awareness of relationship-based violence among their peers. The “S.T.O,P!” Campaign and “A Woman’s Worth” Conference was the result.

The Story behind the Conference Logo:

The portrait of the woman in the conference logo is an iconic representation of the foreign brides here in Singapore. Vietnamese women have been the fastest growing group of foreign brides in Singapore over the last decade, with over 2000 arriving on our shores yearly. These foreign brides are quickly becoming the group that is most vulnerable to spousal abuse.

The woman’s posture is a metaphor for the silent suffering of an abused spouse. Her back is to us, emblematic of the secret that she is hiding. Yet her pensive face is half-turned towards us in a silent, poignant plea for help. Cultural and social conventions make it difficult for her to give words to that plea and to tell anyone of her private pain. Only her mute desperation speaks for her. One of her hands clutches her shoulder, symbolising her loneliness and that she has only herself to turn to for help.

The artwork behind the conference and campaign logos has been generously donated by

Mr Damien Fong of ICEWORKS.

Conference Organisers

Priscilla Su
Amala Kannan
Benjamin Liew
Chua Zong Ling
Edwin Chiou
Jonathan Chua
Katherine Lesmana
Nguyen Quang Linh
Sarali Laili
Serene Yap
Yap Li Yu

Adopted Charity

Centre for Promoting Alternaives to Violence

VWOs Participating in the Conference

Women’s Initiative for Ageing Successfully

Association of Women for Action and Research

Oxfam Quebec

The Question & Answer segment of the conference will be hosted by Daniel Martin of 938LIVE as part of his Campus programme.

Campus on 938Live

The Campaign

Chong Ching Liang — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:44:20 +0000

A Public Education Initiative
By Students for Students
To Spark
A Social Movement for
Raising Awareness About
Relationship-based Violence
Ngee Ann Polytechnic
04-06 November 2009
1200-1300hrs

Our Facebook Site for the Campaign:
http://tinyurl.com/STOPCampaigNP

Our WordPress Site for the STOPMotion! Competition (Registration NOW OPEN!):
http://stopmotion09.wordpress.com/

Our Facebook Site for the STOP Party:
http://tinyurl.com/STOPParty

Lunchtime Programme featuring

Concerts
Skits
Talks
Exhibitions
Fund-Raisers

Daily Programmes

04 November 2009

05 November 2009
06 November 2009

From Talk to Action

The students did not want just a talk-shop, a fancy conference where nothing meaningful and concrete would have been done for the victims of spousal violence after the crowds had dispersed and the euphoria subsided.

They knew that they could do more:

Campaigns, research, fund-raising …

A flicker of awareness is a tiny step towards the full flame of knowledge, empowering an individual to protect himself or herself against any future abuse.

An inch of understanding gained is an inch closer to establishing effective intervention programmes.

A dollar raised is a dollar more for the VWOs battling to help victims out there.

To accomplish the above, the 11 students on the Conference Executive Committee worked with nearly 30 other student leaders to organise this multi-faceted S.T.O,P! Campaign.

The acronym S.T.O,P! is coined by Grace Yow and Denise Wong.

S.T.O,P! = “Stop the ‘Ouch’, Please!”

The tagline of the STOP Campaign is “Love Hurts, Love Heals.“

The Story Behind the Campaign Logo

The traditional way of spelling an acronym is to use periods between the letters. For example, S.T.O,P! should be spelled S.T.O.P. according to grammatical convention. However, for the purpose of the S.T.O,P! Campaign, the conventional has been deliberately overturned and grammatical rules flouted to serve two purposes. The first is to draw attention to the word STOP. The second, at a more symbolic level, is to challenge us to look beyond the obvious to an exploration of deeper meanings. We are culturally programmed to look away when we witness an incident of relationship violence and to label such an occurrence a domestic matter and therefore, none of our business. However, it is precisely this practice that has resulted in the social isolation of the victims of relationship-violence. The “,” and the “!” thus force us to question accepted norms and to set them aside to reveal the stories of relationship-violence hidden beneath.

Campaign Organising Committee