By Nilum Panesar
Special to The Post

A recent study found only 22% of domestic abuse cases are reported in BC.
Among the most common reasons for not reporting include the assumption it is simply a private family matter or too trivial to merit police involvement.
However, over 45% of the cases resulted physical injury.
We as women continually perceive domestic abuse as “not important enough” and this ultimately supports our plight to remain silent. 
Domestic abuse victims may be paralyzed by their fear, causing them to think leaving will instead exacerbate the violence and the situation. There is also the presumed need for a child to have both parents, their family intact.
Of course there is also love - which unfortunately does not dissipate with patterns of abuse and makes it hard to leave.
A large factor is shame – shame of failure at creating a successful family. Shame of what others might think, shame of the dreaded divorced, or separated label. Shame carries a cultural connotation as well – the collectivist South Asian culture fears shame not only for their immediate family, but for the larger community and culture. 
Perhaps we even think silence equates non-existence. But just because we don’t talk about something, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. 
Silence does not solve any problems. Silence simply strains our relationships with our families, our friends and within our community. The more we comply by the unspoken laws dictating our behaviour the more we allow domestic violence to continue. One of the simplest steps we can all take to acknowledge that domestic violence exists and it is a problem. 
I would like to raise a call to action for both men and women to break the silence.
“Domestic violence isn’t about any one socio-economic or ethnic group,this is about all of us,” said Jessie Lehail, Meri Awaaz co-organizer of the event along with Manna Sandhu. "However, since Mannu and I are both South Asian, we felt it was our responsibility to create dialogue and collaboration within our own community. We want this event to be a catalyst to break the silence and stigma associated with domestic violence.”
If we are to genuinely address male violence against women we must come together as a community to demand action, we must challenge attitudes and institutions that normalize and justify violence and we must work together to build a society that has a zero tolerance to gender-based violence and inequality.
It starts with you. 
Join us for Meri Awaaz on March 8th 2015 at Simon Fraser University Surrey for an important dialogue on International Women's Day.
The purpose of the event is to identify the ways in which culture shapes women’s responses to violence and their ability to find safety and security for themselves and their children. We will work with community stakeholders through focused dialogue to find solutions to help South Asian women. 
For more information go to Facebook and search for “Meri Awaaz My Voice”.

Social Media for Meri Awaaz
FB: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Meri-Awaaz-My-Voice/
811345982253598?ref=hl
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MeriAwaazCanada
IG: http://instagram.com/meriawaaz/

- See more at: http://www.southasianpost.com/article/6243-%E2%80%98meri-awaaz%E2%80%99-counters-silence-over-domestic-violence.html#sthash.AjWSELU1.dpuf