WFTHN member, Eylem Atakav, has won the Outstanding Social or Cultural Impact award from the University of East Anglia for her work. Congratulations to Eylem from all at the network.
The award acknowledged the impact of her work with and around her documentary film, Growing Up Married. Dr Atakav explained that the whole project:
is about the visibility of women and their voice. The forced marriage and child brides film has raised other issues around sexuality, sex education and the concept of honour, and every time the film has been screened, it has led to at least one further disclosure. […] This award means a lot to me, to the women in the film, to my students who worked with me.
Growing Up Married is a project at the heart of which is a documentary that follows four women from Turkey, as they recollect their memories and experiences of forced marriage as child brides. This research contributes to debates around this emotionally charged, and often silenced human rights issue both within Turkey and beyond. Understanding the cultural contexts within which human rights abuses occur is essential to mitigating and stopping future abuse. Stories of what happens to those forced to marry as children are as invisible as the practice itself.
The film has been viewed by around 4000 people worldwide (in the UK, the US, Japan, Bangladesh, Cyprus, Turkey) since its release. Through significant and international level of media engagement (appearances on New York Times to Al Jazeera) as well as a series of public engagement activities (through screenings and working with local, national and international institutions – from Norfolk Constabulary to the NHS, the Forced Marriage Unit and the House of Lords), the project has been influential in building bridges between cultures and countries on this significant human rights issue – Turkish women’s stories influencing the way in which policies around forced marriage in the UK are discussed and decided.
WFTHN 