How I continue meeting amazing individuals from the #teammalaysia community.

Original photo: Beyonce In Concert At Madison Square Garden 

This time I was thrilled to attend an event which combined #steem-music creatives and wonderful women from #teammalaysiababes. (read more about the event from the main organisers @perennial here and @angiechin28 here).

On the first place, I was dragged by an idea of discussing women’s rights related to domestic violence, child custody, proprietary rights in marriage, child abuse and also business which I found highly important during the week when the whole world celebrated International Women’s Day. 

It is a great reminder to everyone that 8 of March is not only about flowers and appreciation for women but about a constant battle for the equal gender rights, women’s advocacy and gratitude to all the wonderwomen of the history who made our lives way easier today.

>> Check out my recent article about the progress in gender equality. 

The meetup kicked off with the welcome and steemit introduction from @bitrocker2020. Before I had a good hour of mingling and meeting new people who were also intrigued to learn more about women’s rights and get some music vibes. 

After that @perennial took a stage and gave a powerful talk presenting not only legal knowledge about cases of domestic abuse but educated and encouraged everyone to speak up and not ignore such a cases especially if it happens to someone else  but that person is afraid to make an official report.

Around the world, especially in the developing countries like Malaysia (and Russia, where I’m originally from) with the strong patriarchal history, is a very common practice when a man treats his wife with the sense of ownership and misogyny which inherited so deeply in the culture of the society. At the same time, women are not educated or empowered enough to speak up against biases and domestic violence because they were advised not to by again the social background, family or friends. 

🙅Useful statements and messages we have discussed about domestic violence

• there’s no a particular profile of a “man” who can be an abuser: there’s no face or race - abusers are there, in every country, society and religion. It’s VERY common that seems to be the nicest gentleman turns to be a monster at home
• Woman who has a kid is a most common victim of domestic abuse because she would always put her child’s security first (a man will use it to manipulate her) and sacrifice her own safety
• Interim Protection Order (IPO) is a legal protection from domestic violence which any married women can request for by following certain steps on the official website
• If it’s a case of abusive relationships and the couple is not married you still can go to the police and lodge a police report about violence
• Marital rape as a crime is recognised in Malaysia and the woman has a right to refuse having sex with her husband.
• Even if a woman doesn’t have own financial security (and often that becomes a reason because to not complain as wife is afraid to lose the ability to take care of the kid as the husband provides all the money) she can get a financial support from the government and enroll in one of the programs to learn to support her own living) 

My most important takeaway is that we need to continue spreading this knowledge to all the women out there because by knowing your rights we can have a legal support and courage to fight against domestic violence.

I felt that conversation would have continued because there were so many questions raised after the presentation (we should continue it in a different space) but everyone was waiting for the next part (and the main like the @perennial have joked) of the program: 

🎤Celebration of women’s day with the music!

I must say that was a perfect gift to all the participants because I’ve heard so many talented artists in one night!

A perfect duet of a power couple @calebleejl and @silviagoh, an amazing singer and songwriter Christian @cbppls, performing with ukulele Faris and multitalented Hakym.

The atmosphere was so cosy and friendly, so the performances were slowly turning to be a karaoke session with all the audience. That’s when @jassicania empowered all the ladies by singing “Girl on fire” and “Someone like you”!

While everyone was signing, this quite gentleman @choiko82 on the very right of the photo was sketching all the performers. just look at the result!

That’s how I got to know about #steem-cartoon community and met a talented founder @sireh.

The painting by Syafinaz, a resident artist in Liberal Latte space. With @jassicania, @sireh and @angiechin28 :)

I still need to adopt better a habit to take more photos during events like this to remember everyone and share with you. Although, I do enjoy the state of forgetting about my camera because the atmosphere is too good :) 

After the event we went for a very late dinner (still learning if that’s ok by Malaysian standards to eat after midnight) and thanks to @orangila I reached home safely.

Overall, I had a fantastic evening (and glad that after an intense working day I made a decision to come). Special thanks to @angiechin28 for the warmest welcome to the #teammalaysiababes circle! Already met amazing @melissawong @kaeperdiem @jassicania @liewsc and can’t wait to meet more of you wonder women!

Thanks everyone for bringing two of my favourite things together: live music and women who are eager to empower others and learn more about own rights!

Untill next time,

Vika @vikapuzach 🌟