Woman As Hero, an ASU student organization, hosted the Female Contemporary Issues Summit Friday to address issues facing women in today’s society, including dating violence.
The event was hosted in the University Center on ASU’s Downtown campus and brought together a number of experts to discuss the issues with students. Donna Bartos, the founder and CEO of the Purple Ribbon Council, which works to combat domestic violence, was one of the event’s speakers.
One in three women fall victim to some sort of domestic violence in their lifetime, Bartos said, and she personally had experienced an abusive relationship.
“I know firsthand the challenges and the obstacles these girls can go through,” Bartos said.
Primary prevention tactics like education and parenting are essential in addressing the issue of dating or domestic violence, she said.
“It’s important to get to the root of the problem before it’s a problem,” Bartos said.
Insecurities could contribute to the problem of unhealthy relationships, in addition to inexperience and uncertainty in boundaries, she said.
“Everybody can relate to being 15 and just starting dating not really knowing what you’re doing. Dating violence is about boundaries, it’s all about power and control,” Bartos said.
Eichelle Armstrong, theater and creative writing senior and co-founder of Woman As Hero, said she believed Bartos’ speech was one of the most powerful shared during the summit because of Barto’s honesty about her own experience in an abusive relationship.
“It’s so different to hear someone speak about it like, ‘this is happening and it’s bad’, than to hear someone speaking about their experience,” Armstrong said. “It’s a lot more powerful to hear something personal.”
Nicole Bruno, a graduate social work student and the co-founder of Woman as Hero, helped to organize the event and said the group hoped it would not only educate people, but also spur them into action.
“The summit is a way to really shed light on these issues and not just to become educated and leave, but leave with options and ideas about ways to end these problems,” Bruno said. “We want to give students the tools they need to combat these issues [and] also inspire them to create a positive change.”
The event was the third annual summit hosted by Woman as Hero, and the organization hopes to create a legacy of attention to these issues at ASU and host more events in the future, Bruno said.
“We hope to change the views society has on women through awareness, by holding little dialogues for students, in a very informal and personal way,” she said.
Reach the reporter at michelle.parks@asu.edu
