History

Rifka Annisa, or Women's Friend, is a non-government organization committed to the elimination of violence against women. Established on 26 August 1993, this organization was founded by several women activists: Suwarni Angesti Rahayu, Sri Kusyuniati, Latifah Iskandar, Desti Murdijana, Sitoresmi Prabuningrat and Musrini Daruslan.

Rifka Annisa was established in response to  deepening concerns  about the tendency of  patriarchal culture to empower men's position  on the one hand while weakening women’s position on the other.  Resulting from this neglect of women’s position,, women  have become vulnerable to physical, psychological, economical, social, and sexual violence such as harassment and rape. Gender-based violence in society has encouraged us here at Rifka Annisa to take action in order to eliminate violence against women.

Rifka Annisa believes that violence against women can occur due to many interrelated factors. Rifka Annisa uses ecological framework to comprehend the causes of violence against women. In a simple way, this ecological framework can be described in five concentric interconnected circles.

The innermost circle in the ecological framework represents the biological and personal history  that each individual transfers to their behavior within relationships. The second circle  depicts the  context where violence is most likely to happen, i.e family, acquaintances or close relatives. The third presents social institutions and structure, both formal and informal, where social relations and power dynamics   are instilled in the forms of neighbourhood, work environments, social networks and partnership groups. The fourth circle constitutes economic and social environments including cultural and state legal systems. The outer circle is indicative of global economic and social environments, global social institutions and structures, global and bilateral networks and/or global partnership groups.

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