Since the dawn of humanity, domestic violence has existed, and there is so much that a government or health-based organization can do. 

According to Euro News officials, a rough estimate of 219,000 women between the age of 18-75 face domestic violence by their current or former partner, and out of those, only 20% seek help. In line with the data provided by Pakistan Demographics and Health Survey (2017-18), 28% of women between the age of 15-49 have experienced domestic violence since the age of 15. Out of the total, 44% have suffered physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. 56%, which is more than half of the population, does not seek help or have an outlet for support.

Pakistan Demographics & Health Survey, 2017-18

Due to the current pandemic, there has been a dramatic rise in domestic violence cases from all over the world. UN Women’s most recent study reveals that less than 40% of women who experienced violence reported these crimes or sought help before the epidemic. Since the lockdown, domestic violence—through data collected by the number of reports submitted and the calls made to helplines—has increased to 33% in Singapore, 30% in Cyprus, 30% in France, 25% in Argentina, 38.2% in Istanbul, 57% in Malaysia, and the numbers for the rest are still escalating.

UN Women Reports COVID19, March-April 2020

By glancing at the bar chart above, Malaysia has a monumental spike in domestic violence cases since the lockdown (UN Women, April 2020). According to official figures, one woman is killed by a partner or former partner every three days. The Minister of France confirmed in an article submitted in EuroNews (March 28, 2020) that France has one of the highest rates of domestic violence cases in Europe. There is a code system generated in Spain to identify these cases, which France has been working on too to implement.

UN Women Report COVID19, March-April 2020

According to UN Women, 70% of women have experienced domestic violence from an intimate partner, while 35% have experienced it with a non-partner at some point in their lives. More than 37% of women in South Asia, 40% of women in South-East Asia, and up to 68% of women in the Pacific have experienced violence at the hands of their intimate partners.

“Experts have characterized an ‘invisible pandemic’ of domestic violence during the COVID-19 crisis as a ‘ticking time bomb’ or a ‘perfect storm.’”

Suzanne Jacob, Chief Executive, British Charity SafeLives, Thomson Reuters Foundation



A number of studies have demonstrated that domestic violence independently causes long-term damage to victims’ mental health. They often experience depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicidal ideation, low self-esteem, and difficulty trusting others.

As an advocate for social justice, I operate with the philosophy that creativity is a pledge to embrace and value one’s existence, and self-reflection is a process for changing awareness and behavior. The marriage between creativity and self-reflection brings forth a unique language that speaks beyond words. It signifies the change that helps individuals to visually express feelings and emotions, which are difficult to articulate through conventional means. It is a tool for personal metamorphosis that is the determining rationale for the Teardrop initiative.

The passion for this project stems from my experience of being raised in a strict conservative family where displaying emotions, such as crying or feeling hurt or exhibiting fear—to list a few—was perpetually implied as a solitary pursuit to deal with.

I always yearned to find my place and be open to talk about the pains (or gains) and how they affected me, psychologically, socially, or professionally. As a researcher, I am interested in closing the gap between implicit theories of social change and the hands-on application of reflection and praxis as necessary tools for deep learning. I discovered Rumi's words at a younger age that encompasses the philosophy of my work as an advocate for social justice:

The wound is the place where the light enters you.

A famous Rumi quote that fits every tragic, distressing, and melancholic situation transformed into a serene, stimulating, uplifting, and salubrious (beneficial to the health of the body and mind) breakthrough. There is a merger of the emotional polarities of the negative and the positive. The words have such deep meaning that it takes my breath way just thinking about it.

Let me break down his words to explain myself better:

• Wound = hurt, defeat

• Place = support, companionship

• Light = catharsis, realization

My mother, my "wounded healer companion," always says:

“You need to be hurt and saved to understand suffering and comfort.” 

The dichotomous relationship between ease and hardship can perfectly be described in the form of a yin-yang; without one, the other is incomplete. The concept of dualism comes into play here as ‘yin’ is defined as the feminine, and ‘yang’ is the masculine. There is a balance that needs to be exerted.

It was because of my mother's love and support that I was able to heal my emotional wounds, take myself out of the dark pits of despair and unworthiness. It is, still, a battle I face every day.

My work drives my passion for curating spaces where women feel supported—rejuvenating their spirits and reviving the energies of perseverance—to the cause regardless of their geographic location, ethnic or religious background.

I want to share a story of a fearless woman I met in India while working on a similar project, sharing the heartfelt account of her experience of abuse and hardship with me.

She was married at an early age and had separated from her husband then. She was working as a culinarian in the house I lived in. I noticed a freshly sutured wound on her forehead that went through her hairline. I was afraid to ask her about it. She seemed very fragile. After finishing the project (and before leaving the village), she invited me for dinner in her "jhompri" (a small one-bedroom house, mainly found in the slums) with a muddy floor, fire lanterns, and a broken roof. I entered her home. She dusted a small rag for me to sit on so that my clothes wouldn't get dirty. She fed me a mouth-watering egg curry. Even though she was a strict vegetarian, she specially cooked a non-veg meal for me, to express her sincere appreciation of having a company in her home since her separation. While she served the food, I nervously asked her about her head injury. She cried with a heavy heart and said, 

"My husband hit me with a rolling pin and took my hard-earned money to buy alcohol and gamble with his friends."



My world turned upside down. My eyes watered. "I have to help her," is what my heart said. I immediately took some remaining cash from my travel funds and gave her so she could have financial support. She had a daughter, 5-7 years old at that time. I knew she was protecting her from the hands of her vicious husband. There are so many cases of child molestation and rape in a third world country like India or Pakistan.

What is it that we can do to make this right?

What is the relationship between men’s dominance and women’s oppression?

What underlying thought process goes through a victim’s mind?

What are the corresponding reactions or consequences faced by the victim?

To answer these questions, I have created this platform, which will help identify the disparity between the usage and collection of gender-based data. Overall, there is a huge data gap for women, as analysis is primarily based on male data sets, termed as ‘sex-disaggregated data’ by Caroline Criado Perez, a feminist author in her book Invisible Women: Data Bias in the World Designed for Men.

Teardrop will serve as a real-time data collection source and be a catalyst in revealing the effects of domestic violence on the emotional and physical well-being of the women as victims or sufferers.

The current data on domestic violence available to the world presents just one side of the story. By working with women who have experienced trauma and domestic abuse, I have personally witnessed the colors of violence, anger, fear, loneliness, depression, the entire spectrum or cycle of emotions that a sufferer goes through. I have listened to the sounds of control and grueling echoes of profanity that replays in your mind over and over again once you hear these stories. But the sound of the unbearable silence, clam of roaring cries, and the stillness of the impatient internal storms of those sufferers are still unknown.

Gender-Based Violence is not just about highlighting it as a grave issue, it is the repressed silence of the sufferers that need to be unveiled to comprehend the scale of the perpetual damage it has made or will be making in the near future—it is to know the real meaning of strength, survival, persistence, and resilience.

In the grand scheme of things, rarely extensive measures to nurture the psychosomatic effects of gender-based violence have been taken. As a certified Collaborative Institution Training Initiative (CITI) Program human-subject researcher, I request you to be part of this movement with me. This study complies with the standards and guidelines presented by Institutional Review Board (IRB). There will be 100% anonymity, and submissions will only be used for research/academic purposes.

Your participation is essential in driving this movement, so measures could be taken to fight this epidemic. For your courage in stepping up to partake in the efforts, you will receive a personalized Teardrop t-shirt or post-card—representing your story in the form of an avatar—printed and delivered right at your doorstep (U.S. or international).