3 Women 3 Ways

GENDER VIOLENCE: IS IT REALLY THAT DIFFERENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST? The news gives us shocking reports of violence against women in the Middle East – stoning, brutality, punishment for being sexually assaulted—it has to be worse than the US, right?  It turns out there are vast differences in gender violence, but there also are a surprising number of similarities.  Leyla Welkin, Ph.D. is a clinical cross cultural psychologist born in Turkey and educated in the US.  After 25 years working in the Pacific Northwest, she founded the Pomegranate Connection Program in Ankara, Turkey in 2008.  She has partnered with organizations in the US, the UK, and Turkey to address gender based violence.  Welkin has worked with civil and social organizations, government agencies, businesses, universities, and the United Nations Population Fund to develop programs to prevent and intervene in sexual and family violence among Syrian refugees living in Turkey. Her work has given her a unique perspective on talking about the perpetra