An international day to honor women who have survived, as well as endured

 Today is International Women's Day, which the world began observing about a century ago. In many parts of the world, workplace discrimination has become an artifact of the past. Women have risen to leadership positions that just decades ago seemed out of reach.

Yet widespread violence against women endures. From Liberia and the Congo to Burma and Bhutan, pervasive and severe violence against women is the norm.

Some of the survivors live in our community. At our healing centers in St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Center for Victims of Torture provides treatment to victims of state-sponsored torture. We treat many women who have survived torture and escaped their perpetrators, but still struggle with the effects.

I work with an interpreter named Timka. From Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Timka herself is a refugee. Many of her friends and family members were devastated by the war. As she translates from Bosnian and Serbo-Croatian to English, Timka has watched many survivors fill with pride that they can begin to accomplish tasks, even small ones, on their own. When a client is comfortable making jokes again, it makes her feel good: "There are still people inside of these people. There's still a lot of joy."

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