S4E14: Engaging Men in Domestic Violence Prevention Movement

While men have always played an important role in shaping public policies and community awareness in many areas, domestic violence prevention often remains ignored within this group. How do we engage South Asian men in the movement? Maitri's long time advocate Zakia Afrin sits down with S Suresh, a past member of Maitri leadership and outgoing Board member in the Statewide organization CPEDV to discuss men in the DV prevention movement, his passion for social justice and writing novels in Tamil. As a community leader and activist, Suresh is vocal on social justice issues including domesticviolence, gun control, LGBTQ rights, religious and caste-based discrimination, environmentalrights, and racism in all shapes and forms. Prior to joining The Partnership board, Sureshserved as a member of the Board of Trustees at Maitri for three years. During his tenure there,he participated actively in issues critical to addressing domestic violence in general, and withinthe South Asian community in specific. He also played an instrumental role in helping Maitri tobring men into difficult conversations around domestic violence. A product executive with morethan 25 years of experience in enterprise software, Suresh is a writer, avid hiker, dog lover,amateur actor and environmentally conscious. Articles by S Suresh at Fair Observerhttps://www.fairobserver.com/author/sankaran-suresh/Books by S Suresh in Tamil:https://sandhyapublications.com/author/62bd89ccffdfba547069d667Available in Santa Clara Library District.Zakia Afrin: Zakia has been an advocate for immigrant women at Maitri for over 16 years and currently serves as the Director of Survivor Advocacy programs at Maitri. She is a senior fellow and Adjunct professor of International Law at Golden Gate University in San Francisco. Zakia represents clients with their immigration needs and drives Maitri’s policy advocacy efforts uplifting the voices of immigrant survivors. She founded Auditiya in 2020, a social and cultural platform for the Bangladeshi diaspora in the US.   Please help us improve our podcast by taking this quick survey: https://shorturl.at/puBGJ This project was made possible by funding provided by the County of Santa Clara Office of Gender-Based Violence Prevention. [www.sccendviolence.org]