What constitutes terror for women in the modern era...
A story I heard several years ago on National Public Radio (NPR) told of a Russian woman who accepted a job in Syria & was victimized by her employers in the form of rapes & beatings before she managed to escape back to Russia. When she reported her situation to the authorities, Madam X received less than zero support or legal aid from the Russian police or Interpol according to the story (or from anyone else, for that matter, save for a second woman's valiant efforts to prosecute--a woman who also mans the local domestic abuse hotline & has to battle Russian law enforcement officers who most often do NOT believe received reports of domestic violence toward Russian women by their spouses or partners).
I'm grateful to have never experienced such horrors, but I can certainly recall a few moments in my life when I was so low it was hard to believe the light at the end of the very long tunnel I was in wasn't an oncoming articulated lorry (that's a "tractor trailer" in US parlance) or locomotive! To wit:
Once upon many years ago, I accepted a position preparing reports for a financial adviser who, when my duties ended up concluding months sooner than he evidently originally anticipated, I was let off without so much as a gracious dismissal by this so-called "Southern Gentleman." I was left feeling like a piece of unworthy trash as a result of his callousness & lack of people skills--AND I've regarded that term with no small measure of scorn ever since.
More recently, during the first year I worked in my current career field, I was bitterly disappointed about not being offered an option to continue licensing foster homes (which I thoroughly enjoyed) & being "baptized by fire" into such matters as coordinating services for recalcitrant (at best--most were downright uncooperative) parents, giving testimony in court (which I STILL hate!), & worst of all, getting zero support from supervisory staff in squabbles created by demanding foster parents or obnoxious court appointees, nor any assistance with transporting numerous child clients, even in the advanced stage of my last pregnancy. All this was in addition to the overwhelming numbers of minute details I was required to see to in the line of duty or be zapped for on performance reviews. I even made repeated efforts to track down several deadbeat parents as I was taking my own children to & from school or daycare (or making them wait late hours for me at same) with NO apology ever even considered from my superiors. Small wonder I left there to work where I do now!
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