Thus it was and is...no more?

Genesis 34:1-7
The Rape of Dinah
Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the region. When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the region, saw her, he seized her and lay with her by force. And his soul was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the girl, and spoke tenderly to her. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl to be my wife.”
Now Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah; but his sons were with his cattle in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him, just as the sons of Jacob came in from the field. When they heard of it, the men were indignant and very angry, because he had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.

Dinah

Her name means judgment

But it was not her voice

that was heard

Rather, the men around her,

become the focus.

Her rapist

His father

Her father

and her brothers

Dinah

the one wronged

and the women she visited

are silenced

by the patriarchy

For, in such a culture.

both then 

and now

the voices of women

are not heard.

the opinions of women

are not sought

Revenge is exacted

brutal and swift

to restore the honour

of the men
And the suffering of women
becomes exacerbated
as their feelings are ignored
their voices unheard
their wisdom unsought
their compliance
and their gratitude assumed.
When will we ever learn
to listen to the women?