Seminar Report
‘Prevention of Gender-based Violence among Adolescents in Europe:
Research and Educational Practices’
On the 27th of April 2009 the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies [MIGS] organised a
public seminar entitled: ‘Prevention of Gender-based Violence among Adolescents in
Europe: Research and Educational Practices’. The seminar was organized within the
framework of the project Perspective: Peer Education Roots for School Pupils to Enhance
Consciousness of Tackling and Impeding Violence against Women in Europe, Daphne III
Programme, European Commission.
The aim of the seminar was twofold: to bring together academics and practitioners working
on issues relating to gender-based violence (GBV) among adolescents in Europe in order to
identify common issues that arise from research undertaken in various geographic areas in
Europe; and to present and evaluate interventions aimed at combating this phenomenon.
The seminar also aimed at raising public awareness on the various forms of GBV affecting
young people, its root causes, and its consequences.
The seminar was attended by over 45 participants including NGO representatives, trade
unions, and teachers, representatives from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of
Health, the Police, as well as other professionals interested in issues related to gender
violence, bullying, and education.
The seminar facilitators were Ms Susana Pavlou, Director of MIGS for the first thematic
panel on Gender-based Violence in Cyprus and in Europe and Dr Kiki Petroulaki, President of
the Board, European Anti-Violence Network, for the second thematic panel on Interventions
for the Prevention of GBV among Young People.
The seminar began with a welcome address by Dr Zelia Grigoriou, Assistant Professor at the
University of Cyprus and Board Member of MIGS. A brief introduction to the Perspective
project followed presented by Ms Michela Iorio, Coordinator of the project from the City of
Modena in Italy. Ms. Iorio outlined the main aims of the project and the logic behind
introducing peer education activities as an intervention action aiming at the prevention of
GBV among young people.
The first panel began with Georgina Christou, Research Associate and Project Coordinator at
MIGS who presented the results of the Daphne II project ‘Secondary Education Schools and
Education in Values’, to which MIGS was a partner, with a focus on the qualitative research
conducted with teenagers in Cyprus. She pointed out the most common forms of GBV in
teenage relationships in Cyprus as well as some of the possible causes behind these
behaviors. She emphasized the perceptions that teenagers have in relation to love, violence
and relationships and the association of these with GBV.
Dr Vappu Sunnari a Senior Lecturer on Women’s and Gender Studies, from the University of
Oulou, Finland proceeded with a presentation of the results of her research on physical and
sexual harassment as experienced by Northwest Russian and Finnish children in the school
environment. The results show that in the majority of cases of sexual harassment in schools,
the perpetrators are boys and the victims are girls. She also expressed concern over the
alarmingly high rate of girls experiencing sexual harassment in schools in Finland and the
lack of adequate training for teachers to address this phenomenon.
Mr Friedrich Glenski from Leipzig, Germany followed with an overview on GBV in Germany
and emphasized that girls who had been sexually victimized before the age of 16 are more
than twice as likely to become victims of violence from partners or ex-partners and four
times more likely to become victims of sexual violence after the age of 16. Furthermore he
pointed out that migrant women in Germany do not only suffer GBV more frequently but
also suffer more severe and extreme forms of physical violence. Dr Jesus Jerranz Bellido
from Alicante Spain proceeded with an overview of a number of projects that dealt
specifically with GBV among young people in the Spanish context.
The second thematic panel of the seminar began with a presentation by Ms Tamara
Georgiadou, Programme Officer at the Cyprus Family Planning Association on the
importance of sex education in the prevention of GBV. Ms Georgiadou emphasized the
different contexts through which young people receive their socialization in terms of gender
roles and attitudes and how effective sex education programmes targeting children form an
early age are vitally important for the development of a healthy society. She also pointed
out that sex education programmes must target not only students but also teachers and
parents in order to stop the perpetuation of negative gender stereotypes in our societies.
Following this Ms Mairy Chioni, Director of Health Education of the 1st Athens Directorate of
Secondary Education presented the results from a variety of research studies conducted in
Greece on the phenomenon of bullying in primary and secondary schools. She also
presented peer education methodology as an intervention tool to prevent bullying among
middle school children.
The last two presentations made referred to the description of campaigns made in Italy and
Belgium with the aim to prevent GBV. Ms Alexandra Adriaenssenes from the Directorate of
Equal Opportunities of the Ministry of French-speaking Community in Belgium presented
three campaigns that were directed towards preventing violence in young couples. Mr.
Sandro Casanova of the organization Mascile Plurale of Bologna proceeded with a
presentation of the White Ribbon Campaign made in Italy on a nationwide scale and which
mainly targeted men and boys. The main goal of the campaign was to give visibility and
space to men who want to engage with fighting violence towards women. The White Ribbon
is a symbol worn by men that represents a personal engagement to never commit, tolerate
nor remain silent when faced with violence against women.
The seminar was concluded with a discussion between participants, presenters and
organizers on the concept of GBV and what can be considered as such. The discussion
focused on the gender dimension of bullying as well as the consistent harassment of
homosexual students within the school environment.
For
more
information
on
the
Perspective
project
please
visit
http://www.medinstgenderstudies.org/?p=1552 or contact Georgina Christou at
georgina@medinstgenderstudies.org.