Why?
According to a 2014 study conducted by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), one in three European women face gender-based violence and more than one in five have experienced domestic violence. This violence and discrimination is structural, based on a domination relationship, and is reproduced again and again in society and its institutions. It is important to get involved in order to make this issue visible and to stop it.
For some years now, the debate has been moving out of the private sphere and companies have started to get involved at their level and in their own way. Raising awareness among employers, training employees, and making the workplace a vector of emancipation: this is the approach chosen by the Activ project partners to fight against domestic violence.
By doing what?
Last October, we published the guide “For a successful return to employment for women facing domestic violence“, which gives an overview of the legal background, highlights inspiring practices, and proposes a framework of common indicators to facilitate the mutual understanding of the actors involved in the return to employment process.
Subsequently, hackathons were organised in Belgium, Spain, France and Romania in order to present the guide, and to question frontline actors and women confronted with violence in our reflection on the tools to be developed.
Next steps?
Currently, the partners are building an integration pathway which is outlined in 5 steps (raising awareness, meeting basic needs, remobilising, defining a socio-professional project, follow-up & communication). For each stage, we have identified the objectives, challenges and resources for field workers and companies. The aim is to increase collaboration and synergies between the socio-professional integration sector and employers in order to make employment a vector of sustainable emancipation for women facing domestic violence.
Would you like to participate in the process? Would you like more information on this project? Please contact us!
