Women’s Aid Education and

Awareness Programme

European Daphne Initiative

 Measures for combating violence against children, young persons and women. Key Stakeholders involved in project; Women’s Aid Local level partners - National Youth Federation National partners - ROKS Sweden Child and Women Studies Unit, London.

The Daphne initiative is a one-year funded pilot project.

 Context Experience

Violence and abuse within dating relationships is a serious issue in contemporary society. Women’s Aid has run a preventative education programme in schools and the youth sector for the past five years. Our work has been, in the main, voluntary as funding opportunities for peer educational programmes in the area of violence are minimal. There is very little data available in Ireland that can inform us of young peoples’ experiences; our knowledge comes from our work on the ground and research data that we have gathered from around the world. Our experience informs us that violence within young dating relationships is very prevalent and that young peoples’ acceptance and tolerance of violent behaviours is high. Our society has recently experienced an influx of pornography, which we know is in daily use by mainly young men; we have witnessed a rise in attacks on very young girls to include abduction, sexual assault and rape. Through our preventative education work in schools and with young people and through our provision of services to adult victims of violence we have recognised the need for explorative work with young men and women with a view to providing a supportive, empowering environment for young people to discuss and explore, in the area of violence and abuse within dating relationships.

 Examples of relevant data

‘ Young people’s attitudes towards violence, sex and relationships: Executive Summary ( Burton,S and Kitzinger J with Kelly, L and Regan, L 1998) “A hundred years ago, a man was legally permitted to beat his wife ” providing the stick he used was no thicker than his thumb “ Twenty years ago a man could claim damages for himself if his wife had been raped on the grounds that ‘ the exclusive possession of his wife’s body has been violated ’. Ten years ago a man could legally rape his wife. Research published by the Zero Tolerance Charitable trust in 1998 showed widespread tolerance of violence against women amongst young people.

The following is some information from that research.

1in 2 boys and 1 in 3 girls thought that there were some circumstances when it was okay to hit a woman or force her to have sex.

36 % of the boys studied thought that they might personally force a woman to have sex

Over half the young people interviewed knew someone who had been hit by their male partner and exactly half knew someone who had been sexually abused

Daphne-project_1999-044_1  When asked if it was ever OK to hit a woman under particular circumstances:

Almost 1 in 4 young men thought that it would be acceptable to hit a woman if she has ‘slept with someone else’

1 in 8 young men believed it could be OK to hit a woman if she were ‘nagging’

1 in 10 young men thought it could be acceptable to hit a woman of she were his wife and 85 thought it could be OK if she were a girlfriend

Focus group discussion contextualised the findings. “Hitting women was regarded by most people who participated in the group as ‘ unmanly’ or ‘cowardly’”. However ‘provocation’ such as nagging was sometimes seen as a justifiable excuse for violence. As one young man commented: ‘some women just need a slap on the jaw and put into the bedroom to calm down’.

Excerpts From “ Towards a Community response to Domestic violence in Tuam Rural District” ( Power, L, ’97 )

In 1997 a study of experiences and needs of 16 – 18 year old girls who experience abusive dating relationships was carried out in the Tuam district, Galway. The following excerpts are taken from pupil’s comments contained in the questionnaire.

“ Its good to talk about this in the open or you’ll never get over it and most of all you’ll never get out of that horrible situation. You’ll always forgive the person and say it won’t happen again until next time it does and you end up blaming yourself.”

“ I don’t see what good answering a few questions on a piece of paper is going to do but I hope it helps. People need courage from inside to go and seek support etc. My friend was physically abused (by her boyfriend) broken bones were involved and she has done nothing about it. We hope she doesn’t go back to him.”

“ I have realised that some of my friends may be suffering from this and there is no where for them to go with the problem”

“ I’m glad this questionnaire is available to fill out. I had a bad experience with my boy friend that I was afraid of. I would like to get more information on this subject and I feel everyone should know more about it.”

In a study of 28 pupil’s responses to circumstances ‘a woman might deserve to be hit’?

Responses were: MALE % If she was unfaithful 22.4 If she is an alcoholic 15.5 If she provokes him verbally 10.3 If she provokes him physically 31.0 If she persistently refuses to do as he asks 10.3 If she neglects her households duties 10.3

FEMALE % If she was unfaithful 30 If she is an alcoholic 6.7 If she provokes him verbally 10 If she provokes him physically 43.3 If she persistently refuses to do as he

Daphne-project_1999-044_2 asks 6.7 If she neglects her household duties 3.3

These responses demonstrate attitudes that exist amongst young people. The responses clearly show the need for awareness raising amongst young people about the issue of violence within intimate relationships and the opportunity to explore acceptable / non-acceptable behaviour and tolerance of violent behaviours.

 The project. - Exploratory study - Peer education module

The project addresses and documents the lack of information, support and services in the community for young people who are witnessing or experiencing violence. The project also explores and defines the prevalence of violence against women in our society and the levels and forms of violence that young women are experiencing in dating relationships.

The project is staffed by Irene Mc Intosh - Project Co ordinator Aisling Griffin - Project Administrator

Overall management and advisor role to the project is delivered by Monica O’Connor, Manager Policy and Research Dept.

An advisory committee consisting of the key stakeholders in the project a nominated representative of key areas will service the project.

The role of the Advisory group is to:

 give advice and expertise  promote the issue of violence within their own sector  source funding opportunities  build relationships in key areas  support the programme with a view to mainstreaming the model The Exploratory study

The purpose of the survey is to:- i. Profile attitudes, experiences of violence in relation to young people ii. Explore young peoples’ feelings of safety and the impact of experiences of violence. iii. Establish young peoples’ help seeking patterns, what services do young people use? would like to use?, if available?.

The study will be carried out through the use of a questionnaire and focus group discussion. The questions include the experience or exposure of young people to violence. We will ask about experiences linked to domestic violence, sexual abuse, pornography, sexual harassment, dating relationship violence sexual assault and sexual co- ercion. We will ask about the impact of the above mentioned forms of abuse and in particular explore young peoples’ help seeking patterns in relation to disclosure, support information / advice.

The study will be carried out in:- 2 schools 2 youth group settings 2 traveller youth settings

Daphne-project_1999-044_3 The project aim is to have 300 completed questionnaires and six focus group discussions. The use of the focus groups allows us to develop a deeper understanding of attitudes that exist among young people and the facilitated discussion contextualises the findings from the questionnaires.

We are offering on site support for participants and will do follow up contact.

The Education Peer Programme aims to:-

(i) Enable young men and women to acquire the appropriate skills, knowledge and experience in the field of violence and abuse within dating relationships thus enabling the young people involved to act as peer educators within schools and youth areas. This is promoting active citizenship for participants.

(ii) Try out new forms of educational participation, to encourage young men and women to develop a critical mind and to foster creativity and initiative with a view to dispelling social and cultural barriers, thus promoting full active citizenship for participants.

(iii) Promote participation of young people as active agents in the field of violence within dating relationships.

(iv) Explore communication skills and conflict resolution skills.

(v) Enable young people to explore their political, social and cultural environments promoting an awareness of how society is constructed, the expectations placed upon the male and female role.

(vi) Raise awareness about power and control issues; gender inequality, negative and positive behaviours within dating relationships.

(vii) Empower young people to become aware of the importance of equality, human rights and the right to live free of violence and abuse

(viii) Encourage independence, creativity and spirit among young people, allowing freedom of expression of opinions, thoughts and feelings in the field of violence in dating relationships.

Guiding principles

That the project will:-

 adhere to the ethos of Women’s Aid  respect and actively seek the experiences of young people in order to inform the project  offer a non - judgmental, confidential, supportive, empowering environment for participants  promote equity and respect  be responsible and accountable to its stakeholders and funders

Project Outcomes

 Good research  user friendly peer education model  commitment towards mainstream funding  solid networks to build on existing relationships with stakeholders  complete a useful and informative literature review

Action Plan

Objectives and Performance indicators

Daphne-project_1999-044_4 Objective Activity Process 1.- to carry out and complete an 300 completed questionnaires Questionnaire designed exploratory study with 2 school, 6 completed focus groups pretested. helpful experience 2 youth groups and 2 traveller seminar held for young people, collaboration youth groups. of the women and child unit and Women’s Aid, study stats are widely used and quoted, findings disseminated.

2.- to identify young people’s clear information and responses about young young people have informed experiences, attitudes and help people’s experiences the process, the development of seeking patterns in relation to the model and that awareness violence and abuse has been raised about the issue

3.- to develop a peer education resource base developed on education and user friendly model, expertise and support model young people, a series of modules produced to in area accurate, attracts users from the education model in target groups 4.- to carry out an on 0ngoing Time allocated and agreed for evaluation to take on board lessons evaluation process in order to process, user friendly report produced on learned from process, project ensure good practice and completion of evaluation staff use plan as a checking achievable outcomes mechanism, promotes framework of good evaluation process 5.- to develop existing Advisory group set up, 4 meetings for duration promote the work, identified relationships with key of project, identify areas to build relations for and sourced funding, provided stakeholders in order to ensure Women’s Aid and Daphne access re mainstreaming sustainability of the work. participated actively at meetings

Vision

 Mainstreaming of the model  Training provision for peer education deliverers, support needs for receivers and deliverers, training for teachers, youth workers, etc.  service provision as a response to and informed by the participation of young people in the project

Report of the Task Force on Violence Against Women ( Office of the Tanaiste 1997 )

‘Education programmes for young people which are relevant to the issue of violence against women have an important part to play in preventing violence and abuse in a new generation, and in developing a general awareness around issues of gender equality.’ (p113 Education programmes, section 12.15.)

‘There was overwhelming consensus on the role which can be played by educational programmes in increasing awareness of the issue of violence against women and in decreasing acceptance of it within our society…’ ‘Educational programmes should be made available to all school children, including pre – school children: life skills programmes provide opportunities for this’ (Appendix 1 Report of the task Force, p132 b Educational programmes)

The following is a priority recommendation in relation to Education and Preventative programmes.

Daphne-project_1999-044_5 ‘Special Focus programmes in the education area should be introduces to provide young people with the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to prevent violence against women in future generations.’ (p18 priority recommendations)

The Daphne project runs until January / February 2001. We plan to hold a seminar to disseminate our findings and to raise awareness about violence and abuse within young people’s lives, our project will be informed developed in partnership with young people so as to provide the best appropriate good practice response.

Daphne-project_1999-044_6