Ti riguarda!: Enilive and DonneXStrada’s guide to understanding and identifying violence against women
Violence against women is an issue that concerns everyone, regardless of gender, age, or socio-economic status. It is not limited to Italy, but affects societies all over the world: in Europe, one in three women has experienced or is currently experiencing violence. To combat these forms of abuse—physical, sexual, psychological, verbal, and economic—it is crucial to educate and train people, especially young individuals and workers in every field, on how to recognize violence and take action to support victims.
It is with this objective that Ti riguarda! Una guida pratica contro la violenza di genere was created, produced by Enilive together with the non-profit association DonneXStrada. A guide designed to analyze the issue of gender-based violence with a multidisciplinary and informative approach, pointing out the legal, psychological, and medical implications, as well as the practical ways to intervene to confront abuse, also providing the contacts to turn to in case of need.
The project was born from the awareness of Enilive and DonneXStrada of the urgency of providing adequate education on gender-based violence and on the support services available to victims: in Europe, in fact, 30% of the population does not know what these services are. And yet, as the United Nations reports, abuse and harassment against women represent the most widespread and pervasive violations of human rights. As a result, in Italy, 1 in 2 women is afraid to go out alone at night, 1 in 3 underage girls has been a victim of gang sexual assault, and almost 77% of women have been victims of harassment by strangers.
Ti riguarda! is divided into two sections: the first is dedicated to domestic and relationship violence (physical and psychological abuse, stalking, control over finances and digital devices, just to name a few); the second, instead, focuses on violence perpetrated outside the home, which includes harassment by strangers or acquaintances of the victim. The guide is addressed to everyone (because it concerns everyone), but with specific attention to the female population, and it uses simple and clear language to describe a complex and delicate phenomenon. Looking at the data, the seriousness of the situation becomes evident: globally, every year, 245 million women and girls aged 15 and over experience physical and/or sexual violence from a partner; in Italy, 10% of women suffer psychological violence (although this figure does not take into account unreported cases), 49% have experienced economic violence at least once in their lives, and 70% of young women between 14 and 18 have declared being victims of harassment and sexual comments in public places; 7.5% of women, moreover, have suffered sexual coercion in order to obtain, keep, or improve a job position.1
Finally, in the last pages of the guide, a mini-glossary on terms related to gender-based violence has been included, because such language is often used incorrectly and in ways that blame women. The glossary therefore analyzes expressions such as victim blaming and slut shaming in the section dedicated to rape culture, and explains why it is never correct to speak of “sudden fits of rage” (raptus) or “provocations” by victims when reporting acts of violence.
Enilive has committed to spreading the guide by distributing it across about 3,000 service stations, through QR codes placed on digital refueling terminals, on stickers and informational materials, and on the counters of around 600 Enilive Cafés, as well as through a broadcast campaign on Radio Enilive Station. From the collaboration between the company and DonneXStrada, a training and awareness project was also created for the managers of over 2,800 Enilive Stations and Enilive Cafés, with the goal of informing them and raising their awareness on how to recognize, prevent, and counter episodes of violence against women.
Every day, thanks to its widespread presence throughout Italy, Enilive is committed to combating gender-based harassment, with the goal of making streets safer and supporting victims—because change must start with those who experience those streets every day. A change that truly concerns us all.
- Fondazione Libellula ↩︎