1 in 10 women in the European Union have been victims of sexual violence, according to the 2014 Report of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), with young women being particularly vulnerable also due to the access to new media combined with the deviant understanding of gender roles. Can awareness-raising on gender stereotypes and on the sexualisation of women in digital media support the prevention of sexual violence and harassment against women and girls?
The CONVEY project sets out to answer this question: through the development of an online game and the implementation of a training programme for teachers and students of secondary schools, the project will aim to foster the respect of women’s rights and to change the behaviour of young people that reinforces gender stereotypes and leads to gender violence.
On September 15th, CESIE, coordinator of the project, took part in the kick-off meeting organised by the Directorate General Justice of the European Commission in Brussels for the grant-winning projects in the Action “Action Grants to support transnational projects to combat sexual harassment and sexual violence against women and girls”.
The project implementation started on September 1st through the work of the experienced project partners: Gender Alternatives Foundation (Bulgaria), Hope for Children (Cyprus), The Smile of the Child (Greece), Sexual Violence Centre Cork (Ireland), Westminster City Council (UK).
In the next 2.5 years, CONVEY will develop an online game, a pilot programme for teachers and 14-18 year-old people, policy recommendations for key educational and policy stakeholders, and a Social Awareness Campaign against sexual violence and sexual harassment. Throughout the project, a longitudinal research will be conducted to measure the impact of the project and the behaviour change in the young people involved in the activities.
In the short term, CONVEY project partners will meet in Palermo on November 14th– 15th to lay out the work of the upcoming months and begin their collaboration to fight gender stereotypes and gender violence.
The project website and more information about the project will be published soon. Watch this space!
If you are a teacher and would like to be involved with your school in the activities of the project, or if you would like to receive more information about the project, you can contact justice@cesie.org.
“CONVEY – Counteracting sexual violence and harassment: Engaging Youth in schools in digital education on gender stereotyping” is co-funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme of the European Commission.
