Family

Family

Typically, in most societies, the role of woman inside the family is still connected with the household chores, raising children and taking care of their education. It is a traditional role that is still uphold in most of the rural communities and in some smaller cities. This creates gender misbalance in assuming roles inside the family and most of the times women are prevented from finding jobs and having a career. Also, they become dependent of their income provider (mostly husband or father) and cannot decide in issues that are connected with how the money is spent inside the family. In some local communities, specifically the ethnic Roma communities the role of women is predetermined inside the family and in many cases the education for Roma girls is stopped at an early age due to early marriage. Also, due to poor social protection measures from the state, most of the time women must stay home to care for elderly or sick members of the families, preventing them from having a functional social life, creating difficulties in balancing family life and their career status.

The fair distribution of household duties (e.g. washing, cooking, cleaning) is predominantly present among urban, high-income and high-educated families, while generally in the rest of the cases, women are responsible for them. Even when not in a relationship, it is not often for men to perform their own household tasks, with mothers taking care of them.

One suggestion about the origin of this phenomenon is that previously, when societies were mostly agricultural, the distribution of household tasks was more fairly divided between man and woman, with the man taking the more “heavy-duty” tasks (e.g. working the field, cutting the wood, carrying the heavy stuff), while women did the household tasks. Still, while in industrial societies most of the work typically performed by men is no longer necessary, the tasks of women remained almost the same and no redistribution happened in the meantime. In terms of men specific household tasks, just “doing the necessary repairs” is still present nowadays.

Regarding decision-making, we can likewise observe a difference between the role of women and men in this, with variations from urban to rural and also according to the education of the family members. A more democratic process of decision-making appears mostly in families with a high level of education or those with high incomes.

In terms of decision-making there are three typical patterns that can be observed:

1. A balanced decision making process, in which decisions on how money is spent, childcare and education, spending time, etc. are taken democratically by both partners;
2. A moderate matriarchal model, in which women make their own decisions about spending money on daily needs, childcare and education, while the other partner is particularly involved in spending money on major investments, spending leisure time and making decisions about professional life;
3. A patriarchal model (more predominant in the rural environment), in which the man makes decisions that concern the family's financial aspect: daily investment and spending, including child education and professional life decisions, while for leisure activities they consult with their partners.

Historically speaking, the origin of this comes from physical differences between man and woman, past changes in society and religious beliefs. The simplest explanation for this is that typically women have less physical strength and over the ages it was/is considered natural “the lesser serves the greater” (meaning the “weaker” women should “serve” the “stronger” men).

Religion also had its role in perpetuating this. In Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the Genesis is marked by the creation of Eve from the rib of Adam (which was interpreted as the woman being part of the man) and the “original sin” (which was “caused” by Eve, leading to the blame on all women). Based on these, each of the religions has given different interpretations of the male-female relationships, but in most cases the common factor is the subordination of women to men.

Moreover, the family is the first place where we can observe the development and transmission of gender stereotypes. By incorporating a number of social expectations (norms), members of the family, closely or distantly related to the person impose certain ideas that they think the person should conform to.

Numerous researches have emphasized how important family experiences are for the development of child gender stereotypes. Even though it is clear that parent-child connections and the balance between the mother and the father is directly affecting how kids perceive the roles and behaviours of each gender, it is yet unknown how these factors influence the development of more unconscious and implicit schemes for gender[1]. The first apparent signs of gender differentiation can be traced more or less at the age of 3 when the kid starts to apply sex-stereotypic labels to toys and activities.[2] Furthermore, social scientists have argued how the different parental styles can influence the development of gender stereotypes, with findings showing that a father’s parental style is more important than the mother’s, and that a child’s awareness of sex role stereotypes is immediately dependent on whether or not the mother and the father adopt traditional gender behaviours (ex. fathers that perform household and childcare tasks have children with less sex role stereotypes)[3].

Having said how important the influence of the family is on the development of the gender stereotypes, we can’t forget to mention the dark side of the gender stereotypes developed inside families. It is quite often that we see the traditional roles of men as money providers and women as domestic workers, being imprinted to younger generations through family life and traditions. Parents tend to assign the majority of domestic work to girls and boys rarely learn the basics of home management or child caring. This unequal treatment has major consequences on the sharing of division of resources and the pursuit of opportunities for professional development (less money for girl’s education and less time for them, to fulfil their potential outside the house).

Stereotypes in couple relationship

While there is little statistical research on the topic, there are different “stereotypes” or “myths” that are propagated in the culture, like:

a) Men should be the sex experts while women should not have a lot of previous experience

According to gender expectations, men should be sex experts and women should have less experience (if at all). This gender stereotype has its roots in the history of those societies in which double standards were applied and the innocence (virginity) of women before marriage was carefully guarded and vital to the marriage.

The stereotype indicates that males should bear the burden of responsibility for making all decisions regarding intercourse: when, where and what to do. For this reason women will avoid taking the initiative and expressing their needs, leading to not satisfying relationships. However, other men may perceive the role of “the expert” as a heavy burden as it imposes full responsibility for the outcome of sexual intercourse and involuntarily transforms an intimate relationship into a kind of examination. Fear of "failure" can cause one of the most common male sexual disorders - the so-called "performance anxiety".

b) Women are less sexual than men.

It is often considered that women are/should be less interested in sexual relationships than men. As a result of this gender stereotype, women have been subjected to negative emotions, being taught to suppress or deny their natural sexual feelings. While the phenomenon is decreasing, many women still continue to experience the influence of such views.

The most typical manifestation of this is when a woman who expresses sexual needs or engages with several partners is perceived and appreciated by others as "lascivious," "accessible" or even “prostitute”. In the same situation, men who show similar forms of behaviour are to be characterized in society as "macho" or "playboy", often involving exaltation, rather than the humiliation of personal dignity.

This can also have a bad influence on male well being. A man may think that he should strive for sex, even when he does not have the desire for sexual intimacy, because this is part of his "male" role. A woman who refuses a man receives respect while refusal by a man is perceived as a sign of his failure. For this, a person who does not feel the instant excitement at the appearance of a person who seems attractive and/or accessible to him can doubt his skills. According to the predominant stereotype, any man should immediately show desire in a situation where he has the opportunity to achieve sexual satisfaction. Such an idea is humiliating and reduces people to the position of insensitive machines that react instantly, irrespective of their feelings.

c) Men should be the initiators and women should demonstrate passivity

The stereotypical idea of ​​men as initiators of sexual intercourse may be problematic for both sexes. For some men, the need to constantly show an initiative can be accompanied by stress, due to the fact that they always risk being rejected. Even in well-established relationships between partners, the male is often expected to be the active part in all-sexual encounters. This can in time replace the pleasure of intimacy with the feeling of performing a job that requires success.

For a woman who feels obliged to take a passive position, it can be extremely difficult to act as the initiator of sexual intercourse. In a situation where a man, for some reason, does not hurry to take the initiative, she will rather start worrying about her attractiveness than expressing her sexual interest as a partner. Also, a woman may be worried that if she becomes the initiator of the relationship, she will shock, scare or be rejected by the man. After all, according to traditional ideas, if a woman invites a man to meet it indicates her desire to "jump straight to bed with him".

One theory behind the causes for these gender differences is based on the males’ and females’ different reproductive capacities. A woman can go have sex with a man, but for her this can result in carrying his baby which, if he leaves, will not be wanted by another man. In the meantime, the man can have sex with many women and for him, personally, this does not create a similar situation. While now modern contraception makes this problem inexistent, from the mentality point of view the problem is still there, perpetuated by different religious and cultural norms.

d) Social expectations (norms) about marriage

These norms may cover a wide range of issues, from the appropriate age for marriage (ex. girls who wait to marry later don’t find a husband) to the adoption or not of the husband’s family name after the marriage (which is still the norm in most of the countries). According to a series of psychological researches the depth of this name changing norm is such that it has been noted that the husbands whose wives have decided to keep their family name are considered having less power in the relationship.[4] Other gender related norms appear when it comes to a child’s name giving, where in most countries the law imposes that the child must be given the father’s family name.

e) Cultural and/or religious values emphasising virginity

Controlling human reproduction is one of the most crucial societal goals, thus ideals and practices concerning it are specified in all cultures. Reproduction is integral to our definition of what it means to be a man and woman so gender stereotypes incorporate a number of ideas about sexuality and reproduction. A very popular example of cultural ideas-stereotypes about sexuality is the preservation of virginity till marriage. Even though virginity is usually demanded out of both men and women, in most cases the burden to preserve and provide proof of their virginity to the husband, husband’s family and social entourage falls upon women. The social pressure that is put on the concept of virginity is so intense and can have various consequences in different cultures and circumstances, from proceeding to wedding during adolescence to high rates of prejudice and violence against women who don’t follow the norm. In Western multicultural societies like in Belgium, this demand can often be seen through the phenomenon of mass demand for reconstitution of the female hymen through a special surgical procedure.[5]

Son bias

The term son bias refers to a preference for sons over daughters when it comes to family creation and development. The son bias may be manifested in different ways. According to a World Bank Policy Research Paper, statistically, a male foetus can increase the possibility of creation of a family through marriage and the probability of a successful marriage. In other words, we have found that women carrying female first born babies were more likely to be single parents compared to the ones carrying male babies, but also that families with at least one son were less likely to file for divorce compared to the ones with daughters.[6] Another very interesting finding that is apparent in this type of researches is that families with a female first child are usually larger, indicating the parents wish to try to have a son.[7] The fact that families with girls are usually bigger also affects the distribution of resources among the children and the quality of education each child receives according to their gender. It is really common to see parents investing more in the education and professional development of a son while seeing their daughter’s role as a future wife to be as the most important development for her. To some extent, we can also say that even in western societies, families tend to see a daughter’s marriageability as an asset to be traded in the future.

^[1] https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Judi_Mesman/publication/257663738_Gender_Stereotypes_in_the_Family_Context_Mothers_Fathers_and_Siblings/links/54c23e910cf256ed5a8c8053.pdf

^[2] Huston, A. (1985). The development of sex-typing: Themes from recent research. Developmental Review, 5, 1-1

^[3] Turner, P. J., & Gervai, J. (1995). A multidimensional study of gender typing in preschool children and their parents: Personality, attitudes, preferences, behavior, and cultural differences. Developmental Psychology, 31, 759–772. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.31.5.759.

^[4] Robnett,R.D., Wertheimer, M., Tenenbaum, H.R. (2018). Does a Woman’s Marital Surname Choice Influence Perceptions of Her Husband? An Analysis Focusing on Gender-Typed Traits and Relationship Power Dynamics. Sex Roles, Vol.79, No. 1-2, pp.59

^[5] https://www.rtl.be/info/regions/bruxelles/interdiction-du-certificat-de-virginite-les-gynecos-plaident-contre-78662.aspx

^[6] http://www.nber.org/papers/w10281.pdf

^[7] Filmer, Deon and Friedman, Jed and Schady, Norbert, Development, Modernization, and Son Preference in Fertility Decisions (September 1, 2008). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 4716. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1267077

Employment

Employment

Lack of adequate childcare facilities as well as fiscal disincentives are two factors depressing labour force participation of women, including the more highly skilled. In all countries of the world women confront a significant “gender pay gap”, particularly in the private sector, which reflects structural differences regarding age, education and occupation. Female employees are concentrated in certain type of jobs and industries with relatively low pay. There are also large differences in hourly pay between full-time and part-time jobs, where women are overly represented. Part of these occur because of industrial or occupational segregation, educational background, labour market experience or seniority, but these alone cannot fully explain the observed differences.

Different types of measures demonstrate gender inequality at work. First of all, the employment rate shows the gender gap in the labour market. This is represented in many ways. For example, in Belgium, women and men’s employment rate for the 3rd quarter of 2016 were 62,6% and, respectively, 72,3%. In Kyrgyzstan, in 2016, 9.5% of women were seeking employment, compared to 6.2% of men. In Romania, even if there are more women than men (51,5% vs. 49,5%), in terms of occupied population (persons that are working, studying, retired, etc.) the ratio is opposite, with women representing just 43% of occupied population, and men 57%.

Typically the role of woman inside the family is connected with the household chores, raising children and taking care of their education. It is a traditional role that is still uphold in most of the rural communities and in some smaller cities. On average, women spend more time doing household activities than men. This creates gender misbalance in assuming roles inside the family and most of the times women are prevented from finding jobs and taking a career. According to the 2017 report on the equality between women and men in the EU, men spend 39 hours of paid work per week on average in the EU, whereas women spend 33 hours in paid work. For Belgium the working hours per week are 40 for men and 33 for women. In contrast, women do the lion’s share of housework and care: working women spend 22 hours per week in unpaid work while working men spend fewer than 10 hours[1]. In Romania, on average, depending on the environment where they live, women spend 40% to 50% more time doing household activities than men.

Another important indicator of gender inequality at work is the Gender Pay Gap (GPG). It is notable that Belgium has one of the smallest gender pay gaps in the EU and the OECD, beating out countries with a world-renowned reputation for gender equality, like Sweden, Norway and Iceland. According to the figures coming from the OECD the Belgian GDG is as low as 3,3% while the European is 19,2%. In the Public sector women are actually paid more on an hourly basis[2]. For Kyrgyzstan, the ratio of wages of women to men in the country in 2014 was 75.3% in 2016, with the largest difference in the ratio is the Jalabad region, in which it is 64.6% in 2016. This difference is explained by the remoteness of the region and the greater economic activity of men.

This impressively small GPG may be attributed to four different Belgian good practices:[3]

1. Annual Gender Pay Gap Report: It is true that in Belgium, transparency on how much men and women are paid has been standard for years. In 2006 the federal government decided that there was a need for official gender pay gap data annually. Up till then, the media were full of contradictory figures, and studies. As from 2007 the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men in cooperation with the Federal Public Service Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue, and the Directorate-general Statistics published an annual report, containing clear policy recommendations. 
2. Law for Equal Pay: After the recommendations there have a law voted In 2012 in order to tackle the gender pay gap. The new law stated that the gender pay gap should be discussed on all levels of collective labour negotiation (national, sector, subsector, company). All job classification systems have to be analysed on their gender neutrality by the Federal Public Service Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue. All enterprises with at least 50 employees must make up a gender pay gap report every two years. A mediator for claims of unequal pay can be appointed in companies.
3. High Rate of Trade Union Membership: Having some of the highest and growing levels of trade union membership in Europe has been a catalyst for the moving towards equality of payment. This means that instead of individually negotiating salary with a boss, there is an agreed framework for who is paid what based on what they do. As a result of this approach to setting pay, practically all workers’ wages are set by collective agreements, which apply irrespective of gender and don’t discriminate against women. The stricter framework for setting salaries essentially makes it impossible to pay women less to do the same job.
4. Annual Equal Pay Day: In 2005 the socialist political women’s movement Zij-kant, together with the socialist trade union, organized the first Equal Pay Day in Belgium (www.equalpayday.be). They took a trademark on the name, and have organized this day annually since then. Campaigns are very visible but often controversial.

In extent to these, due to a stereotypical division of labour in the households, where women take up most of the care given to children and other relatives, non-standard forms of employment and temporary or part-time work are more common for women. For example, in the health sector in Belgium the share of part-time work is higher than the general part- time employment rates. 54.1% of women’s paid work is part-time, for men this is 17.6%[4]

The type of tasks women and men do are very different too. Women tend to perform more routine, labour-intensive and rigidly scheduled tasks, in rapid alternation or even simultaneously. This is notably the case when they enter motherhood, but also if they care for elderly or disabled relatives. In the latter case, they tend to be more involved if care becomes more intensive and regular. In terms of typical occupations, there are still a lot of male specific/female specific jobs. A stereotype is still alive that women should occupy positions like a nurse, a librarian, a teacher, a secretary, a social worker, which are traditionally low paid.

The proportion of female researchers, female entrepreneurs etc. are still low. There are fewer women managers in the business sector, which contributes to obstacles to the development of women's entrepreneurship. For example, in Belgium, in the health sector, despite being largely dominated by women (78,7% of employees), on a managerial level, the domination of women is much less apparent. Almost half of managers are men. Skilled workers are predominantly men, unskilled predominantly women.

Interruption of careers, especially after birth, is another important factor that determines the position and a woman's earnings throughout the active life. While both women and men are entitled to parental leave, in most cases, whether we are talking about the private sector or the public sector, it is women who use this. Women who take maternity leave end up earning less (as during this time they typically receive less than their previous salary) and also receive a lower pension (compared to women who did not take maternity leave).

The origin of all these situations relates to different stereotypes about gender roles and capacities, like:

• “Women are too weak to run a business”
• “Male bosses are more professional than women bosses”.
• “It is more the duty of the woman to deal with the household work”.
• “A housewife is as accomplished as a wife with a job”.
• “The man should be the ‘breadwinner’ of the family and provide the main income of the house”

What is interesting is that in a lot of countries the percentage of women and men who agree to these stereotypes is rather equal, indicating that the internalisation process of the oppression is advanced.

Another important aspect to discuss is the awareness on these issues. For example, statistically speaking, only about 10% of women consider that they are discriminated at work because of their gender. On the other hand, not all women can clearly articulate what is “gender based discrimination” and how it is manifested, so they cannot really acknowledge the problem nor seek for ways to confront it.

^[1] European Commission 2017 Report on Equality between women and men in the EU

^[2]  IEWM, Country Fact Sheet Belgium. Some Facts about the Gender Pay Gap in Belgium, Brussels, July 2015. http://www.genderpaygap.eu/documents/Factsheet_Belgium.pdf 

^[3]  Idem

^[4]  IEWM, Country Fact Sheet Belgium. Some Facts about the Gender Pay Gap in Belgium, Brussels, July 2015. http://www.genderpaygap.eu/documents/Factsheet_Belgium.pdf 

Gender based violence

Gender based violence

Gender based violence is an issue that is not so often confronted and point it out in the public agenda. It takes many forms, some of which are not even acknowledged by the victims, who treat them as “normal” behaviour.

In Romania, typical gender based violence is predominant in rural areas where women are still considering violence an acceptable practice inside the family (not only toward women but also toward other members of the family - children, elderly persons). Two thirds of all women in Romania confirm that, at least once in their lifetime, they were subjected to a form of aggression, verbal, sexual or physical. As indicated by a European survey on violence against women, Romania scores among the top countries (of 28).  According to the Romanian General Police Inspectorate, during the first six months of 2016 there were 9,000 cases of abuses and violence. The Police recorded a number of 8,926 complaints of family violence. Most of the victims were women (79%) while the aggressors are mainly men (92,3%). During the same period there were 81 cases of rape within the family (36% of rapes occurred in the urban area, while 64% in the rural one). In 21% of the cases the victim is the aggressor’s partner, and in 44,4% of cases the victim is a son or a daughter, sometimes a stepson or a stepdaughter. All of these aggressors were men. It should be noted that these data refer only to the reported cases.

In Kyrgyzstan, according to official statistics, about 50% of all women were subjected to violence in the family or at work. In addition, a significant part of them fell into their own family through violence (through bridal kidnapping). Courts often do not take the side of victims of domestic violence, and if they make a decision in their favour, the law enforcement bodies do not ensure their observance. Almost 90% of victims do not struggle with this in any way; only 10% take measures and seek protection.

Physical and/or sexual violence

According to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights 34% of EU women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a partner or a non-partner since the age of 15 (21% in Romania, 37% in Belgium and some countries reaching more than 50%). This includes victims being:

• Pushed or shoved,
• Slapped
• Thrown at with hard object
• Grabbed or pulled by their hair,
• Beaten with a fist or a hard object, or kicked
• Burned,
• Strangled
• Cut or stabbed
• Forced into sexual intercourse
• Made to take part in any form of sexual activity when they did not want to or were unable to refuse
• Consented to sexual activity because they were afraid of what might happen they refused

Also, 13% of EU women experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a partner or a non-partner in the previous 12 months before the survey, with 18% in Belgium, 9% in Romania and more than 20% in Denmark, Finland, France, Netherlands or Sweden.

38% of EU women aged 18 to 29 declared that they know women in their circle of friends and family who have been a victim of any form of domestic violence (Romania 24% and Belgium 40%).

28% of EU women aged 18 - 29 declared that in the last 12 months prior to the survey they were worried about being physically or sexually assaulted by their current partner, a previous partner, a relative of a family member (other than partner), someone from work, school or training, another acquaintance or a friend, or an unknown person. Depending on the EU country, this percentage can go even higher than 50%, with Romania at 14% and Belgium at 36%.

In the period of 12 months prior to the interview done by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 60% of EU women aged 18 - 29 were avoiding places or situations for fear of being physically or sexually assaulted, like:

• Avoided leaving the home on their own due to fear of being assaulted,
• Avoided to take certain streets or going to certain areas for fear of being assaulted,
• Avoiding to go to places where there are no other people around,
• Avoiding to open the door when alone at home,
• Avoiding to go home because of what might happen there,
• Avoiding being alone with a colleague or boss at work.

68% of respondents from Belgium and 39% of the ones from Romania were in such a situation.

Still, it is interesting to observe that partly based on the stereotype that even if women or girls are subjected to violence or sexual assault they are to blame (because they caused or gave the occasion for it) and taking into account the social pressure (that these incidents should be kept private) in Romania, the percentage of shame and embarrassment are almost double (48% and 40%). Also, given that the protection measures for a victim is less, we can also notice that fear is much more prevalent, with more than 76% of victims declaring to feel afraid following the incident. This can also be observed when the victims were asked the reasons for which they did not announce the violence or assault to the police: 9% because they thought it was their fault, 34% were ashamed or embarrassed to do it, 22% wanted to keep the mater private, 22% did not want the relationship to end. A similar behaviour is observed in most of the former communist countries of the EU.

For Kyrgyzstan, figures of statistics of the National Statistical Committee and the Internal Affair bodies show, in most cases victims of domestic violence are socially vulnerable family members - children, the elderly and women. Thus, 97% of victims of family violence are women (wives, daughters, sisters and mothers), 30% of children suffer from physical violence, 71% of the surveyed population noted the existence of violence against the elderly in a study conducted by the NGO Women.

Judicial statistics show that 5,269 people were convicted of family violence for 5 years, of which more than 68% are husbands; about 20% are sons, by kinship with the victim.

During this period, 21,525 people appealed to the health care system due diseases caused by family violence and the facts of family violence, of which 16,276 (76%) were women.

Every year, from 8,000 to 9,200 people come to crisis centers, aksakal courts and other specialized institutions due the problems of family violence. In 2010-2014, 41,927 complaints of domestic violence were registered, of which 80% (33,846 people) who applied were women.

Psychological violence

According to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights 47% of EU women aged 18 - 29 have experienced form of psychological violence by a partner since the age of 15. These forms include partner:

• Keeping them from seeing their friends,
• Having their contact with family of birth or relatives restricted,
• Insisting on knowing where they are in a way that goes beyond general concern,
• Getting angry if they spoke with another man,
• Becoming suspicious that they were unfaithful,
• Preventing them from making decisions about family finances and from shopping independently,
• Forbidding them to work outside the home,
• Forbidding them to leave the house, take away the car keys or lock them up
• Humiliating them in private and in front of other people,
• Doing things to scare or intimidate them on purpose, for example by yelling and smashing things,
• Making you watch or look at pornographic material against their wishes,
• Threatening to take the children away from them
• Threatening to hurt them or their children,
• Threatening to hurt or kill someone else they care about

49% of women aged 18 - 29 from Belgium and 35% of those from Romania declared to have been in such position.

Sexual harassment

According to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights up to 90% of women aged 18 to 29 from some EU countries, and an average of 62% of them have experience in their life at least one form of sexual harassment, including: 

• Unwelcome touching, hugging or kissing,
• Sexually suggestive comments or jokes that made them feel offended,
• Inappropriate invitations to go out on dates,
• Intrusive questions about their private life that made them feel offended,
• Intrusive comments about their appearance that made them feel offended,
• Inappropriate staring or leering that made them feel intimidated,
• Somebody sending or showing them sexually explicit pictures, photos or gifts that made them feel offended,
• Somebody indecently exposing themselves to them,
• Somebody making them watch or look at pornographic material against their wishes,
• Unwanted sexually explicit emails or SMS messages that offended them
• Inappropriate advances that offended them on social networking websites such as Facebook, or in internet chat rooms

The percentage in Belgium is 64% and in Romania is 41%. Despite this, in Romania the police investigates less than 50 cases each year and only 9 were taken to court between 2007 and 2017 (with just 4 people convicted in 2 cases) (according to Romanian Police and Minister of Justice, cited by http://voxpublica.realitatea.net/politica-societate/hartuire-adevaratele-probleme-ale-justitiei-din-rom-121321.html)

Stalking

According to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights up to 30% of women in Some EU countries (with an EU average of 20%) have experience in their life at least one form of stalking, including: 

• Receiving mails, SMS or instant messages that were offensive or threatening,
• Receiving letters or cards that were offensive or threatening,
• Receiving offensive, threatening or silent phone calls,
• Being the subject of offensive comments on the internet,
• Having intimate photos or videos of you shared on the internet or by mobile phone,
• Being loitered or waited outside home, workplace or school without a legitimate reason
• Being deliberately followed around,
• Having their property deliberately interfered with or damaged

In Romania the percentage is 14% and in Belgium 27%.

Rape Culture

Rape Culture is a sociological concept used to describe an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized due to societal attitudes about gender and sexuality. 

Rape culture is perpetuated through the use of misogynistic language, the objectification of women’s bodies, and the glamorization of sexual violence, thereby creating a society that disregards women’s rights and safety. Other typical behaviours associated with the prevalence of rape culture include: victim blaming, slut shaming, trivializing rape and refusing to acknowledge the harm caused by some forms of sexual violence.

Examples of Rape Culture:

• Blaming the victim (“She asked for it!”)
• Trivializing sexual assault (“Boys will be boys!”)
• Sexually explicit jokes
• Tolerance of sexual harassment
• Inflating false rape report statistics
• Publicly scrutinizing a victim’s dress, mental state, motives, and history
• Gendered violence in movies and television
• Defining “manhood” as dominant and sexually aggressive
• Defining “womanhood” as submissive and sexually passive
• Pressure on men to “score”
• Pressure on women to not appear “cold”
• Assuming only promiscuous women get rape
• Refusing to take rape accusations seriously
• Teaching women to avoid getting raped instead of teaching men not to rape

Victim Blaming

Victim Blaming is implying or stating that the victim of sexual harassment or abuse is equally responsible for what happened. The main reason people blame a victim is to distance them from an unpleasant occurrence and thereby confirm their own invulnerability to the risk. But in reality, this is not a helpful reaction.

Victim-blaming attitudes marginalize the victim/survivor and make it harder to come forward and report the abuse. If the survivor knows that society blames her for the abuse, s/he will not feel safe or comfortable coming forward and speaking about it.

The truth is that when the social circle and the society remain neutral about the abuse and say that both people need to change, they are practically supporting the abusive partner and making it less likely that the survivor will seek support.

We should never forget that abuse is a conscious choice made by the abuser. Abusers have a choice in how they react to their partner’s actions. Options besides abuse include: walking away, talking in the moment, respectfully explaining why an action is frustrating, breaking up, etc. Additionally, abuse is not about individual actions that incite the abuser to hurt his partner, but rather about the abuser’s feelings of entitlement to do whatever he wants to his partner.

Cyber Violence

During the recent years there has been an effort to accumulate data and raise awareness on the phenomenon of the cyber violence, certain forms of which, appear to target women more than men.

There are various forms of cyber Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), including, but not limited to, cyber stalking, non-consensual pornography (or ‘revenge porn’), gender-based slurs and harassment, ‘slut-shaming’, unsolicited pornography, ‘sextortion’, rape and death threats, and electronically enabled trafficking.

Cyber Harassment appeared with the technological advances. In the past, we could start a rumour or criticize a person in front of a specific audience. Today, everything that is written on the Internet can be read and shared by the millions users.

Cyber harassment can include:

• Unwanted sexually explicit emails, text (or online) messages;
• Inappropriate or offensive advances on social networking websites or internet chat rooms;
• Sexual Objectification: Use of manipulated photographs and sexually explicit descriptions of the victim’s body. Girls and women’s photographs are often used without their consent and manipulated so that they appear in pornographic scenes or used in memes.
• Slut-Shaming: A form of gender-based bullying often targeting teenage girls. Slut-shaming, stalking, the use of non-consensual photography and sexual surveillance frequently overlap, amplifying impact on targets.
• Threats of physical and/or sexual violence by email, text (or online) messages
• Hate speech: Language that targets, insults or threatens an individual based on her identity (gender) and other traits (such as sexual orientation or disability). Typically, harassers’ use words such as “bitch,” “slut,” “whore,” or “cunt” and include commentary on women’s physical appearances.

Cyber stalking is stalking by means of email, text (or online) messages or the Internet. Stalking involves repeated incidents, which may or may not individually be innocuous acts, but combined undermine the victim’s sense of safety and cause distress, fear or alarm.

Cases of Cyber Stalking can include:

• Sending emails, text messages (SMS) or instant messages that are offensive or threatening;
• Posting offensive comments about the respondent on the internet;
• Sharing intimate photos or videos of the respondent, on the internet or by mobile phone.

To be considered as cyber stalking, these acts must take place repeatedly and be perpetrated by the same person.

Non-consensual Pornography (also known as cyber exploitation or ‘revenge porn’) involves the online distribution of sexually graphic photographs or videos without the consent of the individual in the images. The perpetrator is often an ex-partner who obtains the images or videos in the course of a prior relationship. Images can also be obtained by hacking into the victim’s computer, social media accounts or phone, and can aim to inflict real damage on the target’s ‘real-world’ life

There have been multiple publicised cases of female victims of non-consensual pornography in EU Member States over recent years, several of which committed suicide as a result. An additional trend is the live broadcasting of incidents of sexual assault and rape via social media. So far in 2017 there has already been one high-profile case in Europe, in Sweden of a victim whose rape was streamed online using the ‘Facebook live’ function.

Victim support

In terms of victim support, there is quite a significant difference between West Europe and East Europe/Central Asia. In the latter, besides the fact that violent acts are less often reported, there is also not a unitary response policy toward this issue from the authorities. There are reports of domestic violence that is not dealt properly by the police, restraint orders that are often breached with no effective law enforcement control. Shelters and counselling centres for victims are insufficient and do not represent an effective solution for the large number of persons that seek help.  

One interesting institution from Kyrgyzstan to which women turn to for protection is the Aksakal court - voluntary bodies created on a voluntary basis and on the election and self-government, designed to review materials sent to them in the prescribed manner by the court, the prosecutor, other law enforcement agencies that have the right to hear criminal cases and their officials in accordance with applicable law of the Kyrgyz Republic, as well as cases of disputes between citizens in the cases and manner established by the Law.

Aksakal courts can be established by the decision of a meeting of citizens, local councils in the territory of villages, cities. Aksakal courts are not legal entities and are not subject to registration with legal entity. Aksakal courts have a seal and stamps.

According to the above statistics, more than 65% of appeals to aksakal courts and more than 82% of appeals to crisis centers were from women, from 63 to 91% of appeals resulting from domestic violence to health care system were from women. These statistics indicate the vulnerability of women to domestic, gender and sexual violence in the family, despite the measures taken by the state and public organizations.

Still, in most cases victims of violence and aggressors are pacified by relatives, neighbours or other relatives, who, in order to prevent any complaints refer to traditions and shame, asking the victim to ignore the aggression.