In an effort to eradicate violence against women by 2030, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in partnership with the Centre for Research, Documentation and Information on Women (CREDIF) launched on October 20, 2021, an awareness-raising campaign against gender-based discrimination.
Describe the campaign “it is called discrimination”
This form of undeclared violence embodied in everyday practices touches several sectors and affects a very large number of women in Tunisia.
Through this interview with Head of UNFPA Office Tunisia Rym Fayala, the key points of this campaign, which ends today, will be outlined.
The campaign which is called discrimination and is funded by the Japanese government up to $11 thousand, is running from October 20 to 27 and aims to raise awareness about the need to denounce discriminatory acts against women through the posting of videos on social networks with real testimonies and the display of posters in public spaces.
The idea is to change the behaviour and attitudes to stop tolerating and accepting inequalities between men and women.
What was the purpose or the trigger for this campaign?
This campaign has been based mainly on studies that had been conducted by several institutions, particularly that carried out by the CREDIF and supported by the UNFPA on “the attitudes and perspectives of men and boys with regard to violence against women.”
Through this study, gender-based discrimination and inequality between men and women supported by non-ordinary physical, economic, sexual and political violence has been identified.
Several social standards are at the root of this violence, such as the male discourse on virility or the stereotype that “Tunisian women have more rights than they should.”
We live in a patriarchal society where social standards inherited through generations encourage violence against women and to combat this violence, we need to tackle the sources which are the different forms of gender discrimination.
This had been behind the idea of a campaign that involves men and boys, who are usually the aggressors. This involvement had also been recommended by the above-mentioned study to combat this discrimination rooted in the mentalities of men but also of women themselves.
What do you mean by ordinary violence?
This is the classification we have adopted in this campaign. By “ordinary violence” we mean any discriminatory behaviour against women that is “tolerated and accepted” by society, such as the set of social rules restricting a woman’s right to go out at night, for example, or even limiting a woman’s role to household and domestic tasks.
So it is not physical, sexual or economic violence as defined by the various governmental and non-governmental structures.
Ordinary violence is psychological violence that goes unnoticed and that is inculcated in our culture and social rules.
Your campaign is based on testimonies, what have been the criteria for your choice?
We mainly wanted to get men to testify, who are, as I mentioned, largely the perpetrators of this form of violence.
The testimonies represent several sectors where discrimination is found. We considered that discrimination exists in certain sectors more than others and it is on this basis that the choice of personalities has been made.
We published testimonies from the school environment, for example, where discrimination is seen at several levels, notably the wearing of school aprons, which is mandatory for girls and not for boys.
This discrimination can even be witnessed in school textbooks in which women are often presented in domestic roles and activities.
This discrimination is also evident in the choice of school, university and even vocational curriculum, where certain jobs are considered to be men’s.
The sports environment has also been a place where discrimination is a daily occurrence.
This is why we have chosen a sportsman to testify to the discrimination between girls and boys in the choice of sport to be practiced as well as in the mixing of groups during training sessions.
The testimonies also emanate from the family and domestic environment where many discriminatory practices have been reported.
Discrimination is particularly evident in access to decision-making positions. Indeed, despite their high level of education, women still do not have sufficient access to decision-making positions. For the same position, a man is often chosen.
What are the first feedbacks to this campaign?
After a few days of its launch, this campaign has aroused the interest of several Internet users who have reacted and shared the publications on our Facebook page through the Hashtag #اسمو_تمييز (it is called discrimination).
A report will be drawn up after the end of the campaign to assess its impact on the target population.
Source: Tap News Agency