The expansion of the Anti-violence Network of the Urban-Italia cities, initiated in 2001 thanks to financing
by the European Social Fund of the National Operative Programme (PON) “Security for the development
of Southern Italy” under the Ministry of the Interior and of the PON “Action Systems” under the Ministry
of Employment and Social Policies, has seen the number of cities involved in this second work phase increase by the following 17 cities: Genoa, Trieste, Carrara, Pescara, Turin, Salerno, Cosenza, Crotone, Bari,
Syracuse, Misterbianco, Catanzaro, Caserta, Taranto, Mola di Bari, Cagliari and Brindisi.
The Department for Rights and Equal Opportunities, more specifically Clara Collarile and Maria Gabriella
Colombi, coordinated the Project with the cooperation of the Unit for Equal Opportunity of the Institute for
Development and Professional Training of Workers (ISFOL).
Technical support for the project and for the cities was given by Alberta Basaglia, Maura Misiti, Maria
Rosa Lotti and Vittoria Tola of the Technical Scientific Committee.
The statistical data resulting from the nationally conducted Urban survey was analysed and elaborated by
Loredana Cerbara and Maria Girolama Caruso, researchers at the Population Research and Social Policy
Institute (l’Istituto di Ricerche sulla Popolazione e le Politiche Sociali IRPPS), an organ of the National
Research Centre (CNR). Cristina Adami elaborated the data regarding the operators. The firm Demetra of
Venice provided the technical support with the CATI system and assembled the data in a national file.
Research was conducted on a local level by: the Associazione Temporanea di Scopo «CO.FE.MED. Italia Non-profit
charity organisations – D.ANTHEA s.r.l. – En.A.P. Puglia»( Bari); IPRES (Brindisi); The Regional Scientific Centre
of Preventive Medicine (Centro Scientifico Regionale di Prevenzione Sanitaria) (Cagliari); Space for Women Association (Associazione Spazio Donna Non-profit charity organisations) (Caserta); The Microcosmos Research Group
(Carrara); the “Associazione Tra le Righe” Non-profit charity organisations Centro Calabrese Solidarietà (City of Catanzaro); the Department of Sociology and Political Science of the University of Calabria (City of Crotone); the Centre
against Violence to Women (Centro contro la violenza alle donne) “Roberta Lanzino” (City of Cosenza); Union of
Italian Women – Safe House against violence (Unione Donne Italiane – Centro di accoglienza per non subire violenza) (City of Genoa); the Department for Analysis of Political and Social Processes (Dipartimento di Analisi dei Processi Politici e Sociali -DAPPSI) of the University of Catania, Political Science Faculty (City of Misterbianco); the
Lelio Basso International Foundation– Disamis (City of Mola di Bari); Faculty of the Methodology of Social Sciences
of the Department of Social Sciences of the “G.d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara (City of Pescara); the Department of Sociology and Political Science of the University of Salerno (City of Salerno); the DAERA Cooperative
in ATI with the La Nereide Association (City of Syracuse); the Lelio Basso International Foundation – Disamis (City
of Taranto); the CIRSD and the Interdisciplinary Research Centre and Women’s Studies of the University of Turin
(City of Turin); the G.O.A.P. Association–Anti-violence Centre (City of Trieste).
The realisation of the project was made possible by the hard work of the members of the administrative councils, the directors and functionaries of the cities involved in the Network who, together with all the persons
with various titles and in the various phases, who believed in the project and laboured for its success.
Special thanks go again to the women and men of the neighbourhoods and to the professionals who, participating in the interviews, gave their invaluable contribution to the development of research on the theme of violence against women in Italy.
The publication of this study was made possible thanks to financing from the ESF.
Franca Bimbi is responsible for the scientific supervision of this study.
The study was edited by Anada Francesconi.
Cover by R&R Sas
Translation from Italian into English by Eugenie Kunst
For more information on this project: Dipartimento per i Diritti e le Pari Opportunità, Presidenza del
Consiglio dei Ministri, Largo Chigi,19 00187 Roma; www.retepariopportunita.it For information about
the surveys and publications on a local level please contact the City Councils directly.
Department for Rights and Equal Opportunities
Silence and
Words
Second National Report
Anti-violence Network of the Urban-Italia Cities
by
Alberta Basaglia, Maria Rosa Lotti,
Maura Misiti, Vittoria Tola
FrancoAngeli
Copyright © 2006 by FrancoAngeli, Milan, Italy
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Index
Introduction, by Barbara Pollastrini
1. Gender violence against women. The Anti-violence
Network Project of the Urban-Italia cities and the
framework for intervention
by Maria Rosa Lotti
1. The Anti- violence Network of the Urban Italia cities and
its reinforcement
2. Violence against women: concepts and intervention in
evolution
2. The perception of violence: women and men, by Maura
Misiti
1. The context of the population survey
2. Women and men in the Urban Network cities
3. Public communication and subjective elaboration: sources
of knowledge and the determination of the causes of violence against women
4. The quality of urban life and the safety of women in cities
5. The elasticity of perception: an overview of the components determining the concepts of violence against women
6. The institutions and policies: the goals
7. The violence suffered
8. Closing reflections
5
pag
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17
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17
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28
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43
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43
45
»
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50
56
»
»
»
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62
72
76
89
3. Cities, services and violence against women. The
perception of violence in Urban cities,
by Alberta Basaglia
1. The reasons for research on operators, services and the
perception of violence
2. Research design and methodology of the Urban Project
3. The survey of the operators
4. The sample of the services and operators: an overview
5. The types of women encountered by the services: an assessment of the quantitative and qualitative data
6. The types of services and operators encountered by the
women
7. Recognising violence in the daily work of the services
8. What training do the operators receive?
4. The Seminars and the Network Action, by Vittoria Tola
1. The need for training
2. The anti-violence networks: efficiency in practise and
methodology
5. Conclusions and recommendations
Introduction
1. Notes on the survey conducted on women and men
2. Suggestions for the management of anti-violence policies
pag
93
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93
95
96
97
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100
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104
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108
116
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121
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121
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138
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143
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143
146
153
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161
163
165
167
169
171
ATTACHMENTS: The Urban cities of the second phase
ATTACHMENT 1: CITY OF BARI
ATTACHMENT 2: CITY OF BRINDISI
ATTACHMENT 3: CITY OF CAGLIARI
ATTACHMENT 4: CITY OF CATANZARO
ATTACHMENT 5: CITY OF CARRARA
ATTACHMENT 6: CITY OF CASERTA
6
pag
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»
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»
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172
174
176
178
180
182
184
186
188
190
192
Bibliography
»
195
The Authors
»
201
»
57
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58
62
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67
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68
71
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85
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86
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88
ATTACHMENT 7: CITY OF COSENZA
ATTACHMENT 8: CITY OF CROTONE
ATTACHMENT 9: CITY OF GENOA
ATTACHMENT 10: CITY OF MISTERBIANCO
ATTACHMENT 11: CITY OF MOLA DI BARI
ATTACHMENT 12: CITY OF PESCARA
ATTACHMENT 13: CITY OF SALERNO
ATTACHMENT 14: CITY OF SYRACUSE
ATTACHMENT 15: CITY OF TARANTO
ATTACHMENT 16: CITY OF TURIN
ATTACHMENT 17: CITY OF TRIESTE
Graphics
Graph 4.1 – Percentage of the population which considers
its own neighbourhood problematic and would prefer to live
elsewhere.
Graph 4.2 - Percentage of the population which considers
its own neighbourhood at greater risk for women than other
parts of the city
Graph 4.3 – Perception of own neighbourhood safety
Chart 5.1- Adhesion to/autonomy from stereotypes - First
axis
Chart 5.1 (continued) - Stereotype adhesion/autonomy First axis
Chart 5.2 - Tolerance – rejection and acceptance
Graph 2.7.1 – Agreement with "Good women do not get
raped" %
Graph 2.7.2 – Sometimes in married life a man forces his
wife to have sexual relations with him under threat. What is
your opinion on this?
Graph 2.7.3 – Measures and intervention against violent
men, female victims
7
Graph n. 1 - The sample – Interviews by city
Graph n. 2 - Interviews by services
Graph n. 3 - Professional qualifications
Graph n. 4 – Type of service by encounter with violence
and abuse
pag
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98
100
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Tables
Table 2.1 - Men and women interviewed in the Urban cities,
absolute values
Table 2.2 – Structural characteristics of the sample by sex data %
Table 2.2 (segue) - Structural characteristics of the sample
by sex
Table 2.3 – Characteristics of the interviewees in the Urban
cities by profession, %
Table 3.1 - “Have you heard of this problem?” the sources
of information about violence against women, % by city
with reference to the first answer on all cases
Table 3.2 – Sources of information on violence by educational level, % of all cases
Table 3.3 – Urban Comparison Survey – Identifying the
causes of violence against women, % of all cases
Table 3.3 (segue) - The causes of rape, % by sex of all cases
Table 4.1 - Population of the Urban cities by permanent
residence in the neighbourhood and opinion on the quality
of life in the neighbourhood, % of the total
Table 4.2 - Population which considers its neighbourhood at
higher risk for the security of women with respect to other
areas , % by sex
Table 4.3 – Are cases of rape against women frequent in
your neighbourhood?
Table 4.4 – Do you feel safe in your neighbourhood? Total
of the cities by sex
Table 5.1 – Active and supplementary variables considered
in the analysis of stereotypes
Table 5.2 - Active and supplementary variables considered
in the analysis of tolerance
8
Table 6.1 - The institutions which can intervene
pag
% of all cases
Table 6.2 – Measures and actions designed to deal with vio»
lence against women, % of all cases
Table 7.1 - Women who say they have suffered one or more
forms of violence in the past two years , % referred in the survey »
Table 7.1 (continued)- Interviewees regarding “Have you
ever been subjected to violence?” absolute value and preva»
lence of the violence suffered, % of total by city
Table 7.2 – Structural characteristics of the men and women
»
who have been subjected to violence %
Table 7.3 - Women who have declared to have been subjected to a form of violence in the past two years, by type of
»
violence, absolute values and %
Table 7.4 - Women who have declared to have been subjected to a form of violence in the past two years, by type of
»
violence and number of episodes, absolute values and %
Table 7.5 – Women who have declared to have been subjected to a form of violence in the past two years, by type of
»
violence and by whom, absolute values %
Table 7.6 - Women who have declared to have been subjected to a form of violence in the past two years, by type of
»
violence and place, values %
Table 7.7 - Women who have declared to have been subjected to a form of violence in the past two years, by type of
»
violence and help sought, absolute values %
Table 7.8 – Women who have declared to have been subjected to a form of violence in the past two years, by type of
»
violence and type of aid, values %
Table 7.9 - Women who have declared to have been subjected to a form of violence in the past two years by report»
age and who have declared to be afraid, values %
Table 7.10 – Who is the violent man? Answers by the
women who have been subjected to a form of violence in
the past two years and the total of the women, by type of
»
violence, %
Table 7.11 – The causes of the violence, answers from the
women who have been subjected to violence during the
course of their lives and the total of the women and of the
»
men, %
9
74
74
77
78
79
80
80
81
82
83
84
84
87
87
Table 1 – The sample
Table 2 – The encounter with cases of violence and abuse
Table 3 – The sensitivity of the operators
Table 4 – The sensitivity index of the operators
Table 5 – Operator training
10
pag
»
100
102
»
»
»
108
109
117
Introduction
Violence against women is not just a woman’s problem. It is the most heinous form of the denial of progress, liberty and citizenship. The nature of this
type of violence has historically crossed the boundaries of nations and of civilizations. Violence against the body and the independent spirit of womankind
has crossed all spatial, temporal and cultural boundaries. What makes this
phenomenon particularly dramatic today is its growing diffusion, the discriminatory aspects it assumes in the various fundamentalist cultures and the
delay, even among the institutions of the most advanced societies, in understanding the gravity of a very real social and political emergency.
Domestic violence, rape, molestation, slavery, forced prostitution, genital
mutilation, etc… words which have, at least partially, become common usage
but which do not yet elicit a sufficiently heated debate regarding the deeply
rooted causes of that which occurs, and repeats itself, worldwide - in daily
family relationships as well as between strangers, in our midst as well as in
“other” cultures, on all levels of society, in conditions of social alienation as
well as inside of that which seem our shared norms.
With our governmental action we intend to face and to radically overcome
that violence which corresponds to behaviour today considered discriminatory
and criminal by informed public opinion, even though, in part, still rooted in
and legitimised on a cultural level. We must take note of the fact that even in
the West, in Europe and in Italy, the road to change still seems very long. This
road begins little more than half a century ago, thanks to the local and international pressure brought on by the Women’s Movement. The voices of the cultures which appreciate women in the public and political spheres, however,
are still far from being strong enough to fight against the latent yet explicit
prejudices against the re-equilibrium of social relationships between the sexes.
It is, perhaps, for this reason that we are still far from having, on a cultural
and political level, adequate answers: the legislative initiatives, the sensitisation of important international organs dating back to the late 70’s, those of
11
Europe in the 80’s and the decisions and actions of the Italian Government in
the 90’s notwithstanding.
On a European level Italy has, however, an important and positive note: it
is the “good practices” model for the prevention and the fight against violence
developed in the 1980’s by the anti-violence centres which, in their efforts to
spread awareness of individual care in the various services, have increased the
individual strength of the victims and transformed them into protagonists in
the field of family, emotional and daily relationships. They have also contributed to the inclusion of the men, increasing their levels of sensitivity to a point
where they have become part of a deeper process leading towards the “civilisation” of the relationship between the sexes.
In recent years, starting with an overview of the anti-violence practices
used by the operators themselves and an exchange of information among the
researchers who produce “research-action” reports in the centres, as well as
the pioneering research by the Italian Statistics Bureau, the need to give a national dimension to this information, to the evaluation and self-criticism regarding the procedures and to the dimensions of the phenomenon and their
perception within society has emerged. The “Anti-violence Network between
Cities” came into being as a result. Since 1998, when the Italian Government,
through the European Urban Italia Programme began its work on the problem,
25 cities have become involved and it has resulted in extensive national research regarding the phenomenon of violence against women, acquired vast
experience comparing reality to local policies and worked consistently to
promote gender oriented training among the centres, the services and the institutions on a national scale.
Today the Italian Government, starting with the recognition of the importance of the experiences of autonomous grass roots operations around the
country and considering the results of the policies put into effect by city governments and local institutions, as well as the wealth of information produced
by the research conducted by academicians and associations of the Urban
Network, intends to avail itself of the most appropriate tools with which to
promote, on a national scale, a very realistic Action Plan. The intent is to finally tackle one of the stumbling blocks of equal opportunity policies, to put
into action more effective anti-discrimination strategy, to guide and implement a process of change among the general public in a society, Italian and
European, which is already multi-ethnic but not yet multi-cultural.
It is into this framework that the provisions contained in the fiscal legislation of 2007 have been inserted, starting with the formation of the “Observatory for violence against women and for reasons of sexual orientation” within
the Ministry for Equal Opportunities. Their task is to acquire data, promote
12
awareness and training campaigns and to bring operative and legislative policies up to date in constant collaboration with the State-Region-City conferences, operators, associations and centres. The intention includes opening the
way for the recognition of the anti-violence centres and shelters for battered
women in accordance with public and transparency criteria.
This form of collaboration between government and the social assistance
and prevention institutions is also particularly significant in light of the experiences and the data which have been elaborated over the years. Consider
the revelations and the periodic monitoring of the Anti-violence Centres
which have exposed the high incidence, among the phenomena of violence
against women and minors, of violence perpetrated by men, by close family
members, acquaintances and heterosexuals. The Anti-violence Centres, however, also see an increasing amount of immigrant girls and women seeking
help as a result of violence among divorced and non-married couples, of
women seeking to defend their off-spring from so-called “assisted violence”,
of lesbians and transgender men as they suffer the violent consequences of
heterosexual hegemony.
Taken as a whole we note that, with the increase in migration, within the
phenomenon itself of violence the processes of isolation, family structure
break-up and the impact of the encounter with wealthy western living styles in
the rich areas of the world and the effects of poverty which victimizes women
due to globalization, have become serious factors. The positions apparently
accepted by “our” men regarding the equality and rights of women in fact
contrasts with actions that deny female autonomy in daily life, while in the
city outskirts renewed forms of aggression are perpetrated against the poorest
of women by both native and foreign men. Furthermore, the demand for the
recognition of community and family rights, especially as the result of the cultures of the newly arrived immigrants, elicits extreme violence against
women, in particular wives and daughters, in clear contrast to the principles of
dignity and the foundations of citizenship as recognised in Italy and by international organs which seek to enforce these rights for each and every individual.
We add to this that the return of war within the confines of Europe has also
affected Italy and the European Union and has presented itself with the most
ancient of war crimes: the rape of women, who symbolise the enemies’ possession and whose rape is the blotting out of the “other” cultural identity at its
presumed biological roots. The collaboration of Italian and European women
with those of ex-Yugoslavia has given a precious contribution, not only in the
healing of wounds, but has also posed questions relative to the deepest of our
perceptions of our cultural roots.
13
In this framework gender oriented research, a consolidated reality in Italy
as well as on an international scale, helps us to understand that in our age
and our country violent acts against women are not on the increase. It is the
dimension and phenomenon which are changing, especially due to the increased awareness of the woman as a human being, making behaviour which
was once accepted in the past, in certain cultural realities, at certain times of
our history and in certain social groups, now socially repugnant and unacceptable.
Furthermore, in spite of the cultural differences and the renovation of
modern and traditional patriarchal forms, the pressure on women to redefine
and to assert themselves in all spheres of life as a person and a citizen, continues.
It is the chart of women’s rights and the strength of the anti-violence policies which defines the grave social condition of the violations of female will
and liberty, in every latitude and culture.
In Italy, almost half a century ago, the debate was opened when a Sicilian
girl refused to marry the boy who the entire village considered a good match.
He had raped her to force her to marry him, and a Copernican revolution was
begun: it was no longer up to the man to decide when and how to “possess” a
woman, even with the consent of the family and the law, or both (marriage
was considered the just reparation for rape). From that moment on a woman’s
word began to gain strength – in private and in public, in common morality
and by law – on matters of the complexity of relationships, on sex and on the
decisions regarding procreation.
A series of reforms came into being, which for the needs of our discussion
can be boiled down to two dates: 1970 and the passage of various family
rights legislation, and 1996 with the approval of legislation regarding rape.
The rules of the game had changed, starting with life within the walls of the
home and the intimacy of the family, in favour of equality, equal opportunity,
reciprocity in relationships and the recognition of sexual diversity.
It is now necessary to continue the concrete progress based on that revolution, in principle as well as in practice, proposing policies capable of dealing
with these new times. Taking account of the well consolidated experience it is
now necessary to publicly open up to different cultures, to imbue a sense of
the gravity of the crimes and the power of the law in order to render our culture aware of the dignity of each human being.
The liberation of women from the fear of violence from men and the liberation of men from the fear of the independence of women should be considered
complementary goals, and used as criteria for public actions and political
choices.
14
The United Nations, for the realization of the Platform of Action of the
Fourth World Conference of Women at the beginning of the century, affirms
“…the rights of women are universal human rights and as such constitute an
integral, inalienable and indivisible part of human rights for the individual…” .
Barbara Pollastrini
Minister for Rights and Equal Opportunities
15
1. Gender Violence against women.
The Anti-violence Network Project of the Urban
Italia cities and the framework for intervention
by Maria Rosa Lotti
1. The Anti-violence Network of the Urban-Italia cities and its reinforcement
In the Final Report of the group of experts regarding the application and
verification of the REC(2002)5 recommendation of the Committee of Member
States on the Protection of Women against Violence, published by the European Council, the Italian experience with the Anti-violence Network of the
Urban-Italia cities is cited among the examples of “good practices” in the
chapter dedicated to the Collection of Data and Research (page 60 and 61 of
the document). Not only is the ability to collect data useful in the understanding of the phenomena of violence against women and its perception among
citizens and operators, but the application of methodology which permits the
sharing of this data with other networks to fight against gender violence is
also acknowledged.
The project, coordinated by the Department for Equal Opportunities of the
President of the Council of Ministers, has its beginning thanks to the ProdiFinocchiaro Directive (7/3/1997) in 1997. It is the first document in which the
Italian Government presents the problem of violence against women as an active government priority.
It is an assimilation of the Beijing Platform1, but also a governmental
choice which responds to the demands and needs of dozens of Anti-violence
centres and Women’s Shelters created in the 1980’s and 90’s by feminist
groups and women’s associations all over the country, often with the help of
local public entities and, particularly, city councils. These centres offered services, but also training, regional mobilisation and on the whole brought
greater awareness regarding the social, medical and psychological condition
1
Document prepared on the occasion of the IV World Conference on Women of 4-15 September 1995 and adopted as framework for intervention on women’s rights by the UN
17
of the woman and her body. These centres and shelters practised a policy of
direct contact with the women in difficulty due to gender violence and structured activity and services on the basis of their experiences with violence, of
their needs and of the policies of the groups of women who had chosen this as
their work. They used a model of common action based on models developed
in the late 1970’s in a Europe of women’s movements against gender violence. The Prodi-Finocchiaro Directive dealt with the issues of women on an
international scale as well as in a local context, which with the passage of
time had conducted many meetings and congresses for the sharing of information and for the verification of results from field work which dealt with violence. The First National Conference on violence against women, called “Zero
Tolerance”, took place on well prepared ground and defined, on one side, the
Italian experience with gender violence and, on the other side, the need to
programme, extend and implement political involvement on a local and national level. The year following the Directive the Urban Project published the
results of the first national statistical survey on rape (Sabbadini 1998) commissioned by the Department for Equal Opportunities as part of a survey on
the safety of citizens. The Anti-violence Network of the Urban-Italia Cities
project is the first survey which focuses on domestic violence, not just to
measure the extent of the phenomenon, but also to better understand public
perception and tolerance of it.
The initiative of the Government, structured as an action within the system,
is characterised by its choice of employing the methodology of researchaction, that is, for the construction of a model which permits us to deepen our
knowledge of the phenomenon and how it is perceived by the population at
large and the operators, health professionals and public safety officials, but
also permits the use of the information obtained as a basis from which to initiate local inter-sectorial networks against violence perpetrated on women. Indepth interviews with the women who are the victims of violence are the instruments used to verify the collected data. The biographical interviews give
us an insight into their opinions, perceptions, the experience and the aspects of
the violence to which they had been subjected, but also a view of the extent of
the problem within the family, amongst their friends and within their community, helping us better understand how friends and services reacted to their
problems, either by providing assistance or by sending them back into their
silent suffering.
Different strategies where combined to try to stimulate both the workers in
the field and the local policy makers in their awareness of the problem and in
their ability to react to it by improving the services offered in these past thirty
years by the various women’s associations, the implementation of gender sen18
sitive policies, as well as the verification of intervention paperwork used by
the social, sanitary and protective agencies.
Initially part of the PIC Urban Italia 1994-1999, the European Community
Initiative for degraded urban areas of European cities, the Project, which remained operative from 1998 to 2005, had been structured in two phases, the
second work phase proceeding on the basis of that which was learned from
the results and teachings of the first phase. It used the same experimental
methods aimed to allow each city to adapt to the steps to be undertaken and
the time for their realisation.
This first part of our paper proposes an overview of the work done within
the framework of the Project, its phases and methodology, with particular focus on the second phase of the intervention.
1.1. First phase: the pilot cities
The conception of the project and its experimental realisation in the first
phase saw the involvement of the Department for Equal Opportunities, its
primary promoter, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation, the
European Commission and eight Italian cities: Venice, Rome, Naples, Foggia,
Lecce, Reggio Calabria, Palermo and Catania.
The primary objective consisted in the acquisition of information about the
perception and the phenomenon of violence against women, focusing on the
level of safety perceived by the population in areas known to be “socially
problematic”, and the evaluation of the stereotypes associated with the problem.
The action proposed was the creation of a network amongst “pilot” cities
with various levels of support systems for women who have suffered violence, to promote the concept of new initiatives in those areas and to aid in the
launching of new networks using common methodology with regards to response, research and intervention against violence.
The actions planned resulted in surveys aimed at revealing the levels of
perception and the nature of the violence perpetrated against the women of the
population in those areas of the city, their sense of security, the attitudes of the
support services and its operators regarding violence and the willingness to
fund programmes to face and combat the phenomenon. Coordinated network
actions were implemented in order to create the most appropriate shared
methodology aimed at the development of local policies with a gender sensitive orientation.
The research and awareness actions adopted generalised indicators aimed at
19
studying violence against women not as the result of social deviance, a reality
in only some socio-cultural areas or in individual pathological behaviour, but
as a phenomenon tied to relationships and sexual conflict, to the “tolerance”
of this violence in the relationships which men have with women on all levels,
and their social and cultural significance.
The areas in which the surveys were conducted, later compared to the rest
of the population, were particularly degraded areas, usually without any services or aid. The surveys in these areas started out by studying the levels of
perception of violence by men, women, social workers, health professionals,
public safety officials and other interested witnesses. The Project involved the
interviewing of thousands of persons and the results of this effort represent a
precious overview of the mentality of society, the changes which have occurred or are occurring, the need for training and for services which can provide solutions which do not then further expose the woman, Italian or foreign,
to further victimization, battery or rape. This experience has laid the basis
from which to embark on more in-depth and important work on both a local
and on a national scale.
The results of the research conducted in the eight pilot cities became the
subject of as many Local Research Reports, produced by each city involved,
and now available on the website of the Department for Equal Opportunities
at www.retepariopportunnita.it. The first action of research-action is the direct
result of these experiences published in the manual of “good practices” called
Libertà femminile e violenza sulle donne. Strumenti di lavoro per interventi
con orientamenti di genere (Female liberty and violence against women.
Work tools for intervening) by A. Basaglia, F. Bimbi, M. Misiti and V. Tola,
which has been translated into English and French and represents a first definition of the cultural guidelines which would be implemented. Some of the
cities consequently created websites making the information collected in its
territory and a chart of the services provided available to the general public. In
each of the eight participating cities further actions were initiated in order to
prevent and combat the phenomenon: new support services were started
(Naples and Catania), local anti-violence networks were implemented and reinforced, adequate integration programmes between agencies were instituted
(Venice and Palermo) and citizen and operator awareness was heightened
(Rome, Foggia, Lecce and Reggio Calabria).
The synthesis of the first local data and their national elaboration form the
content of the National Report Dentro la violenza: cultura, pregiudizi, stereotipi by di Adami C., Basaglia A. and Tola V. (2002). The Report enables us to
measure, due to the wide sample of Italian experiences compared therein, not
just the level of perception of the phenomenon, but above all the quantity and
20
the quality of the support services available and their ability to intervene
based on an analysis of the experiences which emerged during the survey of
the support operators and the women with whom in-depth interviews were
conducted. A different set of views emerged, at times intersecting, but not always aimed at the same world, highlighting an important discrepancy between
those who offer the services and those who turn to them for help because they
are victims of violence.
The results achieved with the pilot project and the knowledge acquired in
this first phase of activity, which the in-depth study of awareness of the phenomenon on a local level helped to identify for the improvement of local and
national policies, induced the Department of Equal Opportunity to expand the
“Anti-violence Network” through to a second phase.
It was therefore decided to offer the Urban cities up to now excluded from
the European Community programme 1994-1999 the possibility to participate
in the programme, using a portion of the resources made available by the Ministry of Programming 2000-2006. All of the cities which were already participating, or planning to participate, in an Urban Project were subsequently included.
1.2. Second phase: “Reinforcement of the Anti-violence Network of the Urban
Italia cities”
The expansion to include all of the Urban cities coincides with the implementation of the “Reinforcement of the Anti-violence Network of the
Urban Italia cities” project made possible thanks to the resources of the ESF
of the National Operative Programme (PON) “Safety for the development of
Southern Italy” under the Ministry of the Interior, and by the PON “System
Actions” Measure E.1 Action 1 under the Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs. This second phase of work was also coordinated by the Department and was assisted by personnel of the Equal Opportunity Unit of the
Institute for Development and Professional Training of Workers (ISFOL)
with regards to support and technical assistance for the cities participating in
the Project. A technical-scientific committee was created made up of personnel from the ISFOL unit and four experts on the theme of violence
against women, each with different competences and experiences from having worked on the first phase.
The new project called for the cities to realise actions based on the results
acquired from the pilot cities and using the same tools to conduct their surveys. They are Genoa, Trieste, Carrara, Pescara, Turin, Milan, Salerno, Co21
senza, Bari, Syracuse, Catanzaro, Caserta, Misterbianco, Crotone, Taranto,
Mola di Bari, Cagliari, and Brindisi. Only Milan, as a result of a local level
administrative choice, did not develop nor initiate a local action plan.
What was proposed for this second phase of the Project? To begin with the
intention to heighten awareness levels and increase the volume of data available, but also to initiate the development of local activity in the areas of training and the sharing of information among the various support services as introduced by this new experimentation. These actions are the fruit of the
knowledge matured in the first phase regarding the fragility of the local situations which had to be included in the work plan, expanding the already programmed activities and offering a first response to the questions which
emerged from the surveys conducted.
The structure of the intervention is described in the following chart, although it must be taken into consideration that the surveys had a development
which was often parallel, except for the chart, which was realised at the inception of the activity and for the seminars which were held following the survey
of the support operators:
1. Chart
of the territory of the
services
2. Support
operators
survey
4. Interviews with
persons in the know
3. Survey of
men and
women
5. Interviews with
the female victims
6. Seminars and
network actions
The aims were:
x The identification and analysis of the perception of violence against
women, inside and outside the family, using indicators oriented towards the cultures themselves;
x To seek out methodologies specifically geared to the restructuring of
22
the work done by the various area support services, the improvement of
specialised training and the facilitating of the verification of the shared
reporting system;
x To promote, sustain and reinforce local policies regarding violence
against women, highlighting the aspects to be posed on a national level.
These general objectives are divided into three “macro actions”:
x The research, using various phases and investigative techniques;
x The creation and implementation of local networks, involving the already active support systems in the area through seminars to heighten
levels of awareness and the creation of networking groups which are
open to being involved and oriented towards a working methodology
especially created by the Anti-violence Centres for use on a national
and international level;
x Information exchange, tools and practices on a national and international level.
The project was programmed for various mutually complementary realisation phases with the aim to increase social and institutional awareness of the
problem of violence against women, as well as to contribute to the development of the mainstreaming of the policies as indicated by European, national
and regional documents. In the model used the aspect regarding knowledge or
awareness is inseparable from the need to give social weight to the phenomenon of violence against women and provide the proper tools to the support
operators.
The section regarding research in the specific areas fulfils the need to acquire instruments of knowledge and to define the indicators oriented towards
the culture, whilst the seminars and the network actions represent communication, awareness and training. The results of this second phase were also the
subject of a local Research Report illustrating the information gathered and
the results obtained from a methodological as well as contextual point of
view. It can be consulted on the website of the Department for Equal Opportunities at www.retepariopportunita.it.
1.2.1. Field Research
The model foresaw field research in distinctive and specific stages, each
one defined as a full-fledged social survey with its own goals, but together
they formed a coherent overview of the phenomenon. The use of various
types of research tools, as used and validated in the pilot cities, was planned
with the aim to create one body of valuable information using the same rigor23
ous methodology in order to achieve a flexible and accurate account of the
complex and highly varied nature of the subject matter at hand. The models
and the tools to be implemented were supplied to the cities and entities, supported and supervised in their entirety by a group of experts who furnished
assistance and support to the surveys, as well as to the editing of the texts to
be published.
As soon as the local organisation of the work phases was defined the consultation began, becoming particularly important at points where the various
stages intersected or were to be integrated, and the following steps were
taken:
1. demarcation of the survey area- the choice of operating only in the Urban
zone (in big cities) or with the inclusion of surrounding areas after a preliminary study was conducted (in the smaller cities), or yet again the inclusion of the entire area (in the smallest cities);
2. charting of the support services present in the Urban area (or of the area
chosen for the surveys), with the necessary integration of services relevant
for the improvement of the intervention systems which help the female
victims of violence in the areas surveyed;
3. surveys conducted on support and service operators (with a median of 50
interviews conducted in a semi-structured manner), with a sample defined
by knowledge of the particular situation present in the area;
4. surveys of the women and of the men (sample of 1000 women and 300
men), chosen on the basis of standard indicators and on the division by
percentage among the residents of the Urban zone and of the entire area
surveyed;
5. interviews with “persons in the know” (10 circa), chosen using information and knowledge acquired in the previous phases, or by direct contact
with other informed members of the social reality present in the area;
6. in-depth interviews with women who have suffered violence, whose
number varied from 10 to 20, found by interviews conducted by telephone
or directly by the support operators based in the area.
The first two stages meet the need for knowledge of the territory in each
city, limited by a series of choices coordinated between the actual field force,
the city and the technical-scientific committee. The goal was the mapping of
the public services and private institutions which encounter and treat the actual cases of violence. A description of the structural characteristics of the
resident population of the chosen area is included with an aim to construct a
scenario for the interpretation of future field surveys. It is at this point that observations are made, in each of the surveyed services, relative to the structure
24
of the operating personnel and the quantification of the use of each service according to the different categories of users.
Stages three and four dealt with two sample surveys: one aimed at the field
operators of the services in the area, the other with the area’s resident women
and men. Both surveys aimed to better understand the attitudes, the perception
and the stereotypes regarding sexual and inter-family violence as perpetrated
on women. The questions submitted to the operators had a common section,
as well as a specific section for each particular support service. The survey
conducted of the women and the men also had two parts: the first relative to
the comprehensive and subjective perceptions of violence common to both
men and women, and the second conducted only of the women and dedicated
to the understanding of the experiences of violent behaviour they had been
subjected to according to the different categories of violence. The final stage
of the survey work was of a purely qualitative nature and dealt with semistructured interviews held with “informed persons” or “persons in the know”
(the pharmacist, parish priest or others who could become aware of violent
situations through means other than being told of it) from the area of the survey and of in-depth interviews, conducted with a common theme, of the female victims of episodes of violence who were willing to be studied. The material acquired from these qualitative surveys, apart from being an important
end product in and of itself, represents a precious additional interpretative
value once integrated with the results from the quantitative research2.
1.2.2. Communication, heightening awareness and training
The project also included communication actions aimed at the society at large,
of increasing of awareness of the decision makers and the training of support operators to be realised with seven seminars. Two were for the general public and
aimed at spreading information and awareness regarding the phenomenon of violence against women and how to prevent and combat it. The other five were directed at the operators of the local support services with the objective of offering
an informative “laboratory” space in which to examine the concepts, methods,
practices and tools used to deal with the issue and to create a starting point for the
local anti-violence network and integrated programming.
2
All the questionnaires and interview grids have been made available with the previous intervention and published in the volume Libertà femminile e domestic violence sulle
donne. Strumenti di lavoro 2000 Franco Angeli, Milano. For the entire duration of the project a website was created from which the cities and entities could download tools, guidelines,
planned intersections for the surveys, etc…
25
The seminars, open to the public, represented an occasion for the city to organise conventions and meetings, often on a national level and featuring experts from other European countries, which have led to reflection on the part
of the general public regarding the themes of violence against women, enhanced awareness of the situation in their own areas and of the policies
adopted by the political leaders of their cities.
The seminars aimed at the operators represented a special moment for the
diffusion of information regarding the themes of violence against women and
allowed the participants to acquire additional knowledge of the “good practices” matured on an international and European Community level. They were
able to exchange information and knowledge and to plan inter-institutional
collaboration. The seminars3 saw the involvement of social services, health
professionals, non-profit community organisations and public security forces
together helping the women’s associations who run the anti-violence centres
or other important socio-cultural centres in urban areas. The seminars defined
a basic foundation on which to build the structure of network action to be implemented by the local leaders.
1.2.3. Methodology
The proposal created, validated by the pilot cities and used again in the
second phase of the intervention, begins with the premise that violence
against women is a social problem which regards women of every social
level, culture and religion, that apart from the emotional cost and effect on
the individual girl or woman and the life of the community in which she
lives, it also has an economic cost. It is a phenomenon which must also be
confronted on a cognitive level with a series of tools which permit an
analysis and reading of the situation, its symbolic implications and the
context of the complexity of relationships in and of themselves, as well as
between the sexes.
The model proposed is focused on the possibility of identifying and using
the stereotypes which describe violence against women and the tolerance
thereof, not just by those who witness it, but also by those who live it. It is
also focused on the identification of those signs and traces of the reality of
violence found in the daily lives of women and in their search to live life to its
fullest.
3
For an analysis of the seminars and participation in them see Tola in this volume.
26
All this was done using numerous and diverse tools, complementary actions which opened multi-faceted discussions, public moments which brought
increased visibility to the phenomenon and group work sessions encouraging
the exchange of information among the various involved sectors. The flexible
and pliable nature of the interpretative models and tools used made the meetings all the more interesting, proposing different levels of action (national, local and micro), integrating and uniting interpretive tools, both qualitative and
quantitative, coming from official sources and from ad hoc samples aimed at
going beyond the limits of the statistical indicators but comparing them to the
voices of the women who have lived dramatic situations, as well as to the
roads leading to feminine liberty. The methodology chosen was that of creating an integrated system of knowledge which interrogates itself and allows for
the reconstruction of the condition of life of the area and the perception of
rape held by the women and the men who live there. It gathered the aspects,
the judgements and the emotions, actively participated in the creation of a
new culture within the community and searched for new ways to expose the
prejudices regarding violence against women within society.
Neither all cities nor all of the involved entities used the proposed model
in the same way, and some did not make use of its full potential: this became clear in parts of the surveys and the interpretation of the collected data
(see Misiti in the present paper), but it was also evident in the management
of the training and network construction proposal. Some modified the questionnaires because they considered them not ample enough to reflect the
problematics of their local reality, some made use of samples not comparable with the model, and others organised seminars focusing on already extant information regarding themes of communication, and gender violence.
At times the comparison of knowledge, techniques and questions of the subjects were not used, thus cancelling not only the guidelines and the suggestions provided, but above all not giving the possibility for real change in
scientific and professional approaches, the evident limits of the work on the
phenomenon of gender violence notwithstanding, and even though the operators declared themselves well aware of the situation. In other situations
difficulties emerged for administrative or bureaucratic reasons, for a change
in the subject matter, for different theoretical orientation, for the recognition
of authority regarding women’s issues, for the use of differing approaches
and for the use of sexual diversity as interpretative key. There were also
cases in which the decision was taken not to use the project at all as there
was no intention to compare their issues with those outside of their own city,
as was the case with Milan.
With the present report we have chosen to use an interpretation which al27
lows for a particular quality in each city to be exposed, giving weight to the
experience but without minimising or reducing the disagreement or rejections
which did not permit the elaboration of the full body of the information and
data gathered, nor the choices which led to these decisions. There is, therefore, an element of loss in this present work and it constitutes a considerable
problem for understanding the work realised not permitting the reconstruction
of the entire system of intervention: it deals with the absence in the text of the
comparative analysis of the qualitative part of the surveys which permitted us
to hear the voice of the women and of “informed persons”, a unique aspect
which gave sense to the statistics gathered and which, in some cases, forced a
correction in the road being followed. The interviews gathered reconstruct the
biographies of the women, about whom violence and its phenomenon are reported, their attempts to exit from their present situations and bring about
change in order to lead a better life, protect their daughters from suffering and
see to it that their sons do not repeat the cycle, as well as exposing the reactions on the part of the family, support services and the community to domestic violence are also reported.
2. Violence against women: concepts and intervention in evolution
In this paragraph we aim to delineate the context – conceptual, legislative, cultural and of action –used by the model for the survey and for the development of
network action among the Urban cities, who find a primary comparative form of
the quantitative aspects in this report. There is no intention of reviewing the entire debate begun by the women’s movement, now reaching all corners of society, which has reached high levels of importance abroad as in Italy.
Violence against women has a twofold dimension: the first deals with relationships and gender conflict, the second the social scenario within which it is
structured. The concepts and the public and private arenas, whose division has
been the point of discussion since feminism arose in the 1970’s, cross paths
where gender violence lives: rooted in our bodies, in sexuality, in love and in
its representative categories in human community, and in the dynamics of the
power struggle between the sexes. It regards the sexuality of relationships in
our society and their codification into stereotypes, representations and the social conventions which still too often reflect the symbolic patriarchal structure
which governs the relationships between the sexes. For a long time that which
today we call “violence against women” in the West has been denied or at
least silenced, as that form of behaviour was considered normal within the
structural configuration of the relationships between the sexes based on power
28
and possession. Our laws themselves, at least up until the end of the 20th century, are an explicit example, permitting husbands to “correct” their wives
should she not respect the “rules”, considering marriage to the victim as a
cancellation of the crime of rape, and reduction of sentences because a crime
was considered one of “honour”.
In the 1960’s the first studies on the matter are conducted. The psychiatrists
and psychologists, particularly the American and English professionals, are
those who concentrated their attention on clinical groups of violent men, producing a psychological individualistic model for the interpretation of gender
violence based on their observations of these subjects. The behaviour of the
aggressive male (often rapists) gets blamed on either the deviated psychological characteristics of the individual or is considered as a reaction to the “insufficiently feminine” behaviour on the part of the female victim, because she is
either too docile and passive, or not dependent or available enough. This way
of seeing and representing violence, with a precise psychiatric clinicalcriminological orientation, places the phenomenon into the category of pathology, and at the same time puts the blame for the violence to which she
was subjected on the woman herself, the responsibility was hers: “she was
asking for it”. Analysing the behaviour of violent men one comes to confirm
the complementary nature of women with regard to men; not performing the
correct role leads the male to aggressive and damaging behaviour. “At this
level, as dictated by common sense, we tend to define violence as a phenomenon extraneous to social conventions, as though it were beyond the legitimacy
of social norms: this is the perspective which takes into consideration the relationship between the sexes, organised by familiar rules, leading to the generally accepted interpretation that violence is either an occasional pathology
which leads to out of the ordinary events or is a consequence of cultural
backwardness4”. This interpretation rests on our natural understanding of the
roles of men and women in our society and is compatible with common
stereotypes. .
In the 1970’s the feminist movement, as well as the women’s movement,
now both major social movements, called for a major revision of the definition of violence against women, aiming for a recognition of violence in its
“sexed” connotation and blaming the problem on how relationships between
men and women are structured inside society, introducing gender as an indicator for better understanding violence and power as a determining factor in
the phenomenon itself. This new interpretative category brought about a radi4
City of Turin Local Report – please see the introduction for an in-depth review of the concept of gender violence and its development in the west in the past decades.
29
cal change in the definition of the phenomenon starting with a change in the
human rights system itself, and culminating in the development of modernised
terminology able to give a new meaning to the problem of domestic violence.
Violence against women is perceived on two diverse levels: its extreme public
representation, rape, and its intimate representation, domestic violence; but its
roots are recognised as being one. The recognition that “mistreatment at
home” has common roots with “rape/ abuse” represented a crucial step forward from the interpretation accepted before the advent of feminism. The
feminist analysis recognised the subjects and gave them names: it is the men
who perpetrate violence against women, and it is the women who are its victims5. The considerations born from gender oriented research, developed in
Italy by groups of female researchers, question the identity categories and female subjectivity as structural elements in dealing with the problem of violence against women. They adopt the feminist paradigm which sees domestic
violence as an expression of the politics of power between the sexes, in which
the female body is an “object” belonging to the male. This first approach is,
above all, tied to research focusing on the changes in the social role of women
and on the possibility of constructing conditions for change.
The political, cultural and legislative process of Italy in the 1970’s and 80’s
is fully described in the first National Report (Bimbi and Tola), to which we
refer you, but it is not to be forgotten that other feminist approaches, in the
field of politics, philosophy and psychology, denied the sexual differences not
so much as socially constructed, but as an inherent given, finding its basis in
the history of western thought in the context of the “sexual contract” debate
(Pateman, 1998), on the formation of judicial morality (Gillgan 1982) or on
the ethics of its solution (Held 1993, Okin 1989 and Sevenhuijsen 1998) 6.
These approaches, partially tied to philosophical thought on sexual difference,
were introduced in Italy above all by the Women’s Library of Milan. It
marked the beginning of the second wave of feminist political activity in aid
of women in difficulty due to domestic violence. The need for policies
founded upon the construction of relationships among women with the aim to
reinforce the positive nature of female subjectivity thus came to light, laden
with the possibility to break the cycle of domestic violence and with the affirmation of female liberty as a symbolic horizon upon which to inscribe a
new lifestyle outside of the cycle of domestic violence. At the same time as
the debate surrounding the Italian experience, which continues today with
5
Local Report of the City of Torino – introduction.
Bimbi F. (2003) Tra differenze ed alterità. Gli studi delle donne alla prova del pluralismo
culturale in Differenze e disuguaglianze Il Mulino, Bologna.
6
30
many positive points of approach, the international exchange of information
has noticeably increased and therewith the evaluation of the work done in
other countries following the publication of the first experiences of the
1970’s, particularly in the USA and Canada7, today enriched by studies conducted in several northern European cities. These studies are the synthesis of
the experiences and methodologies applied and constitute a political-social
and practical patrimony used by the many groups of women who have
founded anti-violence centres and shelters. It is important to underline some
elements which have led to the internalization on an institutional level and
which demonstrate the roots of the Italian experience.
In 1975, thanks to the pressure brought on by the women’s movements on a
world wide scale, the United Nations declared violence against women as the
most common crime in the world. This declaration was the result of a heated
debate between women of the northern and southern hemispheres, and placed
gender violence as a grave political, social and cultural problem to which all
countries and all governments owed their full attention. 1975 stands as a
landmark year in the recognition and condemnation of the phenomenon as it
was proclaimed International Year of the Woman by the United Nations.
Since then international women’s organisations and feminist movements
gained an important voice in the condemnation of domestic violence and in
the search for possible solutions to the problem of abuse and violence suffered
by women. In 1979 the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)- to which in
the year 2000 the Optional Protocol to the Convention was added – constituting the principle and binding legal texts regarding women’s rights. On a political level, however, the most important document is the Platform of Action
approved by the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995,
whose principles were reaffirmed and reproposed in New York at the United
Nations General Assembly in 2000, known as Beijing + 5. It sanctioned and
reaffirmed the cardinal principles of the World Conference of Human rights
(Vienna 1993) which stated that “…the rights of women are universal human
rights and as such constitute an inalienable and indivisible part of the human
rights of the individual…”.
In Beijing the women’s movement affirmed the need to realise a concrete
revision of the human rights system from a generic point of view and to create
a plan of action and intervention in order to realize it. Among the areas of cri7
The Canadian experience, in particular, is that which has supplied the most methodological
tools to the newly created Italian Anti-violence centres (in the 1970’s) and remains one of the
most important ones for comparison between the centres and shelters on a European level.
31
sis for which intervention and strategies are requested by governments, international communities and civil society, regards violence against women, considered a major obstacle in the path to the objectives of equality and to the development of peace, symbolising, as it does, a violation of the human and individual rights of women8. The United Nations declarations are followed by
studies conducted by the WHO, which investigate the aspects inherent to the
effects of violence on the health of women and their ability to survive. This
stand taken by international organisations introduces into the institutional
agendas the question of gender violence, giving it the necessary support to
develop strategies and intervention policies subsequently reproposed to the
Member States of the United Nations.
After thirty years the levels of awareness have increased, but the problem
still remains in all of its seriousness and rendered ever more visible by the diffusion on the part of the media of the gravest episodes, the public debates on
murder and by the contemporary increase of attention to sexual crimes against
children. Domestic violence remains an international problem which has been
brought to the forefront, but it is not yet sufficiently recognised and studied in
the context of its relationship to violence against children. It is a politicalsocial problem which knows no geographic, religious or political boundaries.
It is perpetrated in different ways and, having always been present throughout
history, shows its consistency in the patriarchal paradigm, although with varying grades of intensity in the different cultures and civilizations. The European Union, in 2002, formulated the Recommendation, adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the European Council, on the protection of women
against violence, Rec(2002-5) 9. This Act, privy of executive value, nonetheless gives the Member Nations of the Council, and therefore also those of the
entire Union, a definition of violence against women, defining it as “to be understood as any act of gender-based domestic violence, which results in, or is
likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to
women, including threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of
liberty, whether occurring in public or private life…”. This definition is applied, but not limited to, the following actions:.
x domestic violence occurring in the family or domestic violence unit, including, inter alia, physical and mental aggression, emotional and psychological abuse, rape and sexual abuse, incest, rape between spouses,
regular or occasional partners and cohabitants, crimes committed in the
8
Report of the City of Taranto – Preliminary Reflections.
The previous recommendations of the EC on Domestic violence against women are in the
Rec 1450 (2000) Parlamentary Assembly of the European Council on violence agaisnt women
in Europe and the Rec 1582 (2002) of the PA regarding violence against women.
9
32
name of honour, female genital and sexual mutilation and other traditional
practices harmful to women, such as forced marriages;
x domestic violence occurring within the general community, including, inter alia, rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in
institutions or elsewhere trafficking in women for the purposes of sexual
exploitation and economic exploitation and sex tourism;
x domestic violence perpetrated or condoned by the state or its officials;
x violation of the human rights of women in situations of armed conflict, in
particular the taking of hostages, forced displacement, systematic rape,
sexual slavery, forced pregnancy, and trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation and economic exploitation.
This recommendation, adopted by the ministers of the 44 Member States of
the Council, is a very interesting document as it reaffirms not only the declarations of and the indications given by the international organs specialised in
the subject matter, but also in the suggestions which have come from the experiences of the women’s movements and the knowledge gained aimed at
finding the most effective measures for the prevention, treatment and fight
against the phenomenon, both from a legal and normative point of view, as
well as with respect to the promotion of specific measures aimed at learning
about and aiming to prevent domestic violence. It also evidences the need to
care for the women who are victims of violence by strengthening the support
services already present in the field and by preparing a national plan of action
to combat violence against women in cooperation with the extant women’s
associations which deal with the subject.
2.1. The real and symbolic places of violence
It is largely perceived that domestic violence takes place on the whole
among the marginal classes of society, pathological subjects and dysfunctional families and is therefore a result of material and intellectual misery, alcoholism and grave mental disturbance. This highlights the difficulty in realising the fact that the phenomenon is an active part normal life and affects men
and women of all social classes and cultures, is present in every country, has
no cultural, class, ethnic or educational boundaries and affects all income levels and age groups. Each culture, in a different way, identifies the family as a
safe haven where people go to for love, acceptance, approval and safety. Evidence provided by research and the chronicles of daily life show otherwise:
for many women family relationships and the home become a dangerous
place where violence often rears its head in the form of loved men with whom
33
a relationship based on trust and intimacy was taken for granted.
In private life, and in the places where private life takes place (the family,
the home, the extended family, the circle of friends and the neighbourhood)
domestic violence was almost always committed by a person close to the
woman: the husband, partner, live-in lover or other member of the family
(husband, boyfriend, ex-husband or ex-partner, brother or son). Gender violence usually presents itself as a combination of physical, sexual, psychological or economic abuse, with episodes which repeat themselves and tend to escalate in intensity. In the public arena rape is most present in the form of aggression by strangers, although the attention given to sexual molestation in the
workplace has increased over the past years, incrementing its social relevance
with each newly reported episode. Violence perpetrated in the private sector,
as well as those incidences perpetrated in the public sector (committed by individuals or groups) and murder usually captures the headlines of the newspapers. Public debate often excludes or underestimates the gravity, remaining
suspended in a grey area with respect to public opinion, of all of the other varied forms of domestic violence prevalently perpetrated by the partner inside
the family context and characteristically aimed at the attempts of total control
over the life of the woman and often over the lives of her children10.
Violence against women, whether perpetrated within the domestic walls, at
the workplace or on the street, violates the external and internal space of the
woman, leaving profound wounds and provoking post-traumatic effects on
her health and wellness11. Given the fact that it is not rare and that it extends
throughout society, gender violence, even in democratic societies and certainly in all of the west, constitutes a grave public threat to the integrity of the
woman, as well as to the individual, whose safety is considered a primary
right which the Constitution of the State of Italy and those of the European
Union have sworn to protect and defend. Knowing and recognising the consequences can also aid in understanding the reasons which determine certain
behaviour and reactions in women. The statistics and surveys conducted tell
us that the search for help can be long and difficult. Each woman is different
10
This data was confirmed in national surveys conducted in Europe: Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Irland, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. Other data on a national level was also gathered in Bosnia,
Croatia, the Chec Republic, Island, Slovacchia and Turkey, but were not published in commonly used languages. For an overview see M. Martinez, M. Schröttle and others (2005) who
wrote the Report on the state of European research on the prevalence of interpersonal violence
and its impact on health and human rights, www.cahrv.uni-osnabrueck.de.
11
WHO, Rapport Mondial sur la domestic violence et la santé, Ginevra 2002; UNFPA report, Women in the world. Tendencies and statistics; UNICEF – Centro di Ricerca Innocenti,
Violenza contro donne e ragazze, Florence 2000.
34
and reacts in a different way and according to the situation. They each have a
different level of tolerance of suffering. Some end a relationship after the first
episode, others try for months, even years, to attempt to “change” the man
they are involved with and leave him only after they have found no other viable alternative. At the start the woman, holding on to the relationship with
the partner, attempts to end the domestic violence without seeking help from
the outside and by using her inner resources. After a time she will turn to help
from family members and, finally, if she sees no change in the situation, she
will seek help from institutions such as social and public safety services 12.
Conceptually these forms of domestic violence are considered gender violence which springs from the instability of the relationship between the sexes
and the need for control over women by men. The forms it takes can be divided into the following categories: physical violence (beating and battery as
well as the destruction of objects), sexual violence (molestation, rape and
physical abuse), economic violence (denial of access to the family financial
resources, even those produced by the woman herself) and psychological violence (mental abuse and the application of high levels of stress). The international organs and most of the feminist organisations have adopted this description. It is the most commonly used description of domestic violence in
the world and knows no economic boundaries, although differences in their
connotation are present according to the culture and the availability of financial resources which deny or permit a woman to leave the vicious cycle of an
unsupportable situation.
This notwithstanding, and considering that we probably still need to find an
efficient name for the reality present at the symbolic roots of the domestic
violence which is located within the social dynamics of gender differences, it
must be noted that the features characterising gender violence fully represent
the deep rooted nature of the importance of social standing and highlight the
importance of the hegemony of men over society. This also has to do with the
active “complicity” on the part of many women with respect to a culture
which undermines the importance of their sexual identity and which perpetuates the paradigm in which the woman continues to be blamed for her own
status as victim. Finding a name for domestic violence and its symbolic context, without turning for help to ideological shields, remains an open road, not
just for the women who live with it but also for those who make it their work,
directly or in an academic sense. It is therefore clear how the prevalence of a
12
AA. VV., 2004, A. Pimapiano in Violenza contro le donne e la professione d’aiuto.
Strumenti. Guida per operatori, Le Onde Non-profit charity organisations, Ed. Anteprima, Palermo.
35
certain historic period on the meaning of violence is the result of a process of
“social negotiation” conducted by the relevant political and social characters
of a society (political, judicial and health institutions, as well as public opinion) which attribute to the definition conventions relevant to their own understanding of gender relationships13.
2.2. Contextual elements: data, laws and interventions
In many countries the abuse committed inside the family home by partners
(men with whom the women have intimate and dependency relationships and
with whom they agreed to construct a family nucleus) occupy the first place in
the statistics regarding abuse and mortality, before cancer and road accidents.
In Europe, for women of the age between 16 and 50, domestic violence represents the primary cause of death. Of every three deaths in Italy, one refers to
women murdered by their husbands, partners or boyfriends. These statistics
regarding the deaths of women have only become evident in the past few decades, as they are now no longer considered crimes of honour or of passion, but
they still continue to be represented and interpreted in the media as a crime
committed within the context of people who have had intimate and/or loving
relationships. In the last ten years many international initiatives such as the
approval of the Platform of Beijing, the WHO studies, the research conducted
on a national level in several countries, the campaigns realised on an international scale and the programmes and activities of the NGOs, have contributed
to greater awareness of the problem and the statistics which emerged from the
studies highlight and underline not only the personal suffering it causes but
also the grave social, health and economic consequences it provokes.
It is important to underline that in Italy, with the approval of the new Family Rights Acts in 1975, the authority of the husband was abolished, in the
sense that he was no longer permitted to use “corrective measures” to discipline his wife. It was only in 1981 that “crimes of honour” and marriage as a
just reparation for rape were removed from our legal codes. The first permitted husbands to enjoy a considerable reduction in sentence when found guilty of
the murder of his wife due to infidelity, the second permitted rapists to be completely acquitted of their crimes when they consented to marry their victims,
whether the victims wanted to or not. It is only in 1996 that we see, with the approval of a new law (number 66 of 1996) regarding rape, a profound change of
13
By Tola V. and Bimbi F. (2000) in Libertà femminile e violenza sulle donne. Stru-
menti di lavoro, Franco Angeli, Milano.
36
perspective in the legal system with a change in the definition of rape from
“crime against morality and good sense” to “crime against the person and
against individual liberty”. This law reforms the preceding one, which placed
the crime among crimes against public morality and good sense, permitting the
handing down of sentences closer in line with the nature and gravity of the
problem. The dates of these normative changes are a good indication of the difficulties encountered when dealing with the revision of rights of men, which had
been granted and sanctioned by society, in their relationships with women.
It is thanks to the pressure exerted by the various women’s and feminist movements, in Italy and in other parts of the world that the laws began to be
changed, each country with their own pace and style. It allowed for the introduction of the new concepts of domestic violence into legislature regarding
the regulation of marriage and other laws which govern the relationships between men and women. Furthermore, with the gathering of data regarding the
phenomenon (beginning with the independent collection on the part of the
anti-violence centres and the shelters managed by women’s movements) the
nature and characteristics of the phenomenon became clearer, revealing a
problem once considered strictly confined to the private realm. In Italy, in the
beginning of the 1980’s, numerous women’s organizations began by using the
knowledge already matured in their response to the cries of help and need for
shelter for female victims of domestic violence by opening centres specialised
in helping women and minors in difficulty. These anti-violence centres and
the shelters for women and children, in both secret and known locations, began in those years and have multiplied in the last two decades also thanks to
financial support from local government and conventions with public structures in order to receive and give shelter to women and children who are victims of domestic violence. In Venice the experience is characterised by promotion and public financing beginning in the early 1980’s with a collaboration and management conducted by a mix of public and private concerns with
ties to feminism and the women’s movement. It was the female society which
brought pressure upon politics and public institutions to promote anti-violence
policies, even though all of the experiences appear marked by the encounter,
more or less easy, between feminist culture and the women present in the
overall culture: a typical 1980’s scenario. Attention to the problem of the
abuse of minors increased a few years later, and brought with it specific legislature thanks to the financial resources released by law number 85/97, which
deals with infancy, and activated specialised services aimed at the continuous
support of the social operators, health professionals and NGOs dealing with
the problem. Domestic violence against minors, as opposed to that against
women, elicited a more immediate reaction and the measures adopted to con37
front the phenomenon are more widespread. It has not been determined
whether these measures weigh more heavily on the social services budget of
the local entities and state, nor have the parameters which evaluate the efficiency of the interventions been compared.
Over time gender violence changed from being a taboo or a strictly private
problem, and became a socio-political reality which demanded the instigation
of complex measures to combat it: knowledge, awareness, training, prevention, the reduction of damage suffered (for the women and the children involved), finding exit strategies for the victims, verification of social, sanitary
and protection intervention protocol, and finally the arrest and confinement of
the perpetrators. All of these activities call upon the various branches of the
State charged with these functions and make the need for a Nation Action
Plan14 along the lines of the model proposed by Rec (2002)5 of the European
Council evident.
In present day Italy, however, these programs have not yet been fully put
into place or are not yet operative neither from a systems point of view nor
from a synergetic one. The theme of violence against women on a level of national institutions and local reality is still a marginal one when it comes to response to the problem. It is still a problem to which not much weight is given
and which does not yet have priority nor strategic importance within government policy making, rendering the adopted measures fragmentary and inconsistent, often the result only of the good will of an administration or the more
or less heavy pressure applied by local women’s organisations.
There are several institutional orders worth mentioning as they constitute a
premise for the development of concerted and efficient action. An example is
already cited 1997 Directive of then Council President Prodi which, using the
Platform of Beijing as starting point, committed the Government and various
Italian institutions to the prevention and fight against all forms of physical,
14
CDEG(2006)3 Combattre la domestic violence à l’égard des femmes: bilan des actions
et mesures prises dans les États membres – Etude du bilan des mesures et actions prises pour
combattre la domestic violence à l’égard des femmes dans les États membres du Conseil de
l’Europe, Dr Carol Hagemann-White with Judith Katenbrink and Heike Rabe, Université
d’Osnabrück, Allemagne, Strasbourg 2006. A Plan of Action is a document on policies regarding the fight against domestic violence which defines the concrete objectives, initiatives and
actions needed. It points out the organisms for whom the responsibility is a duty and the competence for the management of these initiatives defining the roles of the institutional organs and
of non-governmental organisms and their form of collaboration. It implies a calendar and monitoring devices. Twenty-one nations declared to have initiated and made public a national action
plan. These plans intervene on at least four of the nine forms of violence indicated in the Rec
(2002) 5; all deal with domestic violence; 14 out of 21 deal with rape and 12 deal with sexual
molestation in the workplace.
38
sexual and psychological violence against women, from abuse to the trafficking of women and minors. The Directive stresses the importance of an analysis of the phenomenon using national statistical surveys. Moreover, in 2001
law number 154 was approved calling for the legal removal of the violent
family member from the premises and for the activation of protective social
measures for women who have been bought or sold, with or without judiciary
collaboration. Also in the same year laws number 134 and 60 regarding free
legal aid are approved, offering destitute raped and abused women a fundamental tool for their legal defence and for assuring the application of their
rights in a court of law.
Conditions for focusing on the nature of the problem were also created by
the development of safe places where the women in need could go to talk
about their problems and try, by sharing solutions and experiences, to find exits from their own personal situation. Airing in public such a very intimate
problem aided in the increasing of awareness and a subsequent increase in the
incidences of reporting the episodes, as well as enabling the woman herself to
find solutions to her problems. The public exposure to the data, gathered at
the centres and by researchers sensitive to the problem, helped to break the
symbolic isolation in which the victim lives and created a favourable environment in which requests for help by the women for herself and her children
fell on friendlier ears.
In 1998 the Italian Statistics Bureau (ISTAT), upon the request by the Department for Equal Opportunities, conducted the first national statistical research project on domestic violence and sexual abuse, confirming the information regarding the dimensions of the problem and its varying facets as revealed by the anti-violence centres, as well as by the statistics gathered by individual researchers who attempted to expose the phenomenon and its varying
aspects. The ISTAT survey regarding rape was conducted by including an indepth form to be compiled in a general survey on public safety. This was repeated in 2002. For the first time in Italy it had been decided to study the phenomenon from a quantitative angle and not just as a general interpretation, although connected to the theme of public safety, thereby creating a basis for
much needed reflection regarding the efficacy and congruence of the relationship which on one side exposes the fear women have of being raped and on
the other exposes emancipated female behaviour as being laden with risk. The
use of a purely quantitative tool limits our ability to give a deeper reading to
or integrate that reading with a qualitative analysis of the factors which determine fear and insecurity in women. After the first series of Urban surveys
the Department of Equal Opportunity in 2001 entrusted the ISTAT with the
creation of a survey aimed directly at domestic violence. In a first phase the
39
problem was compared to the participation of the IVAWS (International Violence Against Women Survey) project and a study on the particularities of the
national context and the feasibility of a survey on the theme, using a qualitative as well as quantitative research methodology (focus groups, interviews of
persons in the know, pre-test of the first version of the questionnaire) was ordered. This collaboration made a questionnaire available, already conducted
on 1000 women between the ages of 16 and 70, which was actually being
used on a representative sample of the female population (30,000 women).
The last decade has seen the multiplication of research, intervention and
awareness projects thanks in part to the financial resources made available by
the European Community through its specific 1997 research-action programme – the Daphne programme – enabling structured action through plans
and action-programmes on the theme of equal opportunity. The data base prepared on the basis of the programme and projects financed by them offer a
very interesting view not just of actions computed, but also of questions faced
and themes not yet faced on a Community level and by the individual Member States. It should be noted that Italy is one of the countries for whom the
least number of projects has been financed.
Beginning in 2000 many of the local, regional, provincial and municipal
entities and health institutions included specific actions dealing with violence
against women and minors in their programmes. Territorial programming
highlighted the paucity of interventions on a national scale and sought remedies by instigating specific intervention plans, ad hoc laws and the insertion of
measures into regional and public health programme legislature. Each entity
acted independently and made use of their own financial resources, without
common guidelines or a sense of cooperation for the creation of a harmonic
framework of action, nor taking steps based on the knowledge available from
those working in the field and aware of the phenomenon and its gravity,
ground rules which were specifically addressed in European Community recommendations. Law N° 328/2000, which calls for the re-organisation of the
socio-sanitary services, did not introduce our theme amongst those calling for
the programming of Zone Plans with the necessary levels of interaction with
the socio-sanitary system, leaving to the regions or socio-sanitary districts the
choice to include the theme of violence against women among their intervention priorities, which led, in fact, to the almost total exclusion on this level of
action programmes for the prevention of and fight against violence against
women. It must, however, be said that some Regions did adopt specific intervention measures, either in their Operative Plans (ex. Sicily and Puglia regarding abuse and domestic violence, Piedmont regarding trafficking) or Actualization Plans from the Law N° 328/2000 (Tuscany, Emilia Romagna, Sic40
ily, Campania and others), with, however, specific attention to violence
against minors as proposed by the normative integration with Law N° 285,
found among the Programme Frame Accords (even though only Sicily proposed a specific Accord regarding the theme of Equal Opportunity and inserted domestic violence against women as an action area for which to provide specialised services). Other Regions honed specific laws regarding domestic violence and the services needed to fight it (Friuli, Puglia, Basilicata
and the Autonomous Province of Bolzano) or are on the verge of doing so
(Liguria, Abruzzo and the Marches). On the whole we are experiencing an increase in the level of interest in the phenomenon of domestic violence, although much of it concentrated more on minors, with respect to whom the
question, although very relevant, regarding the dimension of domestic violence and in the context of relationships in which it is placed, appears silenced: this does not contribute to the cultural attention felt regarding domestic violence against women. In all of Italy since the late 1980’s, it must be remembered, there have been anti-violence centres and shelters managed by
women’s associations representing the framework of action taken in favour of
the women who have been victims of domestic violence. The most relevant
public experience is that of Venice, unique up until only a few years ago. In
the mid 1990’s, aided by the awareness of the benefits of working within a
network frame, the first local activity within networks begins to guarantee a
more efficient system of intervention. Networks were generally constructed
around the intervention operations conducted by the anti-violence centres
which provided information and created awareness among the social, health
and public safety operators who were in direct contact with the female victims. It remains to this day a particularly Italian reality: one which sees the
construction of services and shelters almost exclusively by women’s associations who put influential pressure directly on local policies (where the conditions and room for negotiation permitted) and the birth and growth of relevant
experiences in some Italian cities and regions also tied to the strong influence
of those associations and of those men and women who worked in the local
governmental offices with higher levels of awareness regarding the need for
the development of new services for the citizen and regarding the theme of
domestic violence against women. Up until the late 1990’s there existed a certain level of “deafness” in national institutions, leading to an absence of real
communication between those who worked in the field and those whose job it
was to define the socio-sanitary intervention system and the national equalopportunity polices. The cities which did not have the most advantageous social climate for the development of gender-oriented services aimed at aid to
the female victims of domestic violence, suffered the most. In 1998 the crea41
tion of the pilot project “Anti-violence Network of the Urban-Italia cities” 15
attempted, for the first time, to construct a meeting point between the two levels, starting with the awareness and the comparison of the interventions realised on a national scale and trying to respond to the need for interlocution
which could no longer be postponed. After the first wave of research-action,
in 2005 bidding opens on GUCE 2005/S 120 – 118610 – of 24/06/2005 for
the activation of a “National Anti-violence Network” and for the organisation
and management of call centre services with an experimental toll-free number
in support of female victims of inter- and extra-familial violence supported
also by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers – Department for Equal
Opportunities. It constitutes an important new step in the search to find the
ideal system for intervention which integrates different actions on diverse levels for the development of measures and services for female victims of domestic violence in a harmonic manner.
15
To read the normatives and an historical and conceptual account please see the existing
papers and website references on www.anti-violencedonna.it.
42
2. The perception of violence: women and men
by Maura Misiti
1. The context of the population survey
The growing awareness on the part of national government, international
organs, non-governmental organisations and the scientific community of the
problem of violence against women illustrated in the preceding chapter has
brought to light, among other things, a progressive understanding of the need
to make complete, reliable and up-dated information on domestic violence
against women in all of its forms available in order to develop and implement
efficient, complete and multi-disciplinary strategies against the phenomenon.
The Beijing Platform gave a particularly strong impulse to the collection of
data and for research about domestic violence. The request to national governments to reinforce the collection of data, to release its findings and to encourage research into the causes and consequences of the different faces of
domestic violence through cooperation with the universities, research centres
and civic organisations in order to develop policies and institutional reforms
on domestic violence against women (strategic objectives D2 and H3, paragraphs 129 and 206) has resulted in a consistent body of work on the theme of
the development of research methodology, common points of reference and
the comparability of the data in time and among the many national and regional groups. The Urban surveys conducted in Italy in the two succeeding
phases are to be found in this context. The methods and the definitions
adopted are inspired by the indications given by international agencies and by
the then available literature regarding the formulation of the pilot project and,
in particular, by the definition of domestic violence adopted by the United Nations Declaration for the Elimination of Violence against Women (1993),
which offers an ample and in-depth base for the study of violence against
women. According to this declaration “violence against women is any act of
violence which results in physical, sexual or psychological damage or suffering to the woman, including the threat of violence, coercion or the arbitrary
43
limitation of liberty, whether in the public or private arena” (General Assembly resolution 48/104 of 20 December 1993, Article 1) 1. It is due to this ample
definition of violence against women that the Declaration represents a good
conceptual frame for its study; nonetheless, because the reality of domestic
violence has so many differing characteristics the investigation methods must
be adapted to the type of violence which is the object of this study. As was
said in the preceding chapter, the focus of the Urban Project surveys is limited
to domestic violence as it relates to couples and consists in the study of the
perception of violence, of how deeply rooted the stereotypes are and the
measuring of the prevalence2 of violent phenomena in specific local contexts.
The Project considers several subjects for analysis: the viewpoint of the population (women and men), of the service operators, of the persons in the know
as well as of the female victims themselves. All of this aids us not only in improving our knowledge of the phenomenon of domestic violence, but also in
supplying the tools to the administrators of local policy to intervene and encourage the creation of local networks which can become part of the national
network. The methodological complexity of research-action and the specific
one of diverse surveys of which it is composed, have been, therefore, combined with the scientific and political objectives of the project. The combination of tools and differing methods has answered the need to deal with multifaceted requirements and obtain data, information and indications on how best
to intervene and help the female victims, and to use wisdom in the activation
of “virtuous” initiatives. The scientific committee which organised the system
and methods used by the project considered the theme of domestic violence
and its perception according to well-accredited approaches and recommendations based on the experiences of national and international agencies: that is,
using a combination of an “analysis desk” to collect official information, sample surveys conducted ad hoc on populations and its services as well as qualita1
Specifically the declaration considers a wide variety of acts and circumstances included in
the definition: physical sexual and psychological domestic violence inside the family, sexual
molestation of girls, domestic violence connected to the dowry, partner rape, female genital
mutilation and other tradizional practices hurting women, domestic violence outside of marriage and domestic violence coming from exploitation; physical sexual and psychological domestic violence in communal living including rape, sexual abuse, sexual molestation in the
workplace, in scholastic institutions and elsewhere, traffic e prostitution; physical sexual and
psychological domestic violence perpetrated or tolerated by the state.
2
Percentage of persons belonging to a demographic reality who have been subjected to violence in a specific period time period in the course of their lives or in the last 12 months (Final
Report of Expert Group Meeting on Violence against women: a statistical overview, challenges
and gaps in data collection and methodology and approaches for overcoming them. UN Division for the Advancement of Women in collaboration with: Economic Commission for Europe
(ECE) and World Health Organization, (WHO) 11. 14 April, 2005 Geneva Switzerland).
44
tive tools such as in-depth interviews. If the final objective is to represent violence against women in a family context in a single all-encompassing quantitative and qualitative framework, then the understanding of the results of each
and every single component of the various phases constitutes, due to its methodological rigour and the vastness of its revelations, a very impressive result.
2. Women and men in the Urban Network cities
The second phase of the Urban Project looked at, as we said, 17 new cities
which adhered to the Anti-violence Network already activated in the preceding
phase; they all participated in the first macro-action relative to the various surveys conducted in the field. The data, upon which we will comment in this part
of the report, are the result of random telephone surveys conducted on the general public and in each of the participating cities; it is important to remember
that while each interviewee represents the general population (or a specific Urban zone) and the sex and age group (18-89 years old) of each city or Urban
zone of the city, the totals which we present can not be considered representative, but are simply indicative of the whole of the cities which adhered to the
network in this phase. Nonetheless an elevated number of interviews were conducted regarding a phenomenon which is still largely unknown - the levels of
perception of domestic violence. The data collected, apart from its important
scientific contribution to knowledge regarding the phenomenon, is essential to
the comprehensive design of the project in that it represents a basis for the predisposition of actions taken by the networks in each city. It is furthermore important to keep in mind, reading the aggregated analysis of the data, that it deals
with a considerable heterogeneous mix of cities for different reasons:
x geographical, we have three big cities in the north Genoa, Turin and Trieste, Carrara and Pescara in the centre, and the most in the south and Sicily;
x dimensional, there are very small cities such as Misterbianco and Mola di
Bari and big cities like Turin, Genoa and Bari;
x economical and functional, including port cities, industrial cities, tertiary
cities and capitals.
Unfortunately not all the participating cities followed the instructions designed
to make the information gathered in the field comparable; the adoption of differing methods of gathering information and elaborating the data did not permit, in
this second phase, a comprehensive final analysis and confrontation between different realities. Not all of the cities could be included in the data-base file which
the analysis and the elaboration of data refer to in this chapter. This notwithstand45
ing, the main results of the cities not included will be reported3.
Moreover, only in some cases were the variables relating to adherence to
Urban zones introduced, and as a consequence it was not possible to evaluate
the eventual influence of this element. Each city was instructed to conduct
1000 interviews with women and 300 with men between the ages of 18 and
59, corresponding to ¾ of the women and ¼ of the men of each city, comprehensively 19,856 people (for a total of 4,771 men and 15,085 women). In Table 2.1 the number of valid interviews of women and men conducted in each
city is reported. The survey refers to a sample population of citizens between
the ages of 18 and 59, a wide middle sample whose characteristics can serve
as an important guide in the subsequent interpretation of the data.
Table 2.1 - Men and women interviewed in the Urban cities, absolute values
Men Women Total
BARI
303
1000
1303
BRINDISI
300
1000
1300
CAGLIARI
355
978
1333
CARRARA
300
1000
1300
CASERTA
300
1000
1300
CATANZARO
544
1005
1549
COSENZA
300
1000
1300
CROTONE
300
1004
1304
GENOA
302
1008
1310
MISTERBIANCO
272
987
1259
MOLA DI BARI
300
1048
1348
PESCARA
295
1008
1303
SALERNO
302
1003
1305
SYRACUSE
300
1000
1300
TARANTO
301
1042
1343
TURIN
301
1001
1302
TRIESTE
300
1002
1302
Total
5375
17086
22461
Please note that the women interviewed were older than the men interviewed.
(Table 2.2).
3
Bari and Turin.
46
Table 2.2 – Structural characteristics of the sample by sex, data %
Male age groups
Absolute values
%
18-29
1442
30,3
30-49
2268
47,6
50-59
1054
22,1
Total
4764
100,0
Female age groups
Absolute values
%
18-24
1874
12,5
25-34
3554
23,6
35-49
5963
39,6
50-59
3650
24,3
Total
15041
100,0
Status
Men
Women
single
47,6
27,9
32,6
married
46,9
64,2
60,0
Separated or divorced
4,6
5,0
4,9
widowed
1,0
3,0
2,5
Type of living situation
Men
Women
Total
alone
9,6
5,3
6,3
With children
24,9
37,5
34,5
With a partner
24,0
30,6
29,0
With a new partner
1,2
0,8
0,9
With the original family
36,7
21,8
25,4
With friends
1,5
1,4
1,4
With other family members
2
3
2,5
100,0
100,0
47
Total
100,0
Table 2.2 (continued) - Structural characteristics of the sample by sex,
Work status
Employed
Unemployed
Looking for first employment
Housewife
Student
Retired
Unable to work - invalid
Men
65,0
5,7
3,8
0,0
16,9
7,5
0,7
100,0
Women
38,3
8,7
3,4
35,0
10,8
3,7
0,2
100,0
Total
44,7
8,0
3,5
26,7
12,2
4,6
0,3
100,0
Position within the profession
Men
Women
Total
Executive
Management
Menial worker
Specialised worker
Executive assistant
Employee
Teacher
Military or Police
Artisan
Store keeper or sales rep
Entrepreneur
Freelance
Farmer or farm renter
Domestic helper
Other
3,7
4,5
7,9
9,6
13,4
12,9
5,2
4,3
3,6
7,4
3,3
12,8
2,1
0,2
8,9
100,0
Education
Men
Only primary school
Junior school
Secondary school
University
4,0
19,1
57,7
19,2
100,0
2,0
2,5
6,2
3,5
14,9
16,8
18,6
1,5
1,8
6,1
1,9
7,3
0,9
4,0
12,0
100,0
Women
11,1
24,2
49,1
15,5
100,0
2,6
3,2
6,8
5,7
14,4
15,4
13,9
2,5
2,5
6,6
2,4
9,2
1,4
2,6
11,0
100,0
Total
9,4
23,0
51,2
16,4
100,0
The fact that most of the persons interviewed for this survey were married
is due to the fact that many of the women were married, whereas among the
men the proportion of those married was equal to those not married, an aspect
48
to be considered in view of the propensity of women to marry at an early age
and of the high incidence of older people interviewed.
Unemployed
Looking for
first
employment
Housewife
Student
Retired
Unable to
work
Total
TRIESTE
PESCARA
CATANZARO
GENOA
SYRACUSE
SALERNO
CASERTA
CARRARA
Total
CAGLIARI
BRINDISI
COSENZA
MOLA DI BARI
CROTONE
TARANTO
MISTERBIANCO
Employed
Table 2.3 – Characteristics of the interviewees in the Urban cities by profession, %
65,1
57,2
51,8
51,5
48,6
48,5
48,1
46,3
44,7
43,5
39,5
37,0
36,1
36,0
33,4
26,9
4,4
6,9
5,5
4,8
8,9
9,4
8,7
6,2
8,0
8,0
7,0
9,8
5,3
24,8
4,3
6,1
0,6
3,6
6,6
1,6
2,9
3,9
3,5
1,8
3,5
4,5
4,8
3,8
3,6
4,2
2,2
4,5
14,7
14,1
7,7
25,0
23,6
22,4
20,2
32,0
26,7
22,8
33,7
32,1
40,4
18,4
46,7
49,2
7,9
15,2
26,1
7,9
10,5
12,4
14,6
8,5
12,2
14,9
10,1
11,0
11,5
13,3
7,4
9,7
6,9
3,0
2,2
8,9
4,8
3,2
4,7
4,7
4,6
5,8
4,6
5,9
2,8
3,0
5,8
3,0
0,4
0,0
0,1
0,3
0,5
0,2
0,2
0,4
0,3
0,6
0,3
0,4
0,2
0,3
0,3
0,6
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
As a consequence, the incidence of women who live with their partners or
with their children is higher than that of men, whom we find on the most part
living alone or within their original families. The differences we have discovered regarding employment status and position within a profession, however,
is very relevant. In the urban populations which were studied 38% of the
women were employed, as opposed to 65% of the men. It must be remembered that we are not dealing with a homogenous urban sample and that when
it comes to employment the differences are extremely relevant, as we can see
in Table 2.3.
The percentage of employed women goes from 62% in Trieste to 17.5% in
Misterbianco, and the alarming data provided by Crotone indicates that 1
woman in 4 declares herself unemployed where the average data sets it at 8%.
The data from Misterbianco is also worthy of note, where half of the women
declare themselves to be housewives whereas the Italian average in 2001 was
circa 15% (in a population sample which dealt with subjects over the age of
15), as in Trieste and Pescara. In Genoa and Trieste the percentage of retired
49
women is between 9% and 7% reflecting age differences as well as a difference in the nature of the job market. In Misterbianco this figure drops to 3%.
In considering the professional position data we have to take into account
that in the cities which participated in the survey the women are systematically under-represented in all of the “important” jobs of prestige and earning
with respect to the men, whereas they are very numerous in the profession
of teaching and as employees. As to the educational levels, due to their older
age, the women are the majority of those without any study title or have
completed only primary school; three times more women are in these conditions than the men, whereas it is higher than those who have completed
middle school. The fact that more men have university degrees is due to the
under-representation of the segment of younger women.
3. Public communication and subjective elaboration: sources of
knowledge and the determination of the causes of violence against
women
Before we broach the subject of the analysis of the individual perception
of domestic violence, the way in which the questionnaire was structured
leads us to examine the public context in which the phenomenon of violence
against women is conceptualised, that is, the way in which women and men
come into contact with and receive input and information regarding the argument.
As we all know it is a topic which for a long time has remained suppressed and misunderstood, around which strict silence was observed, or at
least about which information was circulated only in the tightest of circles.
The recent and ever increasing media attention dedicated to episodes of domestic violence against women has gone a long way in spreading information about it, but these types of violence are reported on the front pages only
when the episode assumes its most clamorous aspects and cannot be ignored, such as when it takes the form of a crime of exceptional gravity. Information reported in the media often focuses only on its more sensational
aspects, thus distorting it, it being an extremely sensitive argument not only
for its contents, but also for the strong emotions it elicits. The information
the media communicates, on the whole, hides the pervasive, transversal and
structural aspects of the diverse forms of violence perpetrated against
women (Kitzinger J. 2004).
For this reason the questionnaire which was used in the survey immediately defined the forms of violence to which it refers and made a precise
50
list for the interviewees in the introduction to the question regarding where
and how they actually received information regarding violence against
women.
The diffusion of information is dominated by television and represents
the main source of information for more than 80% of the individuals surveyed. A very distant second place is occupied by the print media and
word of mouth, leaving a very marginal role to radio broadcasts and the
workplace. This distribution is also confirmed by the observations resulting from the preceding series of Urban surveys and by the revelations of
the Eurobarometer in 1999 (EC DG X, 1999) stressing the strategic importance of audio-visual communication in the spreading of correct and wellbalanced information about the phenomenon of domestic violence. Particular attention must be given to the 2% percent of those surveyed who
responded that they had never heard anyone speak about domestic violence. Although we are dealing with a very low percentage, it is important
to note that in some cities these percentages are considerably higher (8%
in Taranto, 4% in Misterbianco where it reaches 6,6% for men, around 3%
in Syracuse and in Genoa), thus confirming the persistent reality of a culture which remains substantially silent regarding the issue, or which practices “omertà” (Table 3.1).
The contents of this general chart, which is more or less common to all
the cities, brings to light a plurality of information access models which go
from cities such as Crotone, Cosenza, Salerno, Brindisi, Mola di Bari and
Pescara, where television as prime influential information source exceeds
93%, to others where the sources of information are spread among diverse
media: newspapers in Trieste 73%, in Pescara 67%, in Genoa 63% and in
Carrara 61%; the radio in Genoa 23%, Trieste and Pescara 22%, friends as
sources in Cosenza 27%, Catanzaro, Pescara and Genoa; information gathered at the workplace in Trieste, Pescara, Catanzaro, Genoa and Syracuse.
Let us now take a closer look at the characteristics of the end-user of the
varying media in order to draw a more precise user profile which will consent us, for example, to define the targets excluded from information regarding the phenomenon of domestic violence, and, in doing so, eventually become more efficient in heightening awareness of the problem. There are few
significant differences between men and women in how they receive their
information: the same percentage of men and women declare to never have
heard anyone speak of the problem of domestic violence. However, more
men than women read newspapers and listen to the radio, whilst more
women get their information from friends, colleagues and television. More
relevant in the differentiation of the models of the use of the various media
51
is the level of education. In fact, the proportion of those who have no information at all about domestic violence doubles (4%) among those who have
the least education and then descends as the level of education increases to
reach 1% among those with a university degree.
Table 3.1-“Have you heard of this problem?” The sources of information about violence,
% by city with reference to the first answer in all of the cases
Yes, on
television
TARANTO
MISTERBIANCO
SIRACUSA
GENOVA
MOLA DI BARI
Total
CARRARA
BRINDISI
CAGLIARI
CASERTA
SALERNO
CATANZARO
COSENZA
PESCARA
TRIESTE
CROTONE
87,8
82,5
82,1
76,5
92,1
81,6
87,0
92,6
78,0
68,0
93,6
45,8
94,5
93,4
65,2
91,2
Yes, in
newspapers
Yes,
No,
from
never
friends,
acquaint
ances
Yes,
in
another
way
Yes,
at
work
Yes,
from
the
radio
1,5
2,3
2,9
12,7
1,6
6,3
5,5
1,3
12,3
15,2
0,9
9,2
1,1
3,1
21,6
2,7
1,4
6,1
6,3
2,5
2,2
4,5
2,1
2,4
4,4
8,4
2,1
17,6
1,8
1,3
4,1
2,0
0,5
2,4
2,0
0,4
0,5
2,0
1,6
1,1
1,5
0,8
14,1
0,5
0,2
1,5
0,3
0,4
1,2
2,7
1,1
0,8
1,9
1,8
1,9
1,5
3,2
1,4
5,2
0,5
0,5
5,5
1,0
0,3
1,4
0,5
3,4
0,1
1,6
0,2
0,2
1,3
2,3
0,2
7,0
0,6
0,9
1,7
2,6
8,1
4,1
3,4
3,3
2,5
2,1
1,8
1,5
1,4
1,4
1,1
1,1
0,9
0,6
0,4
0,2
Total
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
This last category watches less television (only 82%) and favours newspapers and radio, as well as having an intense informational exchange at work
with colleagues (5% as opposed to 2% on average). The age groups of the interviewees also heavily influence the results: the women’s group had the oldest subjects (50-59 years of age) also had the highest quota of interviewees
who had never heard of the phenomenon (2.8%), whilst among the men it was
the youngest faction of the age group (18-29 years of age) who remained in
the dark (3.3%).
Older women tended to give preference to newspapers, whilst the youth,
52
both female and male, paid more attention to the radio, friends and alternative
sources than to television. With regard to the martial status of those interviewed, it is interesting to note that separated or divorced persons gave more
attention to newspapers and friends and were also better informed about the
theme of domestic violence with respect to the others (only 0.6% had never
heard about the subject).
Employment status also gave useful indications regarding the use of the
media as a source of information: it confirms that housewives and the unemployed make the most use of television, retired persons make more use of
newspapers, students depend more on the information given them by the radio
and their friends and employed persons receive information from their colleagues (Table 3.2).
The process of the elaboration of the information regarding domestic violence against women used by men and women is logically influenced by the
manner in which they receive this information. It is only the first step on the
road to understanding how the phenomenon is perceived.
Before we discuss the analysis of the data collected we will attempt to
evaluate the differences between the two groups of cities which participated in
the Urban survey: the classification of the causes does not change much from
the preceding phase to this one.
That which changes is the wide selection of the actual causes indicated and
an increase in level of awareness of the power of the sources of information in
the diffusion of a culture of violence in society, the external factors such as
alcohol and substance abuse which alter behaviour, as well as past episodes of
domestic violence. Of diminishing importance, although still high on the list,
is the acceptance of the violent nature of men, the provocation factor and genetic predisposition (Table 3.3).
Unfortunately it is not possible to establish to which degree the differences
can be blamed on the time element nor how much can be blamed on the differing cultures within a city, nonetheless it is certainly possible to affirm that
there are positive elements pointing to the withdrawal from positions expressing “justification”, “fatalism” and “blame” in favour of less stereotypical explanations.
If we consider the answers given to the interviewers as a whole, presented in
Table 3.3 in a decreasing order, we note how the prevailing explanations which
on the one hand “justify” rape using a fatalistic and passive interpretation of aggressive behaviour (genetic causes, men are that way…), on the other hand
blame the behaviour of women, placing the responsibility of some aggressive
behaviour on “provocation” (the diffusion of some types of behaviour by the
women). It is not a coincidence that this reasoning prevails among the males.
53
Table 3.2 - Sources of information on violence by educational level, % of all cases
No, never
%
Yes, on television
%
Yes, on the radio
%
Yes, in the newspapers
%
Yes, from
friends/acquaintances
%
Yes, at the workplace
%
Yes, from other sources
%
Total
%
Elementary
76
4,1
1656
89,0
133
7,1
523
28,1
266
Middle
24
2,7
4051
88,9
411
9,0
1726
37,9
643
Diploma
1187
1,8
8577
84,7
1294
12,8
4661
46,0
1703
Degree
34
1,0
2672
85,7
521
16,0
1695
52,2
531
Total
421
2,1
16956
82,3
2359
11,9
8605
43,5
3143
14,3
32
1,7
69
3,7
1861
9,4
14,1
120
2,6
183
4,0
4559
23,0
16,8
567
5,6
635
6,3
10122
51,1
16,3
421
13,0
197
6,1
3248
16,4
15,9
1140
5,8
1084
5,5
19790
100,0
Table 3.3 – Urban Comparison Survey – Identifying the causes of violence against women,
% of all cases
Causes
2004-2005
Genetic predisposition to violent behaviour
The diffusion of certain types of behaviour
Low level of education
How men consider women
Because “men are like that”
Information sources
Because they themselves were victims
Lack of values (respect)
Alcohol and substance abuse
The problems men face in view of the greater
autonomy of women
Social discontent
Other reasons
The manner in which power is divided between
women and men in our society
Unemployment
Poverty
54
1999-2000 % difference
23,7
14,7
14,3
13,9
12,9
12,7
11,1
10,1
9,8
8,9
27,1
19,5
14,5
13,4
20,3
6,1
7,0
6,5
4,8
7,3
-3,4
-4,8
-0,2
0,5
-7,4
6,6
4,1
3,6
5,0
1,6
6,4
5,4
5,2
6,7
9,8
4,2
-0,3
-4,4
1,0
4,6
4,2
2,4
2,2
2,2
2,0
Table 3.3 (continued) –the causes of rape, % by sex of all cases
Causes
Genetic predisposition to violent behaviour
The diffusion of certain types of behaviour
by woman
Low level of education
How men consider women
Because “men are like that”
Information sources
Because they themselves were victims
Lack of values (respect)
Alcohol and substance abuse
The problems men face in view of the
greater autonomy of women
Social discomfort
The manner in which power is divided
between women and men in our society
Unemployment
Poverty
Other
No answer
Total
Men
Women
Total
23,8
23,7
23,7
15,3
16,0
13,4
10,8
14,1
10,4
9,3
11,4
14,5
13,8
14,0
13,5
12,2
11,4
10,3
9,3
14,7
14,3
13,9
12,9
12,7
11,1
10,1
9,8
8,9
6,8
8,9
6,3
8,9
6,4
5,3
4,5
4,2
5,4
15,2
13941
5,2
4,6
4,8
4,8
3,9
5,7
13,1
4451
5,4
14,7
18392
The low level of education, in 3rd place, is another affirmed stereotype
which tends to confine and limit the phenomenon of domestic violence to
specific social typologies, whereas the reality of the data and experience
places domestic violence in all social classes. Both genders confirm their
agreement of the fact that men see women in a different manner. Whereas
women perceive the reasons for domestic violence slightly more as the result
of a lack of values and respect, more men give the blame to the altering effects of alcohol and substance abuse. There is no difference between men and
women in their perception of the growing autonomy of women and the possibility that this then results in the changing of the intimacy of relationships between them. The indirect “social” causes of domestic violence have, as we
have seen, attracted the interest of the interviewees, remaining, however, low
on the scale of importance: a point of view which bestows a fatalistic and passive interpretation of the phenomenon of domestic violence.
55
4. The quality of urban life and the safety of women in cities
The theme of the quality of urban life and that of safety represent fundamental aspects of civilised co-habitation, but it is not only for reasons of
analysis that these themes were placed at the beginning of the interviews.
It is a fact that the perception of safety and the freedom of movement, especially for women, are the basic conditions for an overall sense of serenity, the reflection of a serenity which from the public sphere follows into
the private sphere. It is the perception, therefore, of the complex conditions of the quality of life in the neighbourhood, not just as a subjective
sense of personal safety (or of the safety of women in general) but also in
relation to citizens on the whole. This theme represents, in our opinion, a
correct and significant introduction to the more specific theme of domestic
violence.
Considering the inflexible structure of the housing market in Italian cities, it is not surprising that more than 70% of the sample population interviewed has always, or for a very long time, lived in the same neighbourhood. Although more than half proclaimed themselves satisfied (56%) or
are resigned to their living situation (35%), 9% feel a profound discomfort
and would prefer to move to another area. This latter feeling was expressed by those who lived in the neighbourhoods for the longest time.
If we study the discomfort scale shown by Graph 4.1 we can observe the
great variations expressed in the various Urban cities. At the top we find
Taranto, where one in five citizens expressed a desire to change neighbourhood due to the problems they perceive in their own. In Cosenza, Catanzaro, Syracuse and Salerno the interviewed sample indicated a higher
level of discomfort in their neighbourhoods with respect to the norm. On
the opposite end of the scale we find Crotone, where the reported feelings
of discomfort were at a minimum (3.1%) and just above them Genoa, Trieste, Misterbianco and Turin (3.5%).
We now turn to the question of safety. The vast majority of those interviewed (88%) does not consider its neighbourhood more at risk than others
with regard to the safety of women. This does not render less worrisome
the remaining 12% who consider their urban environment as not safe, or as
actually dangerous, for women. We remind you that this result represents
only an average of the cities considered, and it is therefore opportune to
see how this percentage of people is distributed among the various urban
centres. Graph 4.2 reflects the scale of the cities with respect to the answers given regarding the perception of risk.
56
Table 4.1 - Population of the Urban cities by permanent residence in the neighbourhood
and opinion on the quality of life in the neighbourhood, % of the total
Quality of life in the neighbourhood
For how many years
have you lived in this
neighbourhood?
Since birth
For more than 10 years
From 8 to 10 years
From 3 to 7 years
For less than 3 years
Total
Good, would not
move
Problems exist as in other
areas
16,5
23,7
4,8
6,9
4,0
55,9
10,6
15,1
3,5
3,8
2,0
35,0
There are
many problems
and would prefer to move
2,4
4,0
0,9
1,0
0,8
9,1
Total
29,5
42,8
9,1
11,7
6,9
100,0
In first place we find Salerno where the percentage is more than 20%, followed by Syracuse, Taranto and Cosenza, cities where a higher level of general discomfort and problems are perceived.
Grafico
4.1 Percentuale
di popolazione
ritieneits
molto
il proprio
Graph
4.1 Percentage
of the population
whichche
considers
own problematico
neighbourhood
problematic
and would
prefer to move
eslewhere,
city
quartiere
e preferirebbe
vivere
altrove,by
per
città
21,0
TARANTO
12,2
COSENZA
12,1
CATANZARO
10,8
SIRACUSA
10,2
SALERNO
9,1
Totale
9,1
CAGLIARI
8,6
CASERTA
8,3
BRINDISI
MOLA DI BARI
7,3
CARRARA
7,3
7,3
PESCARA
6,6
MISTERBIANCO
6,2
TRIESTE
5,7
GENOVA
3,1
CROTONE
0,0
5,0
10,0
57
15,0
20,0
25,0
Graph 4.2
of the population
which considers
its own neighbourhood
Grafico
4.2Percentage
Percentuale
di popolazione
che considera
il proprio at
greater risk for women than other parts of the city
quartiere a maggiore rischio per la sicurezza delle donne rispetto
ad altre zone della città
SALERNO
21,0
SIRACUSA
18,0
TARANTO
17,6
COSENZA
15,6
MOLA DI BARI
15,0
CAGLIARI
12,8
BRINDISI
12,7
TOTALE
12,1
CASERTA
11,5
MISTERBIANCO
11,1
CARRARA
11,1
GENOVA
10,8
PESCARA
10,1
TRIESTE
8,6
CROTONE
CATANZARO
5,1
1,7
In the last places, just after Catanzaro which comes in with the lowest distribution value, we find Crotone and Trieste with the highest levels of satisfaction with regards to the quality of urban life and the least
sense of risk. Sense of risk and insecurity, of course, changes in accordance to the respondent, but not everywhere in the same way. In general we observe that women express a higher degree of risk perception
(+1.3%), but there are those cities in which the men expressed higher
senses of insecurity than women, such as in Taranto, Syracuse and Catanzaro (Table 4.2).
Nonetheless, the majority of women expressed a higher level of insecurity than the men in particular in Cagliari, Misterbianco, Carrara and
Crotone. With regards to women, age and educational level had little influence on their perception of safety in urban areas. In general the perception of lack of safety increases with age and those with the lowest
level of educational are more aware of the risk factors.
58
Table 4.2 – Population which considers its neighbourhood at higher risk for the security of
women with respect to other areas, % by sex
City
Men
Women
Total
Difference between
men and women
SALERNO
SIRACUSA
TARANTO
COSENZA
MOLA DI BARI
CAGLIARI
BRINDISI
19,9
20,3
20,6
14,7
14,7
8,7
11,3
21,5
17,3
16,7
15,9
15,1
14,3
13,1
21,1
18,0
17,6
15,6
15,0
12,8
12,7
1,7
-3,0
-3,9
1,2
0,4
5,6
1,8
TOTAL
CASERTA
MISTERBIANCO
11,1
10,7
8,2
12,4
11,8
11,9
12,1
11,5
11,1
1,3
1,0
3,7
CARRARA
9,0
11,7
11,1
2,7
GENOVA
PESCARA
TRIESTE
CROTONE
CATANZARO
10,9
10,5
7,6
3,3
2,8
10,7
9,9
8,9
5,7
1,2
10,8
10,1
8,6
5,1
1,7
-0,2
-0,6
1,3
2,3
-1,6
With the following question we enter into the principle theme, that of the perception of the phenomenon of rape which takes place in the home (domestic violence) and of the first hand knowledge by asking for an evaluation regarding the
frequency of cases of rape. Also in this case the vast majority of the sample population interviewed did not consider as frequent cases of aggression and domestic
violence in the neighbourhood (80.7%). However, 2.2%, or 435 people, expressed the opinion that sexual domestic violence was a frequent occurrence in
their neighbourhood. Of these, the perception of domestic violence was higher
among the women (Table 4.3).
59
Table 4.3 - Are cases of sexual violence against women frequent in your neighbourhood?
City
No
Yes
Don’t know
Total
SYRACUSE
GENOA
CAGLIARI
TARANTO
CASERTA
COSENZA
SALERNO
Total
BRINDISI
PESCARA
MOLA DI BARI
MISTERBIANCO
CARRARA
TRIESTE
CATANZARO
CROTONE
74,5
86,9
81,3
80,6
76,5
85,9
90,1
80,7
85,5
67,1
92,5
90,6
88,1
84,0
43,0
90,6
3,4
3,1
2,9
2,9
2,7
2,5
2,3
2,2
2,0
2,0
1,9
1,9
1,8
1,5
1,4
1,0
22,1
10,0
15,8
16,5
20,8
11,5
7,7
17,1
12,5
30,9
5,6
7,6
10,1
14,5
55,6
8,4
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
100,0
The percentage oscillates from a maximum of 3.4% in Syracuse to a
minimum of 1% in Crotone. The opinions of women and men do not significantly differ except in Caserta, Cagliari and Salerno where the women
report a higher frequency of cases of domestic violence, and in Carrara
where it is the men who have a greater perception of the dangers of violence. The percentage of those responding that they do not know is about
17%, with the percent of responses indicating that they are not able to give
an answer reaching almost 56% in Catanzaro and is also high in Pescara,
Syracuse and Caserta, whilst it is low in Mola di Bari, Salerno and Misterbianco.
As you can see in Graph 4.3, the perception of security varies considerably from city to city. In some cities an absolute sense of security is perceived by almost all of its citizens, such as in Misterbianco, Carrara, Mola
di Bari and Trieste, and the sense of “conditioned safety” is also relatively
low, whilst an absence of safety is relegated to a very low 3%. Below average are a group of cities where the perception of total or partial insecurity is alarming, as in Brindisi, Syracuse, Caserta Salerno, Cagliari, Catan-
60
zaro4 and Bari where 7% of the women never feel safe.
The perception of the sense of security and freedom is very different
from men to women (Table 4.4).
Among men the perception of living in total and permanent security is
prevalent (77%), whereas only 68% of the women perceive this same
sense of security.
Among women a sensation of limits, of the existence of constraints tied
to particular circumstances that permit them to feel more secure (28% as
opposed to 20% in men5), is more often manifested. The sense of safety in
only some circumstances is sharper among single or separated women,
among girls, retired women, those who are looking for their first employment and among graduates.
The sensation of constant vulnerability, of always being in potential
danger of aggression, is fortunately present only in a minority of the
women interviewed, although it does represent 3.5% of women and
men. More women, however, suffer from this sensation than do the
men.
Table 4.4 - Do you feel safe in your neighbourhood? – total of the cities by sex
Male
Female
Yes, always
76,8
68,2
70,3
No, never
3,0
3,6
3,5
28,1
26,2
I only feel safe in some circumstances
20,2
Total
100,0
4
100,0
100,0
The city of Crotone was eliminated from this analysis
In Torino the women who feel safe only in some circumstances equal 37,6%, cfr. Urban
report of the city of Torino, 2004, in Bari it is 58,7% cfr. Non solo lividi…nell’anima. Report
on the city of Bari. Bari 2003.
5
61
Graph 4.3 – Perception of own neighbourhood safety, % per city “Do you feel safe in your
neighbourhood?”
100,0
90,0
80,0
70,0
60,0
50,0
40,0
30,0
20,0
10,0
Yes,sempre
always
Si,
R
I
PE
SC
AR
A
G
EN
O
VA
CA
R
R
M
AR
IS
TE
A
R
BI
AN
CO
TR
IE
ST
E
D
IB
A
N
ZA
SE
M
O
LA
N
TO
CO
ta
le
To
No,
No,never
mai
TA
R
A
BR
IN
D
IS
I
SI
R
AC
U
SA
CA
SE
R
TA
CA
GL
IA
R
I
SA
LE
R
N
CA
O
TA
N
ZA
R
O
0,0
I feelsento
safe only
in somema
circumstances
Mi
sicura/o,
solo in alcune circostanze
5. The elasticity of perception: an overview of the components determining the concepts of violence against women
6
5.1. Stereotypes and tolerance: analytic methods and techniques
Some of the questions asked of the interviewees deal with their evaluation
of the existence of stereotypes relative to the phenomenon of violence against
women and measuring of the levels of tolerance of this violence. It is a series
of questions to which the answers were either yes or no, or rated on a scale of
agreement. Although these questions rendered information rich in content, its
6
This paragraph is based on the elaboration and analysis conducted by Maria Gerolama
Caruso and Loredana Cerbara.
62
qualitative nature made it difficult to synthesise or, at least, to organise it inside an interpretative chart. In the local reports from the single cities dealing
with the analysis the question was often dealt with by analysing the answers
given one by one or creating indicators based on the number of responses to
similar questions, such as different aspects of the general questions regarding
stereotypes or tolerance. These may be valid approaches, but statistics uses
more sophisticated techniques which allow for multi-faceted analysis (that is,
they can take into account a wider variety of data at the same time) which, to
a certain extent limits the subjective interpretation of the result, although
maintaining a discreet level of discretionary interpretation by the researcher.
One of these approaches is based on the classification potential of an analytic
technique used by the Reti Neurali Artificiali (RNA) whose advantage lies in
the fact that it can assimilate use of data from non-linear distribution models,
thus able to adapt well to the data, or at least adapt better than linear or simple
distance based models (incalculable in the case of qualitative variables if not
damaging to a great part of the content).
As opposed how the local reports were analysed, an ulterior analytic dimension is present in the work and includes the territorial factor. In this case,
seeing as we are dealing with qualitative variables to be cross-analysed with
regards to spatial dimension, it seems opportune to revert to more traditional
analytical techniques, though not less sophisticated than those of the RNA,
such as the Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) well known among
data researchers. It has the advantage of presenting an immediately useable
result when applied to the study of latent variables (that is, it identifies the
phenomena beneath the data) in a complex situation in which the spatial component is very important. Seeing as we have to study two aspects of the answers given, that is the one tied to the stereotypes regarding domestic violence
and the one relative to tolerance, it seemed opportune to make use of the same
variables considered in the majority of the local reports, in order to obtain a
comparable result. In any case the results obtained here can not be completely
superimposed on the local reports, although it is logical to expect to find
many affinities between the two analyses: there are elements of spatial dimension in play, which, although to some extent complicate the comprehensive
understanding of the results, at the same time enrich the final interpretative
picture.
The MCA, therefore, provides the synthetic variables, which can be interpreted and studied with respect to the contextual variables, and which can be
assimilated to stereotypical and tolerance indicators according to the variables
inserted into the analysis. Therefore it will be sufficient to use two distinct
applications for the two themes of study in order to obtain, should the meth63
odology be a success, a complete and transversal study with respect to the
sub-samples contained in the data of the information requested by this analysis.
5.2. Stereotypes of gender violence
The first application we present regards the diffusion and the persistence of
prejudices and stereotypes in the perception of the phenomenon of violence
against women, the cognitive objective is that to simultaneously consider all
of the variables which define a series of preconceived judgements about gender violence in order to delineate the relationship between these variables and
define the profile of the interviewees on the basis of their overall attitude to
the principle theme.
We have chosen six active variables which regard how deeply these stereotypes are rooted (Table 5.1) and eight supplementary variables relating to the
structural characteristics of those being interviewed, which did not actively
influence the analysis but were nonetheless useful, by their projection onto the
factorial axis, for the definition of the profiles of the interviewees.
As already mentioned, we are dealing with a selection of questions which
point out the most widespread stereotypes about rape, starting with those
questions which refer to the identification of the potential victim in which
common mentality considers only certain types of women at risk, suggesting
in some way that the attitude or the poverty of the woman can justify violent
behaviour (variables 1 and 4, Table 5.1).
Another question is that which limits the definition of rape only to the clear
evidence of obvious signs and “objectives”, excluding, therefore, all of the
manifestations of psychological violence, verbal abuse, molestation and
forced sexual activity, which represent the main types of violence suffered
(variable 2, Table 5.1).
Placing the blame for the act itself on the woman for not reacting or for her
inability to defend herself is another common stereotype which hypocritically
absolves the perpetrator of responsibility (variables 2 and 3, Table 5.1). The
stereotypes which stigmatize women who are unable to leave a relationship
with a violent partner is often sustained by arguments which include the accusation of some form of complicity, or actual active participation (pleasure,
love, masochism) on the part of the woman (variable 6, Table 5.1).
The first factorial axis defined as autonomy/adhesion to the stereotypes
measures two opposing views against the concept of violence against women.
64
Table 5.1 – Active and supplementary variables considered in the analysis of stereotypes
ACTIVE VARIABLES
1.
2.
In your opinion rape is a problem which regards: Ques. 9
If a woman claims to have been subjected to rape, what do you think? Ques. 12
3.
4.
If there are no signs of physical violence (beatings, etc.) it is not rape
That a woman who does not want to have sex, has many ways to defend herself
5.
6.
That “good” women do not get raped
If a woman did not react aggressively to an episode of violence, (for example does not
punch, kick, scratch, scream) what do you think. Ques. 15
In your opinion, why do some women remain with a violent man? Ques. 23
7.
SUPPLEMENTARY VARIABLES
-
Gender
Professional position
Professional condition
City
Age of male
Age of female
Level of education
Does not have children – has children
At the two extremes which characterise the juxtaposition we find the variables which define the meaning of the axis. On the positive semi-axis (Chart
5.1) four variables denote a conceptual space which distances itself from the
commonly held belief which considers the element of “provocation” in rape
according to which “good women do not get raped”, refutes the stereotype according to which “if a woman doesn’t want it, them she can defend herself”,
which rejects the prejudice held by the negationists who maintain that “if
there are no signs then there has been no violence”, and which finds in the
economic dependence of the woman the only reason which keeps her in a relationship with a violent man. The supplementary variables draw a profile of
those who responded in the following chart: female between the ages of 18
and 34 years of age, with university degree, teacher, professional, employee,
student; the cities of Pescara, Genoa, Cagliari, Salerno, Caserta and Brindisi
are particularly noteworthy for these variables.
65
On the opposite side, the negative semi-axis (Chart 5.1 continued) is represented by those persons who maintain that “if a woman does not fight back, it
means that she basically enjoyed it”, sustain that a complicity exists and denying the act as aggressive or unilateral, retain that “good women do not get
raped”, by not answering or answering “I do not know” to these questions.
Let us now see the structural characteristics which define this area of the
graph: persons between the ages of 50-59, with low or medium level education, who are retired, workers, managers; the cities of Catanzaro, Misterbianco, Trieste and Crotone associated themselves with the types of answers
which together define a set of attitudes clearly in line with current stereotypes.
The contribution of the structural variables gives us, therefore, the possibility
to, on the one hand create a profile of those who have an attitude different
from the commonly held belief and are well aware of the nature of violence
against women, and on the other hand permits us to find the target on which
to direct awareness campaigns to change views of the phenomenon of violence and to uproot the commonly held beliefs and stereotypes which feed the
culture of violence.
Due to the non-representative nature of the sample of cities which participated in the surveys and to the dimension of the territory it was not possible to
get an accurate reading for geographical purposes. Nonetheless, the results of
the surveys do permit us to alert the local administrations and institutions of
those cities where the prevailing attitudes remain tied to deeply rooted and
negative stereotypes7.
5.3. Tolerance of violence against women
The second application of the MCA was done along the same lines of the
work conducted on stereotypes and takes into consideration the variables
which refer to the theme of tolerance and the acceptance of violent culture.
There are six active variables and eight supplementary variables.
The active variables deal with the definition of the limit, the point up to
which domestic violence is accepted in differing circumstances, here once
again in reference to the most widespread commonly held beliefs.
7
In Torino the “stereotype” indicators register a high 40,2% adhesion, cfr. Torino Urban
area report (2004), while in Bari adhesion to the diverse stereotypes proposed was also considerably high: 30% of the sample maintains that domestic violence perpetrated by a stanger is
more probable, 32% claim there are ways to defend oneself from domestic violence, “ Non solo
lividi…nell’anima ” – Report on the city of Bari. Bari 2003.
66
Chart 5.1- Adhesion to/autonomy from stereotypes – First axis
ACTIVE VARIABLES. STEREOTYPES ABOUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AUTONOMY AXIS POSITIVE AREA
x
Why do women sometimes remain with a violent man who mistreats her?
Because they do not want to upset the children
x
If a woman does not overtly react to an episode of domestic violence, what do you think?
That in that circumstance it was dangerous to react to the domestic violence
x
Rape is a problem which concerns
All women
x
Why do women sometimes remain with a violent man who mistreats her?
Because they are alone and have no help
x
If a woman does not overtly react to an episode of domestic violence, what do you think?
That she did not have the strength to defend herself
x
If a woman claims to have been subjected to rape, what do you think?
o
That “good” women do not get raped NO
x
Why do women sometimes remain with a violent man who mistreats her?
Because they are economically dependant on the man
x
If a woman claims to have been subjected to sexual domestic violence, what do you
think?
o That if there are no signs of physical violence (beatings, etc.) NO
x
If a woman does not overtly react to an episode of domestic violence, what do you think?
That a woman who does not want to engage in sex has many ways to defend herself
NO
PROFILE VARIABLES
x
Diploma
x
Student
x
Professional
x
Employee
x
Woman between the ages of 18-24
x
Brindisi
x
Woman between the ages of 25-34
x
Caserta
x
Salerno
67
Chart 5.1 (continued) - Adhesion to/autonomy from stereotypes – first axis
ACTIVE VARIABLES. STEREOTYPES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ADHESION AXIS– NEGATIVE
AREA
If a woman does not overtly react to an episode of domestic violence, what do you
think?
That in some way she liked being subjected to violence
x
If a woman claims to have been subjected to rape, what do you think?
o
That good women do not get raped Yes
o
o
That good women do not get raped Don’t know
That good women do not get raped No answer
x
sexual domestic violence is a problem which regards No answer
x
If a woman claims to have been subjected to sexual domestic violence, what do you
think?
o That if there are no signs of physical domestic violence (beatings, etc.) No
answer
If a woman does not overtly react to an episode of domestic violence, what do you
think?
o That a woman who does not want to engage in sex has many ways to defend herself Yes
PROFILE VARIABLES
x
Catanzaro
x
Primary school – no title
x
x
Misterbianco
Trieste
x
Woman and Man 50-59 years of age
x
Unable to work
x
Middle school
x
Manager
x
Crotone
A first group of variables persists in the belief that circumstances could justify violent behaviour in general as well as inside a marriage (variables 1,2,3,
and 4, Table 5.2). A second set of variables deals with personal attitudes towards a mistreated person and the opinions relative to the differing levels of
68
“ability to resist” in a violent relationship which includes the presence of children. Each variable has a range of choices which permit the evaluation of the
level of tolerance of the person being interviewed. The first two axes of this
application were also very significant.
Table 5.2 – Active and supplementary variables considered in tolerance analysis
SIX ACTIVE VARIABLES 51 modalities
1.
Are there, in your opinion, circumstances which can justify rape? ques. 16
2.
If now and again a spouse, or live-in partner, slaps his partner, what do you think?
ques. 20
3.
Sometimes in married life it can happen that a husband forces himself with violence
and threats on his wife in order to have sex. What do you think about this? ques. 21
4.
According to you, are there circumstances which justify a husband using physical violence on his wife? ques. 22
5.
If a friend tells you that she is often mistreated by her husband, what do you do? Ques.
24
6.
It is often said that for the good of the children one can put up with violence inside the
family (i.e. It is better to keep the family together, even with domestic violence present, than to have a family with separated parents). Up to which point do you agree
with this statement? ques. 25
EIGHT SUPPLEMENTARY VARIABLES
-
Gender
-
Professional position
-
Professional condition
-
City
-
Age of the male
-
Age of the female
-
Study title
-
Has children – does not have children
Chart 5.2 illustrates the position of the variables in correspondence with the
first factorial axis in order to permit it to be interpreted.
69
On the positive end of the chart we find a set of answers which define a
way of thinking which refutes any excuse for domestic violence: to begin with
there is never any justification for it, neither in general, or in a relationship nor
does it include the occasional slap. It excludes the possibility of being able to
resist in a violent relationship, even if to avoid problems with the children
and, finally, it maintains that a mistreated woman has the right to assistance
and aid in her desire to leave a violent relationship.
The identikit of those who correspond to this way of considering violent relationships is provided by the structural characteristics which are placed in
this part of the graph: woman, with diploma or university degree, between 25
and 49 years of age, employed, teacher, or professional. The cities of Mola di
Bari, Genoa, Trieste, Brindisi and Pescara distinguish themselves by the presence of this attitude of total refusal of domestic violence. Opposing this attitude are the set of answers found on the opposite part of the axis, the negative
side.
Here the level of tolerance of violent behaviour is very high, we can actually say without limits, if violent physical behaviour on the part of men
against “their” women is considered admissible in circumstances when the
man “is in a bad mood…, when he is jealous or when the woman has an aggressive attitude”.
Not only, but a “slap” is considered an episode which does not result in either physical or psychological damage, but is one of the realities in a relationship. These subjects also maintain that, for the good of the children, a woman
must put up with violence inside the household and, finally, that nonintervention, even when explicitly asked for by the mistreated woman, is the
most appropriate response.
The profile associated to this model of high tolerance towards domestic
violence is defined by the supplementary variables which are located in this
area of the factorial space: older persons of both sexes (50-59 years of age),
men, with low level education, in non-professional conditions (retired or
housewives), menial workers; the city of Misterbianco and Catanzaro are distinguished by the prevalence of these types of answers8.
As already mentioned at the conclusion of the preceding application, these
results allow us to aim the efforts of awareness building as well as of fighting
domestic violence in a more effective manner as the segments of the popula8
Torino has a tolerance index of 32%, cfr. Urban Report of the City of Turin, 2004, in Bari
the tolerance threshold indicated by the existance of circumstances which justify domestic violence is 4% of the women and 2% of the men who answered ‘yes’. “ Non solo
lividi…nell’anima ”, Urban report on the City of Bari. Bari 2003.
70
tion and the urban areas which could benefit most from this intervention are
identified.
Chart 5.2 – Tolerance-rejection and acceptance
ACTIVE VARIABLES - TOLERANCE TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
AXIS - REFUSAL, POSITIVE AREA
x
If a woman is mistreated…don’t know
x
If a woman is mistreated … Tells her to leave and takes her into their home
x
Are there, according to you, circumstances which justify rape. No
x
If a woman is mistreated … tells her not to put up with the violence and to seek help
x
For the good of the children domestic violence can be tolerated. How much do you agree
with this statement? Not at all
x
If a husband forces his wife to have sex can it be considered domestic violence?
In this case it can also be considered rape
x
Can there be circumstances which can justify a husband using physical violence on his
wife? There are no circumstances which justify the use of violence
x
If a spouse, a live-in partner, occasionally slaps her, what do you think? Even an occasional slap is violence
PROFILE VARIABLES
x
Professional
x
Pescara
x
Brindisi
x
x
Trieste
Employee
x
Genoa
x
Employed
x
Mola di Bari
x
Woman
x
35-49 years of age
x
25-34 years of age
x
Diploma
x
University degree
71
ACTIVE VARIABLES – TOLERANCE TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
AXIS – ACCEPTANCE – NEGATIVE AREA
x
If a woman is mistreated…do you think it is better not to interfere in this circumstance
x
Are there circumstances which justify domestic violence? Yes
x
If a husband forces his wife to have sex. Between a husband and a wife one can never
consider it rape
x
Can there be circumstances which justify a husband using physical violence on his wife?
When a man is in a bad mood, worried, has work problems
x
If a husband forces his wife to have sex can it be considered violence? Don’t know
x
If a spouse, a live-in partner, occasionally slaps her, what do you think? In a relationship
slaps are often given
x
In married life it can happen that the husband forces his wife to have sex using threats or
violence If a man is rejected by his wife he could easily react this way
x
For the good of the children domestic violence can be tolerated. How much do you agree
with this statement? Quite and a lot.
PROFILE VARIABLES
x
Catanzaro
x
Primary school – no title
x
Woman and man 50-59 years of age
x
Male
x
Middle school diploma
x
Misterbianco
x
Worker
x
Housewife
x
Retired
6. The institutions and policies: the goals
In the first place social services, this is the request of the population; men
and women, but above all the women, clearly identify the determining role of
72
the public social policies in the management and fight against the phenomenon of violence against women.
Followed by the family, although at an ample distance, and in this case it is
more the men who see the family as being on the front line in the protection
and aid of the female victims; the police and voluntary associations come in at
about 25%.
The group of helpful institutions identified by the populations interviewed
seems balanced between the important role attributed to the public apparatus
and the recognition of the activities performed by the Anti-violence Centres,
or, more generally, the work done by the various associations in the area.
In the cities we see a great variety in the answers given, and the differences
noted correspond to the both the diverse local cultures and their differing
ideas on the theme of the role of the institutions, and the management of the
phenomenon of domestic violence on a territorial level. It is, in fact, probable
that these citizens reflect in their answers their perception of those who actually work in the field of anti-violence.
Let us give a brief panoramic view of the principle characterizations of the
cities. The role of the social services is considered prominent and central except
in Catanzaro and Caserta, whereas in Crotone, Salerno and Cosenza9 it is considered particularly important. The role of the health services is more controversial, highly esteemed in Cagliari and Salerno (with 16% as opposed to an average of 8%), whereas in Catanzaro, Cosenza, Brindisi and Carrara it gets below
average votes. The identification of the role of government is particularly important in Catanzaro (34% as opposed to an average of 12%) but much less so
in Cosenza and Carrara. The public security forces in Cagliari, Caserta and Trieste are considered an important interlocutor, whereas in Pescara and Crotone
the results are very different with votes well below the average.
Religious organisations are cited with above average frequency in
Cosenza, Mola di Bari, Crotone and Genoa, but considered of little help in
aiding victims of domestic violence in Catanzaro, Caserta and Carrara. Volunteer associations obtain a high evaluation given by 26% of the interviewees,
but also in this case the distribution of answers is very variable: The maximum was reached in Cosenza and Trieste where 60% of those interviewed indicated them as institutions which give aid to women, followed by Genoa
(38%) and Pescara (28%).
9
Torino also places its social services in first place, followed by associations and the family,
cfr. Urban area Report on the city of Torino, 2004, in Bari they are in first place but with inferior percentage (37%), “ Non solo lividi…nell’anima ”, Urban report on the city of Bari. Bari
2003.
73
Table 6.1 - The institutions which can intervene, % of the total of cases
Male
Women
Total
The State
The police
16,5
28,1
11,1
24,0
12,4
25,0
Lawyers, Judges
Health services
Social Services
7,5
7,2
50,0
6,1
8,5
55,1
6,4
8,2
53,9
Religious
tions
Volunteer
tions
organisa-
9,7
12,8
12,1
organisa-
23,5
26,5
25,7
3,4
28,9
3,4
3,6
26,4
3,8
3,5
27,0
3,7
24,1
4751
75,9
15003
The media
The family
Other
Total
Absolute frequency
100,0
19754
Table 6.2 - Measures and actions designed to deal with violence against women, % of all
cases
Frequency
Public opinion awareness campaigns
Harder sentences for violent men
Teach young people to have respect
Creation of anti-violence centres
Increased police activity
Special protection measures
A strengthening of the existing laws
A toll-free telephone number for women
Help women not to feel guilty
Rehabilitation of violent men
Laws preventing discrimination
Courses on women’s rights
Other
Total of the answers
5854
5390
3729
3529
2886
2379
1972
1887
1176
707
623
586
1552
32270
%
29.9
27.5
19,0
18,0
14,7
12,1
10,1
9,6
6,0
3,6
3,2
3,0
7,9
164,7
The opinions expressed by those interviewed in Misterbianco (7%) Crotone, Catanzaro (12%) and Caserta (14%) were very different. The family also
rates as an institution with a controversial role, there are cities such as Trieste
74
and Mola di Bari where the family is considered very important in dealing
with cases of domestic violence (38% and 36% respectively), whereas in other
cities it is relegated to a marginal role, such as in Cosenza, Catanzaro and
Syracuse. Apart from those institutions referred to it is interesting to see how
the citizens evaluate some of the policies aimed at combating domestic violence and helping the women who are subjected to it. The ranking which
emerges is not altogether different from the one obtained from the preceding
cycle of Urban surveys, in fact the first four positions remain stable, an element which permits administrations and the responsible politicians to pay attention to worthwhile indications given by the public for the formulation of
intervention policies on the matter. The most voted measures are equally distributed among “preventive” (campaigns, youth education) and aggressive intervention (more severe sentences, increased police activity). Specific actions
for the benefit of the victims themselves (anti-violence centres, protective
measures, toll-free numbers) also play a very important role. In first place,
with 30%, the interviewed citizens considered public opinion awareness information campaigns a priority, immediately followed by the call for more severe punishment of the perpetrators of domestic violence. As part of the informative campaigns there is also the desire to teach young people to have
more respect for one another, whereas the call for the creation of anti-violence
centres rises, the importance given to police control loses some ground. The
importance of activating specific measures and a toll-free telephone number is
considered a viable option, as is the call for the strengthening of legislature in
the defence of women. (Table 6.2)
The opinions expressed by both the women and men are, on the whole,
homogenous, the most important difference expressed being that of the
women who support all of the direct and explicit interventions in favour of
victims who need help, that is, by the creation of centres, the activation of
specific measures to protect women after they have reported episodes of domestic violence, toll-free numbers and helping women not to feel guilty, as
opposed to the men, who are more in favour of the toughening of sentences,
the education of young people and the rehabilitation of violent men. As to the
age factor, very young people (boys and girls) have shown a tendency toward
preferring increased police control and the rehabilitation of violent men,
whereas older people show a propensity towards seeking to instil a more respectful culture amongst youth. The middle aged persons interviewed tended
to prefer information and awareness campaigns. The usual city panorama
takes into account the non-homogeneity of the whole, and, in fact, there is a
strong local interpretation of the “hoped for” interventions among the diverse
local populations. The action, the awareness campaigns (29.9%), which in the
75
general classification is indicated in first place, nonetheless registers an elevated fluctuation: if in Mola di Bari and Taranto it reaches 50%, in Cosenza,
Brindisi, Crotone and Salerno 40%, in Caserta it registers 10% and in Catanzaro it plummets to only 2%. More severe sentences for violent men (27.5%
in general) in Trieste reaches 50%, in Pescara, Caserta and Crotone it levels at
40%, while it plunges to between 10% and 15% in Misterbianco, Mola di Bari
and Syracuse. The opening and maintenance of anti-violence centres and shelters gets 18% on the whole, but is more enthusiastically received in Trieste
(39%), Salerno and Mola di Bari, than in Caserta (8%) Syracuse, Crotone and
Misterbianco (12%). The adoption of specific protective measures for women
who report violent men to the authorities in general rated 12%, but was
greatly desired in Pescara by 42%, Carrara 28% and Trieste 21%. The idea
did not go over well in either Syracuse, Misterbianco (6%), Caserta (7%) or
Crotone (9%). And finally, the activation of a toll-free number for women
who seek help (with a general 9.6%) was very well accepted by Trieste
(22%), Cosenza (15%) and Carrara (12%), whilst dropping to 2.5% in Syracuse and Taranto, to 3% in Mola di Bari and to about 5% in Pescara and Misterbianco10.
It is interesting to note how the need for intervention and measures to control domestic violence against women changes dramatically from city to city.
The conclusion we can draw from this is that the measures taken and policies
introduced must be calibrated on a local level.
7. The violence suffered
On the basis of the questions posed in the questionnaire it is possible to
give an estimate of the prevalence of domestic violence suffered in the course
of a lifetime by the women and men interviewed in the context of the cities
adhering to the Anti-violence Network. While deeper research into the various
forms of domestic violence suffered in the past two years is limited to the
women and allows us to estimate its gravity, it does not permit us to come to a
comprehensive conclusion about the episodes, as each one may have occurred
more than once. The questions posed in the questionnaire, and therefore the
data available for analysis regarding the form the violent event took, refer
10
In Torino the classification of the institutions is confermed, but the creation of antiviolence centres is only in third place and is particularly requested by the women, cfr. Urban
Report of the city of Torino, 2004. In Bari it is in first place with 22% of the options we find the
request for tougher sentencing, 15% for more police control, Non solo lividi…nell’anima - Report on the city of Bari. Bari 2003.
76
only to the most significant one. It is important to note that 14,955 women,
75% of all of the interviews, responded to this section of the questionnaire, as
opposed to 4,766 men or 24% of those interviewed. These figures are in line
with those of the preceding series of surveys. With respect to that which was
revealed from the preceding report we must register a higher number of declarations confirming domestic violence suffered in the course of a lifetime
(13.3% as opposed to 12.3%). If we stop and study the various forms of domestic violence suffered we note that the incidences of molestation and abuse
reported has increased, while psychological and sexual abuse diminished.
Table 7.1 - Women who say they have suffered one or more forms of violence in the past
two years , % referred in the survey
URBAN 2
Molestation
21,3
Abuse
20,7
Psychological
11,3
Sexual
1,3
Women who declared to have been subjected to 13,3
domestic violence at least once in their life
URBAN 1
18,5
15,1
33,9
2,2
12,3
Difference
2,8
5,6
-22,6
-0,9
1,0
It is, of course, not possible to understand if this difference is due to a real increase in aggressive behaviour towards women or instead is related to the difference among the cities examined in as much as we are dealing with information from a non-comparable group of populations. We can theorise on a combination of the two and anyway – considering the stability of the data in time and
space – recognise that the phenomenon of domestic violence continues to be
present and touches the lives of one in ten women of the first eight cities studied
(Urban 1), as it does in the second wave of seventeen cities examined (Urban
2).
Taking the cities of the second study together we find 479 cases of men who
have been subjected to violence in the course of their lives accounting for
10.1% of all of the men who responded to the question. That figure rises to
1,991 women, or 13.3% (Table 7.1). The classification of the incidences of the
violence in the cities, comparing men and women, reveal not just a great variability, but also a higher concentration of reported episodes of violence in some
cities: Salerno is far ahead in first place with regards to both men (29%) and
women (23%). Genoa finds itself in 2nd and 4th place, Trieste in 3rd, followed by
Cagliari and Syracuse. Cosenza is in first place with regards to violent episodes
reported by women, whereas it is in 7th place for the men.
77
Table 7.1 (continued) – Interviewees regarding “Have you ever been subjected to violence?” absolute values and prevalence of the violence suffered, % of total by city
Men
SALERNO
GENOVA
TRIESTE
CAGLIARI
SIRACUSA
CASERTA
Total
COSENZA
CARRARA
MISTERBIANCO
BRINDISI
TARANTO
MOLA DI BARI
PESCARA
CATANZARO
CROTONE
Women
COSENZA
SALERNO
TRIESTE
GENOVA
CAGLIARI
SIRACUSA
CASERTA
PESCARA
Total
BRINDISI
MOLA DI BARI
CATANZARO
TARANTO
CARRARA
CROTONE
MISTERBIANCO
No
215
243
251
309
266
264
4287
273
274
249
279
280
283
280
525
296
Yes
87
59
47
46
34
33
479
27
26
23
21
21
17
15
19
4
No
766
776
790
849
824
857
763
869
12964
888
937
910
949
925
927
934
Total
302
302
298
355
300
297
4766
300
300
272
300
301
300
295
544
300
Yes
Total
234
227
205
159
154
143
123
139
1991
112
110
95
92
75
72
51
1000
1003
995
1008
978
1000
886
1008
14955
1000
1047
1005
1041
1000
999
985
78
%Prevalence
28,8
19,5
15,8
13,0
11,3
11,1
10,1
9,0
8,7
8,5
7,0
7,0
5,7
5,1
3,5
1,3
% Incidence
23,4
22,6
20,6
15,8
15,7
14,3
13,9
13,8
13,3
11,2
10,5
9,5
8,8
7,5
7,2
5,2
Below average at the bottom of the classification with a very low incidence
of cases of domestic violence are Crotone, Misterbianco and Catanzaro11.
Who are those reporting that they have suffered violence in the course of their
lives?
Let us try to construct a profile based on the structural characteristics of
those interviewed. Both the men and the women with foreign backgrounds
claim to have been exposed to violence, as do more single women and divorced or separated people (above all the women) than married persons, and,
on a lesser scale, more people between the ages of 35 and 49 than those in
other age groups. Persons with university degrees also seem exposed to
greater risk, as opposed to those without any study title or degree.
Table 7.2 – Structural characteristics of the men and women who have been subjected to violence, %
Place of birth
Italy
WOMAN: never been subjected to violence
MAN: never been subjected to violence
No
86,9
Foreign
country
79,6
Total
Yes
13,1
20,4
No
90,1
82,6
89,9
Yes
9,9
17,4
10,1
86,7
13,3
Marital status
Single
Married
WOMAN: never been No
subjected to violence
Yes
85,7
89,1
Separated
or divorced
62,3
Widow
widower
84,2
Total
14,3
10,9
37,7
15,8
13,3
MAN: never been sub- No
jected to violence
Yes
90,2
90,7
79,5
91,5
89,9
9,8
9,3
20,5
8,5
10,1
86,7
11
In Turin the number is 22,3% for both men and women, cfr. Urban Report of the city of
Turin, 2004. In Bari it is 5,8% for men and 21,8% for women, Non solo lividi…nell’anima –
Rapporto della città di Bari. Bari 2003.
79
Psychological violence, apart from being one of the most common forms of
domestic violence, has the characteristic of being constant and repeated in
time. The women who have declared to have suffered from it indicate that the
episodes repeated themselves in the course of two years (667 cases equal to
83%).
Molestation and abuse also fall into the category of “habitual” forms of
domestic violence with a strong tendency to return time and again. More than
half of the women who reported this form of violence also report that the episodes were often repeated. Rape – at least in the cases reported – seems to
have less continuous characteristics, the experiences reported by the women
interviewed indicate that the episodes were both isolated and recidivist.
Table 7.3 - Women who have declared to have been subjected to a form of violence in the
past two years, by type of violence, absolute values and %
Women
Sexual mo- Physical abuse
lestation
Yes
No
TOTAL
950
3499
4449
505
3946
4451
Yes
No
TOTAL
21,4
78,6
100,0
11,3
88,7
100,0
Psychological
abuse
Rape
914
3495
4409
59
4392
4441
20,7
79,3
100,0
1,3
98,9
100,0
%
Table 7.4 - Women who have declared to have been subjected to a form of violence in the
past two years, by type of violence and number of episodes, absolute values and %
Number
of episodes
Sexual molestation
Once
Often
TOTAL
261
421
682
Once
Often
TOTAL
38,3
61,7
100,0
Physical abuse
181
227
408
Psychological
abuse
140
667
807
Rape
23
18
41
%
44,4
55,6
100,0
17,3
82,7
100,0
80
56,1
43,9
100,0
Table 7.5 - Women who have declared to have been subjected to a form of violence in the past
two years, by type of violence and by whom, absolute values and %
Type of do- a.v
mestic vio-
psycholo-
%
a.v
%
sexual
a.v
%
abuse
a.v
%
gical
lence
Partner
58
Partner
38,3
216
27
Partner
13
31,7
380
54,4
Stranger
91
Employer
22,1
81
10,1
Stranger
9
22,0 Acquaintance
50
7,2
Acquaintance 22
Stranger
5,3
81
10,1
cquaintance
6
14,6
Friend
33
4,7
Other family
5
Acquain-
3,6
65
8,1
Other family
2
4,9
Partner
32
4,6
4
Colleague
3,4
51
6,4
Colleague
2
4,9
Occasional
29
4,2
Other
28
4,0
Employer
27
3,9
member
Father
Stranger
member
tance
acquaintance
Friend
1
More than one
person
Other
Friend
2,7
43
5,4
Other family 1,7
41
5,1
Other
o not want to
member
7
Father
5
12,0
4
9,8
answer
4,0
Other
37
4,6
Colleague
26
3,7
30
3,7
Other family
15
2,1
20
2,5
Physician
11
1,6
16
2
Father
10
1,4
84
10,5
More than one
8
1,1
40
5,7
member
Do not want to 63
More than
answer
one person
Occasional
15,3
acquaintance
Do not want
person
to answer
Do not want to
answer
The person who inflicts the violence
That the domestic violence to which women are subjected is a “family affair” is quite evident from the answers given by those interviewed with regards to the perpetrators of the domestic violence to which they were subjected (Table 7.5). The woman’s partner is the main perpetrator of physical,
psychological and rape and the principle person responsible for the violent
episodes reported, and in fourth place for sexual abuse. This also goes a long
way in explaining the repetitiveness of violent episodes which becomes part
of the lexicon of the relationship.
Strangers are at a considerable distance in second place, with the exception
of cases of molestation where they indisputably occupy first place, witness to
81
the nature of a culture of common and pervasive violence where women are
considered prey, even fleeting, of sexual “attention”.
After these two figures, which include the majority of the types of perpetrators of violence, we return to the circle of family and friends: relations, acquaintances and friends are also responsible for reported acts of violence thus
confirming the notion that the family does not always represent a safe haven
for women.
The workplace also represents a potentially dangerous environment, posing risks of violence against women perpetrated by employers and/or colleagues, responsible for psychological abuse and violence (and at times rape).
The bashfulness level is noteworthy and goes from 15% to 6%, indicating the
suffering, the fear or the embarrassment the victim experiences.
Table 7.6 - Women who have declared to have been subjected to a form of violence in the
past two years, by type of violence and place, values %
Molestation
At home
Outdoors
At the workplace
At friends’ homes
At the perpetrators’ home
In the car
Other
Do not want to answer
Total
36,5
25,6
10,6
2,4
1,9
1,9
14,4
6,7
100
Abuse
44,3
27,4
2,2
1,7
1,2
2,0
6,5
14,7
100
Psychological
domestic violence
43,0
14,1
19,1
2,6
1,2
1,5
8,2
10,2
100
Sexual
violence
53,7
17,1
2,4
2,4
2,4
2,4
2,4
17,1
100
Where does the episode of violence occur
Further proof of the familial and violent character of violence is to be found
in the answers given during the interviews relating to the place where the reported violent episodes occurred: the home is above all the place where the
most serious form of violence, rape, and psychological violence and molestation, most often occurs (followed by outdoors – especially with regards to molestation and abuse – and then the workplace).
82
Table 7.7 - Women who have declared to have been subjected to a form of violence in the past
two years, by type of violence and help sought, absolute values and %
Sought help
Molestation
Frequency
Abuse
%
Psychological
violence
Frequency
%
Frequency
Rape
%
Frequency
%
No
454
65,1
215
52,7
505
62,4
19
47,5
Yes
243
34,9
193
47,3
304
37,6
21
52,5
Total
697
100
408
100
809
100
40
100
Who do you ask for help
At the most, in half of the cases the women interviewed, mostly the victims
of rape or abuse, asked for help from someone, but in general asking for help
is uncommon.
If we observe the experiences of the persons interviewed, most women seek
help within the family itself, followed by – and above all in cases of abuse and
rape – the police and Emergency room workers, in the later case. Seeking help
from public services such as help centres or social services is limited (5% in the
case of psychological domestic violence) and comes after that of seeking help
from private lawyers. Turning to specialised associations such as anti-violence
centres, toll-free help lines and religious groups is rare. When used these represent a point of reference above all for victims of psychological abuse.
We know how difficult it is for a victim to gather the courage and determination to report the author, or authors, of domestic violence. In general those who
do finally do take this step are those who have the support and aid of an antiviolence centre or of a network of technical support which permits them to bring
the situation to a conclusion. The most difficult barriers to cross are those of fear
and shame: about 146 women who have been subjected to a form of domestic
violence or another in the two years preceding the interview say they are afraid of
someone, that is, afraid of living in a state of real or perceived insecurity.
Further proof of these difficulties lies in the fact that of the cases examined
only 10% of the victims say they have reported the violent act (Table 7.9).
83
Table 7.8 - Women who have declared to have been subjected to a form of violence in the past
two years, by type of violence and type of aid, % values
Molestation
Friend-family member
Police
Private lawyer
Emergency room
Anti-violence centre, help line
Family doctor
Social services
Parish priest-religious group
Family advice bureau
Total
Absolute frequency
70,7
19,0
3,3
2,9
1,2
0,8
0,8
0,8
0,4
100
242
Abuse
42,2
29,6
8,0
10,1
2,5
1,0
3,5
2,0
1,0
100,0
199
Psychological
violence
55,4
15,4
12,1
1,0
3,0
1,0
4,7
3,4
4,0
100,0
298
Sexual
domestic
violence
42,2
29,6
8,0
10,1
2,5
1,0
3,5
2,0
1,0
100,0
1
Table 7.9 - Women who have declared to have been subjected to a form of violence in the
past two years by reportage and who have declared to be afraid, % values
Are you currently afraid of someone?
No
Yes
No answer
Total
Frequency
2217
146
109
2472
%
89,7
5,9
4,4
100
Have you reported this fact?
Frequency
1644
203
76
1923
%
85,5
10,6
4
100
The experience of the violent act
The experience of a more or less recent violent act forces us, without a
doubt, to consider the phenomenon under a different light. At the end of this
paragraph we take into consideration some characteristics of the survey: the
agreement with stereotypes (Good women do not get raped…), levels of tolerance towards domestic violence (Sometimes in married life it can happen that
the husband uses threat or violence to force his wife to have sex …), the profile of the violent man, the causes and possible solutions and, to conclude, the
institutions, comparing them through the eyes of the men, women and female
victims of domestic violence that were interviewed.
84
In general we observe a heightened (painful) awareness on the part of female victims who express themselves with a clear break from the stereotypes
and less tolerance of domestic violence, even more so than women in general,
and certainly more so than the men.
Beginning with the stereotypes relating to the presumed provocation which
would justify domestic violence against certain specific types of women, let
us examine in detail how the women, those who have lived through episodes
of violence, and as opposed to all the other women and men, react (Graph
2.7.1). The answers to the questions are more knowledgeable and clear and
they are less uncertain of their responses than the other group.
Graph 2.7.1 - Agree with “Good women do not get raped”, %
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
93%
89%
NoNo
SiYes
Don’t
Non
So
know
7% 5%
4% 3%
Woman che
who has
been Woman
whoche
has ha
been
subjected
donna
nonnever
ha mai
donna
subito
subjected to domestic violence
to domestic violence
subito violenza
violenza
Similarly, the rejection of the type of domestic violence in a relationship
appears clearer, also among those who admit some sort of possibility of
justification, decreasing the number of female victims (Graph 2.7.2).
The description of the violent man which results from the answers given
by the victims themselves draws a profile – more than that drawn by the
full sample of women – of he who commits violent acts as a man like all
the others, normal; an innately violent character is the image drawn more
often by the victims than by other women.
All the other factors attribute violent tendencies to external factors
(drunkenness, drug usage, mental instability, etc…), and therefore somehow justify aggressive or violent behaviour are clearly excluded (or con85
sidered valid only by a minority) by the women with experiences of domestic violence, whilst they are more credible as excuses by other women
(Table 7.10).
We also find, in the identification of the causes of violent behaviour,
that apart from the points of contact which converge on the genetic predisposition to violence, a specific interpretation on the part of the victims
shifts its attention to “how men see women”, to the problems of men have
with the greater autonomy of women and the imbalance of power between
men and women, that is to interpretative causes, far from commonly held
beliefs and more on the dynamics of the relationship between men and
women (Table 7.11). As to the intervention measures preferred as a response to the phenomenon, victims of domestic violence tended to be more
oriented to prefer less severe actions and toward structural approaches
such as public opinion campaigns, the creation of anti-violence centres,
rehabilitation of perpetrators and training for operators, more than the
more repressive types of response such as an increase in the police force
and the toughening of sentences (Graph 2.7.3)
Graph 2.7.2 - Sometimes in married life a man forces his wife under threat to have sexual
relations with him. What is your opinion on this?
it is domestic violence also in
anche
n questo caso
si
this case
rlare di violenza
if se
a man
is rejected
by his wife
un uomo
e respinto
dalla moglie
tra un marito e una
if it is between husband and
wife it moglie
is not domestic
non siviolence
puo
parlare di violenza
0,0% 10,0% 20,0% 30,0% 40,0% 50,0% 60,0% 70,0% 80,0% 90,0% 100,0
%
Woman who has been subjected to
Male
Female
mmina
domestic violence
86
Table 7.10 – Who is the violent man? Answers by women who have been subjected to a form of
violence in the past two years and the total of the women, by type of violence, %
Who is the violent man
A normal man like all
other men
A man with a violent nature
A mentally imbalanced
man
A man with a low level of
culture
A man who drinks or does
drugs
Do not know
A successful man
No answer
Total
Molestation
Abuse
Psychological violence
Sexual
violence
All the
answers
44,8
39,4
39,9
37,3
33,2
24,9
26,1
25,6
28,8
24,2
8,6
11,3
10,6
5,1
17,5
8,4
7,3
9,0
8,5
9,6
7,9
10,1
9,2
6,8
9,3
2,0
2,7
0,5
100,0
2,6
2,6
0,6
100,0
2,5
2,7
0,4
100,0
10,2
3,4
0,0
100,0
3,3
2,3
0,6
100,0
Table 7.11 – The causes of violence, answers of the women who have been subjected to
violence during their lives, total of the women and the men, %
Causes
Men
Being genetically predisposed to violent behaviour
The way men see women
Having already been a victim of violence
Low level of education
Information sources
The diffusion of some types of behaviour by women
The problems men face as a consequence of the increased
autonomy of women
Because men are like that
No answer
Lack of values (respect)
87
Women
Woman
who has
suffered
violence
23,8
13,4
10,4
16
14,1
15,3
8,9
23,7
14
11,4
13,8
12,2
14,5
8,9
24,9
20,8
14,5
13,9
13,8
13,3
12,0
10,8
13,1
9,3
13,5
15,2
10,3
12,0
11,5
10,6
Causes
Men
Alcohol and substance abuse
The way in which power is divided between men and women
in our society
Other
Poverty
Unemployment
Total cases
Women
Woman
who has
suffered
violence
11,4
4,8
9,3
5,3
9,5
7,2
5,7
3,9
4,8
4451
5,4
4,2
4,5
13941
6,0
4,2
3,1
1985
Graph 2.7.3 – Measures and intervention against violent men, female victims
Training courses x
forpolizia
police
Corsi di aggiornamento
Rehabilitation
of violent
men
Riabilitazione
violenti
Help
women
not to feel
Aiutare le donne
a non
sentirsi
in guilty
colpa
Anti-discrimination laws
Leggi antidiscriminazione
Toll free numbers
numero verde
Specific protection
measures
misure specifiche
di protezione
Altro
Other
Toughening ofleggi
laws
rafforzamento
Anti-violence
centres
centri
antiviolenza
aumento
Morepolizia
police
Instill respect
in young
people
Insegnare
ai giovani
rispetto
Tougher
men
pene
piusentences
severe for
perviolent
i violenti
Public opinion
Campagne
dicampaigns
opinione
0,0
men
uomo
women
donna
5,0
10,0
15,0
woman
in lifenella
donnaviolence
violenza
88
vita
20,0
25,0
30,0
8. Closing reflections
This second and more ample series of surveys on women and men in the
Urban cities which participated in the project re-enforcing the network, confirms many of the results already brought to light in the preceding report, beginning with the estimate of the diffusion of violent behaviour against women
which remains more or less on the same percentage levels of from 12% to
13% (in the course of a lifetime) even at a distance of several years and in
varying territories. It becomes evident that domestic violence remains a pervasive and endemic phenomenon and, as it appears in recent chronicles, ever
more dangerous and dramatic. This makes it, therefore, all the more important
to get to the bottom of the context in which domestic violence breeds and
feeds itself and to understand the roots within our culture which permits domestic violence against women to remain, be tolerated and perpetuated. Our
data can offer suggestions and indications of the road to be taken to up-root
and defuse domestic violence by creating a strong network of support and aid
to the female victims, by spreading a collective refusal of violence as a type of
behaviour, especially between men and women, and through awareness campaigns.
The majority of the population comes into contact with the phenomenon of
domestic violence against women through the media, first and foremost from
television, which is the preferred media for awareness and communication
campaigns. There remain, however, a small number of people who are excluded from contact with information, not just the media, and who still claim
never to have heard of the phenomenon of gender violence. These are mostly
older women, but also include young men. The conceptual model of reference
of the majority of the interviewed population gives the causes of domestic
violence a fatalistic and passive reading: if the female component slightly prefers the idea that the motivations for violence have to do with values and respect, the males lean toward blaming the altering effects of alcohol and drug
abuse. In this second series of interviews both the men and the women who
responded said that they realized that the progressive affirmation of the
autonomy of women and the resulting imbalance of power in a relationship
could also result in the alteration of the intimate relationship between the
sexes. The indirect “social” causes of domestic violence have, as we have
noted, regained the attention of the interviewees, but remain in the last places
on the scale of importance. The question of safety, or security, traditionally
connected to the phenomenon of violence against women, in a generally urban
context and in the context of women in particular, is not perceived by the majority of the population as being problematic, although in some cities the ur89
gency of the problem is much more deeply felt and ranks much higher than
the calculated average. It is normal that the perception of risk changes according to who answered the question: women express a greater sense of insecurity - age and educational levels do not substantially change this perception –
and it can be stated that for both men and women the perception of insecurity
increases with age, as it is also a fact that the less education they received, the
more intense the sense of insecurity.
Going from the theme of safety to the theme of the perception of the diffusion of domestic violence against women we find a sense of a moderate frequency of aggression and violence in the neighbourhood from which they
come, but even in this case there are some cities where the situation is perceived as threatening. The levels of sense of security and freedom slant in a
very different manner from men to women. Among the later a higher awareness of limits, of the existence of bonds tied to the verifying of particular circumstances which allow them to feel safe, manifests itself to a greater extent
and is felt among single or divorced women, girls, retired women, graduates
and those seeking a first employment. The impression of being constantly
vulnerable and potentially at risk of being subjected to aggression at all times
afflicts only a minority of those interviewed, but nonetheless results in a 3.5%
of the whole population sample. It is important to underline that, also in this
instance; the women suffered more from this impression than did the men.
With regards to the central theme of the survey, that is, the deeply rooted
notion of stereotypes and the level of tolerance of violence in a relationship,
we are in the presence of two mirror image models which reassume the attitudes towards commonly held beliefs and the practice of domestic violence as
a form of relationship. Independence from conventional ways of seeing the
behaviour of women and the relationship between the sexes is common particularly among young women, graduates, teachers, professional women, employees and students in the cities of Pescara, Genoa, Cagliari, Salerno, Caserta
and Brindisi. Agreement with stereotypes, as a consequence, is more likely to
be found among older persons, with a middle level education, retired people,
workers and managers, all characteristics principally associated with Catanzaro, Misterbianco, Trieste and Crotone. The toleration of violent behaviour
in general or within a couple’s relationship is also a highly controversial
theme, and here also we have identified two mirror image perspectives: one
way of thinking refutes any justification or excuse for domestic violence.
Those who see it this way correspond to the following identikit: female,
graduate or with at least a junior school diploma, between 25 and 49 years of
age, employed, teacher, employee of professional. The cities of Mola di Bari,
Genoa, Trieste, Brindisi and Pescara distinguish themselves with this attitude
90
of total refusal of domestic violence. On the opposite side of the scale, where
the level of tolerance of violent behaviour is very high, where acts of physical
violence by the husband against the wife are considered justifiable in certain
circumstances or accepted “for the good of the children”. The profile associated with this model of high tolerance of domestic violence is: older persons
of both sexes (between the ages of 50-59), men, low level education, nonprofessionals (retired or housewives) and workers; Misterbianco and Catanzaro distinguish themselves for the high number of answers of this type. As
we have already said, these results permit action and the intervention of
awareness campaigns to contrast domestic violence to be aimed more directly
at their targets, as we have formulated a clearer idea of which segments of the
population and which part of the city could most benefit. It is a rudimentary
map which, apart from confirming the data which emerged from the first surveys, permits us to alert the administrators and the local institutions in those
cities where the prevailing attitude of the citizens confirms the stereotypes and
presents a high level of tolerance towards domestic violence practised against
women.
It is also interesting to note that the general population is clearly aware of
the various services run by the state as well as the anti-violence centres which
can provide support to the victims of domestic violence. It is also interesting
to note that this awareness does not represent reality, in that the victims of
domestic violence rarely turn to these services, preferring the family and only
turning to the police services and Emergency room centres for help in the case
of physical abuse and rape. Even here the cases are rare as only 10% of victims filed an official report. On the level of measures and policies to implement the classification of the support preferences is not significantly different
from the results obtained in the first Urban survey, the first four remaining
firmly in their ranking order. This fact allows the administrators and policy
makers to consider the indications given as realistic when they formulate political interventions on this subject. The most “voted” measures are equally
distributed between preventive interventions (awareness campaigns and more
education about the matter to the young) and contrast interventions (tougher
sentences and increased police vigilance). Specific support systems for the
victims themselves, such as anti-violence centres and toll-free numbers, were
also considered important.
In first place among all of the choices offered, with 30%, were the campaigns for the heightened awareness of the problem among the general public,
closely followed by toughening of sentences of those found guilty of perpetrating violence against women. The informative campaigns also include
working with young people to increase their sense of the importance of mu91
tual respect, while the need for new anti-violence centres rises to a higher position in the classification; turning to the police loses ground in this second
survey. The activation of specific measures and a toll-free number for victims
is considered important, as is the reinforcement of legislative norms to defend
the rights of women.
With respect to the information collected in the previous survey, this new
one registered a higher number of those who declare to have been victims of
domestic violence at some point in their lives. Molestation and abuse were
forms of domestic violence with an increase of reported incidences, whereas
psychological and sexual abuse diminished. It is, of course, not possible to
understand if this difference is due to a real increase in the amount of aggressive incidents against women, or is due to the fact that other cities were examined in the survey which as a whole could not be compared. We can assume
that a combination of these two explanations are responsible, considering the
stability of the data over time and in the different cities, and take note of the
fact that the phenomenon of domestic violence against women continues to be
a reality which involves one in ten women in the first eight cities as well as in
the second set of seventeen cities. The persons at most risk for violence are
foreign men and women, single women, divorced persons and graduates. The
experience of violence makes its victims more aware and expresses itself in a
clear departure from the stereotypes, in a lower tolerance of domestic violence, in the identification of the causes of violent behaviour it brings specific
understanding which moves the attention from “the way in which men see
women” to the problems men have with the greater freedom and autonomy of
the woman and the imbalance of power between them, that is, making it a
problem of interpretation, far away from commonly held beliefs and more attentive to the dynamics of the relationship between men and women. The description of the violent man which results from the answers given by the female victims – more so than from the answers given all of the women surveyed - paints a profile of those who commit violent acts as a man like all the
other men, normal. All of those factors which interpret a violent attitude as
attributable to external factors (drunkenness, drug use, mental instability,
etc…) are clearly excluded (or considered by a minority) by women who have
experienced domestic violence first hand, whereas they are not excluded by
women taken as a whole.
We can only hope that the diffusion of data, testimonies, analysis and study
will contribute to arriving at an equally in-depth understanding of domestic
violence, its causes and underlying mechanisms, without having to be subjected to it.
92
3. Cities, services and violence against women. The
perception of violence in Urban cities
by Alberta Basaglia
1. The reasons for research on operators, services and the perception of violence
Why conduct a research project regarding how the services themselves perceive violence against women? The question with which we open this section
may seem rhetoric. In fact, the question posed by the group of researchers of
the Urban project when the hypothesis and consequent research project was
designed, is not at all rhetorical. Beginning with the first phase of the project
– the phase which included the first eight Urban cities: Naples, Catania, Palermo, Rome, Venice, Lecce, Reggio Calabria and Bari – a very simple fact
was the point of departure: in Italy no research had ever been conducted before to analyse domestic violence from the point of view of the services, nor
had anyone ever studied their ability to recognise it.
Today, several years later, we can add to that yet another relevant fact. A
quick but careful analysis of the available international literature on this subject reveals just how this perspective – the operators, domestic violence and
perception –remains in the dark. In other words, as far as we know, there have
been no other studies conducted with the specific objective to study the phenomenon of domestic violence against women from the point of view of the
services.
The following data confirms this fact: in only three decades research and
reflection on the theme of domestic violence against women has bloomed, so
as not to say exploded, but there has been very little contributed to the analysis of the services which actually work to combat domestic violence and aid
its victims. For example, the Violence and Molestation Abstract actually
counts over 1,300 articles or publications each year, many of which concentrate only on violence as committed against women. Even the magazines and
93
periodicals which specialise in this topic are on the increase: it is enough to
cite The Journal of Interpersonal Violence or Violence against Women (published on an international and interdisciplinary level) for confirmation. Attention to the problem, therefore, is on the increase in an imposing manner. The
contributions which study the answers given to questions asked by the services for women who have suffered domestic violence are many, while other,
more recent contributions, concentrate on giving a “voice to the women who
have suffered domestic violence”. In particular Hague, Mullender and Aris1,
starting with the idea that women are often invisible and not heard by the services, show how the contribution of the women who are subjected to domestic
violence is fundamental for the development and empowerment of the selfsame services in a particular direction. In other words, how one cannot ignore
the voice of the users themselves in the programming of specialised services
for these same users, especially in cases of sensitive topics such as gender violence. This new attention given to the problem, however, does not take into
account the perceptions held by the services themselves.
From this point of view the Urban research project is highly innovative.
More than once its “pilot” characteristics have been pointed out, and this particularly true of the survey conducted directly on the operators themselves.
Aside from the innovative character of the survey it is important to underline
another aspect. Analysing the phenomenon of domestic violence against
women starting with the perceptions of the services is important not only in
order to reconstruct the structural and cultural framework of reference in
which the phenomenon is placed but, above all, to evaluate the dimension of
the capacity of the institutions to recognise and combat the problem.
This represents, in fact, an indispensable point of departure for identifying
and projecting intervention policies which can actually offer feasible, efficient
and non-stigmatic solutions.
The basic hypothesis of the survey is that of a scarce recognition by the
various operators within the services with regard to domestic violence against
women; this as a consequence of the lack of planning, organisational and professional preparation present in the methods used to recognise and care for the
women who are subjected to domestic violence and for similar interventions
dealing with violence. The questions which the group of researchers asked,
therefore, are the same as those in the first part of the project: to what extent
do the operators themselves really recognise the phenomenon of domestic violence against women as a problem? How do they perceive the problem? How
many of them have been trained to deal with this theme? How do they inter1
Hague G., Mullender A., Aris R., Is anyone listening? Routledge, London, 2003.
94
vene in these cases? What answers do they give to the questions? We feel that
the answers to these questions represent the final contribution regarding the
phenomenon of domestic violence against women to the Urban Project.
2. Research design and methodology of the Urban Project
The “Anti-violence Network” research was conducted in the Urban
neighbourhoods of the cities involved in the Network, neighbourhoods identified by the European Community Urban Initiative Programme as those which
“present the need for the construction of an identity through interventions
aimed at the re-qualification of the area and the efficiency of services, with a
positive effect on the quality of life of its citizens”. In each city one or more
areas/neighbourhoods were identified and given the denomination “Urban”. In
some of the smaller cities, however, the research was conducted in the entire
city in order to maintain the representative nature of the sample. The project
was put into effect in Genoa, Trieste, Carrara, Pescara, Turin, Milan, Salerno,
Cosenza, Bari, Syracuse, Catanzaro, Caserta, Misterbianco, Crotone, Taranto,
Mola di Bari, Cagliari and Brindisi. The research design proceeded, as first
step, with a reconstruction of the socio-economic context of the territory in a
general prospective; with that scope in mind indicators were identified which
would be able to give a general picture of the population and of the socioeconomic make-up. This was followed by a systematic study of those public
and private services considered most important; not just socio-sanitary services but also educational, cultural and recreational institutions. For some
specific services it was decided that information could be gathered using a
form to be compiled, whilst for six specific services (advice bureaus, police
stations, drug rehabilitation centres, mental health centres, hospital Emergency room departments, basic social services) a more detailed analysis was
sought using a structured survey questionnaire given to a representative sample of the operators of these services. In the latter situation particular attention
was given to the perception of domestic violence and the attitudes of the operators, of the public and private institutions as well as to the police force,
who actually come into contact with the women who are subjected to domestic violence: the doctors, police officers, social assistants and others. The survey also sought to reconstruct the social context of a determined area with the
involvement of representative figures who could be considered “informed
persons” or “persons in the know”: parish priests, the local pharmacists, representatives of the area volunteer associations and firemen. This portion of the
research will be examined in another part of this publication.
95
3. The survey of the operators
The design of the sample for the survey of the operators, exactly the same
as that of the Pilot Project, was constructed with the intent to achieve a representative level of the Urban zone, or the entire small city, of the operators of
the services chosen. For those cities which conducted the survey only in the
Urban zone, if none of the services required were present in one form or another, than the criteria to find these services was to refer to those services actually used by the female victims wherever they were located, even if in another area: in other words, the interviews were conducted with the services
actually used by, and therefore able to be reached by, the residents of the Urban area. The questionnaire of the survey directed at operators of the social,
sanitary and security institutions was designed with a general section for all of
the services and separate forms designed specifically for each single service.
These specific forms had a more in-depth approach regarding particular aspects such as domestic violence and psychiatry, domestic violence and the police, domestic violence and drug abuse, etc… All of this, of course, is done
with the supposition of the existence of the various organisational structures
within each service able to receive and give answers to women who deal with
domestic violence in their lives.
The questionnaire, in particular, was designed as follows:
x The characteristics of the services (type of service, organisational chart);
x The characteristics of the operator interviewed (age, sex, job title, previous work experiences, professional training in general and in particular on
themes of rape/abuse);
x The types of cases of domestic violence and abuse treated by the services
and eventual treatment;
x The recognisability of cases of domestic violence/abuse seen by the specific service in question (number of cases, types of intervention, and consequences of the domestic violence and abuse etc...).
The interviews were conducted for the most part face to face, except in
some cases in which the questionnaires were compiled by the operators themselves. As happened in the preceding phase of the research, it was not always
possible to get appointments with the operators of the services or get the compiled questionnaires back. The sample plan, although with great effort, was
nonetheless respected and brought to a successful conclusion.
96
4. The sample of the services and operators: an overview
In this paragraph we present a general overview of the sample of the operators. After a brief description of the services involved and their organisational
charts, we will concentrate for a moment on the types of operators, both men
and women, who work for these services. Following that, we will analyse the
generalities of the operator, age, educational level and job title.
This last variable in particular, job title, will reveal itself to be very important when we analyse the perception of domestic violence against women
from the point of view of the operators.
We will see the existence of variations according to the specific profession
involved.
Graph n. 1 - The sample – Interviews by city (absolute values)
Mola di Bari
Catanzaro
Cagliari
Pescara
Taranto
Massa
Carrara
Misterbianco
Salerno
Cosenza
Caserta
Siracusa
Torino
Brindisi
Genova
74 72 72 70 63 55 55 55
54 53 50 50 42 32
During the course of the Urban survey a total of 797 interviews were conducted within the 14 cities of the Network. The number of interviews conducted went from a maximum of 74 in Genoa (equal to 9,3% of the sample) to
a minimum of 32 in Mola di Bari (equal to 4% of the sample). We reiterate
that the number of interviews varied on the basis of the density of the population and the areas serving an Urban neighbourhood. On average 57 interviews
were conducted in each city (Graph 1).
The services involved in the survey were decided upon “a priori” by the
Scientific Committee of the Urban Project: from a purely statistical point of
view it was not a representative sample, but aimed at the exploration of types
of services which could be involved first hand with the phenomenon of domestic violence, or at least potentially interested in being involved in activity
to combat domestic violence in the areas being studied. Public family advice
bureaus became involved, as did basic social service providers, mental health
institutions or similar structures, substance abuse service providers, public
safety organisations and the Emergency room departments of the hospitals.
Several private associations and services and non-profit charity organisa97
tions specialised in women who have been subjected to domestic violence
were also called upon.
As seen in the graph below the highest numbers of interviews were conducted
with Emergency room operators (174 interviews), followed by family advice bureaus (136 interviews). Police stations followed with 113 interviews, the substance abuse services and mental health centres (107 interviews), basic social services (99 interviews) and finally women’s’ services (61 interviews) (Graph 2).
Graph 2 – Interviews by service
Pronto
soccorso
Emergency
room
Commissariati
Police
Sert
Substance abuse services
health
centres
CentriMental
di salute
mentale
Servizi
sociali
Social services
Family advice
bureaus
Consultori
0
50
100
150
200
A first look at the results reveals the Emergency room professionals with the
highest quota (21.8%). Nonetheless, continuing on to the macro-categories we
note that almost half of the samples of operators (44%) works in specialised services (advice bureaus, substance abuse and mental health centres) and a minor
quota (although not irrelevant) in emergency services (36%, in fact, work in the
Emergency room structures or the police stations). Social services operators are in
the minority with the lowest quota (12.4%).
The services involved in the survey are, from a point of view of size, very variable. The services which we have classified as small (up to 10 operators) make up
20% of the sample, the medium sized services (from 11 to 30 operators) make up
42.7%, the medium-large (31 to 50 operators) are 15.7% and, finally, the large
services with more than 50 operators are 21.6% of the total. On the whole, therefore, we have in front of us a remarkable variety of size of the services involved
in the survey, even though a good portion is composed of medium sized operations with up to 30 operators.
A total of 516 female operators were interviewed, or 65%, while their male
98
colleagues numbered 279 or 35%. On the whole, therefore, our sample is composed of more women than men. The first Urban survey conducted with the operators also had a majority of female operators, although less with respect to the
current survey, the women interviewed then accounted for 57.5% of the sample.
This data, in fact, confirms the general characterisation of how some of the professions are still profoundly influenced by women. In our survey we find that
87% of the psychologists and social assistants are women, as are 76.4% of nurses,
teachers and aids, whilst men make up 78.3% of the police force.
Police stations are institutions made up of mostly men, while social services,
family advice bureaus and the substance abuse centres remain primarily dominated by the women.
With the exclusion of the higher echelons of the health sector (a professional
area where women are gaining ground) it seems that, in the public sector, those
professionals who guarantee public order and law enforcement remain in the
hands of the men, whereas those services concerned with care are in the hands of
women.
In the area of specific professions of the operators involved in the survey we
find that the figures belonging to health care prevail with 44.2% and in sociopsychological care in second place with 30%. In other words, there is a predominance of medical doctors and nurses (in fact, doctors alone represent a full 25.5%
whilst the nurses represent 18.8%) giving aid and therefore it is the medical profession which has the most intimate contact with the phenomenon of domestic
violence against women. Social workers follow with 18.9%, the police with
14.4% and psychologists with 11%. (Graph 3)
The data regarding the professions is in part confirmed by the various study titles which emerged from the survey of our sample and reveals a relatively high
level of education, with respect to the population at large. A full 62.3%, in fact,
has earned a university degree. A decisively lower percent has earned only a secondary school diploma (20.5 % of the sample), whilst only 16.4% attended professional schools.
The age of the operators is concentrated mostly between 41 to 50 years of age
(42.9%). Not to be ignored, however, are those in their thirties (32.5%), whilst
those in their twenties represent a lesser percent (5.8%), followed by those in their
sixties with a low 2%.
Another fact revealed by the study of our operators is that most of them have
been active in their profession for many years.
One third (36.5%), in fact, say they have worked in their sector from 6 to 15
years, while 24.6% have been there from 16 to 25 years.
This reveals, therefore, a group of male and female operators with a certain
level of maturity and professional experience in their chosen sector.
99
In conclusion, the profile of the operator who took part in the survey is as follows: female, working in a health profession, with a high level of education, between the ages of 41 and 50 and with more than a decade of matured experience.
All of these facts must be kept in mind as we analyse the data (Table 1).
Graph n. 3 - Professional qualifications
30
25,5
25
18,9
20
18,8
14,5
15
11,1
11,2
10
5
0
Medico
Doctor
Assistente
sociale
Social
Assistant
Infermiere
Nurse
Psicologo
Psychologist
Poliziotto
Police
officer
Altri
Other
Table 1 – the sample
The operators interviewed: gender, age, title of study
64,9% women
35,1% men
Age
Title of study
from 41 to 50 years of age
Degree
5. The types of women encountered by the services: an assessment
of the quantitative and qualitative data
An important part of the study dealt with the actual encounter of the operators of the services with cases of domestic violence and abuse or mistreat100
ment. The aim of this question was to arrive at an estimate of the quantitative
dimension of the phenomenon: how many women actually turn to the services
for help? To get this data a series of questions was asked of the service operators in which they were requested to report the number of women they had
met in a professional circumstance over the last year that had declared to have
been subjected to one of the types of rape or abuse. The operators, both male
and female, answered this question based on their memory (therefore without
consulting the archives) of the women they themselves, or one of their colleagues in the same service, had dealt with. The resulting data, therefore, is
not an official count of the services, but an estimate indicative of their perception and ability to recognise the phenomenon. We are aware that the information revealed is not sufficient to offer a realistic view of the phenomenon. We
also know that the national and international literature regarding this information supports our considerations, that the episodes reported as domestic violence by the services is only a small part of the domestic violence that actually
occurs behind closed doors, but not only: women are often afraid to turn to the
social services for fear of the repercussions from the perpetrator, but also for
fear of repercussion from the services themselves. It has often come to light
that women are reticent to seek professional help from the available services
for fear of having those very same services apply a solution to their problem
which could see the removal of their young children from them, for example,
or in general that they would be considered “bad mothers” (Mullender, 2004).
Nonetheless the official data which emerges from the services, together with
the data from the private and public anti-violence centres, is good starting
point from which to have at least some approximate indication regarding the
phenomenon. In the previous research report we highlighted the fact that the
anti-violence centres, centres which for years have been on the front line in
offering concrete solutions to women who are subjected to domestic violence,
on average receive an elevated number of women (as an example we put forth
the fact that anti-violence centres receive an average of 400 women per year,
the shelter for abused women in Milan more than 600, and the Moire shelter
in Palermo around 500).
The anti-violence centres and the shelters have exposed a vast submerged
phenomenon of domestic violence and abuse of women, boys and girls, submerged by the fact that they were never perceived or officially recognised as
such by the institutional services. We will now see if this can be confirmed by
the data resulting from the Urban research project.
The operators who declare that female victims of domestic violence have
presented themselves to their service structure in the last year made up 31.6%
of the sample. The remaining 68.4% of operators claim that no victims of do101
mestic violence, as such, presented themselves to their services.
This means that the operators have aided a maximum of one (10.5%), two
(7.2%) or three (4.4%) female victims in the past year.
The frequency diminishes with the increase of the total number of women
encountered: in other words only 2.2% encountered from 6 to 10 women, and
only 0.3% encountered more than 11. The maximum number of women seen
and declared by a service is twenty. The total number of women who have
been subjected to domestic violence (relying on the memory of the male and
female operators) is equal to 650, with a medium per operator equal to 1,22
(Table 2).
Table 2 – The encounter with cases of violence and abuse
URBAN 1
URBAN 2
Operators who encounter cases of
domestic violence and abuse
Operators who encounter cases of
domestic violence and abuse
•
•
Domestic violence
Abuse
•
•
35.5%
65.7%
Number of women encountered
Domestic violence
Abuse
31.6%
53.3%
Number of women encountered
•
•
Domestic violence
Abuse
668
3467
•
•
Domestic violence
Abuse
3220
•
Cases per operator
1.2
•
Cases per operator
650
4.0
The numbers which we have cited here are surprisingly similar to those reported in the preceding survey. Eight years later, and with a completely different sample of cities, we still see the same tendencies. Let us also remember
that the sample of services involved varied noticeably in their size and in the
type of profession involved. It seems to us that it is important at this point to
repeat that which we affirmed in the preceding report: the encounter with
cases of domestic violence by the services is an occasional one, at least from
the point of view of recognition and perception of the phenomenon. The question which we ask ourselves once again deals with the recognisability of cases
2
This data could, in effect, not make sense in that the operators were not directly involved
in the cases, it was sufficient that they remembered that they were aware of the women helped
by the service. Nonetheless, it seemed important to us to report these averages in order to have
another body of data to add to the dimension of the phenomenon.
102
of domestic violence on the part of the operators. Why are the women who
actually turn to the services for help so few? Are they afraid of being stigmatized? Do they think that they cannot be helped or is it the fault of the service
itself which is unable to identify cases of domestic violence? Is it true what
we said in 2001 regarding the social services versus the anti-violence centres,
that is, that the “lack of perception on the part of the institutional services has,
presumably, its roots in the lack of awareness of the theme in their projection
of intervention and the organisation of the services offered, which lack the
training to recognise and the measures to cope with domestic violence: is the
lack of factual knowledge and tools just a secondary effect”? Women today
ask themselves, as reported by Hague, Mullender e Aris (2003) “if they listen
to us it is just so good. It makes the services better, just much better. No one
has ever listened to us before”. It is the women themselves, therefore, who ask
to be recognised by the services, and this is, without a doubt, another fact to
reflect on.
Rape is rarely intercepted by institutional services, but things change if we
take abuse into consideration. The services encountered abused women in
3,220 cases. 53.3% of the operators have encountered abused women, or are
aware of encounters with abused women, and this accounts for almost double
the figure reported for cases of rape. As we said in the preceding report, cases
of abuse are less occasional. The services seem to be more sensitive to this
theme, even taking into account that many (43.9%) operators declare that in
the past year they have not encountered women who have been abused. Nonetheless, it is surprising how the number of abused women is remarkably inferior to that revealed by the preceding Urban research survey results. There are
247 less cases, a considerable number if one takes into consideration that the
number of cities studied in this research increased to 14, whilst in 2002 there
were only 8. On an average an operator saw 4 cases, as opposed to the five or
six cases in 2002 (Table 2). The trend is, therefore, the same (abuse as a less
sporadic type of encounter versus rape as an occasional episode), but the cases
of abuse revealed are clearly diminished. It is, of course, difficult to conduct
an accurate analysis when there are so many new and different types of cities
included in the study. Nonetheless, this could be a symptom of the diminished
level of attention on the part of the services to the phenomenon of violence.
We feel that it is prudent to repeat once again that “the underlying problem is
a lack of analysis and evaluation of the problem of violence against women,
and therefore a consequential lack of intervention to combat violence in terms
of planning and coordination inside and outside of the services themselves”.
Having a quantitative estimate of the number of women who are subjected to
domestic violence only partially helps us to explore the phenomenon of do103
mestic violence. It is for this reason that the urban questionnaire attempted to
go deeper: in fact, the operators were asked to indicate the perpetrator, the
gender of the perpetrator and the place in which the episode occurred in up to
a maximum of five cases.
The data shows us, first of all, that the principle perpetrator in each of the
five cases is the husband, boyfriend or live-in partner of the woman. This is
true for cases of sexual domestic violence as well as for cases of abuse. Exposing violence and abuse within the home is nothing we have not seen before. The same result, in fact, was exposed in the preceding survey and confirmed by research conducted in an international scale.
Above all it was the anti-violence centres and the women’s’ shelters which
provided the data to recognise the phenomenon of violence as a domestic violence issue. This data is confirmed in our context as well. For example, the
figure of the husband or partner as the principal perpetrator of abuse is cited in
37.5% of the cases, as opposed to 6% who say the act was committed by a
friend or acquaintance, who rank second in the classification. This same data
is widely confirmed for the gender of the perpetrator – female perpetrators are
practically non-existent from a statistical point of view – and the place in
which the episode took place. Rape and mistreatment or abuse takes place on
the most part within the domestic walls. The streets, or outdoors, emerge as a
safer place than the home with a violent husband or partner, who is more of a
threat to the woman than the stranger met by chance at night in the discotheque. In the previous survey we had said that “the representation of the family as unequivocal safe haven, secure and protective, is, due to these revelations, open to very serious discussion”; today, with the confirmation of this
tendency, the urgent need to encourage intervention by social and health services institutions– already experienced by the anti-violence centres – which
stress the fact that interpersonal violence is domestic violence and therefore a
social problem, cannot be denied.
6. The types of services and operators encountered by the women
Which services are most involved with the women who have been subjected to domestic violence or mistreatment and abuse? In which cities? And
who are the professions which are the most involved in these encounters? In
the following paragraph we will try to answer these questions as a completion
to that which we have already examined. If up until now we have reviewed
the types of use, that is, the types of problems which present themselves to the
services, now we wish to see what sorts of help and the respective level of
104
recognition of the phenomenon of domestic violence can be found.
The first thing to be highlighted again, and which is still true, is that which
has already been said regarding the complexity of a survey such as that which
has been reported here. We refer to a comparison of the various cities and differing realities present in each one. For this, and for an in-depth understanding
of the local context, local reports were written by each city involved in the
survey and we refer you to them for specific information.
Nonetheless, although it is not easy to compare the different contexts of the
Urban cities, here we are interested in understanding which of the services –
in whichever of the cities taken into consideration – intercepts the domestic
violence and who are the professional figures most sensitive to this interception. In other words, we are trying to pin-point that which can help us to understand the themes and the context of the actual violent act.
We need to understand if domestic violence is treated more as a health
problem, a problem of social degradation or as an illness which derives from
psychiatric problems. Is it seen as domestic violence in general and therefore
outside of the confines of a purely tutorial or assistance response? Is domestic
violence understood as being tightly intertwined in the specific history of
every woman who is subjected to it? Let us first consider the problem of rape.
The women, based on the results of our survey, first go to the mental health
centres, then to the police stations and then to the family advice centres. These
institutions are followed by the substance abuse centres, Emergency room
structures and, in only a very small number of cases, the basic social service
centres (Graph 4).
If we, on the other hand, consider the cases of mistreatment and abuse the
situation is very different. In this case the police stations are those who see the
most number of victims, followed by emergency room structures and then
substance abuse centres. Last on the list, even though the percentages do not
vary a great deal, are the social services and the mental health centres.
These considerations are valid even when we take another indicator into
account, that is, those services which declare a considerable number of cases
of domestic violence and abuse in the course of a year.
In the case of rape the roles of emergency room structures and the family
advice bureaus are very important, whereas for cases of mistreatment and
abuse the role of the police station comes before that of emergency room.
The basic social services centres are practically nonexistent on the list.
Some comments regarding this point are necessary. Cases of rape are, in fact,
on the whole intercepted by the emergency room, psychiatric services and the
police.
The role of the emergency room is fundamental at the moment of the emer105
gency. The police also have a fundamental role in the interception of domestic
violence, especially when the episode just happened. This is particularly true
since the approval of the law against rape, which defines it a crime against the
person and not as against morality, and is therefore punishable by law. The
policeman aids the woman who has been subjected to the violence and the judicial system punishes the perpetrator.
Graph 4 - Type of service by encounter with violence and abuse
15.2
Social services
Emergency room
51.5
24.1
61.8
29.5
Sub
Substan
stan
Advice
bureaus
40.9
Police stations
41.1
Abuse
52.7
64
49.5
Ment
Mental
Domestic
violence
56.3
50
al
0
50
100
150
The psychiatric services deserve our attention at this point. In the previous
report, in fact, we saw the potential of these services in regards to receiving
women who have been subjected to domestic violence and we then stated that
“there is a possibility of change in the old culture if the psychiatrist could be
seen as a strong point of reference in coming to the aid of the victim of domestic violence and domination when those aspects are seen as a destroyer of
psychic equilibrium. If this were true it would mean a double cultural change:
as it affects the perception of domestic violence and its consequences”. The
trend here is confirmed: in the present surveys the psychiatric services, more
than ever than in past years, are those who recognise the impact of sexual domestic violence on its victims. It is the role of the traditional psychiatrist to
respond to the need for the imposition of public order more than just to the
need to care for the afflicted person. This seems to us a first indication of the
106
general character which emerges from this survey and is very important in the
intervention strategies, as well as for the designing of services against rape.
Another consideration, which seems to us important to point out, is the role
of the basic social services. They are practically absent from the list in aiding
victims of rape, last on the list in cases of abuse. The social services, it seems,
do not intercept (or are not asked to intervene) cases of gender violence in
general as a phenomenon attributable to social degradation, in the cases of
women who live, work and have a family in a determined area. Gender violence seems almost extirpated from the social context, not like poverty, unemployment, substance abuse problems and marginalization. This seems to us
to be another fact which, like the last time, appears with the same force and is
confirmed by this report. Rape and abuse are, in great measure, intercepted by
specialised services. Further along we will see in more detail the specific contribution given by each service and their approach to the problem of violence
against women.
Continuing with our analysis of the reception of women by the services we
see that the gender of the operator indicates that there are more female operators aiding victims of rape, whereas there are more men involved in the aiding
of women who are victims of abuse or maltreatment. This data is influenced
by the figure of the police officer (almost always male). As we have already
seen, it is the police station which is the most active on this front and the profession of police officer is still very male oriented. This leads to the fact that,
from a statistical point of view, it is more probable that a female victim of
abuse come into contact with a male rather than with a female operator. The
first contact a mistreated woman has, therefore, is with a male. The situation
is different for cases of rape, where the female victim, as we have already
said, comes into contact with female operators. Here we are dealing with female psychologists, in first place, followed by female psychiatrists and then
by female gynaecologists. This, however, does not mean that the figure of the
policeman is not also present: it registers a slightly higher (1.2% points) than
the female gynaecologist. And, finally, let us make an observation about the
cities. We repeat that the data reported here is extirpated from specific contexts and therefore of little relevance. Nonetheless, it being that we are dealing
with an Urban survey in which the cities and the neighbourhoods play a leading role in the complex methodology of the research, it seems our duty to report at least one fact. The operators in the cities of Mola di Bari, Cagliari and
Turin are those who have declared to have had the most contact with rape,
whilst Syracuse, Pescara and Genoa the most contact with cases of abuse or
mistreatment. Misterbianco and Salerno are at the bottom of the list, respectively, for rape and mistreatment. We do not need to repeat that this indicator
107
does not measure the level of domestic violence present in a determined area,
but is actually more indicative of the level of recognisability and of the receptiveness of the social and health services in a particular context.
7. Recognising violence in the daily work of the services
7.1. The sensitivity level: a summary
It seems useful to re-propose the analysis of the level of sensitivity, or
awareness, of domestic violence, an index which we created in the previous
survey, with the intention of offering a summary which could explain the
level of “recognisibility” of domestic violence. This index is the result of the
total of some of the specific answers we felt were the most significant and
useful in explaining this factor3.
A full 47% of the operators surveyed demonstrated a low level of awareness or “sensitivity”. Only 8.3% showed a high level of awareness with regards to women who have been subjected to domestic violence (Table 3).
Table 3 – the sensitivity of the operators
“sensitivity” index for the recognition of domestic violence
HIGH
8.3
MEDIUM
LOW
47
NONE 8.1
36.6
The most sensitive professionals are:
Educators 31.6%
Psychologists 20.3%
Paediatricians 20%
Volunteers 15.8%
Gynaecologists 11.1%
Those services which show the least awareness are the Emergency room
operators and those working in the mental health services, whilst the family
advise bureaus and the basis social services are the most sensitive (Table 4).
The female operators are the most sensitive to the issue, and in particular
3
As opposed to the previous survey, however, where we indicated sensitivity as either high
or low, this time we used a different scale and used the ratings for sensitivity as none, low, medium and high.
108
those who also have some sort of professional training in the field such as
educators, psychologist, paediatricians and gynaecologists. To conduct a more
in-depth study for each service it seems to us, at this point, important to study
this theme looking into each of the specific services.
Table 4 – the sensitivity index of the operators
“Sensitivity” index by service (HIGH mode)
SOCIAL SERVICES
FAMILY ADVICE BUREAUS
14.6%
SUBSTANCE ABUSE CENTRES 10.2%
POLICE STATIONS
MENTAL HEALTH CENTRES
5.8%
EMERGENCY ROOM
1.3%
16.5%
7.1%
This permits us to evaluate the types of services revealing the differences,
similarities and specific characteristics.
7.2. The specialised services
For the family advice bureaus, the mental health centres and the substance
abuse centres forms were prepared with common areas to be compiled in order to facilitate a comparison between them. The first question dealt with,
once again, their encounter with domestic violence and asked: “have you ever
had the opportunity, in your dealings with a woman with psychological, psychiatric or substance abuse problems, to discover episodes of domestic violence or abuse in the patients’ recent or remote past?” The previous survey
had revealed a high level of affirmative responses reported in all of the services questioned. The present survey also demonstrated a high percentage of
affirmative responses, but with a difference of several percentage points between one service and the other. The family advice bureaus declared a lower
percentage of cases (68.6% versus 76.5% in the previous survey) while the
substance abuse centres and mental health centres showed themselves to have
become more sensitive in recognising the situation (the mental health centres
went from 78% to 85.6% and the substance abuse centres from 73% to
89.3%). The psychiatric service operators also showed themselves more attentive and sensitive to the theme of domestic violence as opposed to several
years ago. Let us now look into each service in detail.
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Family advice bureaus. There were three indicators used for this service:
(a) if the operator in the past year had encountered cases of separation, divorce, risk of miscarriage or voluntary abortion due to domestic violence or
abuse, (b) what are the possible consequences for a woman who has been subjected to domestic violence or abuse, and (c) which specific problems in the
sexual sphere could be related to domestic violence or abuse.
The first indicator (a) revealed some surprising information: only 27.5% of
the operators in the advice bureaus had followed cases in the past year of divorce due to domestic violence or abuse, 12.2% had cases of possible miscarriage and 23.1% dealt with cases in which an abortion was requested as a result of domestic violence. Once again it is worthwhile to underline the differences between those services dedicated to the family and much used by
women, but whose traditional “mission” does not necessarily give attention to
the phenomenon of gender violence (in this case the family advice bureau)
and those services which are gender oriented or dedicated to “child abuse”,
today present in many cities and who declare percentages which are very diverse. It would seem, from looking at our data, that victims of domestic violence do not, except in a very few instances, turn to the family advice bureaus
for help. This notwithstanding, the operators who work at the family advice
bureaus do show sensitivity to the theme of domestic violence and its consequences: almost all, in fact, see the grave consequences domestic violence
has, in first place, on family life (96.6%), then in the loss of employment
(76.3%) and finally in the economic problems it brings (74.3%). The possible
consequences on the sexual sphere, i.e. on the body (80.6%) and the psyche
(93.5%) are even graver. The operators of the family advice bureaus, therefore, see that the consequences of domestic violence on the sexual life of a
woman are much more severe than the consequences of the problems from
other aspects of life, such as work, money and the home. It remains a fact,
however, that a third (32%) of the operators who work in the family advice
bureaus have never dealt with the problems of domestic violence or abuse of
women.
Mental health and substance abuse centres. The indicators used for both
the mental health and the substance abuse centres were: (a) the recognition of
the symptoms (i.e. Psychic disturbances, social disfunction and selfdestructive tendencies) as a consequence of domestic violence and abuse, (b)
the recognition of domestic violence by means of professional criteria (diagnosis, treatment methods) 4. As far as practices are concerned, the operators of
the mental health centres consider it important to create an in-depth case his4
This indicator was used only for the mental health centres.
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tory when they suspect the involvement of domestic violence, and they often
take into consideration negative traumatic events whenever a woman seeks
help due to depression. When it comes to symptomalogy, we note that symptoms such as anxiety, depression, phobias and lack of self esteem are generally considered by the operators as indicators of having been subjected to domestic violence. As is evident, the operators of the substance abuse centres are
more sensitive to symptoms of social dysfunction, substance abuse or self destructive tendencies than are the operators of the mental health centres. Nonetheless, the high percentages reported lead us to ponder about the importance
of a possible key role being played by the psychiatric services, as well as the
substance abuse services, in fighting violence against women. Let us also consider the gender of the operator.
In the previous survey we highlighted the fact that female operators were
more intuitive and sensitive to the fact that cases of domestic violence and
abuse are a very private matter in the individual history of each woman, and
therefore we saw it as a positive note that a female victim of domestic violence should find as her interlocutor another woman who would be sensitive
to her problem. The results of the second survey demonstrate a slightly different tendency. Although, in fact, women tend in general to be more sensitive
than men, the latter, especially in the substance abuse centres but also in the
family advice bureaus, sometimes show more sensitivity to issues dealing
with domestic violence than do the women. The consequences and psychological damage to the children, for example, or symptoms such as social dysfunction, are often taken more into consideration by the male operators than by
the female operators. Perhaps we are dealing more with of a problem tied to the
competences and training and the purpose of the service itself in which an operator works than with a problem tied to gender definition. At this point, there are
two indicators which can help us to better define the question of gender and of the
professionalism involved in recognising domestic violence. The first deals with
the attitude of the operators at the police station, which, as we all know, are principally male environments. The second deals with what type and how much specific training is present in the services we surveyed. Perhaps with the aid of these
two indicators we can get the confirmation, or denial, of an improvement in how
the different genders perceive domestic violence.
7.3. The emergency services
The emergency room. Women are often reluctant to seek help for themselves and their children because they fear the stigma attached to domestic
111
violence, and as a result hesitate to turn to the social and health services for
help. This is particularly true for the emergency room services which are not
specifically trained to receive cases of rape. Notwithstanding the fact that
emergency rooms are always open, do not need an appointment and are available during the night when much of the domestic violence takes place, cases
of rape are often not treated as such, not reported as such and the personnel
often do not give the immediate answers the victims need. Nonetheless, things
seem to be slowly changing. For at least the past two decades in the USA, for
example, the emergency rooms have specific programmes called DV programs which are now too numerous to be counted: these programmes define
certain guidelines for the personnel who are thus able to extract the private
and personal information from women who would otherwise not have had the
courage to talk about. The same is true for our country. In the previous report
we gave information regarding some programmes which have been successfully activated in Italy. One of these is the experience in Venice called “Listening post for women and minors who are subjected to domestic violence”, a
service created within the context of the emergency room of Venice and
nearby Mestre. Specifically, the Listening Post places the women at the centre
of the intervention and works to create a support network, in accordance with
the particulars of the case, within the hospital, outside of the hospital and in
the community. As one female operator tells us “when we encounter an
abused woman in the hospital we work on increasing communication among
the various departments during the check-up, diagnosis and care procedures.
This contributes on the one hand to making the hospital experience less cold
and impersonal for the woman herself, and, on the other hand, it stimulates the
male and female operators to be more aware of the type of violence perpetrated against the woman and the complexity of her situation, as they care for
her. At the same time, we help the woman to come into contact with the various local services which could help her”. The need on the part of the operators
to recognise domestic violence and the fact that this recognition is an integral
part of the intervention methodology is very important in the emergency room
where, alongside the request for “physical” care of the women, the sense of
“invasion” of private space on the part of the woman also needs to be cared
for. The wounds that result from this experience are not always immediately
visible and, more importantly, do not always correspond exactly to the physical evidence at hand. The reactions to these traumas are varied, and are expressed in a different way in each person: they vary from negation, to rationalisation, to various levels of anxiety and finally to more specific disturbances
from symptoms of post-traumatic stress. The emergency room, therefore, is
identified as the “emergency place, for emergencies which are not just those
112
connected to physical pain, but also to the pain from the complex situation
they are living, of a situation which frightens and where the need for the help
requested goes beyond that of the physical trauma suffered” (Izzi, Piana,
2002). These exemplary experiences are very important and also encouraging.
This notwithstanding, the real situation of the emergency rooms in Italy, unfortunately, is still that which we described before, places where the women
go and be cared for in such a way that “they get the stitches they need without
even being listened to for a moment” (Mullender, 1996).
The emergency room questionnaire was also designed especially for them.
The first question dealt with the perception of domestic violence from a
purely quantitative point of view, slanted, however, regarding the women who
turn to the emergency room for help. The question was phrased as follows:
“could you estimate, on the basis of your experiences, the incidence of the
phenomenon of rape hidden behind the excuse of a domestic mishap?” The
results obtained were very similar to those previously revealed. The majority
of the personnel working in the emergency rooms claim that the incidence of
the phenomenon of non-declared rape was low (less than 19%). Only half of
them, faced with the evident suspicions, thought it a good idea to investigate
the case more closely. Only when “clear evidence of rape” was present did a
number of the operators react in some way, informing the woman of the existence of anti-violence centres (57.2%), or reporting the case to the police
(19.8%). There remain a 16% of the operators who, even with clear evidence
of rape in front of them, think it is better to not do anything because they believe that the woman has her own good reasons for denying it, or because she
is not a minor. The medical report in which the violence is described is considered important in the majority of cases (79%). The only intervention possible and used in a uniform manner by all of the operators is the official document compiled and used which is part of the normal procedure prescribed for
interventions by the emergency rooms. The operators, in other words, do not
try to, or do not want to, change the way in which things have always been
done. They do not want to explore new reporting methods even when confronted by clear and evident signs of rape and abuse. This denial of the evidence is, in our point of view, quite surprising, especially when we are talking
about male doctors. Female doctors, once again, show themselves to be much
more attentive and do not limit themselves to accepting the feeble explanations given them by an evidently raped woman. Men, on the other hand, exactly as was reported in the previous survey, prefer to limit themselves to informing the police or at least following only a “legalistic” road, not exactly
what a woman who has finally turned to the emergency room for help needs
when she has just been beaten, battered or raped.
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The police station. The last service structure we will deal with is that of the
police station where cases of rape can be reported. We have already seen how
these places encounter episodes of domestic violence and abuse as a daily occurrence, and how they can be defined as emergency places where the woman
can go to when she has specific needs: discretion, help and protection. It is
also the institution which files reports, penal but also social, the place where
women who need legal protection from violent situations can go to. Given the
specific importance of the police stations we asked the 115 police officers (25
of whom were women) some specific questions regarding their treatment of
the women who seek help from them.
The person taking the report is usually the inspector (82.3%) or the person
in charge at that moment (13.3%). In just over one third of the cases (34%) it
is a woman who takes the report.
Of the cities conducting the survey seven of them do not require the presence of a female officer when a report is being taken from a woman who has
been subjected to domestic violence.
More attention is, however, paid to the surroundings in which a woman is
heard: 78% of those interviewed have told us that there is a special separate
room at the police station in which the statements of the woman are taken.
There are few differences between this survey and the previous one in this regard.
As we stated several years ago, the lack of sensitivity of the officers at the
police station is worrying, seeing as the number of cases a police officer treats
is relatively high (75% of the officers interviewed state they have dealt with at
least ten intervention requests from women in the past year alone).
Not only, but the majority declare that intervening in a family dispute is
more difficult than other situations because it deals with a “very private environment”.
The family, therefore, is considered an inviolable place in which there are
more or less shared behavioural and social pathologies present making the intervention by the police difficult. The results of this survey do not differ, in
this regard, from the results of the previous survey.
The police services do not have any plans, training or otherwise, to change
their methods of handling the problems of the women who have been subjected to sexual domestic violence and abuse they deal with.
Some of the research conducted in England (Schwartz, 1997) has shown us
how women are reluctant to report rape to the police for fear of being seen as
the very ones creating or participating in the episode. For this reason, as long
ago as 1987, the London Metropolitan Police Service introduced a Domestic
114
Violence Service in each neighbourhood, incorporated into a more ample
Community Safety Unit. Their main purpose is to offer support and offer options to the women, but also to serve in a preventive role for the reduction of
this crime.
This is only one example of what can be done to bring attention to the daily
routine of care given to a woman who has just experienced rape. We believe
that our police institutions should at least be equipped with sufficient female
personnel to help these women when their statements are taken.
In this manner the police stations could become emergency intervention
places with gender awareness, and the women would be less afraid of going to
them and being found guilty of complicity.
7.4. Practices used by the services and anti-violence intervention
Often in the course of the analysis of this survey we have touched on the
theme of the practices used and the operations of the services. Here we will
briefly deal with the theme of intervention from a practical point of view and
the tools used for the interventions. We asked the operators if there was specific intervention protocol to be followed, or whether they performed on the
basis of their experiences with their own manner of doing things, without preset models.
Only a small part of those interviewed declares to have used codified protocol (officially established practices) when dealing with cases of domestic
violence (8.5%), this mostly in the police stations. The remainder either has
plans for a protocol in the near future (10.9%) or does not have any plan to
ever use specific protocol (80.6%). How, then, do operators intervene in cases
of domestic violence? It is natural to come to the conclusion, at this point, that
the operators make up their own intervention guidelines as they go along.
In fact, that is exactly what happens: a large part of the operators have created their own behavioural guidelines, and this is true to a great extent for the
mental health centres and the emergency rooms. A smaller percentage
(26.2%) refers the cases to other services or centres which deal specifically
with rape, in this case basic social services or volunteer organisations. Those
who use preset guidelines and procedures are almost exclusively the police
stations (16.8%) that follow the protocol dictated by the legal system. It
seems, therefore, that the operators do things each in their own way.
We do not know exactly, as we reported in the previous report, what this
means. We can only imagine that the operator reacts according to his/her own
professional methodology, without there being any definite or precise profes115
sional guidelines with regards to dealing with cases of gender violence.
It seems to us that we can now draw some conclusions. The first regards
the health professions, which are the least equipped with guidelines to confront domestic violence, and therefore in confronting interventions specifically aimed at women. Analysing the data we have noted, nonetheless, the
emerging role of the mental health centres and their work with victims of
rape. We would also like to mention the role of the social services, which appears to assume the role of sending the cases to other services which in turn
deal with issues of domestic violence.
It is, without a doubt, an important role, but they should not limit themselves to the mere referring of cases, as often happens. They should, instead,
try to help and follow the woman along the often long and painful road leading to her extrication from the violent situation in which she lives. Referring
the case as a means to resolve of the problem shows scarce sensitivity on the
part of the social services.
8. What training do the operators receive?
In the last report we highlighted how “the overall picture presented a
situation regarding the services in which there are approach methods which
tended to, on an operative level, “not see” the domestic violence, with operators who often “played it by ear” in their attempts to resolve the problem.
The question remains, nonetheless, how much this is the fault of choices
made by the services, or how much of it is due to a ‘lack of structural resources’ such as training, for example, which can have a concrete and positive impact on improving the manner in which an operator works”.
For this reason a portion of the questionnaire was dedicated to questions
regarding the training the operators received, both generalised and specific
to the topic of rape in a domestic setting. Let us see the results obtained
from the present study. When it comes to general training most of our interviewees claimed to have received at least some (74.8%).
These training experiences refer mostly to “refresher courses” bringing
them up to date and training with a final certificate to be added to their curricula. Organised on the most part by the local health authorities and entities, these courses were mostly for the medical profession (38.5%) and for
psychiatrists (21.5%). We are dealing with, on the whole, training which is
part of the professional curriculum and, as such, often obligatory, free and
offered by the professional entity itself, especially in the case of the medical
profession. If, however, we analyse the data regarding training experiences
116
in the field of domestic violence and similar themes, then the situation
changes dramatically. Only 18.6% of operators have attended, in the last
three years, specific training related to domestic violence. This training is,
on the whole, of the psychological type (41.8%) or medical (16.4%), or for
social services assistants (15.1%) (Table 5). Only a negligible part has received training in rape and related topics (3.4%). 58.7% of operators have
attended only one course, and 27.3% of them have attended two courses.
The training courses we are referring to issue a certificate which is useful
for curriculum of the operator, but only a minimum part of this training is
obligatory. Only 52 of the operators (35.6%) say they have attended obligatory courses on rape. Not only do we have a very low number of operators
who have attended specific courses, but we also have training strongly influenced by personal initiative by the operator him/herself and his/her “good
will”. Finally, a good number of these courses are organised by private and
women’s’ organisations, who offer them almost as often as the local health
authorities (24.7%).
Table 5 –Operator training
Specific professional training to treat cases of sexual domestic violence
18.6%
Type of training:
Psychological
Medical
Social assistance
41.8
16.4
15.1
Services with the most training:
Family advice bureaus and social services
City:
Genoa
Cosenza
Taranto
Massa Carrara
42.5%
29.6%
26.9%
24.1%
The offer of training comes, therefore, from the services sensitive to, or at
least involved in, the phenomenon. The institutional services, on the other
hand, do not seem willing to recognise the need for training and as such turn
to outside help. In synthesis, we are facing a situation where few operators are
actually trained, and those that are trained have done so mostly on a voluntary
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basis and by services focused on women. If we look further we see a disaggregation by type of service. When it comes to training most of the services
can be placed in the same category. In other words, whilst the family advice
bureaus and the social services give some sort of specific training to the operators, this is less true of the mental health centres, the police stations and,
above all, the emergency room. In the latter only 10 of all of the operators
have ever followed training courses which dealt with the issue of rape, and of
these, all dealt only with the inherent medical issues. Looking at the situation
city by city, Genoa presents the best picture, with 42.5% of its operators
trained, followed by Cosenza, Taranto and Carrara, although with lower percentages (respectively 29.6%, 26.9% and 24.1%). Even this data supports the
picture already drawn: little training, therefore, and above all little training for
the operators of the services which come into daily contact with cases of domestic violence, and this comes about prevalently in situations characterised
by urgency, such as the emergency room and the police station.
This notwithstanding, a clear picture does emerge of a specific desire on
the part of the operators to receive specialised training. When asked the question “Do you think more training in the area of rape is important?” a full
83.2% of the operators answered that they did, expressing their willingness to
be trained in the methods of combating domestic violence and in learning
more about how to make the collaboration between the various available services more efficient. This is undoubtedly a positive sign which indicates a
trend which was also revealed in the previous study. It is evident, therefore,
that there is greater awareness today of the idea that domestic violence against
women can be combated if we provide correct and concrete solutions to those
operators who work in the traditional services. This data is a first step and is
confirmed once again by the services and the anti-violence centres which have
recently come into being in Italy, places where the perception of interpersonal violence as a social phenomenon as well as its general connotation is
inherent in daily work, in the methodology and in the relationships with the
women. The number of women, as evidenced by the data revealed by the centres, who trust these services and turn to them for help is on the increase. The
two surveys conducted, very similar in quantitative and qualitative terms,
showed a scarce recognition of the phenomenon of domestic violence by the
traditional services. Some positive signs can be seen, such as those regarding
the role of the psychiatric services, but all too often the nature of the interventions applied by the operators are to be credited to the good will and the sensitivity of the single operator, more than to the methodology imposed by the
service itself. There is still a long road ahead and the social and health services must, at this point, assume their responsibility to assure the welcome,
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the intervention and that adequate aid is given to the women who are subjected to domestic violence. We find it important to conclude with the same
words we used in the previous report, reaffirming that the road to follow is
that of “specifically oriented training courses which address the problem in
order to know how to intuitively understand also those things which a woman
who has been subjected to rape is afraid to “confess”, or does not want to tell
or communicate the full extent of, because revealing her own very personal
condition of submission could be understood not as an attempt to free herself,
but instead be interpreted by the operators as a lack of dignity and an admission of failure”. We add to this that we must look again at a more complex reflection, on the manner in which the various specialised professions (doctors,
psychologists and social workers) work with one another and the relative operative techniques, with a generalised approach which is at the same time holistic and phenomelogical: to re-think, in a critical manner, the integration of
the various professions, techniques and services on the horizon of an innovative consideration of the health of women, founded on the value of her integrity as a sexual being and on the relevance of the female voice in the private
sphere, but also in that of the public-private sphere of the services and of the
specific settings of the disciplinary knowledge.
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4. The Seminars and the Network Action
by Vittoria Tola
1. The need for training
The second phase of the “Anti-violence Network of the Urban Italia Cities”
saw the integration of the surveys with a more specific intervention axis dealing with putting the active operators in a given territory and who treat the
theme of gender violence into contact with one another. This was done with
training seminars involving previously surveyed operators of both sexes who
were already aware of the resources at their disposal (maps, context analysis).
Their perception of the phenomenon of domestic violence and the services in
which they work were once again surveyed (questionnaire of the services and
operators), and then surveyed again as “informed persons” for the qualitative
portion of the research. The recommendation which emerged from the previous national report was applied, that is, to improve on the implementation of
the “action” aspects which could directly influence awareness through information exchange, practical analysis, and the sharing of experience. The aim
was to improve the efficiency of those who work in the field and stress the
importance of their role in the inter-connection with other local resources in
order to facilitate access to the services by the women in need of help.
The previous national experience had brought to light, together with the
prejudices and the stereotypes, the weakness, but also the demand on the part
of the operators in the various services for training regarding the issues of
domestic violence. The training curricula of the educational, social, health and
police personnel do not, even today, call for specific training on the themes of
domestic violence and trauma, let alone on the theme of gender violence
against women. This problem was also underlined in the Recommendation on
the protection of women from violence by the European Council Rec (2002)5
on April 3, 2002 where the introduction of basic and university level courses
regarding the theme of violence against women for operators, offering knowledge and tools to future professionals in the fields of mental health, protec121
tion, etc, was considered one of the priorities.
In Italy, in the past few years and as opposed to the period in which the first
phase of the actions were conducted (1998-2001), training and refresher
courses regarding the theme of domestic violence, in particular regarding minors, aimed at the personnel working in social, sanitary and police fields on a
local level have multiplied. We are still far from an extensive diffusion of
knowledge and intervention methodology dealing with the phenomenon of
violence against women, as demonstrated by one of the surveys conducted on
an operative level by the Urban research (see A. Basaglia in the present report). It is also important to note that the training courses are offered to those
who are already operative in the field. There is still a lack of institutional interest in facing these themes at the basic learning institutes which educate the
professional to begin with. Furthermore, from the data collected it emerges
that, although there is an increase in requests for training, the actual availability of training itself remains negligible. The need for specialised training
aimed at the integration of practices, the evaluation of intervention protocol
used and the sharing of information remains unresolved.
Knowledge of these problems had emerged from the surveys conducted in
the eight pilot cities in the first phase of the Urban research project. It was
based on this, and to respond to the needs the previous research revealed that,
in this second phase, a short training course was created aimed at those the
project defines as “network crossroads”, or the persons who work within the
principle services which come into contact with the phenomenon of domestic
violence: the police, social workers, health personnel, non-profit organisations, women’s associations and anti-violence centres. The new objective
which arose was that of supporting these “network crossroads” in learning
more about the theme and the methods to be adopted to combat it, and in doing so, organise encounters which then serve to integrate with other subjects,
facilitating the construction of a process which would permit the opening of
channels of communication (the threads of the communication web) in a
common area of analysis and exchange.
The cycle of seminars was organised in two operative areas:
x Seminars to raise levels of awareness and information about the project
and the phenomenon aimed at the decision makers (politicians, managers,
heads of the services), the operators and the population at large;
x Training seminars organised by the individual entities or by the city involving a maximum of 25 operators, with a high interactive level.
The training seminars represented a way to create the basis for an agreedupon viewpoint, with the same attitude, regarding the phenomenon of domestic violence. The main objectives were the empowerment and the valorisation
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of the local resources, the promotion and the consolidation of the women’s
associations who are most expert on the theme, the creation of those conditions necessary to launch specialised services (anti-violence centres). The idea
behind the project was to promote an environment of local networks and an
integration of the various services as a work method on the problem of violence against women. The network actions were designed and projected to define the common practices and tools which the differing organisms used by
creating agreements and enacting inter-institutional projects. These results
were, in fact, obtained in several of the cities involved: Trieste, Turin, Genoa,
Carrara, Pescara, Caserta, Mola di Bari, Brindisi, Catanzaro, Misterbianco,
and Syracuse.
The previous experience, in fact, demonstrated that it was not enough to
create committees to orchestrate collaboration on a local level. It was necessary to strengthen the activities aimed at the services and networks, encouraging the creation of the latter. Of those cities involved in the first phase, only
Palermo and Venice managed to re-enforce the local committees, the former
based on the choice of leaving the coordination in the experienced hands of
the women’s’ associations (the Le Onde Onlus), the latter thanks to the particular cultural and political conditions with had created a synergy between
the local entities and which assumed the role of leader in this process of
changing the system and the associations. The work promoting the network
was a fundamental step in the development of the planned actions, and
worked to increase the intensity of the inter-action between the local operators
called in to deal with cases of sexual violence and help combat it.
The development of interaction between the various agencies called for the
direct involvement of the women’s’ NGOs as well as the public and private
institutions active in the field. The explicit aim was to create the conditions so
that training and local networking would never lose sight of the profile which
emerged from the surveys which, integrated with the experience and reports
written by the anti-violence centres over the last ten years, describes a situation in which:
x the cultural conditions for the “breaking of silence” by the women still
needs to be created by careful programmes of awareness, information,
training and networking;
x the only extant specialised services are those managed by women’s associations, except for in Venice and some other cities which have initiated
their own programmes based on the information gathered in the Urban
Surveys (Trieste, Pescara, Misterbianco, Turin, Carrara, Bari, Mola di
Bari). Most of these new services are located in the north of the country,
the south still lingers behind.
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the local networks and the integrated intervention models which the Urban Project aimed to promote often do not survive long after the initial
push, except in those places where a women’s association or a local entity
actually assumes the responsibility for the coordination of the contacts (as
we have already mentioned the examples of excellence can be seen in the
two models we cited above – associations and local entities –Palermo and
Venice, but other cities such as Florence and Pisa in Tuscany, the cities of
Emilia Romagna, etc… who use less formalised networking procedures
which work just as well (if not better). There are also some new experiences to be reported which operate on a district level, for example in Pisa,
or on a provincial level such as Genoa and Ancona).
It must be stressed that the public services admit to being inadequate in their
aid to women who ask for help. The perception of domestic violence held by
those who work in the field and which reflect in their professional performances, as this information emerged from the surveys conducted in Italy1, is too
often affected by stereotypes which then tend to create a sort of secondary
victimization, or, more to the point, stereotypes which form a barrier to a realistic interpretation of the causes of any particular episode of domestic violence. Training was designed to deal with this particular difficulty, as well as
others which emerged from the study:
x The difficulty of organising interventions in crisis situations due to scarce
awareness or sensitivity;
x The tolerance of domestic violence inherent in the culture;
x The scarce perception of the phenomenon in the services, also due to the
absence of a unified system of procedures;
x The lack of resources and the unacceptable amount of time which passes
between the request for help and help actually arriving (money, housing
and other);
x The lack of communication between the services of the same area because
they do not know one another and work on different levels of the case.
From the survey information gathered it became abundantly clear that we
needed to define the approaches, the practices and paperwork, and the tools to
be used by all the parties involved, to produce detailed information regarding
the services and what they offer, and thus aim to improve the efficiency of the
interventions for those who turn to a service asking for help for themselves or
their children. The need to activate training aimed at recognising the problem
as well as putting into action efficient and integrated forms of help focused on
x
1
Ricerca Daphne AA is an example.VV., Verso l’incontro che genera. Violenza contro le
donne e presa in carico sanitaria, Palermo 2006.
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the woman in order be able to give her and/or her children the immediate attention she needs, laying down the bases for the planning of an intervention
programme which is able to diagnose the problem and seek ways of removing
her and/or her children from the dangerous situation, and thus an exit from the
cycle of domestic violence which afflicts their lives.
It is in this context that a map of the various services to be involved was
drawn up based on the information given by the operators and defining the actions to be taken by the local networks and the operators who participated in
the seminars. The data gathered and analysed by the survey aimed at learning
more about the perception the operators, both male and female, have of domestic violence. It gave us a body of knowledge from which to extrapolate the
interventions needed for the development of network action, permitting us to
gain more knowledge about the phenomenon and to map a better road which
would facilitate the emersion, offering important information in order to refine the shared practices, evaluate the eventual protocol to be adopted and the
local projects to develop specialised services in the fight against domestic violence. Moreover, the recognition and the use of the experiences already
gained in Italy, in the context of the Urban project and not, gave us the chance
to change the content and the methods to facilitate the implementation of local
networks.
The training programmes foreseen by the project and adapted to the local
conditions of each individual city gave us an occasion to involve also those
who work in the services which were mapped out, thus aiding in the process
of spreading knowledge and creating a shared space to activate preventive actions with the objective to prevent and solve the problem of gender violence,
exposing those characteristics which permitted a high level of tolerance of this
type of violence in our society.
The first thing taught, to be shared in the work groups which were created
by the seminars, was that all too often the women themselves are reticent to
speak about their problem, too often do not report it to the police, and do not
rebel against the conditions which permit the cycle of gender violence to continue. Seen from their point of view, the institutions do not act as guarantors
of their safety beyond the narrow legal limitations of laws which do not reflect real life situations, because all too often the services are unable to help
them to recognise the nature of the domestic violence cycle and therefore cannot help them to find the road to real assistance and an exit from the difficulties they face. This becomes amply clear in their accounts of the situation2 re2
As described in the first charter of the report, apart from the quantitative surveys, qualitative surveys were also conducted of which one was specifically aimed at gathering the life sto-
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garding their experiences with the social, health and police services. The very
real-life accounts (tranche de vie) gathered in the various cities are a precious
and rich testimony, for the descriptions of the events of domestic violence
they were subjected to, as well as for the information gathered regarding the
difficulties encountered when asking for help. They were often misunderstood
and stigmatised as failures when not judged on the basis of social parameters
of infantile or feminine hardship suffered. This insight was another major
point used in the design of the contents of the training and awareness seminars.
The refinement of the content for the training of the operators working in
the Urban cities areas produced an efficient circuit aimed at improving the
competences of the individual professions and the services themselves, thus
creating an atmosphere in which successful techniques could be shared and
the network which aids women enlarged. The awareness activity and the exchange of experiences now operative, and on those previously realised, has
led to, at least in part, greater efficiency of the local measures to be adopted
and awareness of the correct procedures to construct services founded on the
capitalisation of the experiences of the women’s’ anti-violence centres, as
well as the EU Daphne and Stop programmes, which Italy and Europe have
matured.
1.2. The cycle of training seminars
The project proposed a cycle of seven seminars for each city. Of those, five
were designed for a public of hand-picked operators who were motivated by
the opportunity to launch the anti-violence network in their city. The other
two were designed with the citizen in mind, but above all for local political
and institutional decision makers, qualified scholars and observers, the scientific community and representatives of the mass media. The value of the latter
seminars lay in the spreading of information and awareness but they also
brought to light the need for a common lexicon and sense of shared responsibility in dealing with the problem. The objective was to promote and coordinate 85 seminars and 34 conventions on a local and national level, sometimes
involving the participation of international experts, not always an easy job for
neither the administration involved nor the entities which then have to transries of the women, contacted by telephone or through local resources, who had been subjected
to domestic violence. The wealth of the information and the contents of the interviews clearly
emerge in the local reports, which we invite you to read.
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late everything into reality.
The seminars took place over a period of time which went from 2002 to
2005. Each cycle had a differentiated cadence, decided on by the cities themselves based on the duration of the research action, which proved to be variable and had to take into account the will on the part of the local administrators, the time needed for the completion of the work programme by the interested bodies, and the organisational problems3 encountered on a realistic
level. All of these difficulties created many delays and the re-programming of
dates.
The training encounters had, on average, more than 25 participants for the
entire cycle, which corresponds to the number projected for each seminar. The
groups, made up of various and different professions, represented an occasion
to acquire definitions and concepts of domestic violence and the possible
methods for fighting and preventing it. It saw a comparison of the fundamental concepts and knowledge of the “good practices” matured on a national
level, the analysis and exchange of experiences and of local reality and created, in the cities, the place for the birth of the nucleus of a common institutional and inter-disciplinary intervention project on domestic violence in
males. The cities were asked to give their evaluations of the seminars, and this
chapter is the result of the information received in these reports and their reelaboration into local reports where often an ad hoc chapter is dedicated to the
seminars and the suggestions on local project planning, as well as a look at the
concrete coordination experience as conducted by the Scientific Committee
for Training.
The seminars were organised on the basis of critical and operative methodology, defining new paradigms on the basis of the elaboration of the experiences of the operators, facilitated and stimulated by those conducting the
seminar, usually women with vast cultural, legal, psychological, statistical,
political and practical experience accumulated in many years of study or actual work inside the anti-violence centres and shelters themselves. The seminars themselves were made up of lectures, although often broken into smaller
work and study groups which were much appreciated by the operators and
who saw this method as the most efficient way to study the problem and its
ramifications. There were case simulations and the use of real life stories to
better illustrate the significance and gravity of the problems the women are
3
In many cities the delays were due to the fact that the operators were not given permission
by their superiors to attend these seminars. These difficulties emphasised the need to educate
the decision makers in the various institutions themselves on the importance of the theme itself
and training. This created some of the delay, but also hightened the awareness levels and, as a
result, the role each institution can play in order to combat the phenomenon and prevent it.
127
facing when it comes to domestic violence in their lives and in the territories
of the operators. Often the operators themselves contributed to the elaboration
of the fundamental concepts to be studied, stimulated by a training format
which required the group to show off their competences and their accumulated knowledge, stimulating participation and the collective management of
the end results.
Most of the seminars were composed of two parts: the first a “didactic/experience” introduction wherein the seminar leaders defined the dimension and context of sexual violence, and the second involving the participants
in an open session of debate and discussion, comparing experiences from their
daily work lives with those of the leaders, studying the gravity of the phenomenon and the results obtained from the first surveys. On the whole the
seminars were an open forum of debate talking about the real problems of
their work, and using experiences in order to participate in the final paper and
in the operative processes already in use as well as the possibility of applying
modifications based on the results of the surveys. As is written in the Misterbianco report: “with respect to the objectives we need to achieve and to the
work programme given to us, it has been emphasised that this programme
would have to be altered and redimensioned as it was put in action, permitting
us to review the content and the method, beginning with the perception of
domestic violence on the part of the operators, and from the individual interventions already performed by each service in the cases of domestic violence.
The participation of the operators attending the seminars has been very enthusiastic, each one feels directly involved in the construction of the network”4.
The participants in the mixed work groups were offered guidelines which
formed a basis from which to conduct the discussions and face the problems
in order to arrive at a basic common criteria from which to begin: the question
of the phenomenon of domestic violence and its interpretations, the stereotypes regarding violence against women, the manner in which the women are
received together with the need to put into action comparable work tools and
the evaluation of eventual protocol to be adopted, the knowledge and the sharing of obligations as prescribed by law, the diffusion of the indicators revealing the presence of domestic violence and their needs in the reporting system
of the individual services, detailed analysis of the network activity, the
evaluation of the knowledge imparted by the women and feminine subjectivity.
In many cities the speeches given by the experts were consequently given
4
Evaluation report of the city of Misterbianco – Evaluation report of the Project pg 3.
128
to each participant as an integral part of the literature made available, photocopies of bibliographical resources selected by the work group which coordinated the training activities, descriptive and analytical information on the individual operators and the services they operate in. Audio-visual technology
was also used to view brief films about the discussed themes.
The training sessions always began with a seminar presenting the project in
order to create greater awareness of their importance to the institutions in the
area. In each city this first encounter was characterised by the presence of
large numbers of important persons from political institutions who recognised
the difficulties and the scarce, or non-existent, local attention on the problem,
but who also expressed their willingness to confront the problem and intervene in such a complex theme. From the very first encounter the service operators expressed a high level of interest in the initiative, bringing with them
their own personal and professional experiences and the difficulties which
they had encountered, showing their support for training courses, their willingness to increase their levels of competence and knowledge regarding the
problem and to keep the constant lines of communication among the services
open. The latter aspects became the nucleus of the brief training cycle. The
explicit recognition of the fact that many of the problems could be resolved
thanks to inter-personal relationships between operators, while more specialised competences were called for with regard to gender sensitive treatment of
victims in all of the institutions involved, as well as an integrated evaluation
of the eventual protocol to be adopted, became the objects of discussion, putting them at the base of the training concept as put forth by the project. The
sense of precariousness and fragility was a strong point which came up often
during the speeches, and confirmed the data revealed in the mapping which
underlined the difficulty of summing up roles and organisation, specifically
with respect to facing the themes inherent to gender violence. These difficulties were then added to the often declared lack of organisation and institutional communication, the lack of sufficient funding to face emergency situations, the lack of shared tools for revealing the problems and, finally, communication in general.
This data and these voiced problems made clear the need to have, even before the definition of the local network, more information and knowledge, a
better line of communication between the services themselves, in order to recognise and not “lose” the victims when they ask for help, first on the part of
the police stations and emergency rooms, the most important of the services
on the front line of the battle which often, however, are those least equipped
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to deal with the situation in an adequate manner5.
This fact confirms the longevity of a major problem on the priority axis of
intervention as recommended by the EU as well as other international bodies:
the emergency room health services and the personnel which work there.
From the work groups of the training seminars the difficulty of communication and the lack of a common lexicon between those who deal with the “support” factor – the anti-violence centres, social services and some health services – and those who handle the case at the crisis stage – the first aid services- became clear. This situation is present not only in the “big” cities, but
also in the services working in the small and medium sized cities.
The actions realised have, in some cases, put a “virtuous circuit” in motion
even in important cities such as, for example, Genoa, Turin and Bari, where
the project managed to put new attention on gender oriented services, making
it possible to organise specialised emergency room services. In Catanzaro,
Genoa and Mola di Bari, as a result of the seminars, the police learned to see
the problem from another point of view, which then led to the connection of
important points in the local network. This inter-connecting activity has
brought to light one of the most critical aspects in the intervention helping
female victims of domestic violence: the moment of the crisis itself, the emergency, and the near total absence of temporary hospitality available to the
women and their children. The emergency rooms and police services that are
on the front line often have to improvise solutions without the help of official
or organised services to which to turn, thus not being able to give a concrete
solution to the woman and her children, getting around the problem using non
formalised operating methods such as the temporary distancing of the perpetrator from the family or the short term stay of the woman and children at the
police stations6.
The training experience proved to be much more complex and innovative
than expected, above all because it dealt with a reality never before touched
upon by the institutions, a subject fraught with misunderstanding and confusion, when not altogether ignored, because it happens among those families
on the margins of society, often immigrants, or is committed by persons with
5
C.Adami, A.Basaglia Dentro la domestic violence: cultura, pregiudizi e stereotipi. Rapporto nazionale Rete anti-violence Urban Franco Angeli, Milano 2002, pages 85-87. Rapporti
locali Urban. A.Basaglia in the present report. AA.VV, Verso l’incontro che genera. Domestic
violence alle donne e presa in carico sanitaria, Palermo 2006.
6
Significant and not unusual is the story told by a commander of the Carabinieri who illustrated how help was offered at the station offering a cup of tea and biscuits and permiting the
woman and her children to stay until her husband calmed down or until her extended family or
neighbourhood friends could step in.
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many problems, as illustrated in the reports of Crotone, Bari, Cagliari and
Syracuse. Those operators least in the know about the characteristics of sexual
violence expressed such prejudices such as “female masochism”, mentioned
in Trieste as a cause of domestic violence, or they expressed incredulity towards the women who described the violence to which they had been subjected. All of this is true also due to the lack of guidelines7 given to the aid
professionals and lack of organised methodology in the cases of domestic violence, as testified by all of the cities. Still, the result obtained was one which
forced a deep look into the collective conscience, at the quality of the available information and the characteristics and competences required of the training personnel in order to achieve the desired results of this project: this also
includes the efforts of the scientific committee of the ISFOL who organised in
a systematic manner the technical assistance of the project, administration, research groups, university and women’s associations. Hitherto unknown information was discovered about themselves and the Italian and European experiences up until now un-thinkable, an intellectual discovery and the beginning of new and otherwise improbable critical reflection.
Many cities chose to organise the seminars involving broad-reaching social
levels and preparatory meetings with various significant subjects in order to
stimulate, apart from the programme established by the project, an in-depth
action with specific initiatives aimed at making the proposed training and
tools selected more efficient for the development of the network. The experiences in cities such as Trieste, Turin, Catanzaro, Misterbianco, Mola di Bari,
Brindisi, Pescara and Carrara are good examples as they are all cities which
activated citizen coordination, more or less formalised, who almost immediately began to report an increase in awareness and the desire to work togetherinstitutions, operators and women’s associations - to fight against the phenomenon of gender violence.
The seminars, which at the same time assumed the characteristics of training labs and theme conferences, involved social and health services, the police
and non-profit organisations, with a preference shown towards women’s organisations (both those who manage anti-violence centres themselves, as well
as important cultural and social citizen’s centres). The latter were considered
essential to the programme for post-project involvement. The projected training was also diversified on the basis of the individual places and according to
which entity hosted the intervention, nonetheless always respecting the plan
7
The only actually exsisting thematic guidelines are those of the Le Onde Non-profit charity
organisations for health, mental health, police and social operators, as well as lawyers. This is
the result of the POR Sicilia project, they available in Italian at www.leonde.org or www.antiviolencedonna.it.
131
of action, even with contradictions in some cities: the determination of the
conditions for an increase of knowledge and information ingrained at the very
inception of a network.
In retrospect the analysis showed that the long waiting period experienced
by the participants, a problem in the beginning, became a valuable resource,
representing a fertile ground for a confrontation between the services and the
institutions present. Another interesting fact revealed by the evaluations is that
in each city a detailed presentation of the services and institutions was needed,
with an explanation of the various competences and a clarification of the organisational models which govern the services and which, in fact, make them
protagonists (location, times open to the public, references). Lack of knowledge and reciprocity between the agencies, often misinformation about the basic elements needed to construct an efficient communication system between
the services, was also one of the most important aspects which emerged from
the experience. Models of informal networking based on personal relationships between those working in a sector became apparent. Only in some cities
were there true and proper guidelines and protocol governing relationships
(for example: between schools and social services).
Another common problem which emerged was that none of the services
used common forms for the reporting or filing of cases of domestic violence
as each had their own way of managing the filing of cases. This caused variations in the estimates, even within the same service, which the operators were
able to give when surveyed, creating inaccuracies in the general perception,
and possibly minimising the extent and range of the problem regarding domestic violence and the lack of efficient response to it on the part of the competent authorities. It is also important to remember that the collection of quantitative data is essential to the understanding of the nature and extent of the
phenomenon not just for the knowledge it gives us, but also for the determining of the costs domestic violence represents to the institutions, the community and the state.
There are several important European studies regarding the costs of domestic violence (Switzerland, Finland, United Kingdom, Holland and Spain)
which analyse, apart from the health and protection expenses, “the cost of the
social services (both public and private), including the cost of hospitality
[……]. Some studies include the activities of those services which care for the
children who are victims of domestic violence; others specifically evaluate the
costs of psychological treatment, social services and other services which help
the victim. Some include health costs, emergency room expenses, hospitality
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and specialised costs for the protection of children8”. To be able to “read the
service needed” and its relative cost makes it possible to identify the type of
service required, the actions which need to be integrated, and the weight the
phenomenon has with respect to the socio-sanitary and protective system (to
indicate the exact location of the intervention). Not only, but when it comes to
the re-organisation of the health and social services the quantitative data always carries more weight, and a phenomenon which is not statistically accounted for does not exist and as a result no interventions, or funds, are
planned to face the problem.
Turin, testimony to the fact that preparatory meetings and sharing of information between those who actually perform the training and construct the
network, stated that to work well: “It was very useful to share experiences
about the attempts to set up a network, not always easy, and this brought to
light the need to find a common lexicon, a shared language: not necessarily
one language, but something which we all understand. This sharing permitted
us to directly experiment the theory, theoretically recognised by everyone, of
the partiality of each ones technical actions. Each operator is the voice of a
specific service or institution with competences and abilities which assume a
greater value when brought together. It is not necessary to integrate and transform ones actions into a wholly new service, but the creation of synergy is essential: integration can, in effect, represent an outcome, or in some cases, an
alteration, of working together as a network.
Working together has resulted in an important reciprocal discovery: we actually know very little about our own territory. Common action has permitted
us to re-draw the borders, streets, location of the services and the environmental and cultural characteristics of the various neighbourhoods. In redrawing this map it has become much easier to recognise who does what with
respect to the “area of competence”, avoiding situations which can create dysfunction. The territory is, in fact, often a witness to the lack of connection, but
is also made up of flexible roads, practical circuits used by the services which
can then guarantee connection and commonly accorded projects. The coming
together and the sharing of real life operative experiences of the operators was
enriched by the analysis of various in-depth interviews conducted by the research group on the female victims of domestic violence. This represented
precious material to put the theme of violence against women into context and
better understand what the working in network had been able to do for the
creation of a “web” which guarantees efficient support around the woman as
8
CDEG (2006)3 - Combattre la domestic violence à l’égard des femmes: bilan des actions
et mesures prises dans les États membres, Conseil d’Europe. Translation by the author.
133
well as protecting her.
An analysis of the interviews has brought to light the fact that the problem
of domestic violence is still given little importance. Its lack of visibility makes
not just the operators blind to the problem, but the entire population: we are
not willing to see the problem, do not know what to do about it, we remain in
a confused state and the consequent risk is that nothing will be done.
Network action, experimented with training, has been a very real preparatory activity for the cities involved in the Urban project, beginning the difficult process of opening roads of communication among the services. The
roads of communication can be obstructed by the organisational structures inherent in each particular service, or by the too narrow basic training received
by the operators, reducing their ability to deal with aspects outside of their
own restricted area of competence. The prospects for a network come from
high levels of personal maturity and professionalism, not limited to direct intervention (Pancoast and Collins, 1987).
The work groups were the scene of exchanges which then lead to the facilitating of connection between the services and resources of the area expressed
in the collaboration of the operators: the connection between the services is
the wider product of a connection between professions9 ”.
1.3. Network actions
The lack of connection between the services and the professions which
emerged from the work of the Urban cities, represents a characteristic which
afflicts the entire country. Italy, for historic and social reasons, for the weakness in her welfare system and the delay in facing the phenomenon of domestic violence, is a country very different from those European countries which,
already in the early 1990’s and due to specific attention to the problem, developed models of inter-sectorial cooperation as initiatives with a common objective, forming groups made up of public entities and associations to which the
women can go for help and support. It was a solution born from the need to
coordinate the policies and practices and go from the individual protection of
the victim to focus on the how to combat the phenomenon of domestic violence as a whole. The model of a cooperative network between the traditional
welfare services and those services considered gender oriented instituted in
these cities brought about an improvement of the practises in each entity and
9
Marina Cortese, Azioni di rete in violenza contro le donne - Rapporto delle Città di Torino
Rete anti-violenza Urban.
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profession, making it possible to respond to requests for help, construct relationships with the victims based on trust resulting from the attention shown
them, the low levels of tolerance of domestic violence they express and the
social benefits created by limiting secondary victimization10.
It is also due to these elements, already visible in the previous phase of the
Urban Project, that the importance of the networks as a fundamental element
of the development of the project was recognised. The results obtained show
the efficiency of the methods used, allowing us to know the cities better and
help them to improve their approach to female victims of domestic violence,
because they:
x organised structured meetings between the operators involved on the practical side and the tools used by the various services;
x supplied information on indicators and definitions which helped to put the
situation into realistic focus: the gravity of the problem, the practical solutions and tools used in the initial intervention on the basis of experiences
matured;
x resulted in the exchange of information and experiences between the operators of all of the services dealing with the problem of domestic violence as a “knot in the web” to better understand and to improve the approach adopted and the existing social, health and legal practices which
enable a woman to leave the violent situation in which she finds herself;
x made it possible to think and concretely structure thematic intersectorial
networks in many of the cities which participated in the second phase of
the Urban project.
It must be emphasised that this process has been made possible (cfr
M.R.Lotti in the present report) due to a particular aspect of the intervention
and the surveys: its remarkable interpretative flexibility. It goes from the national level down to detail in the smallest part of the neighbourhood, integrating tools for understanding the quantitative and qualitative aspects coming
from official sources and sample surveys, mitigating the bare statistical data
with the warmth of experiences actually matured to determine the point of
meeting for a common point of view. The great advantage of the choices
taken can be seen in the fact that it helped to construct an integrated system of
knowledge which is able to view and review the information from various
points of view, allowing us to better understand the condition of any given
territory and the perception of gender violence held by the men and women
who live there, but also to get a sense of the feeling, the judgement and the
10
CDEG (2006)3 - Combattre la domestic violence à l’égard des femmes: bilan des actions
et mesures prises dans les États membres, Conseil d’Europe. Traduzione dell’autrice.
135
emotions of those who live in the neighbourhood or city, actively participating in the construction of a communal culture and searching for ways to
eradicate the social prejudices which are inevitably transmitted to the services
in the sets of values held by those who work in them and who cannot extract
themselves from the cultures in which they live.
This culture, constructed and deeply rooted in the real world, creates
commonly shared pre-conceived ideas and prejudices and makes it difficult to
perceive that which the victims of domestic violence are reluctant to tell and
supports the difficulty operators have in perceiving and placing themselves in
a position to face the pain and the silence created by the domestic violence,
creating social invisibility and the under-estimation which characterises the
phenomenon and which, as was emphasised in the previous Urban report,
should be dealt with a solid shared conviction and involvement – special
training regarding the specific real problems – putting the woman at the centre
of their attention with action and coordinated, collective and gender oriented
training.
The recognition of the need to work as a team, in a network, came to light
during the training and signified giving space to an intervention in which the
various protagonists compare notes in a new light with regards to the phenomenon of gender violence. This is achieved with the patience and tenacity
of those who seek the common points which could be used to tie the knots in
the web, without superfluity nor exclusion or confrontation, always placing
the life and the credibility of the woman seeking help as the top priority. This
meant involving, making aware and including those who are most able to construct relationships with the women “on the margins of society, lacking advantages and excluded”, starting with those working in the field and who have
already constructed an informal network to respond to needs, called out for
specialised training and actions aimed involving the institutions, favouring the
creation of a network of those who work and deal with domestic violence or
those who, because of the work they do, intervene, demonstrating how this
communication will be to the benefit the woman, but also to the operators,
services and the community at large.
The local network must be seen and constructed, therefore, as a commonly
shared tool and as an organised and knowledgeable work method; taking into
consideration the needs of the victims and putting into focus the resources and
laws, proposing tools and common methods with respect to the situations
which present themselves to the various services. It was in this way that more
energy was put into resolving situations and the attitudes of the services
which, in the first national report of the Urban Anti-violence Network, was
defined by C. Adami and A. Basaglia as “seeing little” and “navigating with136
out a plan”.
The choice to create the conditions for an increase in awareness through
surveys and training in order to bring about a change in the behaviour of those
who work in the field proved to be the right one as it created conditions for
reflection, but also action, about the real availability of resources and the
changes needed in the services themselves as well as the attitudes of the institutions. The objective to promote the local networks and give them the ability
to plan and project interventions in synergy with colleagues (social services,
health institutions, police, educators, non-profit organisations and parishes),
as well as social and sanitary workers, psychologists, physicians, police,
teachers, sociologists and nurses is of significance. Reaching a point of collaboration which, having overcome the notion of the relationship between
services as void of operative content or the informal collaboration between
operators who work to solve the problems of a single case, deals with a more
complex project based on common methodology in order to have a united
front in the battle against domestic violence and it consequences.
In order to achieve the proposed result, many cities organised themselves in
the way the city of Turin did in their report on the training courses and the
construction of their local network: “the meetings were organised to offer a
concrete exchange of information between the services and the operators in
order to arrive at a common and shared manner in which to deal with domestic violence. The courses were not theoretical training sessions but a shared
research-action meeting between work groups”.
Working within a network was intended as a sum of connection interventions regarding resources, strategy and growing processes which develop from
the common resources for a collective good: in this case for the construction
of relationships able to react in synergy in the fight against domestic violence.
The principle of reciprocity is the assumption at the base of networking:
“Reciprocity is the norm with regulates relationships between people, a predisposition towards trust and the knowledge that what one gives he will get
back in like manner. In the broader collective context it means the ability to
create relationships with a group of partners in which there is a shared sensitivity to various cultural and operative codes (Ferrario, 1992).
The cities in which the Urban Project was developed thus became laboratories for an innovative grass-roots process. The inter-sectorial nature of the interventions involving the “knots”, or meeting points, of the web, are for the
most part women inside the various services, as well as men mostly from the
police services, and placed them on a course which also called into play the
institutions themselves where these operators work. The recognition of the
importance of each service and profession involved made the cooperation of
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the subjects easier, as they confronted the network among themselves creating
bonds while still maintaining autonomy, sharing the objectives from which
compatible actions emerged in a common language, with strong interaction
and shared methods.
2. The anti-violence networks: efficiency in practice and methodology
Sharing a new cultural and methodological approach was not the only result obtained. Working together in the local network has also produced a
process of local collaboration as the net spread to include public and private
entities. It is natural that, in experimenting with a network which involved the
integration of systems at all levels, some problems resulted due to the difficulty in creating shared practices and tools, the absence in some cases of statistical data, the problems with the sharing of programmes and services, the
lack of involvement of political and administrative figures adequately prepared and sensitive enough to risk imposing courageous policies against domestic violence, especially in the more “conservative” cities where the gap
between the social levels is wider and more fragile, such as in the south.
If the activities implemented for the definition of the local network where
substantially inherent to the passage of the definition of the points needed for
the construction of shared objectives and the programming of communal activity, in order to define the hypothesis of local networks to be promoted in
each city, all of the work should be concentrated on the defining of the common work tools and evaluation of the intervention protocol to be adopted by
each individual service and among the services, starting with the surveys as
well as the experience of those who work in the field and on the basis of the
strong stimulus provided by the work already done in Italy and in Europe, as
well as on cognitive elements relative to network function and the techniques.
To this end the determining factor was the finding and sharing of methods
aimed at the restructuring and organisation of the work in the various areas
dealing with problems of violence against women, inside and outside of the
family.
The argument to define and plan network activity has involved the operators, in almost all of the cities, in an analysis of the context and its weaknesses
bringing them closer to participation in local planning. Almost all of the
groups came to the point of writing up a proposal and protocol plan to present
to the decision makers. The need for a proposal was unanimously agreed upon
even by those cities which, for one reason or another, could not get beyond
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the phase of group and inter-institutional meetings. The creation of the protocol proposal which founded the Anti-violence Network was considered a necessary objective, even by those who were not able to realise it and had to settle for theme based protocol between services, such as was the case in Bari
with the anti-violence centre and hospital. Nonetheless, and with few exceptions, the cities adhered to the project and were able to arrive at the point of
departure for the new phase.
The main intents of the protocols are the mapping of the services, the quality of training to be conducted and the agreements created. They are distinguished by the large number of public and private services involved, by the
role the specialised services assume within the anti-violence network, for the
improved rapport between services which deal with domestic violence against
minors and women, for their ability to offer immediate help and the course
they trace for an exit from a life signed by domestic violence and, finally, for
the sense of collective responsibility which emerges. Where an anti-violence
centre is missing, the citizen group which has edited the protocol proposes its
construction to the city and intends it as a fundamental and efficient structure
to be included in the network of local services.
Another important element of the protocol regards the role which a local
entity can reserve for itself, sometimes as simple guarantor of the shared work
or as coordinator with a more active role in exercising its competences, in
awareness, training and active involvement actions dealing with the other institutions involved and assuming decisive responsibility, as was the case in
the cities of Venice, Turin, Pescara and Genoa (even though in the latter case
it was the Province itself which got involved at the onset of the Urban project).
In many cities the coordination of the network is guaranteed by an association of women already involved in the fields of research and training. They
put to good use their experience and competences becoming the guarantors of
the efficient working of the network, their shared goals and the pacts signed
between the services, institutions and associations as in Palermo, Trieste,
Brindisi and Bari. In all of the cases the models referred to were those of Palermo and Venice, but some variations on the theme exist as demonstrated by
the protocol of all of the Urban cities which have formalised this procedure on
a local level. On the whole this protocol, which can be found on the websites
of the Urban cities, define all of the duties the services have taken upon themselves as well as the shared work methods to be applied. In the cities of
Genoa, Turin, Trieste, Pescara, Caserta and Salerno they were even more ambitious, with long term programmes such as a gender violence observatory (already activated in Salerno), or the planning of primary prevention projects,
139
the heightening of awareness by the local entities of the community and in the
educational sector, in particular the city administrators who were involved in
the project phase which generated other projects inter-connected with one another facing the problems which came to light thanks to the Urban Project and
proposing them for further study and, finally, the continuation of network efforts between cities as done in Pescara, Turin, Mola di Bari and Carrara.
A significant example confirming the will to combat domestic violence and
continue the work done with the Urban project is that which the city of
Carrara, as leader, with Mola di Bari, together with the international section of
the Lelio Basso Foundation, have done continuing with the Daphne Project:
Witnessing Domestic violence in the Perception of Professionals and Children
project. The other partners in the project are: the Microcosmos cooperative,
the Italian Federation of Paediatricians, the Therapeutische Frauenbrratung
e.v. of Gottingen, the Artemisia Association and the Women’s Association
against domestic violence of Lisbon. Pescara also chose the construct a research-action programme with Palermo between the two areas taking the example of the L’Institut de l’Humanitaire of Paris to improve the performance
of the emergency rooms of the two cities and strengthen the local networks
with regards to the health services, integrating it with the social and police
services; here also the impulse was the Daphne II project financed in 2005.
In order to publicise the work being done, some cities planned for the distribution of informative material and a brochure tracing the network to be
printed by the project and distributed within the city, following the example of
Palermo and Catania in the first phases of the Project. Cities such as Genoa
and Pescara, after the research action experience and the construction of the
local network, went even further, pushing for a regional law in the provinces
of Liguria and Abruzzo extending to them the responsibility for common network functions, the guarantee of financing for its launching, the strengthening
of the extant services which help women and minors in need, for training a
full-time professional figure, for aid, prevention and other projects aimed at
fighting gender violence on a continuous basis.
It is in this manner that the national “Anti-violence Network of the Urban
Cities” has attempted to overcome the silence of the female victims, making
the institutions more efficient and useful in facing and combating gender violence, finding ways to encourage cooperation and the integration of services,
associations and institutions beginning with motivated operators by making
them feel an integral part of the solution.
It appears evident that in order to open new roads and widen the horizon for
taking action against the factors which cause violence against women and minors a common goal of awareness and aggression is needed, making it clear
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that direct confrontation and network efforts represent a point of strength and
efficiency able to project integrated, coordinated and shared actions making
use of the resources available and seeking new ones.
More evidence is to be found in the peculiarity of the methods proposed by
Urban, that is, inside the national and European sphere, going from area to
area involving processes of awareness and action in the cities. This method is
one which grows locally, allowing for the promotion of human resources, giving weight to the experiences of the women themselves and the voices of the
victims of domestic violence. It promotes a new type of culture and policy
making within the services, enabling them to better understand and react in an
innovative manner, with knowledge of a wider historical and geographical reality with which to share successes.
The recognition of the human rights and freedom of women is a difficult
and complex historical and cultural process in which conflict is ever present
and the daily violence which lurks within domestic walls is difficult to name,
recognise and combat. If the operators of the services are able to change their
approaches and learn to adopt more critical attitudes and a stronger sense of
cooperation it will be easier to convert them into allies in this fight: as a consequence the local communities will be able to more rapidly overcome the
prejudices against women and the stereotypes which lead to justifications of
violent behaviour, if not the outright legitimization of male domestic violence:
only at this point will it be possible to take real steps forward in the civilising
of the relationships between the sexes.
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5. Conclusions and recommendations
Introduction
With this report – in which the voices of the female victims of domestic
violence are missing (the interviews and the “stories” which emerged will be
the subject of a future report) even though it contains the memory of emotions
which call forth words too often used but nonetheless powerful in their crudeness – we have tried to give a contribution to the awareness of the phenomenon of gender violence and the interventions conducted, or programmed, in
the various areas surveyed. We remind the reader that the surveys and the
training programmes took place in 17 Italian cities, taking to 25 the number
cities in which the actions planned1 by the Anti-violence Network of the Urban cities took place.
The survey made use of questionnaires and interviews in order to better
comprehend the dimension of domestic violence, the differing perceptions
people have of it, the depth of the prejudices surrounding it and the small or
great transformations which occurred, giving a voice to those who live in the
cities and who experience it as a daily reality of their work whilst aiding and
protecting victims. The tools used were structured to be able to compare the
results and highlight the practices adhered to and cover the local dimension as
well as the entire national territory. This would enable the choice of a system
of interventions to apply on a national level starting with those places closest
to the woman: where she lives and the symbolic sphere which surrounds her
and representing the nature of her intimate relationships, including those in
which men use domestic violence against her.
1
The following is a complete list of the participating cities: Genova, Trieste, Carrara, Pescara, Torino, Salerno, Cosenza, Bari, Siracusa, Catanzaro, Caserta, Misterbianco, Crotone, Taranto, Mola di Bari, Cagliari, Brindisi, in this phase and Venice, Rome, Naples, Foggia, Lecce,
Reggio Calabria, Palermo and Catania as pilot cities in the 1998 – 2001 phase.
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Each city, in their editing of the final report, underlined the particular needs
of their territory based on the results of the statistical evidence and the interviews conducted. They dedicated a section to the questions posed by the operators of the agencies involved in various actions and specifying, where applicable, the choices made as they went along or at the end of those actions.
These mostly dealt with the launching of the network with the appropriate
formal protocol, formally as well as informally (organisational committees,
inter-sectorial work groups, etc…) which were already operative at the end of
the intervention, and with the planning of specific interventions on the theme
of gender violence (financing of the services and projects, etc…).
An overview of the situation emerges which characterises, for some common aspects and necessities, all of the cities, large, medium and small, and
which, over and beyond the great differences, follows the lines of action the
European Council adopted in its recommendations, confirmed by the reports
of groups of experts who have guaranteed the verification on the state of affairs in the member states of these official documents2. In particular:
To fine-tune national and local interventions and programmes aimed at
guaranteeing individual rights and freedom, including economic and social rights;
x To design intervention methods around the victim and their needs, coordinating these operations between public and private organs, in particular
with women’s associations;
x Stimulate and guarantee, with economic support, operations conducted by
the NGOs specialised in treating the theme of domestic violence;
x Give protection to the victims and seek adequate methods of prevention
and repression of domestic violence;
x Elaborate short, medium and long-term actions to be adopted on a broad
basis in the community at large, in the district and regions;
x Promote the collection of data and the construction of intervention networks.
The themes of the intervention delineated begin with the need to recognise
the fact that male violence against women is a major problem in our society,
as a result of the imbalance of power between the sexes and they propose the
extension of the actions to be programmed, including those actions which
promote the active participation of the men in actions aimed at reducing violence against women (REC (2002)5 of the European Council).
x
2
See the bibliography and footnotes of the chapters
144
The European Council put forth two principle recommendations: one is
aimed at the recognition of violence against women, the other at defining the
target as not only the victims but also the perpetrators of domestic violence, in
a repressive juridical manner as well as with primary, secondary and tertiary
preventive measures.
Let us turn to our Urban cities, underlining the fact that in the national conventions organised at the end of the local projects they adopted the European
Recommendations as guideline for the programmes to be activated. All of the
cities stressed the importance of launching a process which could, in a short to
medium time period, construct a system of interventions favouring the female
victims of domestic violence. With the project they acquired the basic principles, the necessary knowledge and defined the stages, deciding that in this initial phase the principle objective must be the providing of aid to the female
victims, intervening with the right tools against the perpetrators and with preventive measures aimed at the young men. Uncovering the phenomenon
through knowledge and awareness which involved the local population, together with the operators and the decision makers, gives hope that this is just
the beginning, and not only a sporadic step forward to be consequently forgotten, as has happened in many other episodes of domestic violence which has
ended in the murder of the woman.
It is important to state that in some cities domestic violence related to cultural or religious background, as well as the forms this violence takes, manifests itself more dramatically, especially in the cities on the Adriatic coast
which for many years have seen immigration from bordering countries or as
points of passage along the migratory route. In these reports (Pescara, Bari
and Taranto for example) substantial reflection is needed on how the mechanism at the very root of gender violence remains identical, and how the real
problem lies in finding a common language which permits these women to
formulate a request for help. It is important to acquire more efficient tools in
order to give these women the support they need by adopting the necessary
skills to deal with the problems of linguistic and cultural differences where
needed (although for girls born in this country or long term residents the language problem does not exist, the importance of their perception of the safety
levels needed when they break away from cultural mores of their families regarding the relationships between men and women remains high). It must be
noted that specific intervention methods for foreigners are already in place in
these cities, making use of cultural or personal mediators inside the social services, able to speak the language and thus communicate in a more efficient
manner. The aim is to respond to the new needs of the community with social
services able to deal with foreign women on the inside of the social, health
145
and welfare sectors, as well as the NGO associations, who are on the front line
of this form of contact in their daily work.
1. Notes on the surveys conducted on women and men
What are the most important elements which emerge from this part of the
project? In our opinion those which permit us to supply analytic techniques for
understanding how to orient and develop national and local measures and actions against the violence perpetrated on women by their partners, and those
which help and support the victims themselves. It is important to remember that
we have analysed a heterogeneous whole, not representative of the Urban cities,
but which nonetheless takes into account the specific territories, which can contribute to the understanding of that which is needed in terms of future action.
1.1. Violence against women is a phenomenon known due to television
Domestic violence against women is a well known phenomenon. Only 2%
of the persons interviewed claim never to have heard anyone speak of it. The
media – above all television – is the primary instrument spreading information. The analysis of the data permits us to draw profiles of the use of the media allowing us to better understand how to use which media in order to
spread awareness about the phenomenon in the most effective manner. In differentiating the models of fruition of the varying media education levels are
the most important factor: the proportion of those who have no knowledge
about violence against women are those with the least education and is double
with respect to those who have some sort of diploma, decreasing progressively as the educational level increases. The age of those interviewed is also
very important: the highest rate of total lack of knowledge is registered among
older women, and the same is true of the youngest men (from 18-29 years of
age). The older women tend to prefer reading newspapers while young men
and women listen to the radio, their friends and have other ways of gathering
information, reducing the importance of the television for these subjects.
1.2. Fatalism and resignation
The model used for acquiring information is obviously closely tied to the
process of mental elaboration which men and women use when they identify
146
the causes of domestic violence. In the time period between the two phases of
the Urban cities surveys the scale of the causes of domestic violence does not
change significantly. That which changes is the range of the motivations cited
and the affirmation of a greater awareness of the power the media has in
spreading the culture of violence and of the influence of exogenous factors
which alter behaviour, such as drug and alcohol abuse and a history of having
themselves been subjected to violence. Of lesser importance – but still high on
the scale – is a general acceptance of, or resignation to, the violent nature of
men, the provocation factor and genetic predisposition. Unfortunately, it is not
possible to establish how much these differences can be attributed to the time
element and how much to the different cultures in the cities. Without a doubt
we can affirm that there are positive elements in the fact that the positions of
“justification” and “blame” seem to have lost in importance in favour of less
stereotypical explanations. Nonetheless the majority of the population interviewed in the second phase had a passive-fatalistic approach towards the phenomenon of violence against women: if for the female component interviewed
motivations tied to lack of values and respect prevailed (although only
slightly), the males see the altering effects of drugs and alcohol as more important. Both men and women agree that the progressive autonomy of the
woman and the asymmetrical balance of power have influenced the nature of
intimacy between the sexes. Indirect “social” causes of domestic violence also
attracted the attention of the interviewees, but remain in last place on the
scale.
1.3. Are cities safe for women?
The perception of safety and freedom of movement, above all for women,
represent the basic conditions required for a serene lifestyle, a serenity which
then follows from the public sphere into the home and private life. The
evaluation of the condition of the quality of life in any given neighbourhood,
with respect not only to the subjective sensation of personal safety (or that of
the women), which emerges from our study is that more than half of those interviewed considers themselves satisfied – or resigned – to the quality of life
in their neighbourhoods, but for 1 in 10 a profound sense of discomfort prevails and they would prefer to move elsewhere. If we study and compare the
discomfort scale of the cities we find that in Taranto 1 in 5 residents would
prefer to move to another area because of the problems in their own
neighbourhoods. The residents of cities of Cosenza, Catanzaro, Syracuse and
Salerno also reported an above average sense of discomfort.
147
The percentages do not change much from the quality and the perception of
safety, but it is not comforting to realise that 12% consider their urban environment as threatening, or not safe, for women. Among these cities we find
Salerno, where more than 20% of the population feels threatened, followed by
Syracuse, Taranto and Cosenza, cities where a high percentage of general discomfort and problems were already reported. It is a fact that the perception of
risk and discomfort also depends on who is answering the questions: in general it is the women who have the highest sense of insecurity. Age and education levels do not influence these results in a substantial manner, but it can be
said that both men and women feel less safe as they get on in years and that
less education they have the more intense the feeling of risk they perceive. If
we go from the theme of safety in general to the central theme of the perception of the diffusion of violence against women, we find the same percentages. There is a far greater sense of low frequency of aggression and domestic
violence in the neighbourhood. That portion of the population which expresses the perception of a violent atmosphere in their areas reaches its highest percentage in Syracuse, with 3.4%, and the lowest in Crotone with 1%.
The narrowing down of the information concludes with the evaluation of personal safety. Here the opinions are more articulated: 70% of those interviewed
say they feel “always safe”; a fourth says the feeling of safety depends on certain circumstances, whilst 3.5% say they always feel un-safe. There are those
cities where the sense of absolute safety is perceived by almost 100% of the
population, such as Misterbianco, Carrara, Mola di Bari and Trieste. Safety
under certain circumstances maintains a relatively low percentage, and the total absence of safety seems circumscribed and inferior to 3%. There is a group
of below average cities where the perception of total or partial insecurity
reaches alarming levels, such as Brindisi, Syracuse, Caserta, Salerno, Cagliari
and Catanzaro. The evaluation of the sense of safety and freedom of movement declines in a differing manner from men to women. Women manifest a
greater sense of limits, of the existence of constrictions tied to the presence of
particular circumstances which allow them to feel safe, becoming more acute
among single and divorced women, girls, retired women, graduates and
women just entering the job market. The impression of being constantly vulnerable and potentially at risk of aggression is, fortunately, felt by a minority
of those interviewed, although it still represents 3.5% of both men and
women. Even in this case it is the women who suffer more from this impression.
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1.4. Stereotypes and tolerance of violence against women
The theme relative to the relationship of current stereotypes of gender violence in general brings forth two opposing images of the concept of violence
against women. On the one hand is the image which is independent from
commonly held concepts of female behaviour and the relationship between
the sexes. On the other a concept which remains tightly tied to the most commonly held stereotypical views which maintain, for example, that there is
complicity between the aggressor and his victim, that “good women do not
get raped”, or that they did not fight back. An interesting result of this analysis is the possibility to identify both the profile of those who have an attitude
which is free from commonly held beliefs and aware of the nature of the violence against women, as well as allowing us to isolate the target population on
which to aim awareness campaigns regarding the phenomenon of domestic
violence and thus attempt to uproot the commonly held beliefs and stereotypical ideas which permit the cycle of domestic violence to continue unabated.
The first group, which characterises the cities of Pescara, Genoa, Cagliari,
Salerno, Caserta and Brindisi, is represented by women between the ages of
18 and 34, with university degrees, teachers or professionals, employed
women and students. The description of the characteristics of the second
group reveals that they are between the ages of 50 and 59, do not have university education, are retired, work at menial jobs or are managers; all characteristics which distinguish the cities of Catanzaro, Misterbianco, Trieste and
Crotone. It is a first rudimentary map which nonetheless permits us to alert
administrators and those responsible for the local institutions to a situation
which favours attitudes still deeply rooted in stereotypes and the need to initiate some form of awareness campaign as preventive measure.
The argument which deals with the tolerance of violent behaviour, both in general and in the confines of a marriage, is highly controversial and has two complementary parallel points of view: a school of thought which refuses any excuse
for violent behaviour and excludes the possibility of living in a violent relationship, even to avoid problems for the children. Those who agree with this school
of thought regarding violent relationships are: female, both with university degree
and/or diploma, between 25 and 49 years of age, employed, teachers, office
workers and professionals in the cities of Mola di Bari, Genoa, Trieste, Brindisi
and Pescara. These cities distinguish themselves for the presence of an attitude of
the total refusal of domestic violence. On the opposite side of this point of view is
the attitude which is marked by a high level of tolerance towards violent behaviour and where men may commit acts of violence against their wives under certain circumstances or for the benefit of the children.
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The profile associated with this model of high tolerance towards domestic
violence reveals that they are: older persons (between the ages of 50-59) of
both sexes, males, low educational levels, non-professionals (retired men and
housewives), and menial workers. The cities of Misterbianco and Catanzaro
are characterised by the high incidence of these types of responses given during the survey.
As we have already said, this data gives us the opportunity to direct actions
and interventions of awareness about domestic violence at these populations
and in areas where it appears most needed.
1.5. Social services – first and foremost
Social services first and foremost, this is the request of the population; both
men and women, but above all women, have clearly identified the role of public social policies as crucial in the management and fight against violence perpetrated against women. The second most important, very distant on the scale
from the first, is the role of the family and the home, in this case identified by
the men, as the best place to protect and help the female victims. Volunteer
associations and the police ranked at the same level as the home. Among the
institutions chosen by the whole of the sample population interviewed, the
important roles attributed to the public arena and the recognition of the antiviolence centres or activity conducted by associations in the area, seem equal.
1.6. Which policies can fight violence?
The scale of preferences does not shift significantly from the one obtained
in the previous Urban survey cycle. The first four positions, in fact, remain
stable, a fact which helps the administrators and those responsible for policy
making in that they confirm the indications given by the public for their formulation of policy interventions in this field.
The most “voted” measures are equally distributed between “prevention”
interventions (campaigns, youth training) and actual combat on the legal front
(tougher sentences, more police action), but specific actions directed at the
victims also serve an important purpose (anti-violence centres, protective
measures, toll-free numbers). In first place, chosen by 30% of those interviewed, came the notion of sensitivity and awareness campaigns to inform
and change public opinion. This was closely followed by the need for more
severe penalties and tougher sentences for those who commit these acts of
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violence. In the area of informative campaigns, teaching young people mutual
respect was also considered very important, while the creation of antiviolence centres gained in importance, the perception of the need for more police action went down in the ranking.
No less important was the activation of specific measures and the installation of toll-free help numbers, as well as legislative tools for the defence of
women.
1.7. The violence suffered
With respect to that which was revealed in the previous survey, in this survey there were more incidences of episodes of violence, at least once in their
lifetime, declared (13.3% as opposed to 12.3%). Of the various types of violence suffered there was an increase in the reporting of molestation and abuse,
while there was a decrease in the reported incidences of psychological violence and rape. It is, of course, not possible to understand if the differences
are due to a real increase in aggression against women, or, instead, if it is correlated to the different cities taken into examination, as we are dealing with
non-comparable populations. We can put forth the hypothesis of a combination of the two effects– considering the stability of the information over time
and place - and acknowledge the fact that the phenomenon of violence continues to be present and has involved more than one woman in ten in the first
eight cities as well as in the second seventeen. Those most exposed to violence are foreign men and women, single women, divorced men and women,
and both males and females with university degrees.
That domestic violence is prevalently a “family affair” is confirmed by data
regarding the perpetrators (when it comes to physical abuse, psychological
and rape it is usually the male partner who is responsible for the episodes reported, sexual molestation takes 4th place) as well as data regarding the repetitive nature of the violent episodes which become part of the “normal” behaviour in a couple’s relationship.
Almost half of all female victims interviewed requested help from someone, most of all when they were victims of rape or mistreatment and abuse,
but in general seeking help of any kind was rare. If we look at the experiences
of the people interviewed we see that women usually turn to the immediate
family for help, followed closely by – and above all in the cases of mistreatment and rape – going to the police and the emergency room (especially in
cases of rape). Few of them actually go to the social services or family help
bureaus. A small number seeks help from specialised associations such as the
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anti-violence centres, the toll free number or religious groups, which are
points of reference more for those seeking aid in cases of psychological violence. Only 10% actually filed a police report following a violent episode.
1.8. Listening to those who work in the field
As we have seen in the chapter dealing with the analysis of the data collected through the survey done on the operators (see Basaglia in this report),
the information which emerges from the cities which participated in the second phase is not very different from that already expressed in the first phase
of the intervention. There is greater attention given by the operators in the
mental health and police forces, there is an increase in the amount of training
courses made available by specialised organs, and the police are standardising
their procedures, but on the whole there is little change in the data, revealing
the continued lack of awareness of the phenomenon and the description of the
services and professions as inadequate, not so much in confronting it, but
above all in their ability to cope with it and find valid interlocutors among
those who work in the local services with the duty of performing social, sanitary and protective operations. This is confirmed by the stories told by the
women interviewed and the information collected from “people in the know”,
as well as from seminars held with the operators (see Tola in this report).
This uniformity in the answers and questions on the part of the operators is
significant and definitely confirms that there has been no significant change,
from the first phase to the second, in increasing awareness or the sharing of
information between the operators of this country. It will not happen if it is
not part of a systematic and communal operation. It also reveals the difficulties found in improving awareness and the changing of the attitudes of those
institutions designated to improve the quality of life and safety for women.
The institutions are strong; they are the bulwarks of family values with firm
inflexible beliefs. It is clear in the local reports that as long as the phenomenon of domestic violence remains “a woman’s thing” and we do not create
physical and mental “space” to accommodate the voices and the bodies of
those who cry out in pain and beg for solutions, change in the system and the
intervention standards will not come about if not only by the good will of the
single operator.
And yet knowledge of the problem is on the increase, in society at large
and within the services, and from this the needs which must be met clearly
emerge:
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even today it is impossible to know the exact number of cases, and the
problems they represent, as reported to the social, sanitary and police services by the victims;
x the knowledge and diffusion of gender sensitive practices and common
tools for integrated intervention among the various local agencies, beginning with the models resulting from the experiences of the anti-violence
centres on a national and international level, or from centres with broad
approaches, specialised in sanitary or social interventions on a national or
international scale;
x the starting up and/or support of services for women, anti-violence centres
and shelters which can accommodate victims and their children with adequate tools and financing;
x the creation within each service of a private room where female victims of
domestic violence can be accommodated and listened to in privacy and
with adequate attention;
x the creation and the implementation of local networks to combat domestic
violence and which permits them to create a shared method of operation,
and the fine tuning of an integrated system which facilitates the woman in
exiting from her violent situation, putting an end to the constant postponement of real assistance;
x the adequate training of all of the operators working in the field with a
programme of refresher courses beginning with the introduction of training curricula based on knowledge aimed at the construction of the most
important competences necessary for dealing with cases of domestic violence.
What, in extreme synthesis, do the operators interviewed suggest: to improve the system, to guarantee priority to the theme, to improve their competences, to be able to participate in productive sharing, to construct specialised
services which are able to guarantee efficiency in the directing of aid operations. If we listen to them carefully we hear them saying that this can be done
only on the condition that those who have the power to make decisions participate in these choices, and that the ministries they work for must draw clear
guidelines in order to reach the objectives listed above.
x
2. Suggestions for the management of anti-violence policies
From the time of the first phase of the surveys and the second there have
been significant changes in Italian society. In the past few years there has
been much talk of violence against women and children, many are the epi-
153
sodes which have made people reflect not just on the phenomenon itself, but
also on its nature and its breadth, permitting people to understand its gravity
and better understand its depth. The number of anti-violence centres has increased, even in the south of the country which still, nonetheless, needs to
catch up to the north. As a consequence there is an increased effect of awareness of the theme, and the diffusion of data which represent a true picture of
the domestic violence which actually takes place in the house next door. It has
become more difficult to keep your distance from it, or blame the problem on
outside factors such as economic distress or a pathology, or, worse, on the
victim herself. Even the government has re-launched the theme and actions
needed to prevent it and fight it, beginning in 2005 with the opening of bids
(GUCE 2005/S 120 – 118610) for the Activation of a “National anti-violence
network” and the organisation and management of a call centre service
through the activation of an experimental toll free number to help female victims of violence, be it inside or outside of the family, by the Presidency of the
Council of Ministers – Department for Equal Opportunities – with the objective to activate a telephone service for emergency help and to constitute a further step aimed at defining a system of intervention operations which is able
to integrate various actions on diverse levels in a harmonic context developing
measures and services for female victims of violence3. This initiative has been
active since December 2005 and places itself in a continuum with the Urban
Project.
The surface of the phenomenon and its complexity has, however, only
barely been scratched4. A shared common attitude remains in those who operate and those who decide, which expresses itself with emotional solidarity and
participates in the pain, but still does not offer the space needed to receive and
3
The job bid, strongly characterised by a general approach, was won by a RTI with at its
summit the Le Onde Non-profit charity organisations and partner LeNove srl and COS communication service Spa, is now in its beginning phase with the Arianna Attivazione Rete nazIonAle anti-violenza project, which manages the toll free number Anti-violence 1522, a website
www.anti-violenzadonna.it (to which we refer you for more information), the technical assistence for the definition of a national network, an observatory and the elaboration of the principles useful to a national action plan. The project also proposes to involve 20 pilot cities in an
integrated course of action to determine the levels of synergy between the actions realised on a
national level and those destined for local use, aimed specifically at the strengthening of the
networks and services present, with an eye to gender sensitivity. From this experience, adequately monitored, indicators and intervention models will be extrapolated to be transfered to
other Italian cities.
4
An excellent European example with regards to national planning is the Spanish one which
proposes operations on all levels, from juridical (instituting a specialised Tribunal) to emotional
and economic support and with the enthusiastic participation of women’s movements and
NGOs.
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answer the demands for help from the women who are victims of domestic
violence. Perhaps they are less willing to deal with the problem on their own
and by themselves, women talk and report more (the national data regarding
police reports due to sexual domestic violence show this aspect), but they still
do not find adequate support and often resign themselves to their lot, not finding alternatives to follow or suggestions from the operators who received
them. The minimisation, or the returning to the values of a united family and
the best interests of the children, is not just valid for the police, but also for
the social and sanitary services. Sometimes it is enough to not speak in order
to suggest silence, omit or invent an excuse, and the effect one achieves is that
of hiding the real problem that the woman poses to the services and a way out
of the case for the operator who now faces a “solvable” problem, on a personal as well as professional level, whether there are bruises, broken bones or
requests for economic aid.
It is clear that the work to be done, on a local as well as national level, is
enormous and crosses evident terrain covered by the surveys and the reflections produced by the project, which combine with as many objectives again
to reach in the short and medium term:
x fine tune a national intervention system, using an integrated plan of action
to fight violence against women adopting the international principles gathered from various sources (UN – WHO – EU) and develop a framework
which includes judicial initiatives, research, training, service, prevention
and awareness of the phenomenon, aimed at Italian and foreign women
alike who suffer from problems of violence (domestic and non) and rape. A
plan of action to be developed together with the NGOs for women who for
decades have worked on this problem, learning and taking advantage of
their experiences, as is clearly indicated in the REC(2002)5 of the European
Council and from the more significant experiences within the European
community (for example Spain, Sweden and France). A plan which clearly
defines functions and competences, more than just a financial commitment,
and which involves all of the ministries whose duty lies in the areas of
health, welfare, justice and protection;
x promote and realise information and awareness campaigns about the phenomenon, allow the requests for help to be heard, reinforced by campaigns to spread information regarding the services which are available
and the mechanisms of victimization, about the most widespread commonly held beliefs, using diversified tools (the mass media, posters and
brochures, for example) aimed at various different targets: the population
at large, the operators, the women who are the victims and the perpetrators;
155
x
x
x
x
x
x
modify the regional programmes to improve the local systems, making the
theme and its solution a priority, in the emergency phase but also in helping the victim find an exit from the violent situation, for which a long
term project is needed, to change the individual, support and accompany
the woman and her children, understanding that which has happened to
her and giving her the tools she needs to find an adequate solution for
each problem;
promote and support the local networks fighting the violence against
women and minors, using adequate measures, training and financing, focusing on the acquisition of new approaches and innovative models, analysing the operative processes of each single service, the integration and
confrontation of the different work tools available, the planning of common actions to combat and prevent domestic violence. Use and share
within the network the experimental models which could be considered
good practices and could be adopted on a national level;
bring the professional competences to a higher level with the fine tuning
of gender sensitive training which offers knowledge with a critical approach and specific intervention tools for the social, health and protection
professions, at the same time guaranteeing the development of an intersector and integrated action model. One idea could be to create training
modules which can be managed at a distance, making self education easier and in order to exchange ideas between different professions;
spread more consolidated and “good practices” based on the gender sensitive concept and verify the intervention protocol already valid on an EU
and national level, in particular with respect to those sectors of critical
importance to the phenomenon: health (hospitals and emergency rooms)
and the police;
put to good use the experience and the knowledge of the Anti-violence
Centres and shelters, guaranteeing the diffusion of their knowledge and
practices, as well as the training programmes they have developed and
used locally. The centres themselves can be the point of departure for the
process of diffusion of practices on a national level, prompting a push into
those areas lacking in services, also using a system of tutoring groups of
women or the specialisation of one local service;
strengthen and integrate the extant initiatives on a national, as well as regional, level. This deals with being aware of and acting on the results of
that which has already been done, or is being done, in any given area,
permitting its diffusion and guaranteeing adequate support for its implementation in each region of intervention policies dealing with gender violence with an understanding of that which has been done nationally. It
156
will be interesting to verify the actuation of this hypothesis by how it is
structured in the experimental Ariana project. This could be the testing
and proving grounds regarding the possibility of integration of national
and local levels;
x to promote and spread specialised gender sensitive services all over the
country for the aid and hospitality given to women and their children in
difficulty due to domestic violence, guaranteeing sufficient economic resources and evaluating their needs, as well as identifying technical support, training, monitoring and the evaluation of the development of services in those areas where it is lacking;
x support quantitative and qualitative research on a national and local level,
to improve knowledge and guarantee intervention strategies and operative
proposals which start with the acquisition of data and information regarding all of the aspects of the phenomenon and the operations being conducted to combat it. The survey conducted by Urban with operators and
the interviews with persons in the know and the women themselves was
ground breaking.
The objectives listed above can all be reached in either the short or medium
term if well received and supported by the strength of political intervention
with respect to the phenomenon and its complexity. Much of the country is
ready and willing to act and adopt the regional measures needed to make it
happen. The Urban experience, however, teaches us that it is necessary to
move to a different intervention model and that it is now necessary to
strengthen national strategy and fine tune a system which gives importance to
the roles of the regions and the cities, but which determines the context in
which they can operate and the national support framework for its interventions. This need is expressed in many of the local reports, above all in the cities in southern Italy, and has been the object of the conclusions of the conventions held at the end of the planning phase. The hope is that one can learn
from the experience and that everything which has been discovered by this
project, imposing in time as well as in the places of its realisation, will be
capitalised upon and become the basis of knowledge for those who plan and
those who govern.
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158
ATTACHMENTS
The Urban cities of the second phase
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160
ATTACHMENT 1: CITY OF BARI
Local coordinator: Temporary Association (ATS) CO.FE.MED. Italia
(Delegazione italiana della CO.FE.MED. “Confédération de femmes de la
Meditérranée”) – D.ANTHEA s.r.l. – En.A.P Puglia;
Project conducted in: the Murat San Nicola quarter, IX circumscription of
Bari, town historical centre;
Population count to 21/10/2001: (ISTAT Census) Urban zone: 19,771, Bari
342,509;
Operators interviewed: 77 (45 women and 32 men);
Population sample interviewed: 1,303 (1,000 women and 303 men);
Persons in the know interviewed: 11 (7 women and 4 men);
Interviews with women who have been subjected to domestic violence: 5
women between the ages of 35 and 49 and 1 between 25 and 34;
Report Title: Non solo lividi… sull’anima, March 2004, Zages;
Observations and recommendations from the report conclusion:
The research results show that the domestic violence inflicted upon women is
done so by the male figures within the family (husband, boyfriend, father,
brother), those closest to her, and almost always inside the home itself. The
rare incidences of violence against men are also almost always perpetrated by
other men. This data confirms national data.
While the collaboration between the local institutions and services is efficient
there was a problem in the rapport between the inhabitants of the historical
centre of town and the victims of violence. The sample population surveyed in
the Urban zones gave a positive review of their neighbourhoods, rating a medium level of safety, with the exception of the women who feel less safe than
the men. This low sense of safety is aggravated by the episodes of organised
crime which afflict the city.
There is a noticeable lack of formal work coordination and of common work
tools among the services, as well as a lack of follow up of the intervention
protocol inside and among the services in cases of violence against women,
which are handled and followed thanks to the good will of the operators. In
the Murat neighbourhood there is an anti-violence centre for women and minors which, although well respected, is insufficient. The need for services
which can provide help, the silence and reticence notwithstanding, is not satisfied by the one specialised structure. Very few of the victims turn to the basic
social services, such as family advice bureaus and social services offices, declaring that they have little information about them and/or are diffident about
dealing with public structures. The operators are very aware of the need for
specialised training which would make them more able to deal efficiently with
161
the cases of domestic violence and the requests for help they are faced with.
They report difficulty with the mechanism of interaction between the services,
both within and outside the Urban area, and a total lack of services for the
preservation of information or the correct filing of cases of domestic violence,
resulting in a consequent absence of up to date data and information.
Recommendations:
Encourage the planning of local interventions with a transversal view of the
policies to activate; the assumption of responsibility of cases of gender violence by all of the involved sectors (social and health services, justice department and the police) with particular reference to those services without sufficient levels of sensitivity, the emergency room and police, for example; the
adoption of common strategy to coordinate and integrate the operations in order to respond to requests for help from the female victims of domestic violence in a more efficient manner; the adoption, by the services, of a common
system to be used by all for the filing of reports and data regarding the phenomenon, making it available to all who need it. Bring the services up to adequate levels, especially the basic services, to face the increasing number of
women who seek help, by hiring specialised and specifically trained personnel. Work on the construction of the Anti-violence Network on a local level
adopting a common protocol also used by the local services and the City of
Bari. Make the citizenship more aware of the availability of the services, and
make the services themselves more efficient and “user friendly”. Make information available about the appropriate legislation and the actions realised, on
an international, European and national level, against gender violence and to
help the victims. Conduct informative campaigns aimed at changing the patriarchal nature of the culture and involve all levels of society, institutions,
schools and the justice system. Conduct special campaigns aimed at the
schools, teaching the basics of human and sexual rights as a preventive measure and to combat the prevailing “culture of violence”. Bring the institutional
responses up to a level where they can be efficient in dealing with the danger
and the dimensions assumed by the phenomenon.
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ATTACHMENT 2: CITY OF BRINDISI
Local coordinator: IPRES;
Project conducted in the entire city with specific analysis of the central area
of the 1st circumscription;
Population count to 31/12/2001: Total of 89,081;
Operators interviewed: 80 (53 women and 27 men);
Population sample interviewed: 1,300 (1,000 women and 300 men);
Persons in the know interviewed: 17;
Interviews with women who have been subjected to domestic violence: 10
women between the ages of 28 and 57
Report: Donne e Violenza, October 2003, Progetti editoriali snc;
Observations and recommendations from the report conclusion:
The report reveals a lack of public anti-violence services in the area surveyed.
The service network in Brindisi is adequate by number and by type, but not to
deal with the phenomenon of domestic violence: the few services able to deal
with the phenomenon are in private hands. The only anti-violence service present, the CrisALIde Centre is presently closed. The Io Donna (I Woman) association, which for more than 20 years has managed a toll free phone number,
is active. The situation can be summed up as follows:
1. lack of a coherent system for data organisation;
2. unprepared personnel which is incapable of recognising the symptoms of
the phenomenon of violence against women;
3. lack of valid work tools and lack of verification of the protocol used by the
operators.
An informal network of operators does exist and in part makes up for the lack
of a formalised system of networking. This is certainly a positive sign, but it
is not enough to deal with the lack of organisation of practices, gender sensitive tools and public services in general.
The structural short comings are reflected on a cultural level as well: the
women of Bari are reluctant to speak about domestic violence for lack of solidarity, competences and resources of the local system. There is a relationship
between the cultural and psychological conditions of the women and the
weakness of the quality of services offered: low demand, little offer.
Old stereotypes regarding the types of women who are subjected to violence
emerge from the survey regarding the perception of violence by men and
women. This, and the stigma these women suffer as victims of domestic violence, characterise the entire city. This seems in sharp contrast to that which
emerged from the in-depth interviews conducted with women, to such a point
that the term “cultural clandestinity” is used to describe the situation in which
the women of Brindisi live: no help from specialised services in a context
163
which is highly discriminatory.
The women who are subjected to domestic violence in Brindisi do not find it
easy to talk with outsiders about their experiences, but neither do they share
their experiences with family members and friends because of the process
known as “secondary victimization” in professional circles: the women are
doubly stigmatized if they report the domestic violence they have suffered to
the police. The entire population participates in this stigmatization process
and knows no culture or social bounds. Suffer in silence, the message says.
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ATTACHMENT 3: CITY OF CAGLIARI
Local coordinator: CSRPS - Centro Scientifico Regionale di Prevenzione
Sanitaria di Cagliari;
Project area: Area Urban, Pirri circumscription;
Population count to 30/06/2004: 27,902 equal to 15.9% of the population of
Cagliari (183,659 - 2001 census);
Operators interviewed: 50 (31 women and 19 men);
Population sample interviewed: 1,333 (978 women and 355 men);
Persons in the know interviewed: 10;
Interviews with women who have been subjected to domestic violence: 20
women between the ages of 24 and 59
Report: La domestic violence contro le women – Rete Anti-violence tra le città Urban Italia – Rapporto sulla City of Cagliari, Comune di Cagliari, 2005;
Observations and recommendations from the report conclusion:
Underestimation of the phenomenon: the result of the surveys revealed the
dimension of the phenomenon (15.4% reported episodes) which is superior to
the perception of it in the general population, but confirmed by interviews
with the persons in the know. The need to increase awareness and the sensitivity of the personnel working in the services is also evident and denotes a marginality of the issue of domestic violence with respect to the perception of the
institutional duties of each service, including adequate training, which rated
very poorly.
Shortcomings of the network: from both the surveys and the seminars held a
high level of difficulty of network collaboration was revealed, both among the
services themselves as in the protocol. Not only, but even in within the services themselves important “knots” or crosspoints of any sort of network were
missing, especially among the emergency services, the physicians and paediatricians, as well as the higher profile figures. The intentions expressed on the
part of the Regional Minister for Health and the Regional Commission for
Equal Opportunity in various meetings held should be instrumental in bringing about solutions beginning with training courses for the personnel aimed at
prevention and the fight against violence against women. A certain amount of
resistance to working in network emerged from among the personnel of the
police department, an exclusively male dominated service. After a series of
training meetings organised during the work of the Project, in which the presence of the police was constant and attentive, the various armed forces promised to organise specific training courses about domestic violence for its personnel.
Knowledge of domestic violence against women is widespread among the lo-
165
cal population of the area in which the survey was conducted; although the
gravity of the situation was often dismissed and few were willing see it as a
real problem or to take a definitive position one way or the other. Life in the
neighbourhood was not perceived as either violent or unsafe. The interviews
with the operators and persons in the know revealed the key to understanding
this situation as being tied to the particular culture of the area (Sardinia): the
persistence of an agro-pastoral culture conditions the life of women, who enjoy recognition of social autonomy within the family. At the same time, however, the tight social control exercised by community is apparent.
Recommendations:
The need to plan the actions of the services which give aid to women who suffer domestic violence becomes clear from the report. At the end of the project
the direct involvement of the Social Policies Minister of the City of Cagliari
and the identification of a woman’s voluntary association willing to take on
the work of the immediate assistance of women who have suffered domestic
violence permitted the beginning of a process aimed at the creation of a shelter managed by a women’s NGO.
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ATTACHMENT 4: CITY OF CATANZARO
Local coordinator: Temporary Association (ATI) between the “Associazione
tra le righe Non-profit charity organisations” and the “Centro calabrese di solidarietà di Catanzaro”;
Project area: in large part the historical city centre including the Fondachello
(in part), Grecia, Pianicello, Coculi, Zingarello neighbourhoods as well as the
neighbourhoods of Fontanavecchia;
Population count to 21/10/2001: (ISTAT 2001) Urban area: 8,443, Catanzaro 97,251;
Operators interviewed: 47;
Population sample interviewed: 1,300 (1,000 women and 300 men);
Persons in the know interviewed: 10 (9 women and 1 man);
Interviews with women who have been subjected to domestic violence: 12
women between the ages of 18 and 49.
Report: Le violenze nascoste – Indagine sulla percezione della violenza alle
donne nei quartieri Urban della Città di Catanzaro, Catanzaro 2004.
Observations and recommendations from the report:
If the on the whole the response of the sample of the population interviewed
demonstrated the persistence, in some cases perhaps not fully aware of it, of
sexist stereotypes which tend to place blame on women and minimise the responsibility of the male, the stories of the women interviewed show their
awareness that violent behaviour is not a valid form of interaction nor an adequate manner in which to conduct a relationship, above and beyond motivation and justification. The women also expressed their difficulty in ending a
violent relationship, attempting to leave and finding the situation very difficult
and, in many cases, inconclusive. The difficulty experienced on a personal
level in trying to make a radical change is compounded by a strong sense of
shame which tends to suffocate the need for freedom with loneliness and exasperation. The all-important first step, as stressed in the interviews, is when
the woman knocks down, for the first time, her personal wall of silence. The
type of response she gets has a very powerful and conditioning influence on
her and conditions her ability and resolve to face the next steps. Here the
sceptic attitude shown by the services and the authorities in the difficult bureaucratic road and the inevitable exposure to social conditioning makes itself
felt. In order to guarantee anonymity and still help in a concrete manner a toll
free telephone number has been requested by many, although others have expressed the need for a safe and hidden shelter to which to go in emergencies
and find immediate comfort and qualified professional support.
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Recommendations:
All of those involved in the project agreed upon the importance of a very decisive operation aimed at creating an effective network of protection in order
to allow the women to be able to express themselves and their pain, as well as
forcing the institutions to come up with a capacity for response which helps
these women to face the violence they have experienced without being further
penalised (secondary victimization). Institutional support is still scarce and
sporadic and does not help in resolving the problems of the women who need
to leave a violent situation activating the financial resources at their disposal.
They must be able to offer those women in need who ask for their services
operators who have the abilities and capabilities to face the problems of domestic violence and its repercussions. They must be adequately trained in the
dynamics of the problem and the relationship between the sexes. The caring
for and reception of the women must be placed in an institutional context
which strives for efficiency, with the support of protocol on the initiative of
the city of Catanzaro and which involves all of the services in the territory. It
was emphatically underlined that awareness campaigns depicting the reality
and the criminality of domestic violence itself were highly necessary.
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ATTACHMENT 5: CITY OF CARRARA
Local coordinator: Cooperativa Microcosmos –Siena;
Project conducted in: Urban Area, located in the two circumscriptions in the
centre of Carrara, the surrounding towns and the circumscriptions of Avenza,
Adiacenze and Marina di Carrara;
Population count to 31/12/2002: 37,741 or 57.6% of the 65,528 residents on
December 31, 2002;
Operators interviewed: 54 (34 women and 20 men);
Population sample interviewed: 1,300 (1,000 women and 300 men);
Persons in the know interviewed: 13;
Interviews with women who have been subjected to domestic violence: 14
women between the ages of 24 and 59
Rapporto: Quello che le donne non dicono –Rete anti-violenza delle città
Urban Italia– Report on domestic violence in the City of Carrara – County of
Carrara, 2004;
Observations and recommendations from the report conclusion:
The dimensions of the phenomenon: 7.5% of the women claim to have been
subjected to domestic violence at some point in their lives, 4.9% in the past
two years. The citizens are well aware of the situation, no service or institution had to search their records in order to put the subject into focus, nobody
said they had never heard the argument spoken about. The problem of domestic violence in Carrara is widespread and deeply entrenched in their history
and culture. At the same time there a sort of acceptance of its existence, a
sense of resignation to the fact, “this is the situation today, and this is what it
has always been”, to such a point that they treat the subject superficially and
without giving particular importance even to intense violent episodes.
The services are not accustomed to working together in a network situation
nor confronting the problem from a wider point of view, each one performs
within the narrow realm of his responsibilities. During the course of the survey and seminars the weak “knots” or crossing points of the network
emerged: the police, the emergency room, the basic medical staff and paediatricians in particular. The absence of the first two elements of the above list is
critical in that they represent the first points of reference for abused women
who, in one way or the other, end up going to them when they finally decide
to cross the threshold of the home and bare the scars of domestic violence “in
public”.
There are no “good practices” guidelines to turn to, nor are there any antiviolence centres: there is an immediate need to correct these problems in the
area, beginning with the identification of a pool of valid professionals willing
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and able to take on the responsibility of organising the creation of a network
of valid services able to deal with the phenomenon of domestic violence. The
actual system of social protection is solid, has the correct amount of personnel, experience, professionalism and range of competences; it needs, however,
to pool its resources and form a more united whole. The weakest point in the
system seems to be the lack of commonly used and accepted practices.
Recommendations:
The need for training the operators is very clear and could be the key to turning the situation around, increasing cultural and technical competences, assuming a new mentality able to overcome old objectives and project the services and structures into the future with a renewed vision which understands
the importance of common language and operating tools.
Weaknesses:
a) the actual model of bureaucratic development, that upon which the wide
network actually in use is constructed, which must be the foundation upon
which the missing anti-violence centre will be added;
b) the mini-revolution aimed at overcoming the narrow specialist vision of the
services, the subdivision into services, in sectors in areas of differentiated
competences, each distinct and self standing.
Strengths:
the widespread presence of the Third Sector and, even more, of volunteer
work, which is already active and able to make a positive difference in the
problem of violence against women. The strategy seeks involvement in a
wider network system, including the contribution which the volunteer associations can give and seeking to put them in a position where they can be of support to the public services.
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ATTACHMENT 6: CITY OF CASERTA
Local coordinator: the Spazio Donna association NON-PROFIT CHARITY
ORGANISATIONS;
Project conducted in: the entire city and Urban area;
Population count to 31/12/2003: Urban zone 21,502 equal to 28.7% of the
population of Caserta (78,965 inhabitants);
Operators interviewed: 59 (52 women and 7 men);
Population sample interviewed: 1,333 (978 women and 355 men);
Persons in the know interviewed: 10;
Interviews with women who have been subjected to domestic violence: 20
women between the ages of 24 and 59
Report: Oltre il silenzio, la voce delle donne, – Rete Anti-violenza tra le
città Urban Italia, City of Caserta, 2005;
Observations and recommendations from the report conclusion:
Characteristics of the services:
lack of general information about the services present in the area, the survey conducted on those responsible for the controls revealed a lack of organisation in the collection of local data regarding use of the various services by the public;
serious lack of operator training for the treatment of victims of domestic
violence;
lack of specific internal and inter-service protocol.
The perception of domestic violence by persons in the know. Analysing the
interviews with persons in the know reveals the reticence and the difficulty
victims have in communicating their experiences with domestic violence and
the lack of prevention and fight against the phenomenon. They do not seem to
have a clear idea regarding the diffusion and incidence of the phenomenon of
domestic violence against women in the Urban area.
The perception of domestic violence by the citizens: the population itself declares an elevated sense of insecurity which is more acute among women in
the Urban zone, as well as a high level of awareness of domestic violence.
The dimensions of the phenomenon. There is a high incidence of women who
declare to have suffered domestic violence at least once in their lives (17,5%).
This figure is higher than the average of all of the cities participating in the
second phase of the Urban Survey.
Network construction. On the 25th of July in 2005 a protocol was signed between the city and the services involved in the network actions calling for
specialised training courses as well as information and awareness campaigns.
The city promised to create a shelter for the female victims of domestic violence.
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ATTACHMENT 7: CITY OF COSENZA
Survey conduction by: The Centre for violence against women Roberta
Lanzino of Cosenza;
Urban Zone studied by the project: City historic centre, Via Popilia, Via
Panebianco, Via degli Stadi and S.Vito;
Operators interviewed: 63 (47 women and 16 men);
Population sample interviewed: 1,300 (1,000 women and 300 men);
Persons in the know interviewed: 11 (7 women and 4 men);
Interviews with women who have been subjected to domestic violence: 12
women between the ages of 19 and 50;
Report Title: La città sofferente, Cosenza 2003;
Observations and recommendations from the report conclusion:
In the neighbourhood, described as safe for women, all of those interviewed
claimed to be well aware of the problem of domestic violence and felt that the
importance of the incidence of rape was underestimated. In the year 2002
alone there were 40 cases of rape reported to the operators of the services. In
the past 18 months the Centre for violence against women Roberta Lanzino
dealt with 150 women, 80% of whom had been subjected to abuse or molestation by their partner. More than 50% of the sample tended to justify a man
who uses violent behaviour blaming it on his depressed mental state, his abuse
of alcohol or drugs, or because of the low level of culture to which he belongs. On the other hand, 40.2% feels that the above stated causes are not excuses and that the man is “normal” but tends to cross the border into domestic
violence and marginal behaviour when in a relationship. Of the 234 women
(out of 1000) who claimed to have been subjected to some form of domestic
violence, 117 did not seek help from anyone, and of the remaining 59 only 22
sought help from the institutions.
The services are insufficient but they do exist: the Centre for domestic violence against women Roberta Lanzino manages a shelter, and a public antiviolence help centre run by the city itself. The entire sample identified the social services, volunteer organisations and the family as the main points of reference for women in need of help. Less than a third of the operators interviewed had participated in specific training courses dealing with the phenomenon. No service has protocol for the treatment of cases nor a method for
the organisation of information regarding the issue, making data difficult to
obtain.
According to persons in the know domestic violence against women is part of
a mafia-like mentality in which women are cared for and respected as long as
they conform to very strict rules and regulations which involve the entire fam-
172
ily, and become potential victims when they subtract themselves from the
controlling power which “protects” them.
network which has the aim of constructing shared methods of coming to the
aid of victims. Awareness and prevention programmes to be instituted in the
schools. The encouragement of reflection, especially by the men, about male
behaviour and the difficulties facing society due to the changes it is undergoing. The strengthening of the system which is meant to aid the women, knowing that they are often unemployed and therefore face great challenges as they
seek autonomy from their violent partners. Increase the amount of trained personnel working in the services.
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ATTACHMENT 8: CITY OF CROTONE
Local coordinator: The Department of Sociology and Political Sciences of
the University of Calabria;
Project conducted in: the entire city
Population count to 20/10/2001: Total of 60,010 of whom 21,338 males and
22,919 females;
Residents in the Urban area: Total of 50,537 of whom 24,581 males and
25,956 females
Operators interviewed: 70 (41 women and 29 men);
Population sample interviewed: 1,304 (1,004 women and 300 men);
Persons in the know interviewed: 10;
Interviews with women who have been subjected to domestic violence: 8
women between the ages of 14 and 50
Report: Donne e violenza:. Rapporto sulla Città di Crotone, Rubettino editore, 2005;
Observations and recommendations from the report conclusion:
Clear indications about the characteristics of domestic violence in the area
emerge from the answers given by the operators of the area services. Women
and children are indicated as the category most often subjected to violent behaviour on the part of male family members and “friends”, and the most dangerous places for them is the home and the street. Those who are subjected to
domestic violence are most likely to speak about it with friends or teachers.
The role which the anti-violence associations could play is very revealing.
The inhabitants are well aware of the violence which takes place in their area,
seen mostly as psychological or economic violence. One in three citizens of
Crotone maintains that it is in the city (the most degraded neighbourhoods)
that violence manifests itself in such an explicit manner as to render the places
themselves violent. More women than men believe that a woman is more
likely to be subjected to sexual violence by someone she knows than by a total stranger. The violent episode is very difficult to communicate; from the
answers obtained, however, wide differences between men and women
emerge.
According to indications given by the males interviewed the person to which
one can most easily turn for help in cases of rape is a sibling, never are the
neighbours to be told about the episodes, under any circumstance, while the
possibility of turning to friends, a doctor, the parish priest or family members
has some validity. Women maintain an almost complete silence on the matter:
only about 10% would be willing to talk with their parish priest, less than 5%
with family members.
174
Of those who said they were willing to discuss their stories, in the end only 8
did. In all of the other cases the women said that they preferred not to talk
about the episodes they had experienced. Often it is the comparison with more
powerful forms of domestic violence, seen on television or read about in the
newspapers, which induce these women to underestimate the violence of
which they themselves are victims. At the same time it must be remembered
that re-telling is like re-living the experience, and not everyone who has suffered a great deal is willing to go through the trauma again. If they do finally
speak it is because they hope to break the spiral of domestic violence in which
they find themselves, or to help other women and children not suffer for the
same unjustifiable reasons. The stories of domestic violence heard always
take place in a context of degradation, cultural and economic, where what little money does come in is used for the purchase of alcohol or for betting.
The study of the services actually present in the area and the mapping out of
their competences brought to light the structural weakness of the self-same
services. There is only one advice bureau in this city of 60,000 inhabitants,
there are no services with the specific aim of aiding women who have been
subjected to domestic violence, and these short comings are only partially
compensated for by the work done by women’s associations and cooperatives.
Recommendations:
The adoption of protocol and institutions able to come to the assistance of
women along common network lines. Campaigns to heighten the awareness
and the prevention of violence against women, especially among the youth in
their schools. The institution of services for women. The strengthening of
economic aid and support for independent work.
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ATTACHMENT 9: CITY OF GENOA
Local coordinator: UDI - Union of Italian Women;
Project conducted in: Medio Ponente Zone (Urban) and the Central Eastern
zone;
Population count to 31/12/2001: Urban Area 64,401 and 93,522 Central
East;
Operators interviewed: 75 (61 women and 14 men);
Population sample interviewed: 1,310 (1,008 women and 302 men);
Persons in the know interviewed: 9;
Interviews with women who have been subjected to domestic violence: 20
women between the ages of 21 and 63;
Report produced: Passo dopo passo superare la paura. La percezione della
violenza contro le donne a Genova, 2005.
Observations and recommendations from the report conclusion:
Several key words emerge from the analysis of this report: prevention, integration among the institutions and services, training and information, search
and storage of information and data. In particular, the research has revealed
various “future projects” which can be synthesized as follows:
development of horizontal integration through the use of protocol among
the institutions to overcome the danger of waning enthusiasm. This can
be done by strengthening network cooperation among the social and
health services, but also the police forces, firemen and hospitals involving them all in the definition of operative protocol and projects to be considered in the area;
continue working towards territorial pacts which can develop integration and
work methods which can be used and shared among the services. The path to
follow is that taken at the inception of the work group which focused on
abuse and mistreatment and was financed by Law 285 and then, at a later
date, was adopted as a part of the Direction of services for the citizen;
develop the network cooperation which resulted from the training seminars organised by Urban research project. This must be done with the full
support of the institutions. The operators present at the seminars underlined the importance of specific training on diverse levels and with particular attention to the professions being trained (for example, special
training for emergency room operators, etc…). Training is considered
fundamental to the success of the project’s future;
create conditions to influence the men who mistreat their women, with
the knowledge that true equal opportunity assumes responsibility for both
sides of the question.
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Recommendations:
The first recommendation is of a general nature and stresses the need to work
on the cultural aspects of the problem, involving not just the women who are
the actual victims, but also, and above all, the new generation through education at school with awareness training. Here the Ministry for Equal Opportunities should be involved.
The second recommendation deals with the creation of a Social Regulatory
Plan by the local city administration which has been recently approved and
will create a well integrated, rational and interactive committee to encourage
the development of work tools and projects aimed at guaranteeing and increasing the active and conscious participation on all service levels. At the
heart of the Social Regulatory Plan is the citizen and his/her well-being. The
Plan is the most efficient method to gather not just the knowledge acquired
through research, but also to gain more and specific knowledge regarding the
theme of domestic violence. If the Plan is put into action in an intelligent
manner then one can truly work towards improving coordination, better understanding the actual ways in which the city administration deals with social
reality and the citizens in general.
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ATTACHMENT 10: CITY OF MISTERBIANCO
Local coordinator: Department of Analysis of Political and Social Processes
(DAPPSI) of the University of Catania;
Project conducted in: the entire city;
Population count to 2001: Total of 43,464 (22,098 women and 21,366 men);
Operators interviewed: 55 (22 women and 33 men);
Population sample interviewed: 1,253 (984 women and 269 men);
Persons in the know interviewed: 10;
Interviews with women who have been subjected to domestic violence: 16
between the ages of 23 and 50;
Report: La violenza sulle donne a Misterbianco. Tra esperienze di vita e visibilità sociale, Lombardo&Ricciarello, 2004;
Observations and recommendations from the report conclusion:
The widespread perception of a high quality of living standards and general
safety in the neighbourhoods, as expressed by the citizens interviewed, includes the general opinion that cases of rape are infrequent: 84.5% of the men
and 92.7% of the women responded in this manner. On the whole a considerably high level of agreement was found in the answers given by the men and
women. They also tended to express the opinion that the women were not responsible for the episodes of violence to which they were subjected. They did,
however, disagree in their general perception of the frequency of the phenomenon of domestic violence: while 80% of the women maintained that domestic violence was frequent, only 50% of the men were of the same opinion.
According to the indications which emerged from the interviews, the men felt
that in the case of violent episodes it was best to turn to the institutions or to
the police, while the women felt that the socio-sanitary services and the family were the most helpful in these cases.
It clearly emerges, from the in-depth interviews conducted, that the process of
leaving a violent situation is always very long and that the relationship with
the services, the police or the legal system is always fragmentary and rife with
contradictions and lengthy bureaucratic obstacles. Protecting family unity is
one of the most difficult aspects of the problem: the lack of sufficient support
of the female victims of domestic violence creates family disaccord and renders leaving it a dramatic and difficult situation. As the situation begins to resolve itself, however, her capacity for reflection and the acceptance of proposals for solutions becomes clearer, she sees the life which she has led in a
new light, as a sort of discovery, sometimes painful, but at other times with
pride as she realises that she was able to leave a dangerous situation not only
with her body intact, but also with new dignity.
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There is a total lack of services which can treat and shelter the female victims
of domestic violence in the area. Of those operators responsible for the services interviewed, both public and private structures, it becomes clear that the
phenomenon is neither recognised nor catalogued, making it difficult to plan
specific interventions. There is no inter-institutional protocol and support relationships are based on an informal network of operators who know one another. The lack of specific training of the operators must be stressed; only 2
out of the 55 had had any type of occasion to be trained. The need for specific
ad hoc training regarding the phenomenon was expressed by all, but especially by those operators who deal with female victims of violence in their
daily work (the police and social assistants). The seminars of the project were
of great help in correcting this situation and a network of local operators was
constituted.
Recommendations:
The adoption of protocol for giving of aid in the context of a city network.
Specialised training of operators. The creation of effective services. The
strengthening of the systems which provide financial aid and help the victims
to find work.
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ATTACHMENT 11: CITY OF MOLA DI BARI
Local coordinator: The Lelio and Lisli Basso Issopo Foundation – International department in partnership with Disamis s.r.l. and in collaboration with
the “G.I.R.A.F.F.A”. Association of Bari;
Project conducted in: The entire urban area of Mola di Bari;
Population count to 21/10/2001: (ISTAT Census): 25,919;
Operators interviewed: 32 (19 women and 13 men);
Population sample interviewed: 1,348 (1,048 women equal to 77.7% of the
panel and 300 men);
Persons in the know interviewed: 13;
Interviews with women who have been subjected to domestic violence: 14
women between the ages of 25 and 57;
Report Title: Violenza sulle donne – al di là delle parole, Nuova anterem,
Mola di Bari, December 2004;
Observations and recommendations from the report conclusion:
There is collaboration and participation in the activity of the local institutions
services by the population and the victims of domestic violence. There is an
absence of formal coordination between the services in the area and a lack of
intervention protocol to deal with cases of domestic violence, the work is left
to the good will of the operators, both men and women; the fact that they were
able to come to an agreement at the end of the project is certainly a positive
result; there is neither an anti-violence centre nor a shelter for women or minors to turn to in case of violent episodes. Research has shown that a few
women actually turn to the services for help after having been subjected to
domestic violence, demonstrating that the victims prefer not to turn to the
very structures which have an institutional obligation to protect them and
come to their aid when needed. The operators are aware of their need for specific training to avoid harming the women even more, due to their lack of skill
and/or superficiality, when they turn to them for help. Interaction between the
services is made easier by the fact that they are near to one another, geographically speaking; some of the services (family advice bureau, mental
health facilities and the emergency room) are in the same building making it
easier to instil an efficient system of collaboration among them. There is a
lack of up to date information and a lack of organisation in the preservation of
data. Some services do not pay adequate attention to the preservation of information or to the identification of cases of rape, nor to the confirmation of
national data. Research indicates that the episodes are of a violent nature and
perpetrated by the male figures (husband, boyfriend, brother, father) closest to
the victims and almost always within the context of the home.
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Recommendations:
Promote: the planning of local interventions keeping in mind the transversal
nature of the policies to be activated; the assumption of responsibility by all of
the sectors interested, particularly those who first come into contact with the
victim after an episode of violence. Increase awareness of the existence of the
local services among the general public, making them more accessible and
promote shared strategy among the various services in order to render them
more efficient as a whole in the roles they have accepted to play. Create an ad
hoc shelter or refuge for the victims of domestic violence. This type of structure can also act as a catalyst and point of reference for the other services and
as general headquarters in the battle against domestic violence. Encourage the
constitution of the Anti-violence Network, complete with protocol agreed
upon by the local services and the city of Mola di Bari, Noicattaro and
Rutigliano. Conduct awareness campaigns using a multi-disciplinary approach and involving all of the various levels of society. Increase the efficiency of the protocol by training both the male and female operators who enter into contact with victims in the various services to which they turn. Promote the adoption of a database in order to file and register in a shared manner all of the information and data regarding cases of domestic violence, suspected or real, to be preserved.
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ATTACHMENT 12: CITY OF PESCARA
Local coordinator: Chair of Methodology of Social Sciences of the Faculty
of Social Sciences of the “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara;
Project conducted in: the entire city;
Population count to 31/12/2001: 116,286;
Operators interviewed: 50 of whom 29 men and 21 women;
Population sample interviewed: 1,303 (1,008 women and 295 men);
Persons in the know interviewed: 10 (3 women and 7 men);
Interviews with women who have been subjected to domestic violence: 10;
Rapporto: Vite sommerse, parole ritrovate. Violenza contro le donne: percezione, esperienze, risposte sociali nella Città di Pescara, Pescara, 2004;
Observations and recommendations from the report conclusion:
The first characteristic which emerges is the concentration of the main sociosanitary services (the centre for drug abuse, the mental health centre, the family advice bureau, the alcoholism centre and the emergency room) are all in
one central area: the old civic hospital which is outside of the city itself. The
second characteristic is the total absence, in the city and in the Urban zone, of
centres and/or shelters for first aid for women who have been subjected to
domestic violence. On the other hand there are a certain amount of female associations working directly with the citizens; two in particular – the toll free
Telefono Rosa and On the Road – which care for women who have been subjected to domestic violence and abuse.
Based on the survey conducted on the services we can say the following:
there is a tendency to deal with possible cases of sexual and physical domestic violence which require the attention of the health services and the
police;
that the social services and the family advice bureaus do not furnish an
adequate service;
there are certain operative practices which bring to light cases of domestic violence in an indirect manner when dealing with other types of problems and explicit requests for help on the part of the woman;
that it is almost by accident that episodes of domestic violence are revealed which the operator then delegates to other services;
in the absence of precise protocol to follow each operator tends to apply
his or her own operative system of practices;
that there is an absence of coordination among the public services and
volunteer or gender oriented associations.
The study conducted also revealed the lack of ability in identifying the pres-
182
ence of sexual domestic violence. The causes cannot be attributed only to the
adherence to stereotypes and cultural prejudices which are very deeply rooted
and with a doubt influence the operators and the public, but also to:
the lack of training and information given to the operators;
the fact that there are few specialised services to be found in the area;
the difficulty in creating a network which includes various services, different competences and separate intervention models.
The operators and those studying the problem intend to orient their scientific
and operative abilities to improve this situation. The need for an intensive
plan which can include multiple, integrated and synergetic strategies (on the
level of services and structures, the judicial, economic and political system,
and in the area of social and cultural behaviour) as well as improvement of the
institutions themselves (the family, the local community, the schools, Church,
State and the basic institutions), must be emphasised.
The importance of adopting network-type strategies involving a wide range of
competences to create awareness of the problem, manage its progress, and develop resources clearly emerged from the results of the study.
The focus must be placed on issues of a social, political and cultural nature,
against unilateral systems and the asymmetrical nature of the relationship between the sexes, encouraging men to ignore the “privileges” of their gender
and women to “become aware of their role as potential victims and try to
modify it”.
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ATTACHMENT 13: CITY OF SALERNO
Local coordinator: Salerno University– Department of Sociology and Political Sciences;
Project conducted in: the Urban area and the Europa, Sant’Eustachio and
historical centre neighbourhoods, with the following streets as borders: Via
Indipendenza, Via Roma, Via Silvatico, to the northeast;
Population count to 2002: (source: Municipality) Total of 145,923 of which
69,383 men and 76,540 women;
Area Urban 16,596 (8,491 women and 8,105 men);
Operators interviewed: 72 (36 women and 36 men);
Population sample interviewed: Tot 1,302 (women 1,000 and men 302);
Persons in the know interviewed: 13;
Interviews with women who have been subjected to domestic violence: 25
women between the ages of 20 and 59
Report: Violenza di genere verso le donne di Salerno De Rosa&Memoli,
2005;
Observations and recommendations from the report conclusion:
The survey revealed a strong connection between domestic violence against
women and the degraded condition of the city.
Those interviewed state that the public institutions play a principle role in
helping female victims of domestic violence, with the social services in first
place and indicated by two thirds of the sample. Differing answers were given
with respect to how much help can be expected from the police, a choice mentioned mostly by the men, while both sexes agreed regarding the importance
of the help the family can give a victim (26.5%). More women than men
stated that help could be found at the anti-violence centres and female volunteer associations.
The stories of violence indicated that domestic violence was considered as
part of a relationship, a manner in which one relates to one another. The victims were often weakened by their socio-cultural background and provenance
and depended on others to define their social roles in life. The physical signs
of violence disappear while the perception of violence become intertwined
layers in a process which is determined by the fact that people are able to internalise their experiences with relationships in a new system of mores
learned in the course of time and from their interaction with persons accustomed to a different set of values.
Recommendations:
The inadequacy of the operations of interventions and aid in the city are very
evident. There is neither governing protocol nor procedure to deal with cases
184
of domestic violence. It becomes clear that specific and continuous training of
the operators is urgent. The need to focus attention on the subjectivity of the
victims and on the programmes of public intervention emerges from the
study, not just in the manner of treating and dealing with the victims, but also
to the space dedicated to them, the privacy required and the availability of
adequate time to listen to them.
185
ATTACHMENT 14: CITY OF SYRACUSE
Local coordinator: Daera Piccola Società Cooperativa Sociale a.r.l. in ATI
with the Women’s Association La Nereide Non-profit charity organisations;
Project conducted in: the entire city;
Population count to 2001: 123,657 (61,664 women and 61,993 men);
Operators interviewed: 70 (51.4% women and 48.6% men);
Population sample interviewed: 1,300 (1,000 women and 300 men);
Persons in the know interviewed: 11;
Interviews with women who have been subjected to domestic violence: 18
women between the ages of 21 and 59
Report: Gener-ando la violenza. Forme locali di rappresentazione del fenomeno, Arti Grafiche Le Ciminiere, Catania, 2004;
Observations and recommendations from the report conclusion:
Various differing forms of perception of domestic violence emerged from the
survey: as something negative, to be excluded from relationships, as something women suffer from only because of “the way they are”, as a reciprocal
form of relationship where gender is not important. Belonging to a low social
class with little education helps the victim to talk about her experience with
domestic violence: in the context of a relationship of the patriarchal type in
which the woman presents herself as victim and at the same time is able to put
up and cope with the domestic violence. The lack of knowledge regarding the
phenomenon is passed on through “common knowledge” and places it as an
element external to loving and trusting relationships. Violence against women
is an integral part of social degradation in general. Operators working in the
public services, and the public at large, perceive the phenomenon as something which takes place on the streets and inflicted by a stranger. The survey
analysed the reaction to the phenomenon from a private-friend point of view,
and 70% of both men and women state that they would advise their friend to
turn to someone for help. The more educated the person, the higher the tendency to advise getting help, while advice to seek help diminished as educational levels decreased.
The stories told by the women point to the determining role of having lived
with powerlessness and the importance of acceptance. A sort of salvatory
sense, alternating with guilt feelings, develops inside the violent relationship
which then favours resignation and justification. If society demands that “the
family unity must be maintained”, the reality of living without affection and
with aggression results in a devastated body and mind. Oftentimes the inability to leave or distance oneself from such a relationship makes asking for help
an almost impossible enterprise. The behaviour on the part of those working
186
for the institutions, as well as the family itself, force a minimalization of the
problem and as a consequence the woman is not supported if she seeks help or
files a police report about the abuse she suffers. The local public services are
characterised by a difficulty in working with one another on a professional
level. There is no standardised intervention protocol and a strong prevailing
point of view, values and cultural models which influence the interventions
causes the dissolution of the network and the consequent failure to create a
collective data base of accumulated experience by each worker. The lack of
ability in creating stable professional relationships between the public institutions and private sector working in defence of the victims further aggravate
the problem. There are two anti-violence centres run by women’s organisations.
Recommendations:
The adoption of common protocol and the institution of an effective local
network. Awareness and prevention campaigns, especially in the schools. The
strengthening of the system of economic aid and help in finding employment.
The strengthening of the anti-violence services already in operation. Operator
training.
187
ATTACHMENT 15: CITY OF TARANTO
Local coordinator: The Lelio and Lisli Basso Issopo Foundation – International section, in AT.I. with Disamis s.r.l.;
Project conducted in: the historic Borgo, Città Vecchia and Tamburi
neighbourhoods;
Population count to 31/12/2001: 46,539 Urban, 202,033 Taranto;
Operators interviewed: 53 (42 women and 11 men);
Population sample interviewed: 1,343 (1,042 women – 77.6% of the panel
and 301 men);
Persons in the know interviewed: 12 persons;
Interviews with women who have been subjected to domestic violence: 10
women between the ages of 21 and 57;
Report Title: Rompere il silenzio – La violenza sulle donne a Taranto - Percezione dimensione e contrasto, Taranto, October 2004;
Observations and recommendations from the report conclusion:
Only a scarce collaboration by the local institutions and a partial participation
by the services was revealed by the survey. There is no formal coordination
between the services and no protocol to guide the operators in dealing with
cases of domestic violence. An informal and voluntary network among the
operators does exist but little attention is given to the phenomenon of domestic violence, which is still not sufficiently taken into consideration. The result
of the current research demonstrates a situation in which domestic violence is
widespread and the need to find solutions evident.
A full 89% of the operators surveyed request specific and adequate training.
There is no anti-violence centre as such, the “Arianna Centre”, which was a
shelter for women, was closed in December of 2002 when their contract with
the city expired. There are numerous associations but none of them have been
given the responsibility for dealing with these cases. Effective prevention activity regarding domestic violence has been conducted in the schools in the
most afflicted areas by the Consultorio Borgo. There is an active presence on
the part of the police patrol in the form of “Sexual crimes specialty unit”
which deals with rape, domestic violence and crimes against minors. In 2002
35 persons turned to this unit, of whom 30 were women who had been subjected to rape and domestic violence. There is no current data separated into
age groups and gender in order to better understand the nature of the phenomenon.
Recommendations:
To promote the planning of local interventions taking the transversal aspects
188
of the politics involved into account. The institutions, research institutes, police and the social and legal operators must learn to work together sharing information, knowledge and effective practices. They must learn to share responsibility and adapt their services to collaboration. The operators who come
into contact with the victims of domestic violence must receive adequate and
continuous training in order to guarantee the necessary levels of professionalism and the use of the methods available to them for the recognition of cases
of domestic violence in order to help the victims, both Italian and foreign, to
find a road out of their violent life situations. Force the various services to use
a shared system for the collection and storage of data relative to cases of domestic violence. Re-open the closed down service for the female victims of
domestic violence and create a shelter. The recent opening of the “Women’s
Listening Post Centre” can be seen as a first positive step in this direction.
Promote the creation of a local inter-institutional committee regarding the
theme and the editing of shared action protocol, which at this point seems difficult due to the negative attitude of the local city administration and some of
those responsible for the services.
189
ATTACHMENT 16: CITY OF TURIN
Local coordinator: CIRSDe – Centro Interdisciplinare di Ricerche e studi
delle donne of the University of Turin;
Project conducted in: Urban Area neighbourhood of Mirafiori Nord;
Population to 31/12/2001: 24,150 equal to 2.7% of the population of Turin
(899,806)
Operators interviewed: 72 (47 women and 25 men);
Population sample interviewed: 1,302 (1,001 women and 301 men);
Persons in the know interviewed: 10;
Interviews with women who have been subjected to domestic violence: 20
women between the ages of 24 and 59
Report: Violenza contro le donne – Percezioni esperienze e confini – Rapporto sull’area Urban di Turin, City of Turin, 2004;
Observations and recommendations from the report conclusion:
The data reveals the pervasive diffusion of domestic violence in the form of
abuse and violence within the family. Attempted rape and molestation by
strangers is unusually common and not picked up on by the services. There
are numerous specialised anti-violence centres in Turin, there is even a citizen
coordination committee, but they are not located in the city centre, are difficult to get to and have opening times which may not enable a woman in need
to get to them on time. In there Urban area itself there are none. Institutional
attention is scarce and this is indicated by the difficulty in getting data regarding the specific use of the services. Most of the services do not yet have computerised information and data available for consultation. This “silence” of the
services does not, however, mean that the operators are not attentive: their
participation in the surveys about their perception of domestic violence and
their presence at the meetings for the construction of a local network was very
active and interested.
If on the one hand the social services are those in which the male and female
population state they have the most faith, in their moment of need few actually trust them. From the in-depth interviews a very real diffidence towards
the social services emerges: from not believing that help will actually be given
to the fear that ones condition of living with domestic violence could be considered dangerous to the children and result in their removal from the home,
thus wrecking a family and not solving the problem.
Research showed that telephone interviews are a good way to get a reading on
the situation of the safety of women in the home and suggests that this type of
survey could be put to good use by the public entities for the continued monitoring of the situation.
190
Recommendations:
Promote, using all the possible means of communication, information on the
services available, not just to the population at large but also to the operators
who could make use of them. Encourage all of the services to create a data
base in which to register their use by women with problems of domestic violence. Without this information serious planning for the needed services and
shared tools is useless.
Specific training which involves the operators, but also the schools in their
training of young people who will one day be the men and women involved in
face to face relationships which every day become more complex and delicate. Women do not have a propensity to file police reports: they are discouraged from doing so by the very operators who are there to answer their questions. Training should take into account the police forces and the judicial
workers and their particular cultures.
The collaboration within a network must be encouraged and developed: not
just training but also the interventions themselves should be developed according to shared and common work methods with a continuous exchange of
information between the various professions and services.
The city itself and women’s associations based in Turin are trying to respond
to the lack of shelters for women, with or without children, who are subjected
to domestic violence.
The continued research and monitoring of the situation is important not just
for the data gathered but also in order to support the development of training
and actions aimed at combating domestic violence.
A local inter-institutional committee specialised on this theme and the creation of protocol would be of great help in the battle.
191
ATTACHMENT 17: CITY OF TRIESTE
Local coordinator: G.O.A.P. Association Centro Anti-violence, Trieste
Project conducted in: the entire city of Trieste;
Population count to 31/12/2001: 214,120;
Operators interviewed: 101 (77 women and 24 men);
Population sample interviewed total: 1,300 (1,000 women and 300 men);
Persons in the know interviewed: 11;
Interviews with women who have been subjected to domestic violence: 11
women between the ages of 37 and 59;
Report: Violenza contro le donne: questione privata o problema pubblico?
Esperienze e risposte sociali nella Città di Trieste, Trieste, October 2003;
Observations and recommendations from the report conclusion:
The data reveals that the population of the city is well aware of the phenomenon of domestic violence. Much of the merit for this may be given to the work
done by the women’s movement over the years. The presence of the Antiviolence centre of Trieste, which opened in 1999, is proof of the importance
given to the problem. Nonetheless, and as is underlined in the report, there are
many aspects which could still be improved upon. Cultural stereotypes still
hold a strong grip and render it difficult to formulate new tactics and modify
deeply rooted attitudes regarding the relationship between men and women.
Both men and women gave very similar responses during the surveys, an indication of how conditioned they still are by a deeply discriminatory social
system in which domestic violence enjoys a certain degree of tolerance on all
levels of the institutional hierarchy.
Recommendations:
The nature of the phenomenon is underestimated, as evidenced by the fact that
most services have no clear data available about the phenomenon. We are
dealing here with a group of operators who have difficulty in recognising the
phenomenon of domestic violence mostly due to total lack of adequate training. That which is indicated by the operators, therefore, has to do with the coordination of action among various institutional levels, but not in order to face
the phenomenon itself. There is a real need for a network which compensates
for the actual lack of services which help minors who live in situations of domestic violence. One of the proposals is a periodic meeting between those
who work in the field, and the creation of shared strategies to affront the situation. Some operators expressed the desire for specific training in psychology.
The presence in the various services of work methods and differing concepts
in matters of approach to the problem clearly points to the need for a more efficient tactic in which the main services share their experiences and the solu-
192
tions they perceive to be the most efficient in dealing with the problem. They
recommend a strong sense of cooperation and the creation of alliances to become more effective in facing the phenomenon.
The services often operate with different approaches and ideologies: hence the
need to recognise the differences and the objectives of each service, letting
them be the basis for both a formal and informal collaboration. The operators
often force themselves to remain neutral and impartial, but this attitude does
not go far in changing the traditional manner in which the services operate. In
fact, it helps to confirm the traditional and discriminating stereotypes which
permit the problem to continue. This neutral approach must change for the
good of the women who are subjected to violence in the home.
193
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The Authors
Alberta Basaglia, psychologist for the city of Venice, is in charge of the Youth Participation and Peace Organisation as well as the Anti-violence Centre at the
Donna (Woman) Centre. Since the very beginning (1998) she has been an active
participant in the planning and action research group of the “Anti-Violence Network of the Urban Cities of Italy”, for whom she oversaw the publications of the
following works: Libertà femminile e violenza sulle donne. Strumenti di lavoro
per interventi con orientamenti di genere Franco Angeli 2000 with Adami C.,
Bimbi F., Tola V. and Dentro la violenza: cultura, pregiudizi, stereotipi – Rapporto nazionale “Rete Anti-violenza Urban” Franco Angeli 2002 with Adami C.,
Tola V.
Maria Rosa Lotti, President of the Le Onde non-profit organisation of Palermo, she
coordinates the ARIANNA project – ( Rete nazIonAle aNti-violeNzA) and the
“Free phone number 1522” to combat f violence against women for the Department of Rights and Equal Opportunity of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. Since the Eighties she has been working on the issue of violence against
women for the promotion not only of actions of prevention and contrast of such
phenomenon, but also of activities of research and training for people working in
this field.
Maura Misiti, expert on social demographics for the Istituto di Ricerche sulla Popolazione e Politiche Sociali del Cnr (Population and Social Policies Institute of the
National Research Centre) and professor of Social Policy at the University of Padua. Since the very beginning, in 1998, she has been an active participant in the
planning and action research group of the “Anti-Violence Network of the Urban
Cities of Italy”. She is the author of La percezione della violenza contro le donne
tra stereotipi e tolleranza, in Dentro la violenza: cultura, pregiudizi, stereotipi –
Rapporto nazionale “Rete Anti-violenza Urban” Franco Angeli 2002 and edited
by Adami C., Basaglia A, Tola V.
Vittoria Tola, is the reference librarian and the Director of the Central Institute of the
Unique Catalogue ( MiBAC). From 1996 to 2001 she was responsible for the social policies of the Department for Equal Opportunities. From 1997 to 2001 she
created the project “Anti-violence network of the Urban cities in Italy”, coordinating it from 1997 to 2001 and collaborating to the writing of the following
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pubblications: “Libertà femminile e violenza sulle donne. Strumenti di lavoro per
interventi con orientamenti di genere”-Franco Angeli, 2000 - in collaboration
with Adami C., Basaglia A., Bimbi F. ; “Dentro la violenza: cultura, pregiudizi,
stereotipi – Rapporto nazionale Rete Anti-violenza Urban” - Franco Angeli,
2002 - in collaboration with Adami C., Basaglia A.
Since 1976 she worked to improve the knowledge of the phenomenon of violence
against women and minors, both domestic and extra domestic violence, and to
develop the political, cultural, institutional and social debate on this issue. She
created the first centre against violence in Rome, promoting the first regional law
to finance this kind of centres in the Region of Lazio.
She was member of the Expert Group against violence of the CDEG - Council of
Europe.
She chaired the first Interministerial Commission for the implementation of article 18 of the Law on immigration and victims of trafficking. Currently, she is an
expert consultant of the Department for Rights and Equal Opportunities.
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