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Friends of Human Highway
the 8th of march is International Women's Day
and the human highway takes us to the House of Women against violence, in Bologna,
to find out if we really have something to celebrate.
Doc. Romanin, today is International Women's Day
is there really anything to celebrate?
Well, i think that we can celebrate the bravery of women
the fact that they keep fighting for their rights
as we've seen for the One Billion Rising on february the 14th
so i think it is an important day
but certainly achievements about equal opportunities and rights are really slow in Italy.
Talking about numbers
what's the entity of the phenomenon of violence against women?
According to Istat, the 38,2% of adult women suffer from it in our region (Emilia Romagna)
on a national average of 31,9%.
So the problem is greater here than in other regions,
but equal opportunities and services for mistreated women are more developed here as well
as we have 11 anti-violence centers
and some more offices
so the services for mistreated women are widely spread too.
They usually speak about violence against women in a generic way
but from which kinds of violence do women suffer the most
and who are the authors of it?
The authors are usually known by the victim
the closer the relationship
the more frequent and dangerous the acts of violence.
Domestic violence hits about 14,5-15% of adult women
and surely the violence from the partner or the ex partner is the worse and more involving kind of violence
and it's the hardest one for women to get out of.
Personal relationships are also the elected environment for stalking
and stalkers in intimate relationships
are the most dangerous ones.
Is violence a widespread problem
or it is limited to certain age, income or social groups?
It is absolutely common to all cultures
and social, economic and professional levels.
In fact, despite quite radicate convinctions,
according to Istat violence hits manager, graduate and in-charge women
more than the other women.
Do women denounce violences?
Only a really slight part of them
from 4% to 9% according to Istat
depending on the crime and on who's the author of the crime.
First, it's hard for them to denounce their partner, a relative, or a known person
second, they're afraid of reprisals
because denouncing doesn't mean protection.
In fact, it takes many years for the denunciation to get to the court
the ending of legal actions is often uncertain
investigations are sometimes superficial
just a little number of cases is taken to trial in the end
and an even lesser number of these ones are finally sentenced.
They call it "loss ratio of the penal system"
that is to say, from the denunciation to the conviction
the number of legal actions slightly decreases.
The House of Women opened in 1990
is anything changed about violence against women through the years?
Well, something is changed.
With the increasing of immigration toward Italy, for example
the House of Women clearly helps much more foreign women than before.
Foreign women are much more in need than italian ones
and they're much more vulnerable to blackmail.
For example, after their italian wives managed to get away from them
some italian mistreating men think that
getting together with a foreign woman
they can put up again the domination and abuse based relationship they had before
because the woman feels weaker in an unknown environment
where she has less rights, sometimes
or doesn't have the residency permit.
And then there is stalking
which has always been there
but thanks to new informatic media has become much more pressing.
Stalkers have new tools today.