“Violence against women is an issue all year round”: With these words, city councilor for women Eva Schobesberger (Greens) began today’s press conference on the occasion of the “16 days against violence against women” campaign starting on Friday. Once again, she focused on what had been a topic several times in the past few months. The frequency and intensity of acts of violence increased during the Corona years, and gender stereotypes became more entrenched. Like Schobesberger, Eva Schuh from the Upper Austrian Violence Protection Center said that “equality is the key to non-violence”. This equality is needed in all areas of society.
Diverse program
By participating in the international campaign “16 Days Against Violence”, the municipal women’s office, together with a number of women’s and anti-violence organizations, want to raise awareness of the issue of women’s violence and actively set an example. In addition to online lectures, the developed program also includes a poetry slam. The speech bubble campaign was also advertised in advance with sayings like “No always means no”, also with the aim of creating public awareness, according to the city’s women’s representative Jutta Reisinger. The campaign is already being copied and imitated throughout Austria.
Today’s press conference and program presentation also offered a stage for various women’s and violence protection organizations and their work. In addition to help, advice and support in specific cases of violence, prevention offers were a central topic.
High rents as a challenge
“We are not happy that we are needed, but we are happy that we exist,” said Margarethe Rackl from the Linz women’s shelter. Around 170 women and children are cared for in the shelter every year.
The framework conditions for women affected by violence to lead an independent and self-determined life are already difficult, and the situation will continue to worsen in the coming months, said Rackl, referring to the high rents and rising energy prices. She underscored the importance of the “Districts without Partner Violence” project, which has recently also been running in the Franck district.
The approach is to sensitize the immediate environment, i.e. the neighborhood – and to motivate them to intervene if there is a suspicion of violence. As an example, Rackl cited the case of a dispute in the neighboring apartment, as a possible reaction ringing the doorbell and asking, innocently, whether one could perhaps borrow sugar.
Wrong question: “How can women protect themselves?”
In this context, Margit Schönbauer from the autonomous women’s center also spoke about prevention, i.e. workshop work with young girls. There it is shown that many of them have already had experiences with harassment and the like. The experiences would be discussed in an age-appropriate manner and also under the aspect “How can I react if I get into such a situation?” illuminated. A tip: be loud and draw the attention of others to what is happening.
Eva Schuh from the Violence Protection Center firmly stated that the question “How can women protect themselves?” is the completely wrong approach. Saying it happened to you because you didn’t do it and it’s your own fault is unacceptable. The responsibility does not lie with the woman as the victim, but with the man as the perpetrator.
“A Men’s Theme”
This is precisely why it is so important, all participants agreed, to start preventively with boys and men. A central step, albeit one that can be expanded, is that the perpetrators have had to complete mandatory counseling in the sense of violence prevention (to the extent of six hours) since September 2021 after a ban on entry and approach has been issued.
Important metrics
From January to October 2022, around 2,850 people received advice at the violence protection center in Upper Austria. Compared to the previous year, this is an increase of 350 clients.
The autonomous women’s center conducted a total of 5,706 counseling sessions in 2021, 2,750 of which were in a context of violence.
Source: Nachrichten
