Gender-Based Violence in Italy
The focus of today’s brief is on violence against women in Italy. Gender-based violence (GBV) violates human rights and entails civic, social, political and economic implications for individuals, communities and the whole society. Women and girls are the most affected by gender-based violence and consequently, the terms “violence against women” and “gender-based violence” are often used interchangeably. In order to better carry out the task of providing an overview of this phenomenon, I chose to report it through episodes which have had a strong impact in the media. The vicious attack committed against Gessica Notaro is one of them.
28-year-old Gessica Notaro was a model, former beauty queen and aspiring singer. In the late evening of January 11th, 2017, she was attacked by her ex-boyfriend with a bottle containing a drain cleaner, acid wash, a fluid composed of highly corrosive substances and still available at the supermarket.
At the time of the assault, the man had already been reported for harassing her and had been given a restraining order. The assault caused her serious burns on her face and significant damage to her left eye. However, Gessica has taken her fate into her own hands and has never given up
She is one of the symbols of the struggle against gender-based violence in Italy and was given a civic award by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. She is now one of the competitors of the Italian version of the famous TV show Dancing With the Stars, where well-known personalities learn how to dance and compete against each other. This represents a great opportunity to draw the attention of the media on gender-based violence and to raise public awareness on this issue.
Some other cases grabbed the headlines of the Italian media, involving young girls raped by groups of boys of their same age, killed by their boyfriends or husbands or burned alive while pregnant. A list which unfortunately grows day-by-day and which is even longer if one includes psychological violence as well, which comprises ‘threats, humiliation, mocking and controlling behaviours.’ Unfortunately, not all victims survive and many don’t manage to go on living a normal life.
To better understand gender-based violence in Italy, we can refer to statistics provided by the EIGE, the European Institute for Gender Equality, an autonomous body of the European Union established to contribute to and to strengthen the promotion of gender equality. In 2012, the overall rate of women having experienced physical and/or sexual violence since age of 15 was 27.0% (EU 33.0%), while the percentage of women having experienced psychological violence by a current or former partner was 38% (EU 43%). In the same year, the percentage of women having experienced sexual harassment was 51% in Italy and 55% in the EU, while the percentage of women having experienced stalking was 18% in both Italy and the EU on average. Concerning the United States, a 2011 survey conducted by the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one of the major operating components of the Department of Health and Human Services, shows that an estimated 19.3% of American women (or >23 million women) have been raped during their lifetimes; 43.9% of American women have experienced sexual violence other than rape and 15.2% of American women (18.3 million women) have experienced stalking.
These figures may actually be even higher since many victims do not report. It is up to laws, social and political commitment to empower women to speak out, reducing and preventing violent acts.
As Hillary Clinton pointed out “It is time for all of us to assume our responsibility to go beyond condemning this behavior, to taking concrete steps to end it, to make it socially unacceptable, to recognize it is not cultural, it is criminal.”
