A national campaign to inform and raise public awareness about sexual harassment is launched in Chisinau in April, which is the international Sexual Assault Awareness Month, IPN reports.
Alina Andronache, project coordinator at the Partnership for Development Center (CPD), one of the institutions running the campaign, told IPN that the goal is to raise awareness about sexual violence around the world, to educate communities on how to prevent and where to report cases of violence. The motto of the campaign is: “Together we say NO to sexual harassment”.
A study conducted by CPD on the perceptions and incidence of sexual harassment in Moldova’s educational institutions shows that every fifth student in vocational and higher education has been exposed to some form of sexual harassment. One in ten has been threatened by a teacher as a form of sexual coercion, and about 8% were invited by teachers to romantic dates with the promise of a reward. About 40% of the students concerned did not report it and did not ask for help.
Other studies show that one in five women employed in Moldova is subjected to subtle forms of sexual harassment at work, and four out of 100 women face serious forms of harassment, such as the requirement to have sex for a reward, or use of force or threats to have sex. Despite the high incidence of sexual harassment, only 15% of women reported such cases. The low level of reporting is due to self-blame, low levels of confidence in the law enforcement, but also the attitude of the population. About 60% consider harassed people to be the ones to blame for such experiences, said the CPD project coordinator.
“Most young women cannot detect the forms of sexual harassment because they do not know them. The community has an important role to play in combating this phenomenon, which is why it is essential for each member to be aware of the phenomenon of harassment and to have the necessary tools to facilitate the fight against sexual violence. We aim to inform people about the phenomenon of sexual harassment, which are the forms of manifestation and reporting tools. We want to mobilize as many people as possible and talk for a whole month about how we can prevent and combat the phenomenon of sexual harassment, especially in the education system. To this end, a page has been created dedicated to this campaign, which we hope will become a source of information for everyone”, said Alina Andronache.
Anyone is welcome to join this campaign. All you have to do is take a photo with the message “I say NO to sexual harassment” and post it on social media with the hashtag #spunnuhartuiriisexuale. Five Moldovan universities have already joined the campaign.
