Break the Silence to End the Violence
Gender equality is a crucial driver of economic prosperity, social cohesion and the realisation of human rights for all. Despite a perceived trend towards progression, in many forms, gender inequality is stagnating or even regressing. Young European Movement is dedicated to championing gender equality through combating gender based violence (GBV), which can take a range of forms, including: physical, sexual, verbal, psychological, emotional, financial and online abuse, plus coercive control. Its most extreme form is femicide, with 1 woman being killed every 3 days in the UK and 2 women every day in the European Union. In the UK, the number of women killed since recording first began in 2009 through the Femicide Census has not shown a tangible decline, Gender Based Violence (GBV) is now being treated as extremism and as of 2024, it has been declared a national emergency.
The European Union has similarly recognised the urgent need to address this issue, passing its first law on combating GBV on 7th May. The directive criminalised female genital mutilation, forced marriage and cyber violence, yet stopped short of including some of the more severe forms of violence such as rape. Although of course the human case for eliminating GBV will always remain primary, it is imperative that the economic case does not go unheeded. The impact of GBV costs the EU €366bn and the UK £40bn annually.
While the impacts of GBV are manifold, there is a critical relationship between the political participation of women and its manifestation. Research has shown that when women are better represented in politics, GBV significantly decreases. However, the inverse is also true, and GBV is a huge impediment to women engaging in or remaining within political spheres. The European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) has explored this in their briefing on gendered violence.
"Deeds, not words."
Across the EU, combating GBV has recurrently polled as one of the top three issues mattering to young people. At YEM, we advocate for a society in which all young people are able to reach their full potential, which necessitates safe and supportive environments. Now is the time for change. As improved gender parity in political leadership directly correlates with reduction in rates of GBV, improving current and future parliamentary representation for the next generation forms the core of our campaign for 2024-25.
Objectives:
1) Promote awareness of the prevalence of GBV and stimulate international discourse on meaningful policy change, such as:
a) Making misogyny a hate crime. This was initially trialled but then discarded by the Conservative government citing an inability to form a common prosecution strategy. However, since the majority of femicide cases such as Sarah Everard’s feature perpetrators with a clear pattern of previous offences, the Women and Equalities Committee are currently conducting a review of this. Making misogyny a hate crime would provide vital data which can inform a prevention rather than consequence mitigation based approach, as well as providing visibility to the intersectional experiences of women from minoritised communities. This is supported by the Fawcett Society and nearly 20 leading women’s rights organisations.
b) Implementing the suspension of police officers accused of GBV until clearance through investigation.1,500 acting police officers were accused of GBV in 2023 with only 13 dismissed. Refuge’s survey revealed that 39% of women had not much to no trust in police to handle incidents.
2) Collate data on the impact of GBV through polling to inform policy change.
3) Partner with aligned European organisations and media through stakeholder outreach to maximise impact and share best practise.
Targets:
Campaign Prong 1: Improve parliamentary gender parity.
Campaign Prong 2: (Informed by CP1) Reduce gender-based violence.
Gender Based Violence Poll
Gender Based Violence (GBV) is gendered violence which can take a range of forms, including physical, sexual, verbal, psychological, online (e.g. cyberbullying, sexual harassment) emotional, coercive control (e.g. financial abuse), with its worst form as femicide. As part of our campaign this year we are conducting a poll to gather data on experiences of GBV. Please take a few minutes to answer our survey on this and help us to influence governmental policies on Violence Against Women & Girls.
Art & Creative Writing Campaign
We are proud to partner with Ally Zlatar of The Starving Artist Studio, a multi-award winning organisation including recognition by UN Women, LLP and the European Commission and the European Charlemagne Youth Prize, to organise online and physical exhibitions of artworks and creative writing on the theme of female empowerment, gender equality and combating GBV.
Artists are invited to submit up to three artworks responding to the theme of this open call. If selected, your artworks will be published in an online exhibition, promoted on YEM and The Starving Artist’s social media and displayed in an exhibition of digital prints as part of a YEM campaign event. Your website/social media links will be included alongside any presentation of your artwork.
Key Dates:
13th October – Art Open Call Submission Deadline
Early November – Physical campaign launch
Online launch on the 25th November – International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls
Leveraging Data event 8th March 2025 – International Women’s Day