LAB 5 - Activism vs. law: can greater awareness stop sexual harassment in the public space?

20 November 2018 - 9.30-11.30 - room 5 - Interpretation: FR/EN

Several countries have started to legislate on sexism in the public space. What are women’s experiences and how can they benefit from laws against misogyny? How does violence against women in all its forms impact their personal and professional development? What are ways to render the public space more accepting of diversity?

initiative 1

Bystander Intervention Method to End Harassment In Public Space, Hollaback! Jakarta, Indonesia

Hollaback! Jakarta is one of the site leaders of Hollaback! Global; a worldwide community based movement aiming to end harassment in public space. They aim to end harassment in public space by using online activity and mobile application that provides safe platform for people to share their experience and map where the incident happens. Hollaback! Jakarta was founded based on mutual experienced that was shared among friends in Jakarta, following a survey by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in 2015, revealing the ranking of Jakarta as one of the most dangerous places for women to live and to take the public transport accomodation. Using the “Bystander Intervention Training”, women are being informed and trained against all forms of harassment in public spaces.

Presenter(s)

Anindya 'Vivi' NASTITI RESTUVIANI

Co-Director, Hollaback! Jakarta

Indonesia

Anindya is a feminist. Grew up in a small city in Indonesia, she moved to Jakarta to work for women and children’s rights with several international organisations including as Youth Advisory Panel for UNFPA Indonesia. She is currently the Co-Director of Hollaback! Jakarta, a movement with the aim to end harassment in public space by using their award winning website and mobile application. As an activist, Vivi is also actively involved as the administrator of Jakarta Feminist Discussion Group (JFDG). With JFDG, Vivi was directly involved in coordinating Women’s March Jakarta for two years in a row that gather 6000 participants in 15 cities all around Indonesia.

initiative 2

Yalla Let’s Bike, Syria

Traffic in the Syrian capital Damascus can become harsh, especially by car. When in 2014 Sarah Zein decided to opt for using her bike instead, she was confronted with astonishment of bystanders and verbal sexual harassment. That was the start of the “Yalla Let’s Bike” initiative, which aims to defy traditional gender roles and to promote cycling as an eco-friendly mode of transport. Yalla Let’s Bike aims at spreading bicycle culture in Syria among the youth, men and women of all backgrounds with particular emphasis on reducing the gender gap in bicycling and encouraging girls and women to pedal without any attempts of harassment in public space

Presenter(s)

Mohamad AL KAWATLI

Project manager, ‘Yalla Let’s Bike’ initiative

Syria

Mohamad Al Kawatli is a 23-year-old student, born and raised in Damascus, Syria and currently residing in Rome, Italy. In Syria, he majored in Law and minored in English while simultaneously working as a project manager at Yalla Let’s bike initiative and a facilitator in TEDx-YUP event. He also studied International Business Management in Lebanon, and volunteered in SOS Children’s Villages, assisting and providing care to orphaned children. When he moved to Turkey, he volunteered in Human Resources Development Foundation HRDF. His various fields of interest shaped his academic career and drove him to study International Relations at the American University of Rome. Mr. Al Kawatli is currently working on research that will tackle the effects of Technology in shaping political stances and societal shifts.

initiative 3

Gender Equality through Sports, Shooting Touch, Rwanda

Shooting Touch is an international non-governmental organisation that promotes the game of Basketball as a tool for education and empowerment of youth at risk, as well as women located in rural areas of Rwanda. , by promoting equal access to physical activity and wellness, providing health and educational services, and motivating communities to create social change and wellness. In the last six years, “Shooting Touch” has built five basketball courts, creating safe spaces to improve physical and mental health where it is needed most. This initiative uses the basketball to provide 350 at-risk Rwandan women with increased access to physical activity, healthcare, job trainings, and leadership skills to challenge male-dominant socio-cultural norms.

http://www.shootingtouch.com/

Presenter(s)

Chloe ROTHMAN

Programme Director, Shooting Touch

Rwanda

Chloe Rothman is the Programme Director for Shooting Touch, a sport-for-development organisation located in rural Rwanda, which uses basketball to educate and empower at-risk youth and women to live healthier lives. Chloe manages 13 local Rwandese employees, facilitates yearly programming for over 1,000 youth and 300 women across four villages, and organises local partnerships. Chloe has partaken in community work with underprivileged females in her hometown of Boston, MA, USA, with refugees in Piraeus, Greece, and for the last two years, with youth and women in Eastern Rwanda. Prior to working for Shooting Touch, Chloe played professional basketball in Israel.

Discussants

Discussants are invited to take part in the Labs in order to share their experience with the presented democratic initiatives and try to bring broader perspectives to the following discussions.

Karin NORDMEYER

Chair, UN Women National Committee for Germany

Germany

Karin Nordmeyer serves as a senior adviser on women’s rights issues. Repeatedly appointed by the German government to serve in delegations such as the UN Commission on the Status of Women sessions, the German Advisory Board for Civilian Crisis Prevention and the NATO Civil Society Advisory Panel on Women, Peace and Security. As Representative of Zonta International, was she actively involved in the drafting of the Council of Europe “Istanbul Convention” and was speaker at Ministerial Conferences and International Fora as well as Lecturer at the Council of Europe School of Political studies from 2004-2010. She is the elected President of UN Women National Committee Germany since 2004.

moderator

Caterina BOLOGNESE

Head of Gender Equality Division, Council of Europe

Of Italian and US parents, Caterina was raised and educated in Italy, Australia and Germany, specialising in languages and law. After working in comparative criminal law research in Germany she joined the Council of Europe, where she has worked on constitutional issues and criminal law reform, and monitored trafficking for sexual exploitation. She directed the office in Georgia and worked for many years with the Council’s anti-torture monitoring, where she focussed on women in prison. Since September 2018, Caterina manages the Council’s team working on gender equality.

rapporteurs

Valentine JOSENHANS

Secretariat of The Istanbul Convention Monitoring Mechanism (GREVIO), Council of Europe

Graduated from the European School of Political and Social Sciences (ESPOL) in France, Valentine has pursued a master's degree in International Relations at the Barcelona Institute of International Studies (IBEI) in Spain. Afterwards, she has been an intern at the Spanish Embassy in Senegal. In parallel to her studies, she has regularly worked in journalism. Passionate about gender issues and more generally intersectional discrimination, she is currently a trainee at the Secretariat of the Istanbul Convention monitoring mechanism, at the Council of Europe.

Laurène THIL

Gender Equality Division, Council of Europe

Trainee at the Gender Equality Division of the Council of Europe, she is currently working on a thesis on the impact of family policies on parental employment decisions in Europe, at the Faculté des Sciences Economiques et de Gestion in Strasbourg. This comparative study highlights the importance of parental leaves, childcare services and gender culture in the different European countries. She is interested in gender studies and more specifically the construction of gender stereotypes. She is involved locally by volunteering at the Planning Familial 67 (local Planned Parenthood).