Violence against women in the public sphere represents a serious social problem that the countries in the region must address in a systematic manner. Its aim is to discourage women from engaging in public life, while its consequences include a reduction in the quality of decision-making and a narrowing of democratic space, as assessed in the PROUDCAST of the Centre for Civic Education (CGO).
On institutional responses to violence against women in the public sphere, systemic shortcomings, and the consequences that digital violence has for women who are publicly active through politics or other professions, Željka Zvicer, Programme Associate at CCE, spoke with Brankica Janković, former Commissioner for the Protection of Equality of Serbia, and Siniša Bjeković, Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro.
Bjeković presented the results of research conducted by the Protector’s institution in cooperation with the UNDP, according to which approximately 300,000 cases of hate speech were recorded online between July and October of the previous year, around 5% of which relate to gender-based violence.
“The scale of this issue can also be viewed from the perspective of interventions by institutions that should be dealing with it. There has often been discussion in Parliament about whether we should perhaps respond to every individual case. If I tell you that this amounts to somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000 cases per month, it becomes clearer what this actually means. That is why we opt for preventive action, particularly when it comes to women in the public sphere, who are most often victims of this form of impermissible, that is, unlawful behaviour,” Bjeković said.
Brankica Janković pointed out that various forms of discrimination, such as hate speech, degrading or offensive speech, are not new phenomena, but rather long-standing problems transferred into the digital sphere, “which offers immeasurable opportunities for carrying out these forms of illegal, impermissible and, above all, inhumane behaviour.”
“Digital tools make it possible to reach a huge number of people with a single click. In the past, women were pushed out of the public sphere by laws; today this is done through sophisticated digital means. A large number of women cannot withstand this and withdraw from the public sphere, particularly from politics, thereby narrowing democratic space and reducing the quality of decisions,” Janković assessed.
Bjeković believes that over the past ten years a certain degree of progress has been made in recognising and addressing violence, but that it continues to be frequently relativised.
“In the past, you could not explain to the perpetrator what his responsibility was, as he would even be admonished by the court, claiming that it concerned his wife. From that point to today, we have gone through several stages in terms of responsibility and the sensitivity of certain institutions,” Bjeković said.
He particularly pointed to the continuous increase in the number of violence cases, especially before criminal courts, as well as to deeply rooted stereotypes about the role of women in society. Violence, as he noted, has its roots in stereotyping and expectations that dictate what a woman should be. “We must finally accept that a woman has the same dignity as a man and that no one has the right to publicly discredit her, especially not through violence,” Bjeković emphasised.
Speaking about the most common forms of digital violence, Janković highlighted the sharing of sexually explicit content and pointed to the lack of sensitised and properly trained staff in institutions that should be responsible for prosecuting such cases. “It is necessary to strengthen the capacities of the prosecution, particularly departments dealing with high-tech crime, as well as the police and the courts, in order for victims to receive adequate protection,” Janković stated, reminding that women often do not report violence due to distrust in institutions and feelings of shame.
“None of our societies has reached the stage where shame shifts to the perpetrator. It is still the woman who is asked questions such as: what did you do to provoke him, whether it is physical or digital violence. In the digital sphere, when a woman is vocal, clear and visible, when she decides to speak on any topic, if someone dislikes it, something begins that later turns into various forms of digital violence – sextortion, doxxing, cyberflashing. In other words, different forms of violence begin, many of which are still unfamiliar to many citizens,” Janković pointed out.
The interlocutors agreed that violence against women who are publicly active also occurs in parliaments, and that mechanisms of ethical oversight do exist, but that they are insufficient and require serious revision. They also stressed that women in the public sphere face significantly greater difficulties than men, and that attempts to discredit them rarely focus on their work, but far more often resort to personal attacks.
Education and the role of the media were highlighted as some of the key preventive mechanisms.
“I believe that even pre-school education is an opportunity to instil in children the understanding that all people are equal, that everyone has equal dignity, and that all people should be accepted as they are,” Bjeković said.
Janković concluded that education and the media play a crucial role in combating violence, underlining the responsibility of the media not to normalise violence, but to promote social values that clearly condemn it.
The full PROUDCAST is available at the following link: https://youtu.be/Hn0_C9yqtBo.
This programme is a joint production of the CCE and the German Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES). The content of the programme is the sole responsibility of the interlocutors.
Maja Marinović, Programme Associate