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Description
The project opens a brand new issue in the Czech context – gender-based violence against women in political and public life. Although there is a lack of data from the Czech Republic, international sources prove that this is a serious and widespread phenomenon in both real life and cyberspace. The rare media reports covering the issue and citing Czech women in political and public life confirm the existence of this problem. Violence or harassment can thus be one of the main barriers to the political and public participation of women.
As this issue has not yet been described specifically in the Czech context, the project aims to map the situation in the Czech Republic, inform the public about the existence of the problem and suggest possible solutions. It can be seen as a pilot project and it would be appropriate to follow it up with further steps and activities after its implementation.
The project activities follow three different levels of the problem. At the individual level, it focuses on the direct support of women in political and public life. Thanks to workshops and a seminar they will be able to reflect on the various forms of violence and to better defend themselves. At the systemic level, a round table discussion with relevant stakeholders will open up the issue to name the causes and seek a systemic solution, including the exchange of good practices. These will then be summarized and disseminated to key actors who can contribute to change. At the level of awareness-raising, the campaign will increase the general public''s awareness of the existence of violence against women in political and public life. At the same time, the public will be more motivated to draw attention to this problem and demand its solution.
Summary of project results
The project in the Czech context addressed the issue of violence against publicly active women. Data
and research show that women in public spaces face gender-based violence (especially younger
women, women belonging to minorities, and those advocating for human rights). No major issues
arose during implementation. The only challenge was that not all women who committed to
attending the workshops actually participated. Nevertheless, the set indicator was successfully
achieved.
The project focused on three interconnected levels of the issue:
1. Individual level – supporting female politicians and publicly active women to recognize and resist
various forms of violence (workshops and a seminar for publicly active women).
2. Systemic level – initiating discussions with relevant stakeholders, identifying causes, seeking
systemic solutions, and transferring best practices from abroad (roundtable, guide on creating more
inclusive political environments).
3. Awareness level – raising public awareness about violence against female politicians and publicly
active women (awareness campaign: videos, interviews, image campaigns, social media posts, a "10-
step guide" to improve the situation, information on domination techniques, and a public event).
Throughout the project, management and publicity activities were conducted (information sessions,
a dedicated webpage, press releases).
The project directly supported 61 publicly active women through workshops and a seminar,
enhancing their ability to recognize and effectively resist various forms of harassment and violence.
The awareness campaign exceeded expectations, reaching a total of 1872096 views (planned:
100000). This significantly increased awareness in Czech society about gender-based violence in
public life and ways to reduce its occurrence.