National Councillor of D.i.Re \u2013 Donne in rete contro la violenza, a national association bringing together 84 organisations across Italy with the aim of eliminating violence against women \u2013 Mariangela Zanni explains how cultural change starts (also) in the workplace, and how vital economic independence is for women\u2019s freedom from all forms of abuse.<\/p>\n
Voiceover:<\/strong><\/p>\n Welcome to Voiceover, the podcast series produced by Camst group to share good sustainability practices: an episodic account of professional, life and activist experiences, told in the voices of the people who lived them.<\/p>\n Mariangela Zanni:<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m Mariangela Zanni, National Councillor of D.i.Re \u2013 Donne in rete contro la violenza. D.i.Re is the national association that brings together 84 organisations across Italy. These organisations in turn run more than 100 anti-violence centres and over 50 shelters, supporting 20,000 women every year on their journey out of violence. Ours is complex work made up of many elements, based on the certainty that fighting male violence against women requires a cultural change that eliminates the patriarchal view of society. Indeed, the first article of the Association\u2019s Statute stresses the need to pursue the elimination of violence against women, as a violation of human rights and an obstacle to women\u2019s citizenship. It is easy to see how this ambitious goal can only be pursued effectively through the collaboration and mutual support of many different actors in society, with whom we try to build positive interactions. The road to making women completely free from violence is still very long, and the phenomenon of male violence against women is still little understood. To spread the knowledge and awareness needed to fight it, it is essential to act in every area of life, and work is crucial. We believe companies can become key players in bringing about the cultural change we aspire to. For years now we have been building strong relationships with very different companies, united by the desire to help improve society in general and the lives of women in particular. After the first tentative information sessions we were asked for at the beginning of this journey, today companies also invest in interesting training and communication projects, and support our activities financially as well. The relationship with Camst, for example, has developed over time in various ways: an information booklet describing violence, its forms and how to escape it, and support for job placement projects for women who want a fresh start towards economic independence. Every organisation, according to its own characteristics and social responsibility goals, can take a step with us towards the freedom of women and of society as a whole. Helping workers understand the phenomenon of male violence against women is not only an excellent prevention tool; it can also help improve the working environment and make employees who are experiencing abuse or violence less afraid of being judged by their colleagues. The consequences of violence on women are now recognised internationally. It is important that companies, too, begin to recognise and address them properly. A worker living with violence may lose concentration, struggle to reach her objectives and no longer be effective in her daily work. She does not always want, or feel able, to talk about what is happening at home, so it is essential to be able to read the unspoken signals and make women feel welcome in the workplace too. Raising people\u2019s awareness, helping them understand how important it is not to judge, and making visible the forms of violence that newspapers talk about less can help with both prevention and response. Companies\u2019 commitment can take different forms, and having HR managers who know how to respond to these situations can make a difference for many women. Creating welcoming workplaces, with trained people and information materials including the contact numbers of the local anti-violence centre, can make workers feel they are in a safe place where they can ask for support. Last but not least, a fundamental factor in the journey out of violence is economic independence. Women are often held in violent relationships because they cannot choose a different life. Here too, companies can stand by our side and contribute to training, reskilling and job placement programmes, precisely to enable women to take back full control of their lives. And this brings us back to our collaboration with Camst, which together with our local organisations gives new opportunities to women who want to work. Returning to work, or entering a company for the first time, and becoming economically independent is an important achievement, and companies can play a decisive role in this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" National Councillor of D.i.Re \u2013 Donne in rete contro la violenza (Women\u2019s Network against Violence).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":920,"template":"","categories":[105],"camst_dialoghi_argomento":[76],"class_list":["post-2113","camst_dialoghi","type-camst_dialoghi","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/camst.sitointest.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/camst_dialoghi\/2113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/camst.sitointest.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/camst_dialoghi"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/camst.sitointest.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/camst_dialoghi"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/camst.sitointest.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/camst_dialoghi\/2113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camst.sitointest.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/camst.sitointest.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camst.sitointest.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2113"},{"taxonomy":"camst_dialoghi_argomento","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camst.sitointest.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/camst_dialoghi_argomento?post=2113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}