The name of this conference was
chosen very deliberately – gender is everyone’s agenda
This title emerged as we began
exploring the challenges young people face and looking at the work being done
by the range of agencies – many you will see today – just how much of their
lives can be affected by gender inequality
We start of the games or the clothes
boys or girls are expected to wear or are marketed at parents, to name calling
bullying, insults, stereotypes, to threats and fear and abuse because they
don’t conform to what is seen as normal behaviour, or they don’t do what is
expected of girls when a boy asks you out or wants your picture, to feeling
safe being out, to being targeted online, being exploited or abused witnessing
and experiencing domestic violence or being attacked in the street..
This spectrum is where some of us sit
– a lot of us found that we play a small part on this huge spectrum or
behaviours or issues – but there is no one monopoly position on them – neither
in policy or practice - all of these issues and many more are underpinned by
gender inequality – they all adversely affect girls more than boys.
Aggression and violence towards girls
whether online, in school, in relationships is a complex phenomenon – not a new
one either - the pressure to conform to norms or to be sexually active or to do
what your friends tell you boys or girls are supposed to do – or are supposed
to respond to if their girlfriend or boyfriend texts or speaks to another
person are challenges we have been facing for years and at times we have tried
to focus on each part of the spectrum of behaviours or looked at what the media
does and then blamed that
When you look then at what each of us
is doing on our small parts of the spectrum are doing - you ask – are they
being consistent? Does it add up? It many places it does but many of us share
the same frustrations at trying to get communities and schools and funders to
look up and see the bigger picture.
We first became involved and were the
catalyst for the partnership forming that brings you todays conference – based
on our one area of influence – bullying
The term sexual bullying was being
used more and more often and was appearing in policy and was being used to
describe all manner of behaviours from homophobia to sexual assault – we felt
this ran the risk of diluting serious behaviour – forcing someone, threatening
to do something sexual they do not want to, isn’t bullying it abuse. Putting
your hand u a girls skirt is not bullying – it is assault – these examples did
and still do exist in policy in parts of the UK.
I as noticed a change when we were
presenting evidence to the parliament on cyberbullying and after I spoke 5
other agencies spoke about exploitation and child abuse online – these are very
very serious issues that need real policy and legislative focus – but we felt
the term ‘cyberbullying’ was becoming an umbrella term for all negative and
abusive behaviour online. I felt that if parliament is looking for evidence on
exploitation and abuse online – we shouldn’t be in the room.
These two challenging issues
converged and we decided it was time to talk to colleagues who were working on
these very serious very relevant issues – we could learn from them about the
areas they work in ad we could share what we did –so that we knew what children
could expect from Childline, what Zero Tolerance was talking about in schools
about relationships and violence and they knew what the anti-bullying messages
were, what LGBT Youth Scotland say about domestic violence and violence that is
routed in people not meeting gender norms – this vital and rich work being done
runs the risk of being done in isolation
We wanted to get people together and
look for where we can develop a consistent message – in policy and on practice.
Every one of us was dealing with behaviour and violence migrating to the online
world too but when we peel it all back and look at what we do – we are
responding to gender inequality - pictures of girls being shared and commented
on around school is misogyny 2014 – boys simply have new means at their
disposal to perpetuate the myths about relationships, norms and how we talk
about boys and how we talk about girls.
So ourselves, LGBT Youth Scotland,
police Scotland, Local Authority colleagues, the Mentors for Violence
Programme, NSPCC Scotland, Edinburgh University, Zero tolerance and Rape Crisis
Scotland formed a partnership –
This group has formed in response to
a shared concern and common interest in addressing gender-based inequalities
and sexual violence. It
sets out a partnership approach to lead and influence gender-related policy and
practice, as it relates to children and young people in Scotland. It aims to challenge accepted behaviour,
attitudes and relationships, with the purpose of reducing sexual violence
amongst young people, acknowledging that the status quo is no longer good
enough.
When each of us responds to reports
or is delivering our area of work – we now know more about what our colleagues
are doing and when we address gender issues – we have a broader and more
informed position for some young people the link form say gender based bullying
to gender based violence is clear for others less so but in understanding what
each of us can do on that spectrum or for some continuum of aggression and
violence we hope that we can develop more effective responses as we share our
learning our understanding and listen to each other.
I am very proud to be standing here today
opening this conference – I am very proud that it is not a conference about
online risks, there are plenty of them happening, or a conference just on
violence, or bullying – but one that hopefully gets straight to the point
– and that is how these are affected by
gender inequality – I want us to get the conversation right – not always
focussing on our own bits bit ask – how can we change attitudes and behaviours
about gender
I suppose for me an example is when
we look at what happens when sexting goes horribly wrong – a very important
area - and we spend time on reflecting on social media sites, smart phones and
the challenges they present – when the issue is actually what motivated the boy
involved what told him what he was doing
was okay – not how did he did it or where – but why.
That is what I mean about getting the
conversation right.
Today is our attempt to articulate
the problem – to explore some of the key issues and to share these with you and
to listen to what you have to say
We have avoided the temptation to
present you with speakers all do and for you to sit there and appreciate –
although I am sure you will appreciate the small number we have for you today –
but we wanted it to be an active day – where the workshops and the networking
are the focus – so please enjoy the variety on show – use the time at lunch and
breaks to go round the various stalls and make connections.
Finally a quick thanks to Our Funders
today from The Scottish Government – both The Learning Directorate and the Equalities Unit - thank you for this and we hope you can see
that today has been money very well spent.
Brian
Donnelly
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