International Women’s Day – Hungary (HuMSIRC)

Name of the activity: International Women’s Day

Country/NMO: Hungary (HuMSIRC)

Program: Gender Based Violence

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Education

General description:

We want to bust the myth that abuse is the woman’s fault during an International Women’s Day campaign. With our lecturers, talks and rape/assault survivors’ clothes exhibition we hope that we can change public opinion, which we will evaluate through forms.

Focus area:

Sexual Exploitation and Rape

Problem statement:

Victim blaming is still the tipical response to sexual harassment claims.The tipical argument: she was harassed/raped/assaulted because she wore certain kind of clothes/drank too much, etc. Even our police thinks this way: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30198319, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/24/hungary-police-victim-blaming-safety-video

Target groups and beneficiaries:

University students-mostly women aged 18-26

Objectives and indicators of success:

reach as many people as possible – number of participants
informative and useful round table conversations/lectures – feedback from participants
reach people who can’t attend the event – social media campaign, articles, videos, news reports about the event
try to destroy the myth that women “deserve” assault, and it is “their” fault- questionnaires before/after the event

Methodology:

– quizz on fb a week before the event- get information about the public opinion on International Women’s Day, harassment/abuse, promoting the event and reaching out for people who can’t attend
– interactive games: fact/myth
– self defense classes
– lectures on harrassment and abuse
– lectures by sexual psychologist and gynecologist
– The rape survivors’ clothes exhibition that hopes to end victim blaming

Plans for evaluation:

– attendance turnout
– feedback from participants
-questionnaires before and after attending our programs- statistical information whether/how much we changed the participants opinion about the topic
– check how many people were reached through our social media posts