Project: Articles

In the framework of the Europarent project, Systeme in Bewegung e. V., Winsen, (Germany), in which entities from Greece, Bulgaria, Spain and Austria participate, we are reflecting very deeply on the problems of the new European families and the professionalization that institutions and professionals that work with families need, in order to provide adequate help.

We believe that 'Europe works best on a small scale', and that is why this step must be cared for with extraordinary care.

In this article we have allowed ourselves to reflect on whether adapting to the new family relationships that emerge after COVID19 will require an even greater defense of family mediation and support for families. Will parents know how to adapt to this new digitization of relationships? To the new models of School and leisure? Do we have to be prepared to solve the social conflicts of the future?

As part of the Erasmus + "Des stéréotypes à l'égalité de genre" project, Erasmus + 2019-1-FR01-KA201-063001 coordinated by l’École Pierre de Ronsard, VAYRES (France) for which our association is committed and involved for a fairer and more equal Europe of tomorrow (https://alegalitedegenre.com/), we believe it is important to go deeper into this issue.

To understand the depth of the problem of gender stereotypes, it is necessary to define the main and most generic concept of stereotype.

A stereotype is a conventional model, a pre-constructed, generalized and simplistic opinion that is not based on the complexity of reality, but is mechanically repeated. These simplifications of external reality tend to be rigid, inflexible and controllable. The preconceived ideas created by these mental images are produced by anyone and help to make an abstraction, a simplification of a reality that seems too complex to us.

Gender stereotypes are therefore mental prejudices and images related to gender.

What would happen if we had the opportunity to meet people beyond the sex they belong to?

The limitations that are occurring in all countries of the world, in particular the necessary and exhaustive quarantine in excess now almost everywhere, followed by the social isolation of masses of individuals, set in motion a series of persistent reflections that affect many disciplines: the already tangible consequences affect both the well-being of the individual, whether physical or psychological, and the economy, the rule of law, politics, administrations, etc.

Sociologically and psychologically speaking, the current pandemic state offers a wealth of data and information of great interest and utility, also for more effective and efficient management of the emergency.

Last year, with the "Digital Relations" project, our partnership with a consortium of organizations from Germany, COORDINATOR : Systeme in Bewegung e.V. , Bulgaria, Belgium, Poland and Spain, investigated the effects that the digital world can and is having on European families.

Given the exceptional nature of a global event such as the health emergency related to the spread of the Covid-19 virus, we cannot avoid rethinking the study from a completely new perspective. The obligation to remain in our homes has led to an immediate increase in the use of social networks in all areas of the world.

It is often the case, in countries where there are major incoming migratory phenomena and particularly in Europe in the last fifteen years, that people who arrive find themselves in a country where, for various reasons, it is difficult to validate the professional qualifications obtained in the country of origin. It can therefore be understood how it seems even more complicated to fill in any detectable gaps (technical, linguistic, etc.), a challenge that threatens to definitively denigrate what would otherwise have been an important element of human capital for the country of entry itself.

In the OECD countries and among the member states of the European Union, the need to develop plans for the recognition of those skills of potential future workers has become increasingly evident. The European Commission itself has invited Member States to design or strengthen systems capable of demonstrating and improving the skills of immigrants, for a better management of the labour market.

If their integration is hampered by factors such as having a traumatic experience, or poor attachment to the host country, difficulty in accessing concrete information on job opportunities and inability to see their competitive strengths recognized, it seems clear that solutions need to be found to enable these fragile subjects to identify, document, evaluate and, if necessary, certify their skills as quickly as possible.

Within the framework of the Erasmus+ “Mutual Share Women Care” project, (Erasmus+ 2019-1-IT01-KA202-007410, Coordinator Cooperativa Sociale Siderea, Latiano, Italy) we visited the European Women’s Center “Mariana Pineda” in order to present the activities that our project will carry out . Mariana Pineda was an empowered and free woman of her time, and she has appeared to us as a reference model for those European women subjected to situations of abuse.

Dramatic numbers on gender-based violence can be read in a 2019 report created by UN Women, the UN organization dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. To provide examples:

• Up to 35 percent of women worldwide have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from a partner during their lifetime (in some countries the percentage rises to 70 percent);
• It is estimated that 87.000 women were killed worldwide in 2017, more than a third (30.000) by their current or former partners;
• At least 200 million women and girls between the ages of 15 and 19 have undergone female genital mutilation.

These and other very serious facts about many other types of GBV can be found at the following link https://www.unwomen.org/es/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/facts-and-figures. These data show us how this phenomenon is a serious problem, although often hidden, both in the most disadvantaged countries and in the richest ones, where we tend to think that this type of event is the exception (and instead it is the rule).