“The support provided by educational establishments is not up to par,” deplores an NGO

“64%” of respondents to the barometer “declared that they had never benefited from a prevention session against violence at school”, regrets Diane Richard, spokesperson for the NGO Plan International France, Thursday on franceinfo.

“The support provided by educational establishments is not up to par”, denounced Thursday January 25 on franceinfo Diane Richard, spokesperson for the NGO Plan International France. According to its barometer on gender-based and sexual violence, a quarter of women between the ages of 13 and 25 report having been victims of gender-based and sexual violence at least once, i.e. 15% of middle school girls and 18% of high school girls. Plan International France campaigns for equality between girls and boys.

A thousand young women were interviewed for this survey. “5% of respondents to our survey have already avoided going to class because of violence in the establishment. This is very worrying”, alerted Diane Richard. Another observation from the NGO is that when young women are victims of gender-based violence, they do not talk about it to school staff due to a lack of confidence: “64% of them declared that they had never benefited from a prevention session against violence at school. The school does not fulfill its prevention role”regretted Diane Richard. “Obviously, we have less confidence in the establishment”she specifies

franceinfo: What is the nature of this violence?

Diane Richard: Gender-based violence in schools is sexist and sexual violence, acts or threats of sexual violence which can be physical or psychological within or around schools. This is violence that arises from gender norms and stereotypes and is imposed by unequal power relations. This violence will inevitably constitute one of the main obstacles to the rights of children and in particular girls who will eventually avoid school.

“5% of respondents to our survey have already avoided going to class because of violence in the establishment. This is very worrying.”

Diane Richard, from the NGO Plan International France

on franceinfo

When we are afraid of experiencing violence, when we go to school, the reflex is to protect ourselves by either avoiding school altogether, or by avoiding certain places such as the playground. When it comes to cyberbullying, it’s going to be avoiding social media since 12% of survey respondents said they had already avoided going on social media for fear of violence.

What are the profiles of the perpetrators of this violence?

There are several typical profiles that emerge. The majority of violence, but this is the case everywhere, not just at school, is 83% against men or boys. It is also often the work of groups of people, especially in the case of cyberbullying. These are often groups that attack a 61% person. Then, they are in fact mainly young people at 92%. We also still observe almost 10% of adults, young people who declare having been victims of educational personnel for example. This is also a subject to be interested in.

Young girls seem to have difficulty talking about it. For what ?

The majority talk about it, but what is quite problematic is that most talk about it to their loved ones, their family or their friends, 58% in cases of gender-based and sexual violence. But in fact, they talk very little about it with school staff. It’s still problematic because it’s violence that happens at school. They should have confidence in the school to resolve these problems. But in fact, it’s only 18% for sexual violence, only 36% for cyberharassment. The support provided by educational establishments is not up to par. 64% of them declared that they had never benefited from a prevention session against violence at school. The school does not fulfill its role of prevention.

“As a result, obviously, we have less confidence in the establishment and therefore we only have 37% who believe that the establishment sufficiently supports victims of violence.”

Diane Richard, from the NGO Plan International France

on franceinfo

However, politicians seem to be taking up the subject…

I still regret that drama has to happen to be interested in it. When we talk about it, we are still waiting to see the concrete results. It’s good to have an interdepartmental plan. But what we still notice is that it also focuses a lot on repression. There is not enough prevention and there are not enough comprehensive approaches to combating sexism and rape culture. The subject should not be treated in isolation at school. It happens at school, but it happens in all other environments and therefore school.