Violence against women, in Milan the phenomenon is not decreasing but the city is reacting
In the Lombard capital, in the first six months of the year alone, 2,200 requests for help: in the report of the Municipality’s Anti-Violence Network, presented to the Senate at an event organized in collaboration with Gilead Sciences Italia, all the figures for the phenomenon. Here are the interventions made to fight it.
The country’s financial heart and the birthplace of innovation, however, isn’t just the glittering skyscrapers and nightlife: crime rates in 2021 speak of a ‘black Milan’ where just under 160 000 crimes are reported each year. And among these, those of the genre stand out, with 12.7 reported sexual violence per 100,000 inhabitants. The news of recent months, moreover, between assaults, harassment, physical and sexual violence, rapes sometimes committed even by drugging the victims, tell of a phenomenon which is certainly not recounted in the “ghettos” of the metropolis but which, on the contrary, crawls and crosses all sections and strata of society.
A phenomenon of such magnitude that during the first six months of 2021 and only in Milan, 2,200 requests for help were received by the Anti-Violence Centers, and 980 women were able to benefit from the interventions offered by the Network. anti-violence of the Municipality: from telephone listening to reception, psychological support, support at work, legal advice, housing autonomy. Figures which, presented to the Senate during the institutional event “All faces of violence”, promoted by the Anti-violence Network of the Municipality of Milan and Gilead Sciences Italia on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of violence against women, restore the real dimensions of a continuing emergency.
Precisely to contribute concretely to supporting women who decide to escape situations of domestic abuse and gender-based violence, the Anti-Violence Network was set up in Lombardy, coordinated by the Municipality of Milan, which has been working for many years for the victims. And, underlines Diana De Marchi, president of the Commission for Equal Opportunities and Civil Rights and of the Anti-Violence Network, “despite the scarcity of resources made available to local authorities, we have continued to increase economic resources. and human for the Anti-violence Network of our city ”.
Interventions are also possible thanks to partnerships such as the one with Gilead Sciences, a Californian biopharmaceutical company which has always stood out for its strong social commitment, and which since 2000 has also been present in Italy through its Milan office. “The collaboration with the anti-violence network of the Municipality of Milan – explains Gemma Saccomanni, director of public affairs at Gilead Sciences Italia – is part of the commitment to protect and promote the values of diversity and inclusion that as a global company we support in all the communities in which we operate. We do not stop at the research and development of innovative medicines, but we support those who work for those who live in conditions of discrimination, marginalization or violence. Among the most disadvantaged segments of the population are women, to whom phenomena such as violence and the difference between the sexes in its various aspects prevent a full and legitimate participation in the social and economic life of the country ”.
And the commitment of Gilead Sciences, which materialized precisely in the 360-degree support for women victims of violence: through the payment of 20,000 euros, internships and job grants were carried out for courses and projects professional reintegration and professional retraining; services were then activated for family-work reconciliation and housing autonomy projects. Finally, the fund was also used to cover the expenses of promoting the health of women victims and minor children proceedings and for the legal costs of civil courts.
Interventions which made it possible, in a quarter of the 980 cases taken up by the Anti-violence Network of the Municipality of Milan, to give a concrete answer to the women who for the first time found the courage to say “enough is enough” and to ask to help; and if 400 women were accompanied on paths – still ongoing – to escape situations of violence, 50 other women and 27 children were accommodated in shelters.
According to data presented to the Senate, 59% of women assisted by the Milanese structure have children, and 64% are of Italian nationality. 68% of reported violence is physical, 24% sexual and in 22% of cases, it takes forms of “violence”, which sees women enslaved and “controlled” by the use of money, with the constant threat of violence. deny them the necessary economic resources or prevent them from becoming economically independent. However, the rate of psychological violence is also very high, reaching 84% in cases monitored by the Anti-violence Network. In most cases (89%), the perpetrators of violence and mistreatment are not, as often, strangers or strangers but family members: 74% are husbands, partners, boyfriends or exes, and in 68% of cases, they are of Italian nationality.
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