Words and actions for gender equality
21.11.2023
The University of Padua is dedicated to promoting well-being, and eliminating discrimination, violence and gender-related stereotypes through institutional actions and cultural and training interventions. In November 2023, the initiatives proposed by Unipd to promote gender equality, some of which are held in English, expanded with the inclusion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women which is celebrated on 25 November.
The University joins The Red Benches Project, by installing on november 24 a red bench in an area of the Department of Information Engineering where Giulia Cecchettin studied, as a permanent reminder that domestic violence also occurs in our community. The project began in 2021 at the Palazzo Bo, continued in 2022 at the Azienda Ospedale Università di Padova and will continue annually by placing it across different locations, as a proclamation against violence the right to freedom, and the right to live without fear.
In the garden of the Department, the Department of Information Engineering and the Rotary Club Padova have installed a second red bench in memory of Giulia, which will permanently remain in the garden of the Department’s headquarters.
The Red Benches Project is an awareness-raising initiative promoted by the States-General for Women to combat gender-based violence.
The University of Padua also adheres to the Posto occupato campaign as a concrete gesture dedicated to all female victims of violence. Each one of the murdered women, before a husband, ex-boyfriend, lover or stranger ended their lives, had a place in society. Today we reserve a place for them, as a reminder of where they once stood, from the theatre, the tram, the school, the subway, in our classrooms, so that day-to-day life does not submerge such places into a symbol of absence but rather manifesting them into the present.
Please share the campaign on your social media networks by tagging the University accounts and posting photographs of the posti occupati on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Instagram.
Across their lifetime, 1 in 3 women are subject to some form of violence, whether it be physical, psychological, emotional, economie, or sexual. The cultural root of violence against women affects everyone. Every three days a woman in ltaly falls victim to femicide.Out of the over 100 women killed in ltaly this year (but the number is growing day by day), most of which were killed by a family member or someone they knew, from this total most of them died at the hands of their partners or former partners.
With the tragic addition of Giulia Cecchettin, 105 women have been killed in Italy since the beginning of 2023.
According to the UN, more than 600 million women and girls lived in conflict-affected countries in 2022, a 50% increase since 2017. The rights of women end when war begins, as they become victims of individual, collective and political violence. Such a battle knows no justice and is without distinction of class,ethnicity, or educational background.
