Pole Gender Equality and Prevention of Extreme Violence

Supporting and understanding gender

With the aim of defending women’s rights, our association Les “Militants des savoirs” is committed to preventing and combating social injustice, cultural and historical prejudice, and violence against women.Through education, we work to ensure respect for human rights, with the aim of building a balanced and harmonious society. Our approach is based on gender equality and the empowerment of women, as defined by the United Nations: The gender issue, as we see it, is not just a women’s issue, it’s also and above all a fundamental rights issue. It’s not about gender theory or gender studies, it’s about the integration of the gender dimension into development policies and aspects of social life.Our approach is based on equality between the two sexes, men and women, and the empowerment of women, and we are working on objective no. 5 of the 17 goals of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals).Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, it is also a necessary foundation for the establishment of a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.

It is estimated that 750 million women and girls worldwide have been married before the age of 18. At least 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation in the 30 countries with representative data.1 in 5 women, including 19% of women aged 15 to 49, have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner or sexual violence by another person. Yet 49 countries still have no laws protecting women against domestic violence.Around two-thirds of countries in developing regions have achieved gender equality in primary education.While women have made great strides in political office around the world, their representation in national parliaments (23.7%) is still far from parity. Only 52% of married or cohabiting women freely make their own decisions about sex, contraception and health care.worldwide, women represent only 13% of farmland owners.

More than 100 countries have taken steps to monitor budget allocations in favor of gender equality.in North Africa, women account for less than 20% of salaried employment in the non-agricultural sector. In the rest of the world, the proportion of women in salaried employment outside the agricultural sector rose from 35% in 1990 to 41% in 2015In 46 countries, women now hold more than 30% of seats in at least one chamber of the national parliamentIn South Asia, the risk of child marriage has fallen by more than 40% since 2000.Rates of female genital mutilation among girls aged 15 to 19 in the 30 countries where the practice is concentrated fell from 1 in 2 girls in 2000 to 1 in 3 girls in 2017.

Our work concerns the promotion of women’s right to social justice and also their right to non-violence and dignified, peaceful treatment. Indeed, it’s clear that the absence of rights leads to the violence to which girls and women are all too often subjected around the world: physical or sexual violence, honor killings, forced marriages, genital mutilation, sexual exploitation, harassment and discrimination of all kinds. And this is because the right to correction still persists, exclusive parental authority for men, women who cannot give their nationality, women who cannot inherit, women who cannot own their land, women who do not have the freedom of their body, nor that of their destiny, but also and this even in so-called developed countries where equal pay for equal skills and work is struggling to be established. The absence of rights puts women in a position of submission. If they are not subordinated to men by force, they are so for reasons of economic and cultural dependence.

Our mission, at the heart of the Militants des savoirs association, is to remedy this situation by educating both women and men, because if we must teach women their rights and how to fight to obtain them, we must also teach men, and remind them of the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience, and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”.

Our missions

• Mission 1. Engaging women in preventing radicalization and violence

Women and young people are particularly and differently affected by violent extremism and terrorism. They are often the direct or indirect victims of these situations of conflict and violence. Yet women and young people have important roles to play in preventing and building resilience to these phenomena, in order to guarantee the conditions for lasting stability and social peace. The UN Secretary General’s Action Plan for the Prevention of Violent Extremism emphasizes the priorities of education, access to employment, the Internet and social media, but also stresses gender equality and the empowerment of women and young people. These are all areas of direct concern to UNESCO, which has made the empowerment of women and young people one of the cornerstones of its strategy for the prevention of violent extremism. These realities are present throughout the Euro-Mediterranean area, although they are expressed in different ways depending on local contexts. Societies on both shores of the Mediterranean are experiencing these issues in a similar way, not so much in substance as in form, whether it’s the role and action of women, sometimes little or not valued or adequately supported, or the challenges and involvement of young people in preventing violent extremism.

Round table: Fundamental rights and the gender issue

Peace is everyone’s business, and it is only by “building together” and sharing that we can re-establish, safeguard and perpetuate it. The aim of the seminar in Rabat is, on the one hand, to enable exchanges between the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean and, on the other, to benefit from the vast experience of the south, with all the work published by the Rabita, the Zitouna, the Islamic Institute of Constantine and the Observatory of El Azhar, not forgetting all the university research. This important work is completely unknown in Europe. On the other hand, we need to collaborate and cooperate in this complex, global field. But how can we ensure that this event is not just another meeting on the subject? That’s why we thought we’d change the angle of approach, by giving a voice to those who are the most vulnerable but also the most affected by these radicalization phenomena, namely women and young people. The idea is to stop deciding for them, and let them propose. It’s a question of moving from “doing” to “having people do it”. We, the players, will be there to accompany them, support them, guide them in their decisions and help them put them into practice.

Introduction to the debate: Dr.Chafiaa Djouadi, Ambassador for Peace, gender expert, Université Toulouse IILES PARTICIPANTSM. Vivek Venkatesh, Unesco-Prev Canada ChairMrs Rawda Harb, Concordia University, unesco-Prev Canada ChairMrs Fatima Khachi, Deputy to the Secretary General Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean ItalyMounir Sy, Special Adviser to the President of the Republic of SenegalMrs Nour Fassi, INSA Euro-méditerranée (UEMF) engineering student, Moroccan equal opportunities representative

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Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (PAM) prize awarded to Professor Séraphin Alava and his team, Chafiaa Djouadi and Rasha Najem, for their work in engaging women and young people in the prevention of radicalization and extreme violence in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Mission 2: Training for education and health professionals in Tunisia

Place de la médiation intégrative dans la prise en charge des femmes et enfants issues d’une expérience de radicalisation violente, Workshop : Cycle 5, Hammamet, Tunisia, - November 15-17, 2019If the most likely number of Tunisian jihadists in conflict zones is 3,000 fighters, we have to assume that the number of women and children is as large, if not larger. From the outset, children were targeted, torn from their families and trained as child soldiers through daily religious indoctrination, combat training and resistance to pain and brutality. As for the women, they were locked up and sold into slavery, for the pleasure of the fighters but also to run their homes and bear their offspring. Children were also used as spies, porters or front-line soldiers, sometimes with their mothers. Women and children were often involved in the use of violence and were repeatedly exposed to physical, sexual and emotional force. After the defeat of the EI as a territorial entity, many child soldiers and young people returned to Tunisia. They are now particularly vulnerable to developing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Still considered a taboo issue by international and national bodies, the care of women and children born of combat experience today poses a serious rehabilitation problem. The needs of this category are varied and need to be adapted to the traumas they suffer, but to do this, social workers need to better understand the radicalization and the path taken by these women and children. This was the aim of the 3-day training course, which included 12 sessions.

Mission 3. Combating violence against women (Violence Based Gender)

Ending violence against women (Covid 19). Domestic violence: what rights in the private sphere? Intervention by Ms. Djouadi (online) at the Institut universitaire de la recherche scientifique, Rabat, Morocco. As part of her program “La vie quotidienne des femmes sous Covid-19”, l’Espace de médiation (#EsMed, radio medi1):

Mission introduction: “First of all, I’d like to say a word about this complicated situation of the Covid 19 epidemic. It’s an unprecedented situation for many of us, like a pause in time, even in the course of our history. For my part, I believe that this event, this plague, is an extremely important moment for humanity, because we are all experiencing the same situation at the same time, and we are all facing the same problem. A problem which, if we’re intelligent enough, could be the opportunity to call us to order and ask ourselves the real questions: what social system have we built? What are our priorities? What can we change? Have we really done the right thing? Is this the best system for a just and sustainable society? This period of confinement, if we use it wisely, could be a crucial moment to move forward and change what needs to be changed. Moreover, I hope we’ll contradict Paul Vallery’s dictum that “Man never learns from history”, because maybe this time we’ll do things differently? I deeply hope that we will learn from history and act for the better. (in progress)

Mission 4. L’intégration du genre dans les politiques publiques, gender mainstreaming

Training 1: The gender approach in deradicalization programs, mentoring, in prison. Integra project, ERASMUS, training on December 14, 2020.

INTEGRA is a European program that provides training for the MENTOR, a key player in the prison environment. Several EU member states have set up a mentoring system for radicalized people wishing to leave violent extremism. These mentors can be trained volunteers who act as role models and guides within society and for prisoners. But mentoring, until now, has been set up for men (mentors) working with male prisoners (mentee), yet the UN Security and Counter-terrorism estimates that 4% of fighters who joined Syria are women, of whom 3% have returned and 1% are still there. In France, around 30% of the 20,500 people listed in the Fichier des signalements pour la prévention et la radicalisation à caractère terroriste (FSPRT, Fiche S) are women. As a result, women’s radicalization can no longer be considered an epiphenomenon. Who are these radicalized women in prison? How do they follow deradicalization-rehabilitation programs? Do they have mentors? Who works with them? What do we know about their backgrounds? Are they victims or terrorists?

The training provides a profile of these women jihadists, enabling the introduction of a gender approach to overcome the idea that women’s involvement in jihadist extremism constitutes a form of deviance from the well-meaning norms of femininity. Radicalized women and jihadists are a reality to be taken into account in a specific social approach, linked to the gender dimension.

Les collaborations

Femwise (African Union): women ambassadors and mediators for peace.

Ms. Chafiaa Djouadi is a member of Femwise and Ambassador for Peace.FemWise-Africa was created by a decision of the 29th Session of the Assembly of the Union, in July 2017, almost 17 years after UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and related AU instruments on women, peace and security. FemWise-Africa is rooted in the African Union’s efforts to definitively integrate women’s participation in conflict prevention and mediation negotiations at all levels. It is part of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), as a subsidiary mechanism of the Panel of the Wise and the Pan-African Network of the Wise (Panwise).Ms. Chafiaa Djouadi, through the association Militants des savoirs, is involved in conflict resolution in Africa, promoting peace education.

La Chaire UNESCO-PREV

The Unesco-PREV Chair is the fruit of a close partnership between Université de Sherbrooke, Université du Québec à Montréal and Concordia University. Created in the fall of 2017, the Chair’s main mission is to act as a pole of excellence in order to develop, share and promote research and actions in the primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of violent radicalization and extremism. It ensures close collaboration between researchers and communities of practice from a comparative, multidisciplinary and North-South perspective. The association les Militants des savoirs is a member.

Masculinism, meninism, homonism: whatever the name of this movement, it generally refers to men’s demands as men to protect their masculinity. Masculinism is a proclamation of the patriarchal ideology that defends the androcentric perspective, which stipulates that man is the center of everything. More concretely, masculinism refers to all those men organized in “communities” on the Internet or in real life who wage a veritable “campaign” against women. This movement, which began with the cause of fathers, is a long way from that today, with new demands, new practices, a new discourse and a new space - in a word, a “new face”. Indeed, masculinists believe that they must organize the struggle to regain their rightful place as “men” and save the natural order of “patriarchy” that will protect their masculinity. To do this, they promote an ideology that is increasingly hateful and radical. They harass and threaten feminists and visible women such as journalists and activists. They call for rape, hatred and terror, inciting certain followers to take action and commit mass murder, specifically against women. The latest was in August 2021, when a 22-year-old man killed five women in Plymouth, UK, including a three-year-old child, to get back at them for being unloved and still a virgin.

Ideology, movement or current, masculinism has followers who structure and organize the fight to wage a kind of “war” against women considered “the enemy to be slaughtered”. The aim of this research project is to build a case to “alert” people to the dangers of masculinism for women, and to launch a reflection on masculinism as a new radicalization leading to violence, based on an ideology, a discourse, networks and increasingly extremist organized groups.