Protect women's safety to achieve gender equality and ensure prosperity, equity and social welfare. Still too often, however, women face incidents that threaten their personal safety, such as violence, aggression, physical and psychological harassment, to which it is urgent to respond by putting in place concrete, tangible and immediate actions. But how relevant is the issue of personal safety to Italian women? How safe and protected do they feel? And how does fear for their own safety affect other aspects of their daily lives? This was revealed on International Women's Day by a recent survey conducted by Europ Assistance Italia in collaboration with BVA Doxa on the topic of women's safety. Seventy-three percent of the women surveyed consider the issue of safety extremely important on a social level, but even more so on a personal level (79%), with a particularly high level of attention in the older age group (55-64). About 70% of the sample considers the protection and security measures currently in place to be ineffective, with inadequate penalties especially in cases of violence. More than half of the women surveyed (59%) believe that the degree of emancipation and gender equality achieved has not reduced risks, and for 52%, law enforcement intervention is very often not up to par. Perplexity is also high with regard to school programs with 48% of the sample complaining about the lack of educational paths to raise awareness on the issue. For 42% of them, institutions have not increased their efforts to promote women's safety protection, and for 40%, collective awareness has not yet reached a good level of diffusion. As many as 59% of the women surveyed say they have experienced at least one incident of violence, particularly among young women aged 18-34. Specifically, 26% have been victims of psychological or verbal violence, such as threats or insults, 20% of stalking, and 17% of sexual harassment or violence. 80% of women who were victims of any incident of violence reacted actively, seeking help from friends or family members. Only 19% of the sample filed a complaint with law enforcement.
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