The European Peer Review of the Set The Tone project took place on 5 October 2021 in Brussels, Belgium and was organized by the project leader, Diesis Network. This report describes the entirety of the European peer review in eight pages. Feedback has been collected from relevant European actors in order to improve the project products and to ensure that they will be comprehensible enough.
The peer-review gathered different actors involved in the European debate on gender-based violence. The participants represented NGOs, trade unions, public authorities, and social enterprises. More specifically, they included representatives from:
- BPW Europe – a non-governmental organization, one of the most influential international networks of business and professional women with affiliates in 96 countries across five continents.
- European Network of Migrant Women – a migrant-women-led feminist, secular, non-partisan platform that advocates for the rights, freedoms and dignity of migrant, refugee and ethnic minority women and girls in Europe.
- European Women’s Lobby – the largest umbrella organisation of women’s associations in the European Union (EU), working to promote women’s rights and equality between women and men.
- CECOP – a European confederation of industrial and service cooperatives whose aim is to bring democracy and solidarity to the workplace, sustainable economic growth and social cohesion.
- European Professional Network – a Brussels-based civil society organization providing professionals in Belgium with services to foster career development, awareness-raising, network building and social enrichment by implementing projects on national and European level.
- European Forum for Restorative Justice – an international network organisation connecting members active in the field of restorative justice as practitioners, academics and policy makers throughout Europe and beyond.
The session was moderated by Diesis Network.
During the peer review several themes were highlighted that are key to addressing gender-based violence and sexual harassment at the workplace and for the definition of the training needs of enterprises. These themes included:
Gender-Based Violence and Workplace: What is the current situation and possible improvements?
Engagement of employers and employees in the fight: Why enterprises should improve to make the workplace a better environment for everyone?
Importance of Training and Awareness Campaign: How to increase the knowledge of workers’ rights in terms of sexual harassment.
From the European Peer Review, it was concluded that well-implemented raising awareness campaigns can show the extent to which employers and employees of all genders can become engaged in gender equality work, prevent cases of sexual harassment and violence and beat the spread of gender stereotypes and sexism in the workplace. The need to expand the equal participation and involvement of all genders was also underscored. The involvement of men in training and national campaigns in combating and preventing gender-based violence cases at the workplace was highlighted, as was the need for institutional will and commitment at the highest level to bring awareness to all employees and managers’ roles in combating GBV. Participants concluded by acknowledging the value of sharing experiences and fostering conversation on the development of training for companies, dialogue and awareness-raising and welcomed further discussions on this topic during the implementation of the Set The Tone project.
