Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva

Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia and President of the Coordination Body for Gender Equality Zorana Mihajlović stated on 2 October that young people need to be educated, and that a change is needed in the patriarchal thought patterns in society that frequently divert the responsibility for violence to the victim.

In a public statement Mihajlović said it is a devastating fact that one in four young men in Serbia believe a slap is not violence, one in ten believe it is sometimes justified to hit one’s girlfriend, while one fourth of them believe sexual harassment is part of a joke and of growing up.

She said this speaks in favour of starting to combat gender-based violence at the earliest age, teaching boys and girls about gender equality and the need to respect one another, thereby creating the non-violent society we tend towards.

The responsibility for violence may not be placed on the victim, said Mihajlović, recalling that the new gender equality law envisages specialized measures for combating violence against women, work on the prevention of violence, as well as education and the introduction of gender equality into the educational system.

Source: www.srbija.gov.rs