‘43 percent of women subjected to physical violence’

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Health and Social Service Laborers' Union (SES) held a press conference to share the results of its "Study on Violence Against Women in the Field of Healthcare and Social Service" yesterday (February 17).

Addressing the public and reporters at the Central Office of the SES in the capital city of Ankara, the union's conference was attended by its Central Executive Board members. The banner in the meeting hall read, "Male violence is not an isolated incident, it is political.

According to the report read out by SES Women's Secretary Gönül Adıbelli on behalf of the union, a web-based survey was conducted with health laborers working in the field of healthcare and social service in 52 provinces of Turkey from November 10 to 22, 2020.

Covering psychological violence, mobbing, economic violence, digital violence, physical violence and sexual violence, the report has been prepared based on the accounts of 663 people, 617 of whom were women, which means that the opinions of men are also reflected in the report.

81 percent subjected to psychological violence

According to the survey results, 81 percent of female respondents said that they were subjected to psychological violence. While 37 percent said they were subjected to economic violence, 43 percent and 26 percent respectively said that they were subjected to physical and sexual violence.

"Apart from violence, 80 percent of female laborers working in our field said that they were subjected to mobbing and 35 percent said that they were subjected to digital violence," underlined Adıbelli.

According to the survey results of the union, 502 women indicated that they were subjected to psychological violence in their workplaces. The most frequently encountered form of psychological violence was reportedly insults and verbal harassment with 56 percent.

Adıbelli noted that as the participants could pick more than one type of violence that they were subjected to, the total percentage exceeded a hundred. "68 percent of female participants said that they were subjected to their managers' psychological violence," added Adıbelli.

7 percent said the risk was still in place

According to the report, while 43 percent of women said that they were subjected to physical violence, 13 percent of these women noted that the violence was still ongoing. 29 percent stated that they were subjected to the violence of their husbands, partners, parents or siblings.

26 percent of women also said that they were subjected to sexual violence; 7 percent of them added that the violence risk was still in place. 

Nurses subjected to mobbing most

The survey results have also shown that 89 percent of the women did not know what mobbing was and 74 percent did not know what to do in the event of mobbing. Accordingly, 80 percent of the women said that they were subjected to mobbing in their professional lives and 80 percent said that they were subjected to the mobbing of their managers and directors.

When considered in terms of educational background, age, marital status and title, the groups who were subjected to mobbing most frequently were BA graduates (71 percent), those in the 39 and 41-50 age group, married women (57 percent) and nurses (47 percent). (EMK/SD)