Rapporto di ricerca - Irlanda

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Behaviour and Attitude Change Study Report

Per country analysis

Country: IRELAND

This document has been produced with the financial support of the Rights, Equality and Citizenship (REC) Programme of the European Union. The contents are the sole responsibility of the CONVEY project partners and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission.

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1. PER COUNTRY ANALYSIS FOR IRELAND

Preliminary, Interim and Final questionnaires in Ireland were administered in spring 2019, from March to April. One secondary school in Cork was monitored throughout the course of this study, with a total of 26 female students responding to the surveys.

ANALYSIS OF THE SAMPLE OF RESPONDENTS:

A. Age

In relation to their sociodemographic information, the majority of respondents were sixteen years old (61.5%) with a sizeable minority at fifteen years of age (38.5%).

B. Gender

In relation to respondent gender, all students, identified as female. No respondent marked the ‘male’ or

‘other’ gender category.

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C. Special needs, impairments or disabilities

A minority of respondents (7.7%) disclosed that they consider themselves to have special needs/disabilities/impairments, as displayed below:

D. Live with

Departing from the traditional nuclear family make up, the majority of respondents lived with their mothers’ (38.1%) or siblings’ (25.4% with brother/s and 12.7% with sister/s), before their fathers’ (19%).

Only 1.2% answered to live with their uncle, and no one responded to living with an aunt, grandmother or grandfather. Participants utilized the ‘other’ category, in this context, to include their step-fathers (3.2%).

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E. Siblings

The vast majority of students (88.5%) have siblings, while a minority of just 11.5% answered that they do not have any.

Respondent siblings are mainly either 6-11 (25%), 20-22 (22.5%) or 12-15 (17.5%) years old. 10% have siblings less than 5 years old, 7.5% have siblings aged 16-17, 5% have siblings aged 18-19, 10% have brothers or sisters between the ages of 23-26 and 2.5% have siblings 30-36 years of age.

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F. Language spoken at home

All Irish students and some non-Irish students said they spoke English at home (84.6%). However, 15.4% of participants speak Croatian, German, Spanish or Polish in the home.

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3.1.1. ROLES AND GENDER STEREOTYPES

A. In general

The following questions relate to gender roles and stereotypes generally, without being siphoned into more specific contexts. This general section of analysis relates to female role models and gender roles in the media, before exploring the gender roles present at work and at home. The sexualization of women, intimate relations, violence and harassment, and consent will be investigated. Additionally, the reactions, justifications and victim-blaming attitudes will also be examined.

The female students originally believed that they did not have enough role models, especially at the midpoint of their learning. Upon completion of the pilot programme, however, it seems that students learned more about positive role models. This trend could be explained by the increasing awareness and understanding of what it is to be a female role model during the programme and a discussion on the possible alternative female role models that students were unaware of.

As media is an integral part to the lives young people today, examining gender roles in different types of media poses as very important for this study. In a media-saturated culture, critical media analysis is imperative. The three types of media considered were printed media, electronic media and social media.

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initial interim final

Teenage girls do not have enough female role models

Agree Disagree No response

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Increased awareness of the different roles for women and men in printed media is evident above, through the three questionnaires administered. Below, opinions were shown to be disparate at the initial workshop and evidenced understanding, as students more harmoniously concluded that there is a level of

acceptability for said gender roles by printed media at the end of the programme.

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Printed Media support different roles for women and men.

Agree Somewhat agree Somewhat disagree Disagree No response

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Such support by printed media is acceptable.

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Generally speaking, there was a growing consensus that electronic media supported different roles for women and men. Below, students resolved that it is not acceptable electronic media to support different roles for women and men, potentially because they believe modern technology should be held to a higher account or be ‘modern’ in its understanding of gender.

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Electronic Media support different roles for women and men

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Such support by electronic media is acceptable.

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Similarly, students had little critical awareness of gender roles present in media at the outset of the

programme. As with electronic media, there was a growing consensus that social media supported different roles for women and men throughout the workshops. Students also came to the conclusion that the support of gender roles by social media is unacceptable. Again, this may be attributed to the higher standard students have for the modern forms of media that they are using themselves rather than printed media.

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Social Media support different roles for men and women/ boys and girls.

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Such support of gender roles by social media is acceptable.

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B. Within the Family

Respondents seem to agree that mothers and fathers have the same responsibilities to their families throughout the programme. A significant difference exists between the two responses, and does not waver throughout the programme. Despite this agreement, the responsibilities respondents offered as examples partially relied on gender stereotypes.

The main responsibilities for the father in the family that were mentioned included: protecting the family, paying the bills, taking care of the family, providing, emotionally supporting the wife and children, and working. The main responsibilities for the mother comprised: love, provide, work, look after the house, be responsible, cook, look after the children, and provide emotional support to husband and children.

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Do you agree that mothers and fathers have the same responsibilities to their family?

Yes No No response

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C. At Work

In relation to roles at work, the majority of respondants answered ‘YES’ for all three surveys indicating an awareness of gender inequality in the labour market. Most of the respondents reasoned that some jobs are better suited stronger people and, stereotypically speaking, would therefore be more suitable for men.

Despite having a smaller margin of consensus, women were also seen as suiting certain careers moreso than men. The jobs that were suggested, however, also relied on gender stereotypes of care-giving professions and their assumed link with femininity. Among those who disagreed with the statement, gender equality was the consistent reason supplied.

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Do you agree that some jobs are more appropriate for men?

Yes No No response

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0 0 0

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Do you agree that some jobs are more appropriate for women?

Yes No No response

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D. Sexualization of women

In relation to respondents’ comprehension and acceptance of the sexualization of women, the majority of respondents answered ‘DISAGREE’ to the question of whether teenage girls should follow the trend and fashion so that they can be sexually attractive. No ‘AGREE’ answers were recorded. As an all-female sample, students most likely responded personally. It is possible that by would think that by responding ‘AGREE’, they would be suggesting that they personally follow the trend to be sexually attractive.

For whether teenage girls who view sexually objectifying images of women on the Internet are more likely to accept violence, respondents were consistent throughout the initial, interim and final stages of the pilot programme. Although CONVEY was taking the opposite stance, by agreeing with the following statement students may feel like they are admitting that they ‘accept violence’, as sexually objectifying images are unavoidable in contemporary times. In addition, the increase of students who came to ‘DISAGREE’ could have answered as such due to growing confidence with regard to their new critical media skills.

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Teenage girls should follow the trend and fashion so that they can be sexually attractive

Agree Do not agree No response

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With regards to victim-blaming attitudes, 88% of respondents were in agreement that girls are not ‘easy’ or

‘asking for it’ when they wear provocative clothing, nor do they wear such clothing for the attention of boys.

By the conclusion of the programme, just one student still aligned themselves with a victim-blaming attitude and the majority of students (96%) answered ‘DISAGREE’. Similarly, the statement: ‘A lot of times, women who say they are raped had led the man on and then had regretted it’, was not supported. The increase in the ‘DISAGREE’ and ‘SOMEWHAT DISAGREE’ category for this topic is high, while ‘AGREE’ and ‘SOMEWHAT AGREE’ lost their hold by the final questionnaire.

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Teenage girls who view sexually objectifying images of women on the Internet are more likely

to accept violence

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A girl who wears provocative clothing is an ‘easy one’ or is ‘asking for it’ and dresses provocatively

to catch the attention and sexual desire of boys

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A significant change in attitudes can be seen here, where all respondents consolidated the view that women do not claim to be raped because they regretted having sex. This attitudinal shift could imply a possible positive influence of the training course and video game on young student’s awareness and type of active reaction when witnessing violence situations in relationships.

3.1.2. INTIMATE RELATIONS A. Slap

In relation to student’s awareness and acceptance of what constitutes violence in intimate relations, a substantial number of respondents answered ‘YES’ to the category ‘If in a couple on partner slaps the other is this violence?’. The main hesitation of whether slapping constituted violence (referring to the ‘depends on the reason’ reply) regarded when slapping was done as a joke. It appears that this explanation remained a valid one upon conclusion, however the vast majority remained in agreement that a slap always constitutes violence.

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A lot of the time, women who say they were raped had led the man on and then had regretted it.

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B. Sex

No students disagreed with the statement: ‘If two people are in a relationship, and one forces the other to have sex, is this a form of violence?’. With the exception of one student, all participants replied in all three moments of the study. The awareness of this type of violence in the surveyed sample appears to have predated the pilot programme.

In line with the attitudes above, participants were in strong consensus throughout the three questionnaires, acknowledging the severity of forcing someone to have sex. Quite serious answers did not alter, however, but were otherwise a small minority.

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If in a couple, one partner slaps the other, is this violence?

Yes No It depends on the reason No response

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If two people are in a relationship, and one forces the other to have sex, is this a form of

violence?

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When differentiating whether forced sex is considered a form of violence if it is perpetuated by a man or a woman, students classified both scenarios as very serious or quite serious without little variation on the basis of gender. Quite serious answers were in decline overall, with the same level of severity being attributed to both men and women who force the other to have sex. This might suggest a slight impact of the programme on student’s awareness and decrease in acceptance of the phenomenon of forced sex either partner.

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If you answered yes to the above question, how serious do you think this is?

Very serious Quite serious Not that serious Not at all serious No response

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If you answered yes to the following question, how serious do you think this is?

Q: If two people are in a relationship, and the man forces the woman to have sex, is this a form of violence?

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C. Reaction

A significant number of participants believed they would physically or verbally intervene if they witnessed an assault. The lead response was to say something to help, and physical intervention as the second most popular avenue decreased slightly over the course of the programme. This could be explained by an increased rational understanding of how physically intervening in a violent situation may be dangerous and counter-productive to one’s goal to help. A small but consistent number of applicants believed they would

‘say nothing’ and so were not empowered by this pilot programme.

There is, however, a completely unanimous response for reactions to seeing ‘a female family member or close friend being physically assaulted by her partner’. In this case, physical and verbal interventions are tied for the most common answer. Both responses are stable throughout the study and substantially higher than the other options.

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If you answered yes to the above question, how serious do you think this is?

Q: If two people are in a relationship, and the woman forces the man to have sex, is this a form of violence

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How do you think you would react if you saw a woman/girl being physically assaulted by her partner?

Ignore Say nothing Intervene Say something to help Other No response

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D. Justification

Respondents consistently disagreed with the notion that ‘domestic violence is a private matter and should be handled in the family’. The ‘AGREE’ trend is slightly in decline, positively shifting the attitudes of students by 7%, according to the research results.

Respondents almost unanimously and consistently disagreed with the following statement. The one student who harbored the belief that ‘a woman cannot be raped by someone she is in a sexual relationship with’

and responded ‘SOMEWHAT AGREE’, had her mind changed by the completion of the programme. Such results suggest the awareness-raising potential on the matter by the training course.

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How would you react if you saw a female family member or close friend being physically assaulted by her partner?

Ignore Say nothing Intervene Say something to help Other No response

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Domestic violence is a private matter and should be handled in the family.

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With regard to whether a woman reports assault or harassment, students disagreed with the suggestion that women should sort it out themselves, with a slight positive trend. No students agreed with this statement, indicating a positive effect on their understanding of reactions and justification to sexual harassment situations.

3.1.3. STALKING AND CONTROLLING BEHAVIOUR

A. Stalking and controlling behavior

The only reservations a small minority had with classifying stalking as a form of violence was that their conception of violence required a physical element. This literal interpretation was held by 3-4 respondents, with the overwhelming majority recognizing its harm as one that amounts to violence. The ‘it depends on the reason’ had minimal engagement, with one student at least believing that if stalking was being done in

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A woman cannot be raped by someone she is in a sexual relationship with.

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Women who are sexually assaulted or harassed should sort it out themselves

rather than report it.

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an effort to make someone safe, it was not violence. That category steadily decreased throughout the pilot programme.

Awareness on offline violence is reflected by the results in the chart below. The majority consented that

‘harassment via repeated phone calls, emails, text messages and the like is a form of violence’, and almost no one dissented. All results remained stable from the initial questionnaire to the final questionnaire.

A negative trend formed in the chart below in relation to whether keeping ‘track of a woman’s location and activities’ constitutes violence. Though the decrease is minute, there was also a slight increase in the ‘No’

responses and the pilot programme may need to adapt to address this trend, depending on the results from other countries. The statement in question may be difficult for participants to critically engage with, as they are from a generation where Snapchat ‘snap maps’ and other social media locations are both normalized and accepted. Participants may have possibly understood this statement to read as ‘taking interest in their

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Do you think that repeatedly following or watching someone at home or at work (stalking) is a form of

violence?

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Do you think that harassment via repeated phone calls, emails, text messages and the like is a form of violence?

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partner’s activities and whereabouts’, in a more innocent interpretation, although this cannot be said conclusively by any means.

3.1.4. SEXUAL VIOLENCE

A. Justifying men

Overall, students disagreed with the fact that a man is less responsible for rape if he is under the use of drugs or alcohol. In fact, most participants consolidated this view and shifted their beliefs positively.

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If a man keeps track of a woman’s location and activities, would you say this is violence?

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A man is less responsible for rape if he is drunk or under the influence

of drugs at the time.

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A positive increase in the following question, from initial questionnaire to final questionnaire, evidences the potential of a positive impact from the training programme. In the same context, male responsibility on rape situations, participants hardened their disagreement by the time the final questionnaires were administered, while any agreement options were quashed. It would appear that the CONVEY game and course might have had a positive effect on student’s acceptance of the justification of men in rape situations.

B. Victim blaming

A positive attitude shift can also be seen in relation to the statement ‘if a woman goes to a room alone with a man at a party, it is her fault if she is raped’. Students almost unanimously disagreed from the outset and the small minority who somewhat agreed decreased completely.

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Rape results from men not being able to control their natural need for sex.

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If a woman goes to a room alone with a man at a party, it is her fault if she is raped.

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All students evidenced a strong understanding of victim-blaming by the end of the pilot programme. In relation to women being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, students disagreed that women are at least partially responsible. ‘DISAGREE’ replies are in evident rise, while the sole ‘SOMEWHAT AGREE’

response disappears by the interim questionnaire. Those who softly disagreed had hardened their stance by the conclusion of course. This might imply a relation between the pilot programme and victim-blaming understanding in surveyed students in Ireland.

C. Consent

In the final section, the perception and understanding of consent was analysed. The students who believed that ‘if a woman does not physicially resist, even if protesting verbally, then it is not really rape’ halved over the course of the study. In addition to this, the number who agreed in any capacity was limited from the outset. There was a small increase in the ‘DISAGREE’ responses throughout the training programme.

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If a woman is sexually assaulted while she is drunk or is under the influence of drugs, she is at least partly

responsible for the assault.

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If a woman does not physically resist, even if protesting verbally, then it is not really rape.

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Regarding the ‘women often say no when they really mean yes’ question, there is an obvious increase in disagreement to the statement as well as the disappearance of agree-related options. The research results here may indicate a positive change in attitude and behavioral change in relation to this topic of consent, due to the extensive coverage of the topic during the programme.

3.1.5. CONCLUSION

In summary most respondents’ attitudes positively changed to align with the CONVEY programme objectives, according to the analysis above. The behaviour change was most notable in relation to the question: ‘a lot of the time, women who say they were raped had led the man on and then had regretted it’, and the acceptability of gender roles in Electronic and Social Media. In most cases the positive change was not extensive, and this can be explained by two reasons. Firstly, the surveyed sample of female students held a pre-existing positive awareness of victim-blaming, gender-based violence and media literacy.

Secondly, to accommodate schools, students, exam periods and holidays, there was limited time available for teachers to deliver the pilot programme. Though some of the changes were minimal, the changes altered the attitudes of the few students’ who had reservations, and in a positive sense. Overall the content of the training positively influenced young people’s attitudes and the opportunity to discuss openly what does not always receive mention was incredibly valuable.

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Women often say ‘no’ when they really mean

‘yes’.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cresswell, J.W. (2014) Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches. Sage Publications.

Groves, R. et al. (2009) Survey Methodology (2^nd Ed.) Wiley.