Behaviour and Attitude Change Study Report
Per country analysis
Country: BULGARIA
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.
INTRODUCTION
In order to evaluate the impact and the effectiveness of the Pilot Programme intervention, students completed a set of 3 questionnaires administered before (Preliminary Questionnaire), during (Interim Questionnaire) and after (Final Questionnaire) the completion of the workshops.
The present report will present the results of the quantitative research conducted on the results of the three questionnaires with the aim of measuring the attitude and the behavioral change in the target group of school students 14-18 years old.
Preliminary, Interim and Final questionnaires in Bulgaria were administered in the month of March in the city of Plovdiv to a total of 51 students who responded to the survey. All participants stated to be Bulgarian.
1. ANALYSIS OF THE SAMPLE OF RESPONDENTS (Demographic information) A. Age
In relation to their sociodemographic information, respondent age spanned mainly between 14 and 18. The majority of students who answered to the questionnaires in Bulgaria were 14 years old (51,0%).
Age
Frequenza Percentuale
Percentuale valida
Percentuale cumulativa
Valido Fourteen 26 ,0 51,0 51,0
Fifteen 3 ,0 5,9 56,9
Sixteen 7 ,0 13,7 70,6
Seventeen 10 ,0 19,6 90,2
Eighteen 5 ,0 9,8 100,0
Totale 51 ,0 100,0
B. Gender
In relation to respondent gender, 25 students, corresponding to 49% were girls, while 26, equal to 51% were boys. No respondent marked the ‘other’ gender category.
Gender
Frequenza Percentuale
Percentuale valida
Percentuale cumulativa
Valido Girl 25 ,0 49,0 49,0
Boy 26 ,0 51,0 100,0
Totale 51 ,0 100,0
C. Special Needs
No participant said to have/or consider her/himself to have any special needs/disabilities/impairments, as shown in the pie chart below:
Do you have/consider yourself having special needs/disabilities/impairments?
Frequenza Percentuale
Percentuale valida
Percentuale cumulativa
Valido No 51 ,0 100,0 100,0
D. Live with
Frequenze $live_with
Risposte Percentuale di casi N Percentuale
Who do you live with?a MOTHER 51 40,5% 100,0%
FATHER 50 39,7% 98,0%
BROTHER 11 8,7% 21,6%
SISTER 12 9,5% 23,5%
GRANDMOTHER 1 0,8% 2,0%
GRANDFATHER 1 0,8% 2,0%
Totale 126 100,0% 247,1%
a. Gruppo di dicotomia ordinato in tabelle al valore 1.
E. Siblings
A total of 43,1% of students have siblings, while a majority 56,9% answered that they do not have any brothers or sisters.
Do you have siblings?
Frequenza Percentuale
Percentuale valida
Percentuale cumulativa
Valido Yes 22 ,0 43,1 43,1
No 29 ,0 56,9 100,0
Totale 51 ,0 100,0
Siblings_age
Respondent siblings are mainly 12-15 (56,5%), 16-17 (17,4%) or 6-11 (13%) years old. 4,3% have siblings less than 5 years old, and the same percentage have siblings age 18-19 and 20-22.
Risposte Percentuale di casi N Percentuale
$siblings_agea 5< 1 4,3% 4,8%
6-11 3 13,0% 14,3%
12-15 13 56,5% 61,9%
16-17 4 17,4% 19,0%
18-19 1 4,3% 4,8%
20-22 1 4,3% 4,8%
Totale 23 100,0% 109,5%
F. Language spoken at home
All 51 participants speak Bulgarian at home.
1.1.1. ROLES AND GENDER STEREOTYPES A. In general
The Bulgarian respondents though that enough female role models are available for teenage girls, in fact, ‘DISAGREE’ answers slightly exceed the ‘AGREE’ answers for this category in initial and interim questionnaire. For instance, for the preliminary questionnaire, 22 replied ‘AGREE’, while 28 replied ‘NO’, and 1 participant did not respond. In the interim survey, 25 people replied ‘YES’ while ‘26’ replied ‘NO. For the final questionnaire we see a very huge variation/contrast , 44 replied ‘YES’ and only 7 replied ‘NO’. That means that the results in this category imply that it is possible the CONVEY pilot programme rendered students more awareness about female role models and helped to recognized them in their daily lives.
• [3c]
Considering the evermore relevant role of media in our lives, looking into the support of gender roles in different types of media poses as very important for this study. The three types of media considered were printed media, electronic media and social media.
22 25
44
28 26
7
1 0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
Teenage girls do not have enough female role models
TRUE/AGREE FALSE/DON'T AGREE NO RESPONSE
5
23
0
18 16
10 27
7
23
1
5
18
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
Printed Media support different roles for women and men.
AGREE SOMEWHAT AGREE SOMEWHAT DISAGREE DISAGREE
• [8b]
5
11
1 27
7
17 17
14
22
2
19
11
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
Such support by printed media is acceptable.
AGREE SOMEWHAT AGREE SOMEWHAT DISAGREE DISAGREE
23
20
0 19
3 3
6
9
27
3
19 21
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
Electronic Media support different roles for women and men.
AGREE SOMEWHAT AGREE SOMEWHAT DISAGREE DISAGREE
21
8
0 22
16
10 5
17
27
3
10
14
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
Such support by electronic media is acceptable.
AGREE SOMEWHAT AGREE SOMEWHAT DISAGREE DISAGREE
7
18
11 24
20
25
14
8
15
6 5
0 0
5 10 15 20 25 30
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
Social Media support different roles for men and women/ boys and girls.
AGREE SOMEWHAT AGREE SOMEWHAT DISAGREE DISAGREE
B. Within the Family
At the initial questionnaire 30 of the respondents agreed that mothers and fathers have the same responsibilities, while 21 disagreed. The answers from the interim and final questionnaire are totally different – only 7 of the respondents agreed, while 44 of them disagreed, which turnaround may be due to the sessions with students.
The main responsibilities for the father and mother in the family were not mentioned.
21
14
20
12
9
25
11
16
7 6
11
0 0
5 10 15 20 25 30
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
Such support of gender roles by social media is acceptable.
AGREE SOMEWHAT AGREE SOMEWHAT DISAGREE DISAGREE
30
7 7
21
44 44
0 10 20 30 40 50
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
Do you agree that mothers and fathers have the same responsibilitites to their family?
YES NO
C. At Work
In relation to roles at work, the majority of respondents answered ‘YES’ for all three surveys indicating a negative acceptance to gender equality in the labour market - 36 in the initial, 35 in the interim and also 35 in the final questionnaires. During the training course and videogame on students’ awareness of the role of men at work, we have noticed that most of the respondents truly believe that “heavy” or “dangerous” jobs are not appropriate for women.
Not surprisingly the majority of respondents answered ‘YES’ for all three questionnaires.
Most of them think that women are frequently employed as teachers, nurses, pharmacists, sales clerks, and laborers, and less often involved in management, administration, and technical sciences. Women are also largely responsible for household tasks—child care, cooking, cleaning, and shopping. Agricultural labor is divided according to gender, with men working with animals and machinery and women doing more hand labor in crop production, although flexibility exists in response to specific situations.
36 35 35
15 16 16
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
Do you agree that some jobs are more appropriate for men?
YES NO
D. Sexualization of women
In relation with understanding and accepting the sexualization of women 30 respondents answered ‘Agree’ in the initial questionnaire, but in interim (32) and final (45) we see the majority ‘Disagree’ with it. During the session the respondents realized that teenage girls should not follow the trend and fashion so that they can be sexually attractive and that is the reason why we see on the chart below decrease of the answer
‘Agree’ from 30 (initial) to 6 (final).
Respondents totally ‘Disagree’ in the initial questionnaire for whether teenage girls who
41 43 43
10 8 8
0 10 20 30 40 50
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
Do you agree that some jobs are more appropriate for women?
YES NO
30
19
6 21
32
45
0 10 20 30 40 50
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
Teenage girls should follow the trend and fashion so that they can be sexually attractive.
TRUE/AGREE FALSE/DON'T AGREE
violence, in the interim 26 answered ‘Agree’ and 25 “Disagree’, and in the final we see that almost all of them changed their way of thinking and answered ‘Agree’ (42).
In the initial questionnaire 27 of the respondents answered ‘Agree’ and 24 ‘Disagree’, while in interim and final (42 and 44) they answered ‘Disagree’ that 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.
On women’s responsibility in relation to rape we see an increase in the ‘Disagree’ for the ‘A lot of times, women who say they are raped had led the man on and then had regretted it’, while ‘Agree’, ‘Somewhat Agree’ and ‘Somewhat Disagree’ are in decline.
1
26
42 49
25
9
1 0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
Teenage girls who view sexually objectifying images of women on the Internet are more likely
to accept violence
TRUE/AGREE FALSE/DON'T AGREE NO RESPONSE
27
7 7
24
42 44
0 2 0
0 10 20 30 40 50
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
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.
TRUE/AGREE FALSE/DON'T AGREE NO RESPONSE
1.1.2. INTIMATE RELATIONS A. Slap
In relation to student’s awareness and acceptance of what constitutes violence in intimate relations, most of the respondents answered ‘YES’ to the category ‘If in a couple on partner slaps the other is this violence?’. Positive results may be related to a possible positive impact of the CONVEY pilot programme in relation to slapping within a
couple.
1
17
4 8 0
0 36
13
0
10 12
51
0 1 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
A lot of time, women who say they were raped had led the man on and then had regretted it.
AGREE SOMEWHAT AGREE SOMEWHAT DISAGREE DISAGREE NO RESPONSE
33 37
45
18
14
6 0
10 20 30 40 50
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
If in a couple, one partner slaps the other, is this violence?
TRUE/AGREE FALSE/DON'T AGREE
B. Sex
As we see from the charts below respondents sometimes have a hard time recognizing Intimate Partner Sexual Violence as violence. There is still an assumption of consent—
that once two people are in a relationship, they passively consent to all future acts. But fortunately in the final questionnaire almost all of them agreed that it is a form of violence and it is very serious.
30
15
45
21
36
6
0 0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
If two people are in a relationship, and one forces the other to have sex, is this a form of violence?
YES NO IT DEPENDS ON THE REASON
19
0 1
10
8
16
1
7
9
0 0 0
0 5 10 15 20
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
If you answered yes to the above question, how serious do you think this is?
VERY SERIOUS QUIET SERIOUS NOT THAT SERIOUS NOT AT ALL SERIOUS
C. Reaction
For ‘how would you react if you saw a woman/girl being physically assaulted by her partner’, replies are very different which only show us that the respondents are not quite sure how they would react. At the final questionnaire most of them answered intervention and try to stop the violent person (20), together with say or do something else to help (19).
For ‘how would you react if you saw a female family member or close friend being physically assaulted by her partner’, the answers are almost the same.
Saying something else to help and intervening seem to be the most popular options in both cases implying 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.
35
0 2
4
17
37
0
12
0
0 0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
If you answered yes to the above question, how serious do you think this is?
VERY SERIOUS QUIET SERIOUS NOT THAT SERIOUS NOT AT ALL SERIOUS
11
0
6 20
12
6 17
12
20
6
29
19
0 0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
How do you think you would react if you saw a woman/girl being physically assaulted by her
partne
IGNORE
FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE BUT SAY NOTHING
PHYSICALLY INTERVENE TO TRY AND STOP THE VIOLENT PERSON SAY OR DO SOMETHING ELSE TO HELP
OTHER
D. Justification
At the beginning respondents (35) agreed with the fact that domestic violence is a private matter and should be handled in the family. But in fact, almost the majority of surveyed students replied, ‘DO NOT AGREE’ in the final questionnaire. We talked a lot and gave awareness of domestic violence so they can recognise it, as you can see from the chart below only 5 respondents answered ‘Agree’ in the final questionnaire.
Domestic violence is no longer a private matter, but a community responsibility that’s why we have to talk open and clear about it.
18
0
6 21
0 5 6
38
20
7
13
19
0 0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
How do you think you would react if you saw a female family member or close friend being
physically assaulted by her partner?
IGNORE
FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE BUT SAY NOTHING
PHYSICALLY INTERVENE TO TRY AND STOP THE VIOLENT PERSON SAY OR DO SOMETHING ELSE TO HELP
OTHER
Respondents disagreed with the fact that a woman cannot be raped by someone she is in a sexual relationship with. Such results shed light on the possible raising awareness of students on the matter by the training course.
On a woman reporting or not reporting assault or harassment, respondents disagreed with the fact that women should sort it out themselves.
35 31
5
16 20
46
0 10 20 30 40 50
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
Domestic violenc is a private matter and should be handled in the family
AGREE DO NOT AGREE
20
0 0
17
44
0
6 7
0 8
0
51
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
A woman cannot be raped by someone she is in a sexual relationship with.
AGREE SOMEWHAT AGREE SOMEWHAT DISAGREE DISAGREE
1.1.3. STALKING AND CONTROLLING BEHAVIOUR A. Stalking and controlling behaviour
Respondents were not well aware of what offline stalking meant. In fact, some of them thought that if you’re in a relationship and your girlfriend/boyfriend is cheating on you it is normal to follow or watch him/her at home or at work. But nevertheless 39 answered that it is a form of violence.
2 0 0
6
0 0
5 0 0
38
51 51
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
Women who are sexually assaulted or harassed should sort it out themselves rather that report
it.
AGREE SOMEWHAT AGREE SOMEWHAT DISAGREE DISAGREE
49
10
39
2
41
12
0 0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
Do you think that repeatedly following or watching someone at home or at work (stalking)
is a form of violence?
YES NO IT DEPENDS ON THE REASON
Awareness on offline violence reflected on the results below. The majority answered
‘Yes’ in the final questionnaire might imply a positive effect of the CONVEY training course on student’s attitudes towards sexual violence in Bulgaria.
On the chart below we can also see the positive effect of the CONVEY training course.
At the initial and interim questionnaires almost everybody thought that if a man keeps track of a woman’s location and activities this is not violence, while in the final questionnaire we see the opposite – 43 answered that it is violence.
Only 20 respondents think that if a woman keeps track of a woman’s location and activities it is violence.
24
31
41
26
20
9
1 0 1
0 10 20 30 40 50
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
Do you think that harassment via repeated phone calls, emails, text messages and the like is a form
of violence?
YES NO IT DEPENDS ON THE REASON
4
14
43 47
37
8
0 0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
If a man keeps track of a woman's location and activities, would you say this is violence?
YES NO IT DEPENDS ON THE REASON
1.1.4. SEXUAL VIOLENCE
A. Justifying men
When we talked about the fact that a man is less responsible for rape if he is under the use of drugs or alcohol the students was a little bit confused, but it would appear that the CONVEY game and training course might have had a positive effect on student’s acceptance of the justification of men in rape situations. In the final questionnaire all of the respondents (51) ‘Disagree’ with it.
9
0
20 41
51
31
1 0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
If a woman keeps track of a woman's location and activities, would you say this is violence?
YES NO IT DEPENDS ON THE REASON
The respondents totally ‘Disagree’ that rape results from men not being able to control their need.
B. Victim blaming
Concerning victim blaming, disagreement options were on the rise towards the final questionnaires while agreement option in decrease. If you don't consent to sex & someone forces you to do something sexual, this is sexual assault, or rape. It is never your fault if someone hurts you. Nevertheless in
0
17
0
8 8
0
15 13
0 28
0
51
0 1 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
A man is less responsible for rape if he is drunk or under the influence of drugs at the time.
AGREE SOMEWHAT AGREE SOMEWHAT DISAGREE DISAGREE NO RESPONSE
2 0 0
15
0 0
27
0 0
7
51 51
0 0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
Rape results from men not being able to control their natural need for sex.
AGREE SOMEWHAT AGREE SOMEWHAT DISAGREE DISAGREE NO RESPONSE
the final questionnaire 7 respondents answered ‘Somewhat Agree’, and 5
‘Somewhat Disagree’.
Here we also see an increasing disagreement in the final questionnaire, although in the initial and interim questionnaires 21 and 29 students respectively ‘Somewhat Agree’
with. We observe success as victim blaming is among the most spread practices when it comes to sexual violence.
1
17
0 24
0
7 18
11 8 5
23
39
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
If a woman goes to a room alone with a man at a party, it is her fault if she is raped.
AGREE SOMEWHAT AGREE SOMEWHAT DISAGREE DISAGREE
2 4 4
21
29
8 23
5
9 5
13
30
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
If a woman is sexually assaulted while she is drunk or is under the influence of drugs, she is at
least partially responsible for the assault.
AGREE SOMEWHAT AGREE SOMEWHAT DISAGREE DISAGREE
C. Consent
Everybody disagreed in the final questionnaire with the statement of ‘if a woman does not physically resist, even if protesting verbally then it is not really rape’.
For the ‘women often say no when they really mean yes’ question, there is an evident increasing disagreement to the statement.
0 0 0
19
7
0 23
16
0 9
28
51
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
If a woman does not physically resist, even if protesting verbally, then it is not really rape.
AGREE SOMEWHAT AGREE SOMEWHAT DISAGREE DISAGREE
1 3
1
5 5
2 34
25 23
11
18
25
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
INITIAL INTERIM FINAL
Women often say 'no' when they really mean 'yes'.
AGREE SOMEWHAT AGREE SOMEWHAT DISAGREE DISAGREE
Conclusion
Our society don’t recognize gender stereotypes and gender roles contributing to sexual violence and sexual harassment. Bulgarian women live in a society that is customarily patriarchal. While Bulgaria is often described as a patriarchal society, women may have substantial authority in household budgeting or agricultural decision making. Despite decades of socialist ideology of gender equality, women are often employed in lower paying jobs, remain responsible for most household chores, and represent more than half the registered unemployed. They also occupy leadership positions less frequently than men. The relationship model is a patriarchal one.
For some students, the concepts presented in the Pilot Programme and the CONVEY Not a Game were new. For example, they did not make differentiation between sex and gender. In Bulgaria these terms are overlapping and we don’t have separate words.
Also, because of the negative public campaign on the Council of Europe’s Convention
№210 on prevention against violence against women and domestic violence (so-called Istanbul Convention), students were ambivalent about the meaning of the word “gender”
and the concept behind it – they were not familiar how gender builds up our identities and further serve as an explanation of oppresion to some social groups.
Therefore, at the beginning of the workshops, the majority of students shared stereotypical opinions on gender roles and sexual violence. For instance, they thought of sexual harassment and violence as phenomena that can happen in the street/at the disco/outside, perpetrated by strangers. No one made a relation to domestic violence or violence by someone you know. Also, they had very romantic notions on jealousy, giving examples from popular culture and media. It was clear that are influenced by mainstream media trends that portrays women in a subordinate role to men.
During the work with youngsters, the CONVEY Not A Game was a tool that provided different viewpoint to their opinions – it helped them to ponder over relations and nuances of violence that are often normalized by society. For example, they understood that stalking is not normal even if you are in a relationship with that person.
Based on our experience, our conclusions from the work on the Pilot Programme and the Convey Not A Game are:
1. All participants were of the opinion that the educational tools were an innovative way to acquire practical and theoretical skills that will serve them for life – how to be safe, how to speak up, where to seek help and to help others, too;
2. The visualisations of the CONVEY Not A Game caught their attention and engaged them during the sessions and helped them to build up a precise picture on sexual violence and harassment;
3. The participants were supported on speaking on tough subjects related to gender-based violence through the introduction of real-life scenarios and break the myths that surround the topic;
4. Frequent educational and prevention activities against sexual violence and harassment are needed in order to achieve broad impact over young people, so
5. Young people were pleased that their opinion is taken into account and that they are listened to, for example, we heard personal experiences with domestic violence happened to a participant. In this respect, we can conclude that we succeeded in the creation of safe and protected environment, where participants felt free to learn from each other.
6. CONVEY educational tools help youths take informed decisions and construct coping mechanisms. Thus, contributing to breaking gender-stereotypes and the cycle of violence.
7. Teachers and youth trainers are not prepared to implement trainings on sexual violence and gender stereotypes as these topics are not popular among professionals, too. So, they needed support from our team during the implementation of the Pilot Programme.
8. The Behaviour Change Measurement tools were a great instrument to trace the impact of the activities and the game. Our team also improved its capacity on providing precise evaluation.
9. We encountered difficulties in engaging schools due to the negative attitudes against the “gender” ideas because of the negative public campaign on the Istanbul Convention – principals of schools were suspicious that we are going to introduce “ideology” that promotes “the third gender” and gay marriages.
10. The CONVEY project enriched our abilities to work with young people and its outputs will be widely used after the project lifetime – videos, the game, the educational tools.
SUMMARY
➢ Pre-evaluation questionnaire – We saw that it’s difficult to speak about sexual violence and sexual harassment. In our country is a taboo topic, making it difficult for most people to talk about it openly. Other obstacles include doubting our own perceptions, being afraid to accuse someone falsely, and being unable or unwilling to go through the pain.
➢ Interim questionnaire - After series of meetings with children aged 14 to 18 years, we saw that their thinking and behaviour started to change in a positive way.
They already had knowledge on the main topic, so it was easy for us to continue the games. They were excited on that through the game they were able to fight sexual violence.
➢ Final questionnaire - We succeed to send some very important messages to our participants: The sexual harassment is not acceptable; violence is not okay; It is never the victim’s fault if he/she become object of violence; It is the right thing to support, help, love and want to spend time with the person who survived some kind of violence.
