S.T.A.R.T. | Awareness guide for professionals
Recent surveys have shown that, in Greece and Europe, 85% of women in Greece have experienced some kind of sexual harassment in their workplace and 40% of individuals do not have sufficient information about the provided protection procedures.
The Manual for lawyers and employees of the Labor Inspectorate for the effective support of victims of sexual harassment at work is primarily addressed to young and trainee lawyers, law students and individuals working in the Labor Inspectorate, but also to any other professional who comes into contact and is called to support, practically and psycho-emotionally, individuals who have suffered sexual harassment at work or have witnessed such an incident.
The guide does not aim to train professionals in the legal dimension of their role, but rather to gather, in an understandable and concise way, useful information and tools that can support them the first times they come into contact with the phenomenon of sexual harassment. It also illuminates -often invisible- aspects of the experience and the needs victims and witnesses of sexual harassment have, which can be covered much more effectively when the people called upon to support them have the tools to “read behind the words”, to practice empathy skills and thus avoid re-victimization and re-traumatization. With the help of such trained and aware professionals, individuals can be empowered to claim their rights and protection with greater confidence in themselves and in the networks that are there to support them, within a process that is designed to combat sexual violence and harassment, but often remains incomplete.
We hope that you find this manual useful and we look forward to receiving your comments, ideas and questions, so that we can continue to create effective tools and services to prevent and combat violence and harassment at work.
This guide is a result of the project S.T.A.R.T. (Strategic Tools for Addressing, Recognizing and Tackling Sexual Harassment at Work), which is being implemented under the PREVENT programme by WHEN and its partner VIA STOP. The programme “Preventing gender-based violence and violence against children” (PREVENT) aims to prevent and combat gender-based violence (GBV) and violence against children, by supporting Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) active in these fields, in Greece and Cyprus, and by increasing their knowledge, capacity and sustainability. PREVENT is co-funded by the European Union through the Citizens, Equality, Rights, and Values (CERV) programme, Bodossaki Foundation and NGO Support Centre, with a total grant amount of €2.3 million. PREVENT is coordinated by Bodossaki Foundation (Greece) in partnership with the NGO Support Centre (Cyprus).
