Finland is considered a model country for gender equality. However, in Eurostat’s mid-term comparison (2021; Statistics Finland 2023), Finland leads in the prevalence of violence against women: 33.7% of Finnish women report having experienced physical intimate partner violence. Moreover, statistics indicate that the overall number of homicides in Finland is high in comparison with Western European and other Nordic countries (Eige 2021). Domestic violence against women often goes unnoticed, unaddressed, and unreported in Finland. Up to 44% of women who have experienced violence do not tell anyone about it. Only a tenth of women report it to the police (Statistics Finland 2023.) One of the main problems in Finland is the lack of interventions, which then allows the violence to continue. Professionals do not ask about violence sufficiently and do not recognise when violence has been perpetrated (Husso et al. 2021.)
The Finnish ISEDA campaign aims to raise awareness and provide information about the forms and prevalence of gender-based violence and domestic violence against women. Those who have experienced violence are encouraged to disclose their experiences. In addition, the campaign provides information on available support services. The key messages related to these themes are “Everyone deserves a life without violence or a fear of it”, ”Everyone has a right to safe life” and “Everyone has an equal right to help and support”.
The campaign also emphasises the importance of preventing and addressing domestic violence, encouraging everyone to act when they suspect or witness violence. Also, professionals are encouraged to ask about violence as part of their routine tasks. The key messages related to these themes are “Violence hurts everyone” and “Everyone is responsible for intervening”.
The campaign makes use of a range of resources to communicate with its target audiences:
- Campaign brochure: Contains information about how violence can occur in different ways in close relationships, what kind of harmful consequences violence has, and where to seek help and support.
- Campaign poster: Lists the most important support services for those who have experienced domestic violence.
- Videos: Short, informative videos featuring various experts will be published, e.g., about the different forms and prevalence of domestic violence.
- Social media posts: Highlight the themes of the campaign, such as forms of violence and the importance of intervention, as well as information about available support services.
The campaign brochure, poster, videos and social media posts will be distributed via the project’s website and the social media channels of various stakeholders.
More information about the Finnish campaign can be found here: https://projects.tuni.fi/iseda/campaign/
Implementing organisations: Tampere University, Viola ry, Setlementti Tampere, and Police University College
References:
Husso, M., Notko, M., Virkki, T., Holma, J., Laitila, A., & Siltala, H. (2021). Domestic Violence Interventions in Social and Health Care Settings: Challenges of Temporary Projects and Short-Term Solutions. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(23-24), 11461-11482. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260519898438
European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) (2021). Measuring femicide in Finland. https://eige.europa.eu/publications-resources/publications/measuring-femicide-finland
Eurostat (2021). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/gender-based-violence/database Statistics Finland. (2023). Sukupuolistunut väkivalta ja lähisuhdeväkivalta Suomessa [Gendered and domestic violence in Finland]. Helsinki: Statistics Finland. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-244-717-3