VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: EDUCATION AND AWARENESS
Students are being educated on violence against women. 80 female students in 11th grade at Izmir Salih Dede High School learn about ways to protect them from violence, develop self-awareness, and raise social awareness as part of the project led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nesrin Oruç Ertürk, Director of Izmir University of Economics Continuous Education Centre (IUECEC).
The project, prepared by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ertürk as part of the 2015 Fulbright Graduate Scholarship program of USA Embassy in Ankara, aims to strengthen women. Students are taught about ways to protect from violence, and how to get rid of silence, shame, and guilt in the event of being subject to violence.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ertürk gave information about the project and she said that they provided awareness training on violence against women to 80 female students and teachers at Salih Dede High School. “Our education program aims to strengthen individuals through social support mechanisms when faced with violence, raise self-awareness and self-confidence, and social awareness. Faculty members from various IUE faculties are educating these girls. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zeynep Şişli, Faculty of Law, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Filiz Öğçe, Head of Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Itır Bağdadi, Director of Gender and Women Studies Research and Application Center, and Sedef Uzgören, Gender Trainer, are creating awareness among female students. Also, Prof. Dr. Feryal Çubukçu, Buca Faculty of Education, Dokuz Eylül University, is training the teachers on this subject,” said Ertürk.
‘The Youth is Our Future’
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ertürk reported that the training course, which would end in May, included subjects such as the definition of violence, raising awareness of violence against women, gender roles in society, legal rights, how to prevent violence at school. Ertürk stated the following:
“As we were thinking about the content of the training, we decided to train the young girls about their rights. We need to make them understand why they should not accept to become a victim of violence, why they should not internalize violence. These children are our future and we can build a future only with youth who can think healthy and feel good. They should not get hurt this young. My only objective is to educate as many girls as we can and help them feel hopeful about the future.”
