EU football network identifying abusive behaviour against female athletes

Violence against women continues to scar our society, but the European Union continues to combat the phenomenon in all forms. Project GOALSCORE offers an opportunity to help through football, the world’s most loved sport.

Although football is not exempt from gender violence and inequality, even at the level of youth teams, it offers the field to create and implement a training methodology for coaches to help them identify abusive, coercive and disrespectful behaviour against female athletes.

The project considers coaches to play an important role model for young people in their lives. They can also play an essential role in the prevention, intervention and response to domestic violence situations.

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is one of the supporters of this project, which is implemented by three football federations (Malta, Portugal, Romania), with the support of each country's women’s rights associations (Malta Women’s Lobby, Apoio à Vítima, Centrul FILIA), UNIMORE and Euractiv as the communication partner.

Shocking figures

Women in the EU continue to fear for their safety. According to a report from the European Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), 83 per cent of young women aged 16 to 29 in the EU avoid certain situations or places, afraid of being physically or sexually assaulted.

At least 6593 women were killed by a male family member or partner between 2010-2021, according to data from a United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UN Women report on the issue of femicide.

But in contrast to the high percentage of crimes against women, only a few of them feel safe to report incidents and seek help. The FRA report indicates that just 22 per cent of women who experience intimate partner violence report it to the police.

The chances of reporting violent incidents when the perpetrator is a family member or relative are even lower, which makes the situation far worse than existing figures on the matter.

High costs

A study by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) in 2021 estimates that the cost of gender-based violence in the EU amounts to €366 billion a year.

Violence against women makes up 79 per cent (€289 billion) of this cost, while intimate partner violence makes up for almost half (€175 billion) of the cost.

The study indicates that the biggest cost is related to the physical and emotional impact (56%), followed by criminal justice services (21%) and lost economic output (14%). Other costs include civil justice services, housing aid and child protection.

Germany, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Romania are some of the Member States with the highest costs for gender-based violence in the EU, directly relating to their population size.

According to data from the European Parliament, European Commission, and the EU Barometer, 84 per cent of EU citizens believe that violence against women is unacceptable and should always be punishable by law, while 98 per cent condemn domestic violence against both women and men.

Meaningful participation

The GOALSCORE project profoundly impacts Romania, a country where reported cases of violence against women have seen a spike in the last few years, according to data published by the non-governmental organisation Centrul Filia.

At least 90,000 police responses to domestic violence were recorded last year, although the issue remains highly under-reported, especially amongst victims more likely to face discriminatory attitudes.

Eurostat data from 2021 on Malta show that 26 per cent of women who have ever been in a relationship have experienced violence by an intimate partner during their adult life. Fifteen per cent have experienced physical violence, and 25 per cent have experienced psychological violence.

Over a quarter of women in Malta who have ever worked have experienced sexual harassment at work. Up to 5 per cent of them had reportedly experienced it during the last 12 months, while 11 per cent had experienced it in the last five years.

Data for Portugal is harder to find. A report dated 2017 indicates that 24 per cent of women there have experienced violence, which is 9 per cent lower than in the EU overall.

The country has no law on violence against women, but it does criminalise numerous forms of violence. The crime of domestic violence as such was introduced into the Portuguese Penal Code in 2007, and it included crimes of marital and date rape.

While the issue is hard to measure and fully report, the three countries involved in the project have a great chance of creating a support network to share experiences and improve practices.

[Edited By Brian Maguire | Euractiv's Advocacy Lab ]