34 per cent<\/a>\u00a0of men and 26 per cent of women believe there are times when a woman deserves to be beaten. The fight to eliminate violence against women and girls begins with a change in perceptions of gender roles and decision-making, violence, and concepts of masculinity and femininity.<\/p>\nPromoting equal and respectful relationships among all members of society is vital to this change. Towards this goal, the Sharek Youth Forum works with UN Women through the HAYA Joint Programme in schools, local organizations, and clubs in the West Bank. In partnership with the Ministry of Education, they work with students, teachers, counselors, and even parents through activities reflecting on existing gender norms, values, attitudes and behaviors, and gendered socialization and fears. In a society with differing definitions of masculinity and fathers\u2019 roles within it, they also highlight the importance of men and boys taking a stand for gender equality and against violence against women and girls.<\/p>\n
With four daughters and two sons, 46-year-old Ishak believes this begins at home. Ishak shares household duties with his wife, helps his children with schoolwork, and encourages his daughters to be confident and active members of their home and community. \u201cI was keen to get my daughters out of the circles in which girls live in our society, where they are prevented from talking, expressing themselves, and even leaving the house,\u201d Ishak says.<\/p>\n
Not only a participant but now a volunteer in the local clubs working with Sharek, Ishak says he has realized that promoting gender equality and tackling its challenges shouldn\u2019t be limited to one\u2019s family. \u201cBefore, I was content with my role inside my house,\u201d says Ishak. \u201cBut now, I am expanding this role to everywhere I find myself in, from my work to the club, and anywhere I can deliver my message that justice must be found everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ishak\u2019s daughters say they now also feel more empowered to impact those around them. \u201cThe thing that encourages me the most is my father’s support,\u201d says 16-year-old Aram. \u201cHis example encourages us to prove our ability in all aspects of life.\u201d By leading volunteer teams in their local club with Sharek, they now work with young children, including those with disabilities, and young men their age and have become confident role models for those around them.<\/p>\n
As a professor of religion, contextualizing his message has also helped Ishak reach more members of his community. Ishak says in his religion, the responsibility of a husband and wife is not to be taken lightly and a husband is expected to serve his home, be proactive, and strive for good for all people. Ishak now believes one man can make a difference. \u201cA negative influence, such an authoritarian father, will only result in a daughter who is also negative, lacking power, and abilities. And then this will result in a society that is chaotic and unstable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing part of the HAYA Joint Programme and participating in its activities helped enhance a lot of my positive practices and concepts, and I saw their impact on my family members and my work as a teacher,\u201d states Ishak. \u201cI learned a lot about how children think and how this impacts the environment around them. As parents and educators, we must pay attention to the smallest details as they will build a future generation that believes in justice, equality, and sharing of roles.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPreventing violence against women requires, among other things, changing behaviours and attitudes on the community level,\u201d says HAYA Joint Programme Manager Hazam Tahbub.\u00a0\u201cThis change is a gradual, complex, and lengthy process. Through collaboration with partner organizations, the HAYA Joint Programme strives to foster behavioral change to prevent violence against women and girls.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ishak strives to be a leader for positive change in his community and an advocate for women. \u201cI hope that the ideas that I believe in and how I practice them will have a significant impact on society,\u201d explains Ishak. \u201cMaybe this journey is a starting point for me in spreading these ideas to help create a supportive environment for my sons, daughters, and all members of society.<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n\n\n\n\n Funded by the Government of Canada and jointly implemented by UN Women, UNFPA, UN-Habitat, and UNODC, the HAYA Joint Programme seeks to eliminate violence against women and girls through various outreach and awareness-raising activities, to increase access to necessary services for survivors of violence, as well as to strengthen the institutional capacity of government officials to develop and implement legal and policy frameworks promoting and protecting women\u2019s and girls\u2019 rights to live free from violence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Arabic: \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0631\u0628\u064a\u0629 Date:\u00a0Tuesday, 9 August 2022 One father\u2019s story of transformation as he becomes a role model and leader in his community, after participating in awareness raising activities by the Sharek Youth Forum with UN Women through the HAYA Joint Programme, funded by the Government of Canada. \u201cBefore, my role was limited to the […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"template-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[747],"document-category":[2453],"document-source":[2481],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[6257,2097,6245,1841,6635],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6544,6542],"class_list":["post-279963","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-canada","document-category-article","document-source-un-women","document-subject-gender","document-subject-social-issues","document-subject-violence","document-subject-women","document-subject-youth","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-arabic","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/279963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/279963\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=279963"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=279963"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=279963"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=279963"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=279963"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=279963"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=279963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} |