Respect Initiative
Since 1992 Zero Tolerance has launched a number of high profile campaigns towards the prevention of male violence against women and children.
Background to Respect
Young People's Attitudes
In 1998, the Zero Tolerance Charitable Trust comissioned research into the attitudes of young people towards gender-based abuse. The research titled Young Peoples' Attitudes towards Sex, Violence and Realtionships found that -
- 1 in 2 boys and 1 in 3 girls thought that there were some circumstances when it was okay to hit a woman or force her to have sex.
- Over one third of the boys (36%) thought that they might personally hit a woman or force a woman to have sex.
- Over half the young people interviewed knew someone who had been hit by their male partner and exactly half knew someone who had been sexually abused.
Click here for a full copy of the research document. Please note this file is 5MB.
The Respect Education Initiative
In response to the research findings, the Trust developed curricular materials for use in primary schools, secondary schools and informal youth settings. Teachers, youth workers, health promotion specialists and young people were involved in the design of the packs which aim to empower young people with useful knowledge, skills and understanding and promote positive, non-violent relationships based on equality and respect.
The Respect packs constitute comprehensive teaching resources which can be delivered over eight sessions. They use a mixture of interactive games, puzzles, history and discussion that encourage young people to explore gender stereotypes, discrimination, power and the abuse of power, communication in relationships and how they themselves can become active in making a positive contribution to their community.
The packs were piloted separately in schools both in Scotland and England. The Scottish Executive and the Home Office independent evaluations were extremely positive and found that the vast majority of teachers and young people enjoyed the programme and believed they had learned more about respect, communication, equality, power, violence and abuse. The evaluations recommended that primary prevention programmes, ideally approached from a school-wide perspective, should be implemented in both primary and secondary schools.
Click here for a copy of the Scottish Executive Respect Evaluation report.
