Gender-based and sexual violence: places of refuge in businesses

The territory of the Grenoble metropolis is organized to offer places of refuge to the victims of gender-based violence et sexual in the street and other public places. The device called Here, ask for Angela was born in Great Britain and arrived in France during the health crisis in 2020.

The principle: a person, most commonly a woman, who experiences an inappropriate gesture or any other intolerable behavior (harassment or other) in a public place, including in a business, must be able to quickly contact a person who will welcome and accompany him to a place of safety. The victim is invited to ask the question: “Where is Angela?”which allows the alert to be raised discreetly.

Angela system to combat gender-based and sexual violence: ten municipalities in the Grenoble Metropolis involved

The Grenoble Metropolis plays the role of coordinator with municipalities which agree to train their agents and set up places of refuge. For now, ten municipalities are stakeholder including the three largest cities: Grenoble, Échirolles and Saint-Matin-d’Hères. The others are: Eybens, Fontaine, Le Pont-de-Claix, Meylan, Saint-Égrève, Sassenage, Seyssins and Veurey-Voroize.

95 sitesincluding public facilities such as the Polesud ice rink or the Stade des Alpes in Grenoble and a fifty businesses, including large stores such as the E. Leclerc de Comboire store in Échirolles (read further), are already concerned and visibly display a label Here ask Angela. The municipal or metropolitan agents of these sites as well as the traders or employees of the businesses in question have benefited from a formation dedicated in order to adopt good behavior towards the victim.

Namely, to be listening of the victim in a way benevolent and without passing judgment, allow free speechthe keep safe for as long as necessary in a place away from prying eyes, bring him a material support (access to a telephone, provide the contacts of associations such as the Information Center on the Rights of Women and Families of Isère or services specializing in helping victims, etc.).

“Anti-relous” whistles soon in shops and public facilities in the Grenoble Metropolis

“This is a first phase of deploymentindicates Christophe Ferrari, president of Grenoble Alpes Métropole, whose services coordinate the training (via video). The objective is to increase the mass so that in the long term there is a space for protection in each place.”

At the E. Leclerc store in Comboire, management provided Angela training to around twenty employees, primarily those who are at customer reception points. “This concerns in particular people at the hypermarket reception, snack corners or even at the drugstoreindicate Catherine and Olivier Trichetstore directors since 2017. We have a dedicated room upstairs out of sight, including from our employees.”

Corinne Lemarieymetropolitan councilor responsible for equality between men and women and president of Territoires de Sciences, also indicates that sifflets “antirelous”printed in 3D, at La Casemate, will be available to the public in certain public facilities and businesses in the coming weeks. “So if a victim is not near a place of refuge, they can use this whistle to alert.”