On January 23, a Memorandum of Understanding( MoU) was signed between the Central Anti-Crime Directorate of the Italian State Police and the National Wine Association “Le Donne del Vino” with the aim of developing the #TUNONSEISOLA Project, a campaign designed to promote training, information and awareness initiatives related to gender-based violence and tools for the protection of victims and to encourage women who are victims of violence to actively report what they were victim of.
The agreement arose from the common need to increase the levels of safety for women, identifying new and effective ways to spread gender culture, in the wake already traced with the State Police’s permanent campaign “This is not love,” reaching out in an increasingly widespread manner to women not only in the private sphere but also in places of work and leisure or aggregation, given that the Association “Women of Wine” has more than 1100 members among producers, restaurateurs, wine merchants, sommeliers, journalists and wine experts throughout Italy, and is part of an international network of 10 associations of the women’s wine sector present all over the world.
Initiatives will be developed through the agreement, targeting both the female staff of member companies of the National Association “Le Donne Del Vino” as well as fellow women wine lovers, in order to spread awareness of violence clues, as part of updated strategies to prevent gender-based forms of violence.
The Association’s goal is to spread the culture and knowledge of wine through education and enhancement of the role of women in the wine industry, promoting meetings in wineries, conferences and awareness-raising actions also through the creation of a virtual listening space on the website “ledonnedelvino.com.”
On the point, Daniela Mastroberardino, president of the Women of Wine, said, “For years, the Women of Wine have been on the front line in the fight against gender-based violence. After the murder of one of our members, sommelier Donatella Briosi, at the hands of her ex-husband, in 2018 we increased our initiatives to financially support anti-violence centers and bring to political attention gender respect courses that teach how to distinguish between rudeness and crimes. Our association includes many working women entrepreneurs who are financially independent and have a strong network of relationships. The wine sector is the one where women are closest to equal pay and equal roles: women make up 80 percent of marketing and communications staff, 51 percent of those in sales and 76 percent of those who receive wine tourists. This does not shelter us from violence; on the contrary: in September we witnessed the feminicide of Marisa Leo, the second member killed in a few years. That is why we are here today to sign this agreement with the State Police, which makes us even stronger and more convinced to move forward.”
