We are making progress in the drafting of the Protocol against sexist and LGBT-phobic violence Sostre Cívic before its approval at the June Assembly.

The Protocol has been quite a challenge for an organization with more than 1.100 members and includes all types of participation: work, coexistence and participation.

The diagnosis detects that women's tasks are made invisible and that they are heard more if they adopt masculinized roles. 

Yesterday, 8 of març, Sostre Cívic we lived it in a very special way. With a large group of women from the different cooperatives that are part of ECOS went on a feminist strike and instead of working, we met to celebrate. We had a packed lunch and had time for quiet conversation in a sorority environment and made our protest banners before heading out to the rally. We were a diverse, intergenerational group of over sixty women, some of whom came with their babies. Among the slogans, "Patriarchy and capital, criminal alliance"; "For the rights of all, grassroots feminism" and "A feminist world is a cooperative world!"

But since, for us every day is 8 of març, we like to explain what we are doing to fight patriarchy in our organization day by day. A Sostre Cívic we work to promote a housing model with principles and values ​​that seek social transformation towards a fairer and more equal society. But, despite this, we are not alien to reality: we live in a society with power relations and unequal privileges that often manifest themselves in sexist violence in a physical, economic or psychological way. These sexual assaults are mostly committed by men who have previous ties to the victims, i homes are the spaces where most of them are committed. Sostre Cívic we are precisely building collective spaces, relational and bonding spaces around the home. And so we want these spaces to be safe for everyone. 

For this reason, as we already announced in September, Sostre Cívic we are immersed in the elaboration of ours Protocol for the prevention, detection and treatment of cases of sexist violence. This will allow us to act in the detection and approach of sexist and LGBT-phobic violence in the cooperative. The process started last July with the creation of the motor group, i we are already in the final phase of preparing the final document that will be explained at a next meeting of partners on May 6, before taking it for approval at the next Ordinary General Assembly in June.

So we are culminating a whole year's work that will have a long-term scope. The objective is to stimulate values ​​throughout the cooperative based on mutual respect, inclusion of diversity and rejection of sexist violence. But also from promote the visibility of people who have less privileges to be able to report cases of harassment, and to offer tools and training so that those who have more, question their actions linked to the exercise of violence and aggression.

A comprehensive application protocol: coexistence, participation and work

Elaborating a protocol of this type for a cooperative like ours is not easy, and is quite a challenge. Sostre Cívic it currently has a social base of 1.130 members, of which 123 are users in projects that are already in coexistence, and a work team of 17 people. The protocol we are preparing will cover the entire cooperative environment, that is to say, it takes into account this whole group of partners:

• The cohabiting partners, taking into account the community dimension where these partners live together.
• The expectant partners, bearing in mind that, even though they do not live in any cooperative housing project, they share spaces, meetings, trainings and assemblies with all members and workers of the cooperative.
• The workers de Sostre Cívic, which routinely share equipment and work space.

In the framework of the deployment of the actions of the Protocol, in recent months we have held several training and diagnosis sessions between members and workers of Sostre Cívic. As usual in all socially active spaces within the patriarchal system, too within our organization we have identified how masculinism and everyday LGBTIQ-phobias are present in our day to day life. 

Subtle masculinities are present in our relational dynamics. These are usually identified with situations where male voices predominate, interruptions or with the visibility of men in decision-making and during the different participation sessions. We also detected verbal abuse or sexist jokes to messaging groups, and one unequal distribution of tasks to cooperative housing projects. the more masculinized tasks are in those activities more driven towards action, and where we find less participation of cis men are in those with a more reproductive orientation that take care into account. In everyday life, women are more committed to cleaning tasks, are more present in the participation spaces, dynamism of relationships I la conflict resolution. It should be noted that, in a generalized way, all partners and workers who participated in the diagnosis identified as, if they adopt masculinized dynamics, they are more listened to in decision-making spaces. 

These are just a few examples of everything we've identified. In order to address this, the Protocol defines a set of prevention actions that want to affect all the elements of the diagnosis carried out. But, beyond prevention, they also establish which circuits and channels will exist with the implementation of the Protocol to be able to internally report cases of sexist aggression and violence. We will have a safe space, tools and training to be able to address these cases and apply the necessary measures.

Beyond all this, we must be grateful that the elaboration of the protocol was possible thanks to the involvement of six members of the cooperative who were part of the driving group, of the forty members participating in the training and diagnosis sessions, the which shows that they are a very lively cooperative involved in all the global aspects that revolve around housing. And, of course, we must mention the support of the L'Esberla cooperative, an entity specialized in accompanying internal transformation processes of organizations, which is accompanying us in the drafting and drafting process. Together we are stronger, and together we will build one Sostre Cívic free from sexist aggression, to guarantee the right to decent housing for all.

Objectives of the Protocol against gender-based violence

1. make of Sostre Cívic a cooperative committed to eradicating sexist and LGBTIQ-phobic violence
2. Guarantee that the cooperative housing projects in right of use and the working and cooperative environment of Sostre Cívic be a safe space for women and LGBTIQ+ people.
3. Inform, train and raise awareness about sexist and LGBTIQ-phobic violence and the Protocol tool to all partners of Sostre Cívic.
4. Have the intervention and support procedure in order to attend to and resolve these situations as quickly as possible and within the deadlines established by the protocol.
5. Equip yourself with a mechanism to work on masculinism and everyday LGBTIQ-phobias in a closer and grounded way to the needs of the projects.
6. Give an impetus to the care and coexistence commissions of cooperative housing projects, especially with regard to commitment to the protocol and knowledge of its specificities.
7. Network women and LGBTIQ+ people who are partners of Sostre Cívic and to all people who want to be actively involved in the eradication of sexist and LGBTIQ-phobic violence.
8. Equip yourself with bodies that guarantee monitoring and evaluation of the Protocol and its adaptation to the situations that are identified.