Take a look at the ‘Violentometro’. It’s a tool used by our affiliate, Camioneros in Argentina, to measure violence. It’s specifically relevant to domestic violence perpetrated by an intimate partner but is also relevant to the violence experienced in wider society, including in our workplaces and on the street.

We think this tool compliments the power and control wheel. The power and control wheel is excellent at showing the many different ways in which power and control are exercised and the ‘Violentometro’ shows a clear scale of how this power and control escalates. From hurtful jokes to murder. Both ends of the scale are seen in our work places.  The ‘Violentometro’ shows how power and control are hardly visible at first. They are exercised in ways which are so small, they seem trivial. They are normalised. Therefore, why complain? Why make a fuss? It’s nothing. It’s just a harmless joke. It’s just a comment that your boss made. A ‘compliment’ from your colleague. Or an insult that a passenger shouted at you. Can we call these things violence? Why don’t we just calm down? This is how the argument goes and it is a powerful barrier to women reporting violence at home or at work.

In fact, there is no ‘harmless’. It’s all connected on a spectrum from sexism to sexual harassment to sexual assault to rape and murder.

Thank you to our sisters in Argentina for sending us this valuable tool. If you have something you think is useful please send it to women@itf.org.uk.