Grundtvig project DOMESTIC VIOLENCE MET BY EDUCATED WOMEN " This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein."

Framework of the project " This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein."

Analysis of the Questionnaire for unemployed educated women Kaja Kosec, MAS, MA SUUW - Slovene Union of University Women

In the Questionnaire 25 women participated, all with higher education. Most of the questioned women are old between 22 and 29. Most of them come from central part of Slovenia and they live by their parents or with a partner who has lower education in 13 cases.

At first, we asked if they had any paid job after the finished studies. 14 answered that they did, 11 that they did not. The answers show that almost half of the women did not get an employment after they had finished their studies.

At second question we asked how they confront rejections occurring at the job search. The majority of women, that is 14, answer they find refusals emotionally stressful, 8 said they perceive refusals negative and 6 said refusals stimulates them so they search for a job more eagerly. None of the women perceive refusals positively.

Next question was whether women experience pressure during the job search. 8 women said they experienced pressure from others, 7 from family and 4 from partners.

Then we asked women to identify predominating pressures. 10 women said the experienced pressures were psychological (unjustified criticism, threats, blackmailing, etc.), 3 women experienced pressures as economic, yet none of the asked women experienced it as a physical pressure.

Furthermore we were interested if the pressures outgrew into the violence. 14 women replied the pressures never outgrew into the violence, yet 3 said rarely, 2 said often.

By the results of the Questionnaire we can conclude that surveyed educated women do not experience domestic violence on physical level, however there is much emotional/ psychological pressure present from the family and partner side.

Moreover, we have asked educated women which strategies they took to deal with unemployment. 11 women decided to continue studies, 5 women got self-employed, 3 went abroad.

We asked how they would solve the problem of unemployment of educated women in Slovenia. We got the following answers: - the state should be more supportive to the new graduates (but no further clear ideas/instructions were put down), - go back to socialism, - connect a study to market needs, - mandatory practice, - establishment of an organization intended to unemployed educated women.

By the results of the Questionnaire we can conclude that surveyed educated women who confront unemployment after the graduation decide for further studies or start business. They argue that the state should be more supportive and protect fresh graduates and enable them practice. We concluded that the given answers are realistic comparing them the current situation in Slovenia. Many educated women are confronting unemployment what is shaking their social status and consequently personal/family lives.

What the good news of the research is that none of the asked women is experiencing physical domestic violence. However, unemployment impacts on relationships and one‘s identity. For educated women unemployment is psychologically exhausting and it‘s a hard load. These results are synchronous with the reality in Slovenia. Many women, educated and less educated struggle on personal/psychological level when facing unemployment.