Hosted by the BRAVE-WOW project on 15 May, the session brought together four EU-funded initiatives working on gender-based violence, harassment and discrimination in the world of work: BRAVE-WOW (host), PENELOPE, VIOLET and DEMETRA, alongside Grapes of Change.
SFC presented the project’s approach to tackling gender-based violence and discrimination in the European wine sector: the Observatory now under development across eight countries, the training and serious-game programmes scheduled from late 2026, the policy roundtables, and the Manifesto framework that will open to wine sector organisations from M25. The presentation drew on the focus group findings gathered in six European countries during the first project year, which surfaced patterns of invisible labour, normalisation of discriminatory behaviour, fear of reporting and a generational shift in expectations.
The Q&A confirmed several points of common ground across the four projects, in particular on how to engage SMEs and micro-enterprises with limited HR capacity, how to make training stick beyond the project lifecycle, and how to combine voluntary commitment frameworks with the harder regulatory environment now taking shape under the Pay Transparency Directive and CSRD reporting obligations.
The exchange continues a line of cooperation that started in September 2025, when Grapes of Change joined VIOLET’s expert seminar “From Insight to Impact” in Bratislava. The four projects agreed to keep the channel open and explore concrete collaboration on shared challenges, dissemination, and policy outreach.
🔹 GRAPES OF CHANGE Tackling Violence in Wine Supply Chains
🔹 VIOLET Towards workplaces without sexual harassment
🔹 DEMETRA DEMEntia TRAining to prevent abuse towards older women
🔹 PENELOPE Innovative and pioneer cluster-based approach to foster and integrate gender mainstreaming strategies in European SMEs