Their names were Elia (17 years old), Belén (24), Francy (35), Zhen (47), Carmen (54), Caterina (64), Evarista (91)… and their names will be remembered as part of the 52 women murdered by gender violence before the end of the year. And there could be 53, if the Pontevedra case, investigated by the police, is confirmed. Different ages, different origins and classes, but all of them women murdered at the hands of their partner or ex-partner. They were daughters, some mothers and even grandmothers, whose attackers took away their most precious right: life.
The number of fatalities, to which are also added two minors murdered by vicarious violence and 51 who have been orphaned, is alarming: despite greater social awareness and the increase in complaints of gender violence, it remains average. of victims in the last ten years.
With all the legislative advances and public policies on equality, the highest risk cases remain almost hidden: 77% of murdered women had not previously reported their murderer. A percentage that remains stable over time. La Vanguardia has spoken with four specialists in sexist violence from the fields of law, criminology, sociology and anthropology to explain its causes.
The reason that leads the victim to avoid reporting is multifactorial. “Many women think that they will be able to get out of the situation of violence without having to report it and they trust that their attacker will not go further. Sometimes, the idea has been transmitted that violence is like a staircase, which goes from the most subtle to the most explicit, but that does not mean that the aggressor has to go through all the steps to end up committing feminicide,” he details. Carla Vall, criminal lawyer and criminologist. Another factor that she highlights is the fear of suffering institutional violence.
Along these lines, Carmen Ruiz Repullo, professor of sociology at the University of Granada, assures that women feel unprotected by the system, because they believe that “they will not be believed” or because of “fear of retaliation from the aggressor.” The expert also points out that the reading of many victims when they hear cases of murdered women that they had previously reported is: “if I report it will be worse.” For this reason, many victims, with dependent children, think that the way out of violence is through a divorce, through civil means.
To these factors we must add the lack of repair. “The responsibility of the State is not limited only to the criminal sphere, but should also cover the repair of damage,” says Ana Martínez, anthropologist and professor of sociology at Rey Juan Carlos, who reminds that public powers must act diligently. due. And this involves “preventing, investigating, prosecuting, punishing and adequately repairing acts of sexist violence.”
The lack of equitable services throughout the territory, economic and/or emotional dependence on the aggressors or the recent migration processes of women are also other deterrent factors when it comes to reporting.
Why doesn’t the environment act? Of the more than 182,000 complaints of gender violence during 2022, less than 2% (1.82%) were filed by family members and/or close friends of the victims. Seven out of ten (71.56%) were presented by the victims themselves, either in court (1.21%) or at the police station (70.36%), a figure that is still much higher than that of the complaints presented by the environment. A percentage that has remained the same low over time.
Lawyer Júlia Humet, an expert in sexist violence, considers that there is a “normalization” of certain attitudes and behaviors. “There is a tendency to downplay violence or think that they are issues that must be resolved by the couple.” For sociologist Ana Martínez, it is essential to identify violence and stop covering it up: “If a police officer tells me to go home because my husband has had a bad day or my mother tells me that that also happened to her, because both the victim and the environment understand that these cultural structures are what we have to assume.”
Experts agree that the more escalating the violence, the more difficult it is to report. Even so, if the victim has sufficient support and decides to report, a procedure called a quick trial begins. “In 48 hours they will summon you to court to testify, ratify and hold a hearing on whether or not they resolve the protection order favorably or not. But the trial date may take approximately a year,” details lawyer Júlia Humet. And her partner Carla Vall adds: “The victim must keep in mind that the procedure is slow and her emotional recovery will not evolve in a correlative manner to the judicial one.”
Despite everything, the Autonomous Communities of Catalonia and Madrid are the ones that grant the fewest orders and protection measures with respect to all those requested. In fact, Catalonia denied 2,885 requests last year, which represents 52.9% of the total, while Madrid rejected 2,976, 53.5% of the requests, according to the Annual Report on Gender Violence of the General Council. of the Judiciary.
The data indicates that, year after year, Catalonia has denied, on average, more than half of the protection orders in the last ten years. What is it due to and how does it influence the victims? “It may influence that Catalonia uses its own risk assessment system carried out by the Mossos, while in the rest of Spain, the National Police uses the VioGén system,” comments Humet. Vall considers that “in some way our judges have criteria that differ from other legal traditions.” “If you do not have a protection order that guarantees your safety and your physical and emotional integrity, logically it is a great disincentive for victims.”
Just over a month before the end of the year, 52 women have been murdered by their partner or ex-partner. Last year the number of women murdered by their partners or ex-partners was 50, after having suffered a tragic month of December with eight sexist crimes. The Minister of the Interior himself, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, assured that this proliferation of cases “did not respond to any temporal pattern.”
Lawyers Júlia Humet and Carla Vall consider that vacation periods or Christmas parties are especially sensitive periods, since the majority of femicides are perpetuated during moments of maximum coexistence that coincide with moments of rupture. In fact, 16 of the 52 fatalities were murdered this summer. “There are five high-risk moments where the aggressor has a greater motivation to exacerbate the violence: pregnancy, the birth of a child, separation, divorce and the start of a new relationship by the victim,” the report also details. criminologist Vall.
In this sense, he explains that during the pandemic the number of femicides did not increase (50), because “the aggressors had 24/7 control, greater than they could normally have, due to restrictions and teleworking, and they needed less violence to get a lot more.” “It’s not just about living together, but under what circumstances.”
Another factor that discourages reporting is denialist speeches, which continue to permeate society and, especially, among youth. One in four young men, aged 15 to 29, considers that sexist violence “does not exist or is an ideological invention,” according to the latest survey carried out by the Fad Foundation.
Carmen Ruiz, a sociologist specialized in gender violence in adolescents and young people, believes that society is immersed in a “patriarchal reaction” to legislative advances and feminist public policies. “You are not born an aggressor, but if in your environment, in your WhatsApp group or in political speeches it is questioned that violence has no gender or that the majority of complaints are false, beliefs are legitimized and machismo is reinforced.”
“Denialism dismantles the idea that sexist violence is structural and it is much easier to think that there is the possibility of acting when it is temporary,” details sociologist Ana Martínez. “Being structural, it complicates the situation, since it means changing an entire rape culture.” On the one hand, denialism generates in potential aggressors a “justifying climate” and a “social protection” to commit this crime and, on the other, potential victims feel that public opinion will not only not believe them but will blame them. .
Ending femicides begins with understanding that sexist violence “is not a problem for women, it is a problem for society.” “A society is less democratic when it is not only aware of violence, but also covers it up or denies it,” explains Martínez. Lawyer Júlia Humet explains that if we want to end crimes, we must end micro-violence, from the mildest to the most severe.
The experts agree that all legislative advances are on the right track, but “just one woman being abused or murdered would never be enough.” That is why they believe that it is necessary to influence education for the prevention of violence and comprehensive sexuality education in educational centers, and promote a structural change in society based on prevention. “We must target the causes of violence and the aggressors,” emphasizes Carmen Ruiz. For this, resources and a device “for comprehensive protection and repair of damage” are also needed. “We are talking about psychological, physical, economic, labor and social repair.”
In addition, they are committed to greater provision of resources, training and awareness of all people who care for victims of violence. “It cannot be that, at the judicial level, the woman’s credibility is questioned because she has taken ‘too long’ to report,” explains Júlia Humet, who cares for victims of violence. According to a study by the Government Delegation against Gender Violence, it takes victims almost nine years to tell or report situations of violence.