Stop!
In 1999, the United Nations designated November 25th as the National Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. I was not aware of this until I moved to Spain, where one of my first impressions was that of a society rife with male on female violence. There is literally something in the news about it at least once a week.
In December of 2004, the Spanish congress passed a pretty comprehensive law to combat this problem. The law puts in to place new resources for abused women, and includes legal reform to make it easier to prosecute perpetrators, as well as an educational component, a public relations component, and two new government agencies to help coordinate efforts. The government has also launched a media campaign to counter violence against women that features prominent Spanish soccer players speaking out on the topic.
Unfortunately, 61 women in Spain have already been murdered this year at the hands of their husbands, boyfriends, or ex-boyfriends (often as a murder/suicide). This is already more than the entire year last year, but fewer than the 70+ killed in 2004. With such a high number of murders related to domestic violence, I can only imagine what percentage of relationships have some sort of abuse that doesn't end in death.
Subway Ad Denouncing Domestic Violence
As with many statistics that are reported on a countrywide basis here, I wondered how the numbers compared in the U.S. Sure enough, there were 1,247 women killed by an intimate partner there in 2000. This is a much higher percentage than in Spain (1,247/300,000,000 compared to 61/40,000,000). So much for the theory that high levels of violence against women are a byproduct of unchecked machismo in latin cultures.
UPDATE November 27, 2006
I just read a news story in ADN that further expands on this information. The Council of Europe is holding a conference on the subject of domestic violence among EU member states that started today in Madrid. The council commended Spain as being a pioneer in legal reform related to domestic violence, and a possible model for other European countries. Approximately 1 in 5 women in Europe have experienced physical violence in their lifetime according to the COE website. The Christian Science Monitor also published a good story that goes into more detail about the various aspects of the Spanish legislation.
In 1999, the United Nations designated November 25th as the National Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. I was not aware of this until I moved to Spain, where one of my first impressions was that of a society rife with male on female violence. There is literally something in the news about it at least once a week.
In December of 2004, the Spanish congress passed a pretty comprehensive law to combat this problem. The law puts in to place new resources for abused women, and includes legal reform to make it easier to prosecute perpetrators, as well as an educational component, a public relations component, and two new government agencies to help coordinate efforts. The government has also launched a media campaign to counter violence against women that features prominent Spanish soccer players speaking out on the topic.
Unfortunately, 61 women in Spain have already been murdered this year at the hands of their husbands, boyfriends, or ex-boyfriends (often as a murder/suicide). This is already more than the entire year last year, but fewer than the 70+ killed in 2004. With such a high number of murders related to domestic violence, I can only imagine what percentage of relationships have some sort of abuse that doesn't end in death.
As with many statistics that are reported on a countrywide basis here, I wondered how the numbers compared in the U.S. Sure enough, there were 1,247 women killed by an intimate partner there in 2000. This is a much higher percentage than in Spain (1,247/300,000,000 compared to 61/40,000,000). So much for the theory that high levels of violence against women are a byproduct of unchecked machismo in latin cultures.
UPDATE November 27, 2006
I just read a news story in ADN that further expands on this information. The Council of Europe is holding a conference on the subject of domestic violence among EU member states that started today in Madrid. The council commended Spain as being a pioneer in legal reform related to domestic violence, and a possible model for other European countries. Approximately 1 in 5 women in Europe have experienced physical violence in their lifetime according to the COE website. The Christian Science Monitor also published a good story that goes into more detail about the various aspects of the Spanish legislation.
posted by Chromest*r at 1:44 AM
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