Tom PowellGENDER violence resulted in the death of five women in three days in Spain this week, continuing an unprecedented increase across the country.
All five women were allegedly killed by their partners or ex’s, including two in Madrid, one in Catalunya, one in the Basque region and another in Melilla.
In Andalucia in February, four women died in the space of two weeks in gender violence incidents. A 47-year-old English teacher was found dead in her home in Torremolinos after her partner allegedly slit her throat, following the couple’s break-up.
Earlier, the bodies of a 51-year-old Belgian woman and her nine-year-old daughter were found in a luxury villa in Sotogrande. It is believed the woman’s partner was responsible for beheading the mother and strangling his daughter. He was found dead in his cell, as a result of ‘natural causes’.
In 2014 alone, there have been 18 women who have died from alleged gender violence crimes.
And 84% of Spanish women believe that gender violence is a serious problem in this country, according to a survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. It is the sixth highest figure in the whole of Europe.
One in three European women have experienced violence, either physical or sexual, since the age of 15 – a total of 62 million women.
The percentage of women who reported experiencing violence in Spain is smaller than the European average, but at 22% is still significant.
Reports of domestic violence followed a similar pattern, with 13% of Spanish women abused by a former or current partner, compared to the European average of 22%.
Blanca Tapia, a spokesperson for the survey, said that the report highlights that ‘women are not safe, either at home or at work’.
Since the economic crash and high unemployment, sadly these figures are bound to rise. I’d guess that women in Greece too will be reluctant to bring these problems into the open and be included in any viable reports.
I wonder where the UK/London stands in relation to violence against females? Right now, we’re hearing on the news, the fact that the authorities are just waking up to the “appalling sexual exploitation and violent abuse routinely suffered by girls and young women in the council estates of London’s gang cultures. In these cases also, the authorities abandoned responsibility, much as they did over the years of the under-age grooming gangs. Proliferation, especially of youth gangs is widespread in UK’s South-East. Wonder if these escalating numbers are included in the top 6 European countries? Because they’re mostly young teenage girls, I doubt it. But the UK has *absolutely nothing* to be complacent about in our place in these reports.
Spain doesn’t treat women very well on any level. Just look at the new abortion bill – what does that tell you about how a country treats its women? Spain is headed back to the dark ages.
Spain does have a macho attitude in many ways and women are not treated equal and they do not receive anywhere near equal pay in Spain. This can be said of most third world Countries.
I think Brits should be careful with their comments here – the cases of domestic violence that are reported in the UK are just the tip of the iceberg. How these battered women are treated by the police and this includes WPCs’ is atrocious – ergo, many women simply don’t come forward. Many times a stupid judge or magistrate let’s the male bully out on bail.