We want free and safe spaces, and we want everyone to get involved
Today, 25th November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we once again condemn this serious violation of the human rights of women and girls around the world, and we once again say “enough” to all forms of male violence. The patriarchy knows no borders; gender-based violence is perpetuated throughout the world and its virulence increases in wars and armed conflicts, in which women are murdered and raped with total impunity.
That is why, once again this year, we want to express our firm commitment to the fight for women’s rights and condemn all forms of gender-based violence suffered by women just for simply being women. Throughout the world and in our country, the feminist struggle generates alliances and resistance in the face of threats to take back women’s rights in a context of patriarchal reaction to the advances of the feminist movement.
It is essential to view and recognise gender-based violence as a structural issue that violates human rights and that must be addressed from a comprehensive and intersectional perspective by administrations, institutions and civil society. It is necessary to break down stereotypes and make it clear that gender-based violence can occur within a relationship or in the family, but also in the workplace and social spheres, among others. And it should be kept in mind that violence can take many forms beyond physical violence, such as psychological, economic, obstetric, sexual, digital and vicarious violence, among others.
The latest statistics show that 79.3% of Catalan women have suffered some form of gender-based violence in their lifetime. This is a very serious figure, since we are talking about 8 out of 10 women. Likewise, 65.2% of women have suffered some form of sexual violence in their lifetime. This is the most common type of gender-based violence that affects young women even more frequently.
Gender-based violence is still present in the public space: in our streets, our squares, and our parks. According to Catalan data on sexual violence, 19.3% of the women surveyed reported having been assaulted in public spaces, and 2.6% on public transport.
Faced with these figures, this year we want to emphasise that gender-based violence in public spaces, including spaces such as work teams, shops or public transport, is one of the most serious expressions of gender inequality and is a reality that affects women and girls in our municipalities, often invisible and normalised.
Some of these assaults are very serious and are punishable by law, but others, on many occasions, are everyday situations, such as looks, gestures, whistles, rude comments, opinions about the physique or invasions of physical and personal space that are part of a constant harassment that women suffer from a very young age. Therefore, we state loud and clear: we want free and safe spaces, and we want everyone to get involved.
In every corner, street, square (whether at night or not, whether there are few people or not, whether we are alone or not) situations can occur in which there is always a decision to make: either to perpetrate gender-based violence or to combat it. Let us all make a difference: citizens, businesses, transport, administrations. Each and every one of us can be agents of change. Let us break all silences and have all alerts activated to prevent, detect and repair violence in public spaces. Let’s form a network among institutions, entities, agents, and regions against gender-based violence!
Violence is a learned and transmitted behaviour. To eradicate it, profound cultural changes are needed in all of us and in the power structures that sustain them. Profound changes are needed to put an end to the patriarchal system that continues to violate women’s human rights every day and to provide a value system based on respect, equality, and women’s empowerment.
Today, 25th November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the political institutions of our community — the Government of Catalonia, supra-municipal and local administrations, and municipal entities — commit ourselves to investing in all the efforts and resources necessary to ensure that spaces are safe and women’s lives are free. We know that we have come a long way, but in the face of such a structural and complex problem, we must provide even more courageous and comprehensive responses.
For all these reasons:
- We will address all forms of gender-based violence (the most invisible and the most visible, those that occur in private and those that occur in public spaces). And among these forms of violence will be sexual violence.
- We will work to guarantee the rights of all women, children, and adolescents in situations of gender-based violence, and we will provide the necessary means to eradicate institutional violence and act with due diligence from our administrations.
- We will ensure the constant improvement of networking and coordination of all agents involved in the fight against gender-based violence, as well as psychological care, labour and legal advice, among other services.
- We will strengthen the policies of prevention and awareness of gender-based violence, especially those aimed at the educational community, leveraging coeducation as a transformative tool.
- We will continue to promote alternative masculinities programmes with awareness and prevention proposals, with differentiated strategies for adults, young people, adolescents, and children.
To this end, we will work together with organisations and the feminist movement to continue making progress together in addressing gender-based violence in all areas and to continue innovating. And we will further involve key actors in our municipalities and in Catalonia to raise awareness, prevent and intervene in the face of sexual harassment and assaults in public spaces.
Because the spaces belong to all of us: the feminist fight isn’t over!
