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Spanish women protest on International Women's Day in Madrid
Photo: DAVID FERNANDEZ / EPA-EFE
It happens every day and all over the world.
On January 1st alone, in France, just one example, three women were killed by men who were close to them.
In Germany, a woman dies every two and a half days through her (ex) partner.
It is not a law of nature or fate for men to kill their partners.
Many of these women could still be alive.
If earlier, if they had reacted more quickly.
If warning signs had been better recognized.
If the police and the courts had responded appropriately to previous reports.
So that this can finally happen, so that women are finally protected, a change is needed: in the social perception of criminal offenses.
But also at the institutional level - in laws, in criminal law.
And last but not least in the media.
Whether women are helped should not depend on the village policeman
Abuses can only be remedied once you have understood them, and that begins with clear naming.
But in contrast to many other countries, in this country you can not even find the right words for what is happening there.
We speak of "honor killing" or "family tragedy" when a man has killed his partner and possibly their children.
There is a much better term because it is more objective and precise: Femicide.
So far there is no mention of this in the “Situation Report on Partnership Violence”, which the BKA has published annually since 2015.
An important step - but at the same time it shows where and how the topic has been positioned in Germany so far.
But the police and the judiciary alone cannot solve the problem.
A glance at Spain shows which political reforms are necessary, possible and helpful.
The Council of Europe regards the country as a pioneer in implementing the Istanbul Convention for the Protection of Women.
There has been a separate law for the protection of women since 2004.
In addition, there has been a »pact against gender-based violence« in Spain for almost three years.
It was agreed by all parties represented in parliament at the time, the autonomous communities and the Spanish municipal and city council.
The negotiations for this were not a sure-fire success, the talks were always close to being broken off.
After all, post-communists discussed with conservative Catholics, social-democratic centralists with Catalan nationalists.
The fact that a historical agreement was finally reached was a clear sign: We all recognize the problem, so we must solve it together.
But it takes more than just new laws.
The social discussion must also change and break away from stereotypes.
Since January 2022, Spain has therefore been the first and so far the only one, according to its own information
EU country, all forms of femicides.
An independent government agency now also registers misogynist murders in the family, in the social environment or in connection with prostitution and exploitation.
Representative acts of revenge against children, the classic German »family drama«, will also fall under femicide in the future.
Even better than naming femicides is preventing them
The fact that the vast majority in the country see violence against women as a social failure is not least due to the fact that the current government describes the fight against femicides as a “state mandate”.
For good reason.
Because the term so often avoided in this country describes more than just personal fates.
It's about women who are killed for being women.
About ownership and power.
In private as well as in society.
The British psychologist and feminist Jessica Taylor got to the point some time ago when she wrote on Twitter that violent men do not lose control of their partner.
Rather, they wielded power in ways they would never do against their boss and other authorities.
This is precisely what distinguishes femicide and gender-based violence from other conflicts.
In Spain, after long struggles, this insight is now the consensus.
Accordingly, the media report differently.
The deeds and their misogynistic background are regularly featured in the evening news - without anyone bothering to tell the extermination of entire families as a soap opera.
Every young person already knows what it is about, femicidios.
However, preventing them is even more important than naming femicides.
With »VioGén«, a nationwide program in Spain has been in place for more than ten years, which aims to help protect women from violent partners as early as possible.
Even an algorithm is used to assess the risk situation.
Behind this is the knowledge that a uniform catalog of actions is required, a consistent procedure that also includes cooperation with advice centers, regular reviews and clear consequences for offenders.
Whether women are helped should no longer depend on the gut feeling of the village policeman.
Evaluations show that the program has helped in many cases.
Men also need to be addressed
Last but not least, prevention also includes targeting men.
In most cases, they are the source of the violence.
Accordingly, they are responsible for ensuring that something changes.
You should therefore be given the opportunity at an early stage to learn other behavioral patterns and to find new role models.
The discussion about it should be as broad as the problem at hand. Other European countries such as France are intensively discussing how violence against women can be combated in society. Tens of thousands of women have protested for change in the past few years. And even if the steps are not enough for many, President Emmanuel Macron has recognized the urgency: 90,000 police officers are to receive further training; in future, 1.1 billion euros a year are earmarked for the fight against domestic violence.
In Germany, the new Family Minister Anne Spiegel recently announced that she wanted to protect women and girls better.
"This violence is also an expression of unequal power relations between men and women," said the Green politician.
In the fight against this, she and her colleagues could find inspiration on the Iberian Peninsula.
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