Violence against women: A burning problem of the European Union

by Antonella Masiello 

from marciokenobi.wordpress.com

The conference hosted on the 6th of November by the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee represented another example to retake the never-ending debate about violence against women. In the words of Mr. Martin Schultz, the President of the European Parliament, at the conference, “ when a girl comes into the world, she already has less possibilities and less participation in economic, social, political and cultural life compared to a man”, and her fighting against these differences lasts all her life.

Many times what we see is this lack of rights is often expressed by violence against women, becoming a persistent and burning problem of the EU. Moreover, this reality is not only a serious violation of women's rights but also the root of gender inequality.

Apart from the pain and the traumas, this violence leads into a perpetual cycle. When there is the presence of domestic violence in a family with children, the risk of transmitting the concept of violence to youngers by letting them to witness the abuses may strongly increase. The lack of data on different types of violence against women hinders to understand the extent of the problem and how it is also influenced by external factors. The economic crisis, for example, is one of these factors that hit women hardest: it aggravates the unequal power relations between men and women and increase harassment, domestic violence, trafficking in women and prostitution. 

In spite of this situation and the several calls of the European Parliament on the need of urgent actions, there still remain much to be done to end this violence and moreover, what has been done to date needs a different approach at the national level. Depending on the national history, the power relations between women and men, the religion in the public sphere and the structure of legal system among other elements, member states of the EU have adopted different approaches to prevent and address violence against women or gender-based violence. The Spain’s 2004 Act on Violence against Women is an example of how the state can tackle this phenomenon with the implementation of protection and preventive measures that encompass education and awareness-raising in schools, media and hospitals as well as the creation of specialized courts and public prosecutors.

Nevertheless, not all member states reach the international legal standards for addressing gender-based violence. There are still states where rape or domestic violence is not considered a crime: a clear example is Iran with the recent case of Reyhaneh.

Furthermore and despite the several advances at the EU level, critical gaps remain between the EU provisions and the international legal instruments and standards. For these reasons, the EU needs to foster stronger actions in order to face this problem. One important step is to recognize that it is an issue omnipresent in all the countries which affects one-third of the female population. The EU needs to develop a global approach that includes legal acts and measures to prevent violence against women.