Madrid (EFE).- The PP and Vox signed an agreement this Thursday for the Government of the Valencian Community that, throughout its 50 commitments, does not mention gender violence, although it does advocate promoting measures to eradicate “violence intra-family”, a concept that, according to experts consulted by Efe, is insufficient to protect women.
This reference is found in point number 43 of the agreement, according to which the future Valencian Executive undertakes to “defend the rights of families and promote policies that will seek to eradicate intra-family violence, especially those suffered by women and children, guaranteeing the equality among all victims.
“Gender violence may not be intra-family and not all intra-family violence is against women,” points out Marisa Soleto, jurist and director of Fundación Mujeres, who warns that “confusing both types of violence leads to confusing the causes and the protection needs of the victims”, and “making bad decisions for the approach”.
Differences between gender violence and intrafamily violence
According to the first article of the 2004 Law on Comprehensive Protection Measures against gender violence, gender violence is that which is exercised “as a manifestation of discrimination, the situation of inequality and the power relations of men over women.” women”.
This rule, promoted by the Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and unanimously approved by Congress, specifically punishes physical and psychological violence exercised by men towards women whenever there is or has been an affective or sentimental relationship, regardless of whether the aggressor and victim have lived together or not.
The active subject will always be a man, while the passive subject must necessarily be a woman, a casuistry “statistically accredited” and for this reason included in its own law, specifies the lawyer of the Association of Women Jurists Themis Ángela Alemany, who recalls that since 2003, 1,204 women have been murdered by their partners or ex-partners.
On the other hand, intrafamily violence is understood as “acts of punctual abuse that occur among the rest of the family members”, specifies the professor of Criminal Law at the University of Valencia Paz Lloria.
These acts are included in article 173.2, which, although it does not expressly mention intra-family violence, does punish violence perpetrated by one person against another “who is integrated into the core of their family life”, whether they are partners, ex-partners, descendants , siblings, parents or people who need special protection.
Lack of protection of victims
Enclosing all the violence that is perpetrated against women under this umbrella is problematic for the experts, who warn that in this way victims who do not have a family relationship with their aggressor are left out.
“Outside the sphere of couple relationships, there is also violence against women, such as sexual, digital or institutional violence,” highlights Lloria, who recalls that those women who do not live with their aggressor are also protected by the violence law of genre.
Faced with the criticism that its agreement with Vox has aroused, the PP defends that “it has an immovable and unquestionable commitment against gender violence.”
In an interview on TVE, his deputy secretary for Social Policies, Carmen Fúnez, has argued that both types of violence “are not incompatible” and that both should “end”.
The rise of denialist discourse
For Soleto, however, this “discursive regression” can “give wings to those who claim that gender violence does not exist” and slow down the advancement of women’s rights, who need a “favorable social climate” for their correct development.
These speeches, Lloria agrees, “use demagoguery by implying that only women enjoy a special type of protection”, something that she considers “false”, since there are other specific laws such as the comprehensive protection of children and adolescence against violence.
The denialist voices always claim that the law on gender violence entails the persecution of the aggressors, but this professor reminds them that, even if the law is repealed, murders and assaults will continue to be punished with penalties that will only drop in a “minimum” way. .
But the repeal, he adds, “would eradicate the victim protection system” because, in addition to criminal sanctions, the law contemplates prevention, detection and follow-up measures.
The director of Fundación Mujeres also warns that taking this step would mean that Spain “stops complying with its international commitments”, something in which Alemany agrees, who recalls that our country has ratified agreements such as the one in Istanbul, “which expressly refer to to violence against women, not only at the family level.”
“Those who are trying to confuse both concepts are denying the right of people to be properly cared for,” warns Soleto.