Vitoria (EFE).- A report commissioned by Emakunde reveals that 1 in 4 women over the age of 65 in the Basque Country have suffered sexist violence throughout their lives.
The study is entitled “Gender violence and older women in the Autonomous Community of Euskadi: making an opaque vulnerability visible”. It has been prepared, thanks to a grant from Emakunde, by the sociologist, gerontologist and criminologist Iratxe Herrero and the political scientist and equality expert Carlos Díaz de Argandoña.
The report stresses the invisibility of sexist violence against older women and makes an indicative estimate of its dimension.
Thus, it estimates that 23.4% of these women, around 67,600, have suffered gender violence throughout their lives and 5.7% (about 16,450) currently suffer it.
The importance of making these cases visible
The director of Emakunde, Miren Elgarresta, has highlighted the importance of making visible the “special vulnerability of older women in the face of sexist violence”. This contributes to the detection of cases and facilitates their access to specialized resources.
Despite the fact that not all older women respond to the same profile, one can speak of a “special vulnerability due to factors associated with their age”.
Among them, he explained that they are women who, for the most part, have not enjoyed economic autonomy. They have lived in a time when they had to ask their husbands for permission to work, to open a checking account or to go abroad.
At that time, Elgarresta has pointed out, violence against women “was a personal problem, behind closed doors and not a social one as it is today.”
Victims normalize violence
Among the unique characteristics of women over 65 who suffer violence, the study points out that they are victims of very long-term violence. They also assume and normalize violence by “adapting to it.”
“They have assumed the obligation to maintain their role as wife and mother as an element that defines their identity and their social prestige,” they explain. For this reason, disassociating themselves from this role supposes for them “a greater difficulty and they develop a behavior of acceptance of vital experiences”, adds the report commissioned by Emakunde.
In addition, they have a more deteriorated state of physical and psychological health and a more negative self-perception of their state of health and image than other women of their age, and also present a greater degree of social isolation.
Most of them remain in the relationship until it ends due to the death of the man or themselves. They make his situation less visible, they communicate it less to their environment. They also have greater difficulty identifying themselves as victims, recognizing their right to be helped, and explicitly requesting help.
Abusers chronicle their behaviors
The study ensures that abusive older men also have unique characteristics. Among them, “the most intense patriarchal socialization” they have received compared to the younger generations “in a more permissive social context than the current one with this type of violence, which has contributed to reinforce and legitimize their violent behaviors” stands out.
Over the years, he adds, these men “chronify their violent behavior” and modulate the type of violence exercised in frequency and intensity based on the change produced in their physical and cognitive abilities.
The report highlights that associations have an important role in the social response to these elderly victims. They offer informal spaces for interaction that make it possible to establish the necessary links to create a climate of trust that facilitates any action aimed at these victims.
“They offer breathing spaces for those women who are still in a relationship. They are a necessary complement to the work carried out by the resource system of the formal care network, ”she recalls.
There are profiles of especially vulnerable older women who are victims of sexist violence. Among them are women of the fourth age, those who live in rural areas and those who do not go to care resources or associations. EFE