We face another first Thursday of the month in which the Lanzarote Forum against Gender Violence must remain at home with its banner folded, its claim silenced, and frustration and impotence taking center stage.
It is no wonder. The security of confinement at home, proclaimed as the best formula against the Covid virus, has proven lethal against one of the most serious diseases of our times: violent and murderous machismo.
According to data from the Monthly Statistical Bulletin of the Government Delegation against Gender Violence for the month of May, 901,647 calls were made in Las Palmas reporting dangerous situations; in the first five months of the year, requests for help through this tool increased by 25 percent compared to the same period in 2019.
The homes that for most were synonymous with security and an antidote against fear have become prisons for many women in our country, in our community, on our island. Gender violence has climbed to the headlines in a new attempt to show itself in its enormous, unfortunate magnitude.
But while the denunciations and cries for help multiplied, we have helplessly watched the attempts to turn the March 8 demonstrations into those responsible for the crisis and vehicles of the disease. Patriarchy does not rest, machismo seeps through every crack of opportunity to keep the female population subjugated, in secondary positions, in domestic functions, in reproductive and care tasks, without opinion, without lament, without criteria.
We must not allow violence against women and gender discrimination to become strong in a society weakened by the impact of the virus and the economic crisis. And although the anomalous situation prevents us from going out into the street, displaying our banner and calling attention against machismo, let us keep our rejection alive in conversations at home, in the first outings to work or to the street, in our social networks. So that inequality and fury do not win the battle.
Lanzarote Forum against Gender Violence
