One more day, our news broadcasts open their edition with the macabre announcement of another sexist murder.
A new victim who will swell the abominable list of the already nearly 900 counted since 2003 (1), numerically surpassing the murders of the terrorist group ETA (2), which did deserve the attention of our politicians, hours of pre-election debates, robust budget items and the signing of a prolific State Pact, which never arrives when it comes to women.
And with each murder, laments are reproduced from all social spheres and moments of silence. A bipolar society, which is only scandalized by each atrocious crime, despite the fact that this scourge feeds on a nourished base of micro-violence comfortably installed, normalized, and even promoted from all conceivable forms of social influence.
The circumstance also arises that, in the present year, almost half of the victims had reported their abusers, and in some cases, they had a fragile protection order incapable of saving their lives, or, in the worst cases, all judicial protection was denied.
On the other hand, the data indicate a chilling sexist anchoring at early ages, which has increased the work of specialized juvenile courts. This is contributed to by an educational plan lacking a gender perspective, despite the mandate contained in the Equality Law (3), and new technologies that are ductile channels for all types of sexist violence, to disturbing extremes.
The dark panorama described only has one reading: our system of combating gender violence falters through its numerous gaps. We are unable to stop its advance and give protection to victims, who are increasingly younger.
We face a powerful historical, endemic and multifaceted scourge, which is engendered from a deep-rooted social base underestimated by all the policies designed to end a machismo that continues to kill. A base that is generated and regenerated through each sexist advertisement; of each new edition of "big brother" and of homes that perpetuate gender roles, despite the integration of women into a labor market that also discriminates against them.
A base that feeds on globalized sexual violence and educational tools contaminated with a language and a history where only men live.
It is not easy to reverse a process, with centuries of experience and great ability to adapt and reinvent itself with each new historical stage.
The approach, without a doubt, must be multidisciplinary, from all the fronts in which machismo sinks its deepest roots, but the priority must be prevention, through schools, because education is the most powerful weapon to change a society.
In the Association of Women Judges of Spain (AMJE) we are resolute not contemplative, and we act directly on reality to change it. For this reason, we have opted for an ambitious educational project that is already being implemented in Lanzarote and will continue during the current school year (2016/2017), with more than 1,000 young people attached and 40 judicial operators (lawyers, judges, prosecutors, forensics, lawyers of the administration of justice and social graduates), who altruistically form part of the five teams of trainers who direct the execution of the project on the Island of Volcanoes.
It is called "Educating in Equal Justice" and is a pioneering program that was born with a gender perspective, aimed at families, educators and young people from 9 to 18 years old, with three hallmarks: equality, justice and education, where Education Centers and all levels of justice collaborate.
A program of dissemination and knowledge of what Equal Justice is among the youngest to help them recognize gender discrimination and violence, as well as sexist stereotypes. A program that aims to bring students closer to the equal judicial world, through guided tours of judicial facilities and attendance at public trials as an enriching experience that will give them more accurate information about the functioning of Spanish courts. A program that promotes the creativity of adolescents and teamwork through the preparation and staging of a trial with a gender perspective.
Early training has a greater and more positive impact, because one is more ductile and permeable to the acquisition of values and good habits. Projects like this are essential to combat, from its origin, all forms of discrimination. It is easier to educate a strong girl and a boy in equality than to repair a broken woman. The solution lies in education.
Glòria Poyatos Matas, Magistrate of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands, President of the Association of Women Judges of Spain (AMJE)
Article published in the magazine Unionprofesional
(1)- In 2003, the murders of victims of gender violence began to be counted with a view to the approval, a year later, of the Law of Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender Violence. The figure of shame, as of the closing date of this article, is 350 women murdered.
(2)- The Ministry of the Interior recognizes 829 deaths from ETA, but the associations of victims of terrorism raise that figure to 858.
http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/1195725/0/victimas-mortales/eta/cifra/#xtor=AD-15&xts=467263
(3)- Article 24 of Organic Law 3/2007, of March 22, for the effective equality of women and men literally provides the following:
"Integration of the principle of equality in education policy
1. The educational administrations will guarantee equal right to education for women and men through the active integration, in the objectives and in the educational actions, of the principle of equal treatment, avoiding that, due to sexist behaviors or social stereotypes associated, inequalities occur between women and men.
2. The educational administrations, within the scope of their respective powers, will develop, for this purpose, the following actions:
a) Special attention in the curricula and in all educational stages to the principle of equality between women and men.
b) The elimination and rejection of sexist behaviors and content and stereotypes that imply discrimination between women and men, with special consideration to this in textbooks and educational materials.
c) The integration of the study and application of the principle of equality in the courses and programs for the initial and permanent training of teachers.
d) The promotion of the balanced presence of women and men in the control and government bodies of educational centers.
e) Cooperation with the rest of the educational administrations for the development of projects and programs aimed at promoting knowledge and dissemination, among the people of the educational community, of the principles of coeducation and effective equality between women and men.
f) The establishment of educational measures aimed at recognizing and teaching the role of women in History."
