Spain: how to stop femicides?
With four women murdered by a partner or ex-partner since the start of the year and eleven killed by male violence in December 2022, femicide statistics have Spain's government on high alert. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska has condemned the violence as "macho terrorism" and called on police departments to be more vigilant. Commentators discuss how to tackle the problem.
Police action alone not enough
La Vanguardia sees the need for urgent action:
“The recorded murders are a frightening statistic that highlights the enormous difficulties. ... Everything indicates that the solutions cannot come from the police alone, but that it is important to improve prevention at all levels. Through better and more effective education in schools and by raising awareness in society. In this respect, many measures and resources foreseen in the [2017 parliamentary] pact against gender-based violence are still lacking. We cannot lower our guard.”
Feminism ineffective in government
El Mundo blames the government:
“The year 2023 is beginning the way 2022 ended: with an increase in the number of murders of women. ... The law [on the protection of women] that has been in effect since 2005 doesn't seem to have had an impact on the statistics. The annual average of these macho crimes is around 58. ... Little can be done with a law based on a false diagnosis. Namely that women are victims 'by the mere fact of being women'; not of a specific man, but of per se violent 'men'. This grotesque dichotomy has been turned into a principle by a feminism that is far more effective behind a banner than in government. ... The attempt to squeeze a complex reality into simplistic schemes is not a promising strategy.”