The Government Subdelegation in Santa Cruz de Tenerife has launched an initiative that will paint murals against gender violence in public spaces and educational centers in the Tenerife municipalities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, El Rosario, Güímar and Buenavista del Norte.
This initiative, which is part of the actions organized on the occasion of the 25th International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and which last year led to the painting of a similar mural on one of the walls of the municipal football field of Adeje, aims to give greater visibility to the campaign “We want us alive” of the Government Delegation against Gender Violence of the Ministry of Equality.
The deputy delegate of the Government in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Javier Plata, accompanied by the first deputy mayor and councilor for Sports and Citizen Participation, Badel Albelo, and by the eighth deputy mayor and councilor for Social Welfare and Quality of Life of San Cristobal de La Laguna, María Leonor Cruz, visited today one of these murals at the CIFP La Laguna.
“In recent years, we have stepped up our efforts to raise awareness of the importance of continuing the battle against gender-based violence. We have done this through different initiatives, through various channels, and we believe that taking our fight against this scourge to the streets can be very effective. That is the idea of these murals, that a single image can be recognizable by the citizens and that immediately reminds us that we must not lower our guard,” says Javier Plata.
“Painting these murals in educational centers is especially important for the recipients of this message. We must raise awareness about equality and the rejection of machisms from an early age, in order to have a society free from this series of behaviors that do not fit in an open and civilized citizenship in the future,” he adds.
In this sense, the Government’s deputy delegate in Santa Cruz de Tenerife stresses the importance of preventing violence in emotional relations between adolescents, knowing the first signs of control and domination and of “educating and raising awareness in the values of tolerance, respect, equality, the prevention of sexism and gender violence”.
The municipalities that will host these murals have already signed police collaboration agreements with the State, through the Government Subdelegation, for inclusion within the VioGén State System, which was put into operation in 2007 to allow the rapid, comprehensive and effective monitoring and protection of battered women, and their sons and daughters.
This initiative, which is financed by the municipalities themselves and by funds from the State Pact against Gender Violence, will be carried out in San Cristóbal de La Laguna in ten secondary education institutes and two adult training centers, while Güímar has proposed it to his two secondary education centers.
In addition, in the case of La Laguna, along with the realization of the mural, a series of interdisciplinary training workshops will be held on prevention of violence, respect and consent, promotion of healthy interpersonal relationships, deconstruction of gender stereotypes and recognition and denunciation of different forms of violence and support for victims.
For their part, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, El Rosario and Buenavista del Norte will paint these murals on walls of public spaces: office of the City Council, exterior of an educational center and wall of a house at the entrance to the municipality, respectively.