“The negationism of gender violence is putting the spotlight on dismantling the importance of these equality policies, but equality policies are worthwhile, they are very important and they save lives.”
The Head of the Coordination Unit against Violence against Women of the Government Delegation in Melilla, Laura Segura, in an interview given to Television Melilla, has stressed the importance of data, which are fundamental for society to know the reality of this violence and equality policies.
In this regard, he has defended that last year 2024 was closed with 48 murdered women, the youngest in the historical series. A “terrible” fact, but it shows that equality policies in our country have allowed advances in gender violence and have allowed advances in favor of equality.
Therefore, he stressed that, precisely, the data “put on the table the reality of violence”, a violence “that was very hidden”. “It is important to talk about how many women may be suffering such violence in our country in order to explain that the reality of violence is much broader,” he said.
Steps for equality
Segura, who has stressed the importance of ending the inequalities that affect women, has stressed that “we have to put the feminist agenda on the table on this March 8 and every day of the year and that must be the basis that guides public policies.”
Thus, she has insisted that we must focus “not only on the most extreme basis, which is inequality over women in gender violence, but on all the inequalities that do not make women able to live in equality and autonomously and in freedom.”
“This country has to continue taking steps to remain a more feminist country,” she said. Thus, he has made it clear that “reality tells us that there is still a long way to go and that we do not live in a country where women live in full equality with men”. This, he said, “is fundamental, because if we do not run the risk of thinking that everything is already achieved and we can fall into that mirage of equality.”
In this regard, he regretted that gender violence “is usually news when a woman or a minor is murdered or when there is a very media reality of violence against women.” “We have to face this reality from the base of this inequality, focusing on all those inequalities that ultimately lead to violence against women,” she said.
Pedagogy versus negationism
Segura has highlighted the importance of doing pedagogy in the face of the negationist discourses that are emerging and normalizing among society. “We have to isolate the aggressors and we also have to isolate those who with their negationism are protecting and are accomplices of these aggressors and in the same way are accomplices of inequality.”
“We have to do a lot of pedagogy from the media, from the institutions, so that, through the data, through the reality that has already been established, we can end this very complicated and difficult discourse that is putting us at risk and that jeopardizes many of the advances we have achieved,” he said.
In this regard, he has clarified that what is being denied is the origin of violence against women “and it is intended to be confused with the rest of the violence to end this work that we have been doing for so many years.” “We cannot ignore those who normalize violence against women,” he said.
Leading equality policies
“We are in a country where equality policies and policies against gender violence are at the forefront at the international level,” he said, while referring to the Organic Law on Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender Violence, “which opened a fundamental path and now we are also seeing how it opens doors around other forms of violence against women.”
In addition, he has highlighted the renewal of the State Pact with all Parliamentary Groups except Vox, which has highlighted how negationism is isolated at the moment. This renewal also represents an increase of more than 1.5 billion euros, “we are talking about a very important budget that covers a large number of measures, both in prevention, protection, awareness and education”.
Likewise, it has emphasized the stabilization of the number of calls to 016, which in our city has experienced an increase of almost 20%. “This service not only materializes complaints, but also verbalizes violence, materializes requests for help that do not have to end in denunciation,” he explained.
In this sense, it has highlighted one of the latest policies of violence against women, which is the possibility of accrediting a situation of violence without having filed a complaint. “This is fundamental because it opens the door to remedies for women, regardless of whether they want to go through the judicial procedure or not,” she said.
The objective of the administrations is that women can get out of this violence, therefore, he said, we have to make available to those who suffer violence all the resources made ready “so that they can go to a foster home, so that they can receive multidisciplinary assistance, regardless of what they report”.