Andalusia breaks records of sexist violence. So far this year, three out of every ten murdered by gender violence (which occurs in the sphere of the couple or ex-partner) that have been registered in our country have taken place in said autonomous community.
The last two cases recognized by the Ministry of Equality this Monday (that of a woman in Seville and another in Jaén) bring the number of femicides in Andalusia to 15 women since the beginning of 2023, which means 35.7% of the total of 42 of these crimes in Spain since January.
Although it is true that Andalusia is the most populated region of Spain, the rate of registered femicides in 2023 alone practically doubles the percentage represented by its population in the national set. The 8.6 million Andalusians account for almost 18% of the 48.3 million total.
Throughout the last five years, the murders of women due to gender violence in Andalusia have remained stable above 20%. Only in 2021 did the percentage drop to an unfavorable 19.1% of women murdered in said community over the total count of the country, when this region registered a total of 9 women murdered by their partners or ex-partners out of a total of 47 that were registered throughout the state. In 2022, this violence accounted for 22.4% of the national total. In previous years (2020, 2019 and 2018) the percentages did not drop below 20% either (20.8%, 25.5% and 22.6% respectively).
In previous years, Andalusia had recorded lower figures in relation to these femicides. For example, in 2017 the seven women murdered in this community represented 14% of the national total and in 2016 they represented 10.2% of the total registered throughout the national territory.
Equality warns against denialism
This Monday, after the meeting of the crisis committee for the sexist murders recorded in the month of August, the Secretary of State for Equality, Ángela Rodríguez, warned about the denial of gender violence that costs lives.
Asked specifically about the data on murders recorded in Andalusia, Rodríguez stated that it is necessary to do serious reflection, since “the awareness raised in society serves to give security to women.”
“There is nothing more worrying than the fact that there are rulers who doubt sexist violence and the insecurity that this can convey to the victims. We have to make an effort to remove denialism from the institutions and begin to develop, with all the rigor, the measures that are here on the table and that we are clear can help”. “If the State pact against gender violence is to say that we are in the same boat in the fight against this form of violence that violates the human rights of women, which is not acceptable in a democracy like ours,” Rodríguez added.
For months, various Andalusian activists have denounced the systematic destruction of equality policies in the region. In July of last year, various voices criticized the change of name and course of what until then was the Ministry of Equality, Social Policies and Conciliation, which was renamed the Ministry of Social Inclusion, Youth, Family and Equality. In the change, it not only lost the conciliation policies (which disappear from the title), but also left the Equality policies last, which are now called “equal opportunities”.
Various activists denounce that, with the changes, not only policies have been lost, but also funding for items against gender violence and that the objectives have been dissolved.
