GENDER VIOLENCE: CONCEPT, TYPES, SIGNS, WHAT TO DO - GEOGRAFÍA - 2025

The gender - based violence is one that affects people taking into account their gender. The term includes all those actions that can cause damage in the physical, verbal and psychological spheres, and both actions that occur in privacy and those that are generated in a public way are considered.

The term gender violence does not refer only to violence against women. Although various studies determine that the female population is one of the most vulnerable in this regard, the notion of gender violence encompasses all negative actions generated on the basis of the affected person's gender.

Gender violence does not include only that suffered by women, but without a doubt this population is the most affected: pixabay.com

Gender-based violence is considered a violation of human rights, and women and members of the LGBT community tend to be victims on a more recurrent basis.

This type of violence can manifest itself in many ways; for example, discrimination at work, forced prostitution, coercion by the State, street harassment and impunity for attacks perpetrated, among many others.

Private and public institutions in several countries have launched programs and initiatives that contribute to the prevention of this type of situation. However, the general figures show that gender-based violence in general has increased in recent years, and that these initiatives have not been enough.

Definition and concept

The UN provides a fairly extensive definition of gender-based violence. According to this international body, this type of violence includes any action that can harm someone physically, verbally, sexually or psychologically, because of their gender.

The concept seeks to separate general violence from that which is generated specifically by dislike of the affected person's gender. It includes threats, control and deprivation of liberty that occurs arbitrarily, and applies to cases that occur both in privacy and publicly.

Despite the fact that gender-based violence is a term that encompasses much more than violence against women, there is no doubt that there is a connection between the two, since statistically women are much more affected than men.

Resolutions

There were two very important UN resolutions that are related to the birth of the term: these are resolutions 34/180 in 1979, and 48/104 in 1993.

Both are related to the recognition and defense of women within the legal framework, and served as a context to conceptualize gender violence in a more concrete way.

It was in 2000 when they began to talk about gender violence, this implied the expansion of the term and it was avoided to relate it exclusively to the female sex.

Types of gender violence

Several types of gender violence can occur:

Physical

This form of violence is perhaps the best known. Physical violence is considered to be that which is used against someone's body causing pain and / or damage. That is, any intentional action towards another person that affects their physical integrity.

Psychological

This type is more difficult to detect than the previous one. It is also known as emotional violence. The intention is to deteriorate the value and self-concept, as well as the self-esteem of an individual. This form of violence usually occurs verbally; They can be hurtful words, insults, yelling, and even put-downs.

Sexual

It is about forcing or coercing a person in order to perform a certain sexual act without their own consent. It will be considered sexual violence as long as the victim does not consent, regardless of the relationship they have with the aggressor. It can be exercised through physical, psychological or moral force.

Symbolic

Symbolic violence is considered to be that which uses stereotypes, symbols, messages, values, icons or signs at a social level to instill in the recipient a difference in power or decrease in self-worth for belonging to a certain social group.

Economical

This form is characterized by those actions or omissions towards someone that can harm the economy and the subsistence of the person. It can be intuited by means of restrictions that have the purpose of controlling economic income, as well as the interruption or unjustified restriction to obtain resources.

Signs of gender violence

Some signs of gender violence in a relationship are:

• Excessive or pathological jealousy.
• Control the way of dressing, schedules, economy and life in general.
• Isolate the victim socially.
• The abuser blames the victim for all the problems.
• Hypersensitivity: the abuser perceives any verbal or non-verbal behavior of the victim as a personal attack.
• Insults, hurtful or disparaging comments.
• Intimidating sex.
• Hitting, physical damage or abuse of force.
• Breaking household objects.
• Sudden mood swings.

Where can you call or go?

If you consider that you are a victim of gender violence, you can call the following numbers:

Spain: 0016.

Mexico: ORIGEN Foundation or CAVI.

Colombia: line 155.

Peru: line 100.

Argentina: line 144.

Venezuela: InaMujer.

Gender violence in Spain

In Spain, as in most of the world, most of the victims generated by gender violence are women. According to data from the Government Delegation for Gender Violence, so far in 2019 46 women have been murdered, and the murderers have been current or former partners of the victims.

In 2003, the record of this type of crimes began in the country, and since then more than 1000 victims have been counted.

According to the data of this research, the communities in which these events are most common are Andalusia, Madrid and Catalonia. Most of the victims were between 41 and 50 years old.

Something interesting about these data is that it was determined that in less than half of the cases the victims had previously reported their aggressor; likewise, some had taken protective measures. The vast majority of these women lived with the men who murdered them.

Convictions and complaints

The judgments that condemn acts of gender violence have experienced a boom in Spain since 2012. This is indicated by the data obtained by the Observatory on Domestic and Gender Violence.

An increase in the number of complaints made has also been observed. It is worth noting that the origin of these complaints is quite variable; most came directly from law enforcement agencies and from injury reports that reached the courts.

Other cases were reported by assistance services or third parties, and the less common origins were complaints from the victims themselves or from members of their family group.

Increase in crimes

The increase in complaints may also imply that there has been an increase in cases of gender violence and, according to the State Attorney General's Office, there has been an increase, especially in cases in which sexual freedom is restricted.

According to the data provided by the prosecution, between 2017 and 2018 there was an increase in this type of violence of 23%.

Regarding gender violence against women, there are data that confirm that it is less and less considered as a main problem within Spanish society.

According to a survey carried out by the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas in September 2019, only 6.6% of the sample considered that violence against women is among the three most serious problems in Spain.

Gender violence in Mexico

In Mexico the victims of gender violence are also mainly women. In recent years there have been numerous protests, and multiple complaints have been received indicating that some police forces have committed crimes of gender violence.

There are several worrying figures related to this issue in Mexico. For example, according to the government of the capital of this country, 292 Mexican women were victims of sexual assaults during the first half of 2019.

Likewise, other data collected by the National Survey on the Dynamics of Household Relationships indicate that 64% of cases of violence against women carried out by their partners or ex-partners are considered severe or very severe.

This survey also indicated that more than 19% of women over the age of 15 have suffered physical violence, ranging from shoving to attempted strangulation.

Aggressor Police

There is data confirming the participation of members of the police in episodes of gender violence. For example, in 2016 Amnesty International interviewed 100 women, and 33 of them claimed to have been sexually abused by police officers during their confinement.

Furthermore, 73% of the women indicated having suffered from groping against their will. According to the information provided by the victims, most of the abuses were infringed by the Municipal Police, the Navy and other state police.

In this context, Amnesty International also found that bisexual, lesbian and transgender women tend to be more vulnerable to gender-based violence.

Necessary measures

Given the large number of complaints of gender violence, the government of Mexico City has expressed its willingness to create mechanisms that help increase security, especially for women.

One of the measures is to incorporate an emergency button in public transport, more security cameras and more lighting in the streets. They also propose adjusting the training programs for police officers, adding a more extensive component on respect associated with gender.

Currently these measures have several detractors. Such is the case of the lawyer Andrea Medina, who establishes that the most necessary thing is to increase the investigation in the cases reported. According to him, there are very few cases in which the aggressors receive a sentence, or the victims receive some type of compensation.

These measures are essential, since figures from the National Public Security System indicate that in 2019 sexual crimes have increased by 20%, and that 93% of cases of gender violence go unpunished.

Gender violence in Argentina

During the first half of 2019, 155 Argentine women were murdered. Most of the murders were generated in Buenos Aires and among the victims there were 13 children under 11 years old; This was indicated by the data generated by the Observatory of Femicides of the Ombudsman of the Nation.

Among the victims were 6 trans people. Most of the victims were between 31 and 50 years of age, and in almost all cases the perpetrators were part of the close circle of women.

Almost all of the deaths were caused by firearms, and 11 of the 155 murdered women were raped. Of all the victims, only 23% had previously reported the aggressor.

Plaintiff organizations

In view of this context, a significant number of organizations have emerged, seeking to expose the situation and demand responses from the authorities.

One of these groups is Mujeres por la Matria Latinoamericana (MuMaLá), which a few months ago asked to declare a state of national emergency in Argentina given the rise in cases of gender violence.

Among the demands of this and other similar groups are the disarmament of police officers with a history of participation in gender violence, the creation of specialized courts in this type of violence and the formation of support groups for victims.

Gender violence in Colombia

The National Institute of Legal Medicine of Colombia indicated that the number of women killed by gender violence has increased in 2018.

However, the figures for the first two months of 2019 showed a decrease: in January and February of this year there were 138 murders, as opposed to the 149 that occurred in January and February 2018.

In this South American country, the aggressors are also usually known to the victims, usually ex-partners, partners or relatives. Regarding physical violence, reports indicate that women are the most vulnerable, as one in three states that they have been beaten by their current partner or by previous partners.

Narcos involved

The delicate situation in Colombia in relation to drug cartels also has an influence on cases of gender violence.

It is estimated that a large number of women have been forcibly displaced from their homes as a result of the armed conflict. In this same context, they have also suffered from sexual assaults and land grabbing.

The UN has determined that Colombia has a solid legal structure that allows it to handle these types of cases in a timely manner.

However, a report generated by this same organization indicates that there is a significant gap in the application of this legal framework and that there is a barrier that prevents victims from accessing the judicial system.

Several Colombian citizens have expressed that there is high impunity in crimes of this type, which according to figures from different organizations exceeds 80%.

In Colombia most of the victims are between 20 and 24 years old. In the Arauca region, cases of gender violence have tripled; on the contrary, Bogotá and Valle del Cauca show a decrease in crime.

Gender violence in Peru

As of September 2019, 127 murders of women had been listed in Peru; in 2018 there were 149. Records indicate that the main forms of gender violence are psychological, physical and sexual.

Figures from Datum Internacional from 2018 indicate that Peru is the second Latin American country with the highest rate of women who have suffered sexual harassment, and most of the time this is generated within the family environment.

Call of attention

Institutions such as América Noticias have tried to expose these cases in an attempt to attract the attention of the authorities.

In this case, they presented the publication Femicides 2019, in which they describe one by one all the cases of gender violence that ended in femicide during 2019 to date.

Laws and government agencies that protect

There are several government institutions that develop programs and projects with the intention of improving the situation in this regard.

Such is the case of the National Working Group, whose function is to support and coordinate the National System for the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women and the members of the Family Group.

It is a body that allows monitoring the different political initiatives that arise in the context of gender violence.

Regarding the legal framework, there are several laws designed exclusively to protect potential victims of gender violence. For example, Law 30 314 seeks to punish and prevent sexual harassment that is generated in the streets.

Law 27 942 focuses on cases that occur in the workplace, in dependency or subordination relationships. On the other hand, Law 30 819 modified various aspects of the Penal Code with the intention that the penalties applied to the aggressors were stricter; for example, the minimum penalty for femicide is 15 to 20 years in prison.

An important aspect is that it was expressed in the legal framework that both physical and psychological damage will be considered crimes.

Gender violence in Venezuela

During the first semester of 2019 in Venezuela, more than 1,100 cases of sexual abuse of women were registered; This is indicated by figures from the Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations Corps.

Various experts assure that the deep political and economic crisis that the country is experiencing is key in the increase in cases of gender violence that have occurred so far this year.

Given that there is a strong institutional crisis, these cases are not processed properly, and state agencies fail to provide timely responses to those affected.

Gender violence in the migration process

Venezuela is going through the largest migration crisis in its history, and this is reflected in the huge number of people who have moved to other countries in search of better living conditions.

Venezuelan women and girls are a highly vulnerable population to situations of gender violence, since they can be used for sexual purposes or other types of exploitation.

Police assault

Likewise, there have been cases of police abuse of women during the many protests carried out by the population against the government of Nicolás Maduro.

Among the most prominent attacks are forced nudity, uninvited touching, physical attacks and threats of rape. All these crimes have gone unpunished.

An example of this precarious situation is the prison of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service Helicoide, where they have a specific cell for women, packed with people and constantly watched by male officials.

In addition, testimonies from different people indicated that the women held there are permanently pressured to receive protection in exchange for sexual relations.

Another worrying element is the treatment given to the female relatives of persecuted opposition politicians. Once the officials find them, they interrogate them and mistreat them.

Gender violence in Ecuador

In Ecuador, more than 60 women were murdered in the first half of 2019. The data was provided by Alianza Mapeo, an entity that includes several organizations and that monitors cases of gender-based violence in the country.

The provinces with the highest murder rates are Guayas and Latacunga, and 54% of the cases were used knives to carry out the murder.

In Ecuador, the trend observed in other Spanish-speaking countries is repeated: most of the murders were perpetrated by the victims' partners (62.7%).

Since 2008, the number of murdered men has decreased, unlike femicides. Since 2004 in Ecuador there have been 684 murders of women as a result of gender violence.

Activists in action

There is a group of organizations that has dedicated itself to being the voice of victims and vulnerable populations, and demands responses from government agencies. Such is the case of Ayuda en Acción.

This organization recognizes the achievement of the creation in 2017 of the Comprehensive Organic Law for the prevention and eradication of violence against women, which focuses above all on preventing and recognizing as gender violence what occurs within and outside the family environment.

However, they also recognize that it is not enough. Part of the actions that they intend to carry out are related to sensitizing the population about gender equality and ensuring that the victims are financially independent.

To approach this last challenge, various organizations have joined forces and offer workshops, scholarships and even soft loans for entrepreneurs.

Gender violence in other Latin American countries

Chile

Until June 2019, Chile had 29 murders of women. According to the Chilean Network against Violence against Women, the cause of all these murders was gender violence.

Private organizations like Comunidad Mujer emphasize that the most important thing is to reform education. They indicate that there are cultural aspects that normalize aggressive actions towards Chilean women, allowing cases of gender violence to perpetuate.

In this context, it is worth saying that in January 2019 the Ministry of Education created the Commission for Education with Gender Equality, in which private organizations participated and which presented more than 50 recommendations with the intention of raising awareness about gender equality..

However, the educational plan announced after these meetings hardly included an approach based on gender equality. According to organizations like Comunidad Mujer, this is a symptom of the lack of disposition that exists on the part of the governmental apparatus.

Uruguay

Currently, the Uruguayan courts in charge of cases of gender violence receive up to 130 emergency calls a day.

Most of the complaints of the citizens of Uruguay in relation to this indicate that the structure is not enough, so it is not possible to report cases of gender violence in a timely manner.

In the first half of 2019, 11 femicides were generated. Of these murders there were some whose aggressors had imposed precautionary measures, but they transgressed them without any control by the State and, finally, they committed the murders.

The Division of Gender Policies of the Ministry of the Interior indicated that from 2005 to today reports of cases of gender violence have increased by 580%

In December 2017, law 19 580 was proclaimed in Uruguay, which focuses on anticipating, protecting and providing support to women at risk of gender violence.

This law emphasizes the autonomy of women, as well as protecting especially girls and adolescents. However, non-governmental institutions point out with concern that the law is not effectively enforced in reality.

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