“When I decided not to let him in anymore, I said: I’m going to report it, but… what if he finds me on the street?” “Going to the police station was embarrassing, having to talk about your problems in front of other people, counting, because they asked you like that, in front of the whole world, what were you going to do?” Even today, seven years after #Niunamenos and decades after the movement feminist fighting to make visible and respond to violence against women, fear is the main reason why many women who suffer gender violence do not denounce their aggressors.
According to a regional survey carried out in Argentina, Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador, 40 percent of those surveyed said they were afraid of the consequences and 25 percent indicated that they were directly afraid of receiving threats. The second reason is care responsibilities. Seven out of ten consider that having caregivers is an additional challenge when it comes to asking for help, and the reasons given range from not knowing who to leave the children with (16%), feeling that the bond with them could be being negatively affected (14%) or feeling that the people in charge would be in danger if they asked for help (11%). The third reason for not reporting is shame (34%). Other reasons are the feeling that no one is going to be able to help them (30%), either due to a lack of tools or willingness to help them, or fear that they will not be believed (28%).
The data comes from a Regional Public Opinion Survey on Gender Violence, which seeks to answer the question of what barriers women who experience gender violence face when seeking help. What is called the “critical path” of gender violence. “The critical route is all those decisions that a woman who is going through a situation of gender violence makes to get out of it. We say critical path because this process of asking for help, of getting out, is not always fast, it is generally complex, it involves many actors, with communication breakdowns between one actor and another. Many times they do not know where to go, who to turn to”, explained Ana Inés Alvarez, executive director of the Avon Foundation.
The survey was carried out by Avon and the Avon Foundation in collaboration with Quiddity, and third sector organizations in each country. In Argentina, the project had the support and participation of La Casa del Encuentro and UN Women. It is an online survey for recruitment on social networks. It took place between August and September and reached 2,735 people. In addition, 24 in-depth interviews were carried out.
“Even in that one feels guilty. How are you taking away his father”, said an interviewee from Mexico. Having children and/or dependents represents a significant difficulty when deciding to report. “To feel that they were not going to give me an answer/to be able to help me”, is the answer that 30 percent of the respondents chose. “Some manifest having received mistreatment by police and/or judicial entities, which manifests itself in various ways: they do not believe them, they subject them to long waits or ask them to come back at another time, they refer them to different places, becoming a very bureaucratic process and that forces them to recount their experiencesetc.,” the report says.
28 percent felt inhibited from reporting because they felt that they would not be believed. “The next day I went to the prosecutor’s office and told me all this and they told me: ‘where is the evidence because we don’t see any blows, he has nothing, where is the evidence?’” recounted an interviewee from Colombia.
the invisible violence
One of the problems the survey identified is that only half of the women who indicated going through situations of gender violence recognized it as such. For most women, the moment of identification of gender violence occurs when physical and/or sexual aggression appears, but it is difficult for them to identify more subtle situations. “It was something familiar to me so I couldn’t, I couldn’t get off it quickly, it took me a lot of time because it was normal for me,” said an interviewee from Argentina.
“In geographical terms, we can affirm that gender violence is a pan-cultural phenomenon since, regardless of the country, More than 80% of the women surveyed have gone through some situation of this type: the apartment is in Argentina with 80% and reaches 90% among Mexican women. It is in Colombia where there is a greater distance between those who identify the implications of gender violence (32%), and those who went through it (83%),” says the report.
economic violence
On average, 3 out of 10 women have ever seen their economic, academic and/or professional freedom affected.
In this sense, the report also highlights that 64% of the women who managed to separate stated that their ex-partners do not fulfill the responsibility of paying the alimony fee, affecting the rights of their children. So much so that 4 out of 10 victims of gender violence do not speak for fear of not being able to survive financially.
Three out of ten women stated that they were unable to make decisions regarding the management of money or make use of it freely. This occurred more frequently among those who work informally (39%). “In these contexts, the role of caregivers, especially of minors, in some cases intensifies and diversifies violence. For many women, economic dependence and the care and protection of other people places them in a situation of extreme vulnerability,” the report says.
psychological violence
“He has told me ‘You are useless’, ‘I was wrong about you’, ‘I am like this because of you’, ‘I would have been better off staying with someone else’”, recounted an interviewee from Colombia. An Argentine commented: “he told me I don’t like being looked at, because I want you for myself.” These expressions are part of what is known as psychological violence. And although the percentage of women who say they have gone through these situations is higher in Mexico and Ecuador, says the survey, it is present in all countries.
More than half of the women have ever experienced situations of psychological violence: “It is one of the most invisible forms, as the consequences refer mainly to interpersonal development. Jealousy, control over clothing or isolation from family and friendship networks are some of the ways in which it manifests itself. By manipulating psychological violence, the aggressor seeks to reproduce the cycles of violence,” the report explains.
In this sense, 52% stated that their mood swings were attributed to hormonal issues or their own condition as a woman. More than a third faced disbelief when telling something that bothered them about their partner. 48% of women who are in a relationship without living together declared having experienced situations of jealousy on the part of their partners. 45% saw their ways of clothing controlled and/or questioned. Finally, a third stated that their contact with their environment was limited.
physical violence
Four out of ten women have ever experienced a situation of physical and/or sexual assault due to their gender condition. This type of violence is also present to a greater extent in Mexico. In addition, it occurs more among women between the ages of 26 and 45 and among those who have gone through a divorce process. Six out of ten divorced women feared for their lives in the middle of an argument or confrontation.
Critical route
More than half of the people who suffered some kind of aggression and/or discrimination talked about it with someone. Of the women who were able to speak, half chose to do so with their environment, family and friends. This is mostly seen in younger women. In Argentina, mental health professionals are used to a greater extent: a third said so.
Only 11% of those who experienced a situation of violence made a complaint, says the survey. And among the latter, 52% of those who complained considered that the treatment was little/not at all adequate. “Then I went to the Public Ministry, I told him the whole version and he told me ‘look, I’m going to give you the document, I’m going to pick it up, but nothing will happen,’” said an interviewee from Mexico. “When I went to report I thought they were going to come and take action on the matter and they were going to tell him to get out of my house and leave me alone… and it was not like that,” said an interviewee from Argentina.
Due to these difficulties, many times the way out of violence is individual through therapy, spirituality, empowerment, helping other women, but also support networks. “Less than 10% of the people who went through situations of violence went to specialized facilities, that is a significant fact. The data shown in the survey allow us to specify prevention and comprehensive care strategies,” said Carla Majdalani, coordinator of the Eradication Area of Violence based on Gender in UN Women Argentina.
Finally, the report proposes social solutions to violence through social awareness, institutional change, mainly in the police and judicial system, and one Greater visibility and presence of social organizations specialized in gender to accompany the critical path process.