Greatest risk to women is still in their own homes
‘Stranger danger’ is masking greater threat, writes
IT HAS been a black fortnight for Irish women and fear levels are running high. Amid the heartbreaking and senseless deaths of 14-year-old Ana Kriegel, in Lucan, and 24-year-old Jastine Valdez, in Enniskerry, the country remains gripped with an atmosphere of shock and disbelief.
Two violent deaths within such a close space of time.
Two lovely young lives snuffed out.
Women are sadly all too well accustomed to walking with their keys in their hands on dark city streets or crossing the road to avoid an encroaching hulking figure.
But these deaths took place in idyllic rural areas in which little risk could possibly have been foreseen.
Women of all ages are now asking themselves why and how these tragic young deaths could have happened in our society – and whether their own safety is at risk.
When a young woman can be pulled into a car on a summer’s evening on a stretch of road close to home and just up from a bustling village, can anyone ever again feel that they are truly safe?
“Something like this is everybody’s worst nightmare,” acknowledged Margaret Martin, director of Women’s Aid, expressing sadness at the way in which these two young women had met their deaths.
However, she stressed that there is a risk that the fear of ‘stranger danger’ is diverting attention away from where the overwhelming risk lies
– in women’s own homes.
Statistics contained in the 2017 Femicide Watch by Women’s Aid show that 88pc of women murdered in Ireland are killed by a man they know, while 56pc of killers are current or former partners.
In all, 216 women have died violently since the Femicide Project began in 1996 – an average of 10 women per year.
The last time a woman was randomly killed by a stranger in this country, said Ms Martin, was in 2012.
That was when Marioara Rostas was abducted from the streets of Dublin. Her body was subsequently found in a shallow grave in the Wicklow Mountains.
“People say that you’re at your most vulnerable when you’re outdoors on the street but the reality is the opposite,” warned Ms Martin, who said that 12pc of women are killed by strangers.
“You’re much more likely to be killed by someone you know – a partner or an ex-partner in your own home,” she said.
When Women’s Aid was set up in 1996, the figures for women murdered that year stood at an all-time high of 19, never yet repeated.
Among those deaths that year were those of Veronica Guerin and Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
A sense that women are at risk can be used as a form of ‘benign control’ by people trying to restrict the movements of women in terms of where they go and what they wear, believes Ms Martin.
However, she said that with parents worried about young teenagers in a way they probably weren’t two or
three years ago, a balanced response is necessary.
“Part of it is having a conversation,” she said.
Parents can bring up their fears and ask their children what they might do, she said.
But she stressed that the real conversation now needs to focus on young men – and the younger the better – with a programme starting in primary school, continuing into secondary level.
“The big shift has to be in asking ourselves why we are not tackling the problem of male violence,” she said.
“Men attacking women but
also men attacking men. We have to look into what this is all about and what is going on.
“How do we change it and give men tools to express their anger in a way that means they don’t have to resort to violence?
“We have to teach them how to negotiate without using force and we also need to focus on the issue of consent and how to handle it if someone doesn’t want to be involved with you.
“We need to find a way to build emotional maturity in young men.”
Additional resourcing for policing was also required, she added.
In the meantime, women continue to feel unsafe in their own communities.
Mick O’Brien, of Self Protection Ireland, set up by serving members of the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána to teach Senshido, a reality-based form of martial arts, said they had been ‘inundated’ with calls from women seeking to join his classes.
However, he said the best defence was not physical contact but avoidance and staying alert. “This is self protection – it’s about teaching survival, it’s not about teaching fancy moves that they won’t remember,” he said.
Nevertheless, he said that women can equip themselves with certain survival skills that can make it more difficult for a predator.
“There are three things an assailant doesn’t want – to get recognised, hurt or to get caught,” he said.
“But no training I can ever do can match the reality,” he said, adding that women leave his class feeling ‘aware’.