San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Leaders pressured over gender-based crime in Spain
MADRID — A spate of gender-based violence, coupled with the early release of several sex offenders, has increased pressure on Spain’s left-wing government, which strongly plays up its feminist credentials, to do more to protect women from abuse.
Following an urgent meeting Friday, the country’s Equality Ministry proposed housing and income support for abuse victims but said there was no need to tighten a law that has allowed some sex offenders to qualify for review and reduced sentences.
“We need to be able not only to make protection services available but also ... to effectively reach the victims without the need for long bureaucratic procedures,” Equality Minister Irene Montero said.
At least six women have been killed — allegedly by their current or former partners — so far this year, according to the latest records by the government’s office against gender-based violence.
After studying the cases, the Equality Ministry found that some of the victims had been living with their alleged killers for economic reasons. Montero said she planned to provide housing services and a minimum wagelinked income to women who had suffered violence and remained vulnerable.
The proposal would require Cabinet approval but Montero said it shows the government’s determination to improve what she called a highly-functioning system against gender-based violence.
Official data show that at least 1,188 women have died at the hands of their male partners or ex-partners since 2003, when the country pioneered counting cases of femicides. The statistics also show a slight decline in the number of annual killings since 2000.
Experts agree that there has been a drop in cases after Spain’s strong commitment to targeting violence towards women, but more can still be done, particularly for victims who already had filed complaints against an aggressor at least once. In 2022, these accounted for 43% of female murder victims.
“We need to improve risk assessment because when women report their situation, the danger of attack by their partner becomes huge,” says Yolanda Besteiro, president of the Progressive Women Federation.
Violence against women has increasingly become a social concern — and a political point of contention in a highly polarized debate.
Opposition parties have heavily criticized the government after it introduced contentious legislation on sexual consent that has also allowed more than 200 convicted sex offenders to successfully appeal their prison sentences.
According to rulings issued by Spanish courts, at least 20 offenders have been released from prison since parliament approved the law four months ago after significant reductions in their prison terms were granted.
That’s because those punished with the lowest prison term under the previous criminal code have the legal right to remain at the lower end of possible sentences under the new law; that has resulted in reductions of up to four years of imprisonment for offenses such as aggravated sexual abuse.
The spotlight is now on Equality Minister Montero, the sponsor of the law — popularly called “only yes is yes,” since it requires explicit consent in sexual relations. When asked, she said she wasn’t considering revising the law.
Montero argues the new law protects women better than before, and the real problem is the way some judges apply it. That has earned her strong criticism.
A top official from her ministry, Victoria Rosell, said a majority of sentences that are being revised don’t get reduced.