Why We Need Legislation to Fight Violence Against Women

Violence against women continues to affect millions both in the EU and across the world. TheParliament.com quotes PN Member Raül Romeva I Rueda explaining why a new directive on the issue is so important:

After 10 years working in the European Parliament for women's rights and gender equality, it is devastating to still verify that, in 21st century Europe, violence against women (VAW) kills seven women every day. VAW is an extended global problem that affects around one fifth of the female population. Between 20 to 25 per cent of women in the old continent have experienced acts of physical violence at least once during their adult lives, over 10 per cent have suffered sexual violence involving the use of force and 12 to 15 per cent of women are victims of domestic violence.

British sociologist Sylvia Walby recently published a study for the EP in which the economic cost of violence against women in the EU was estimated at €228bn annually, including €45bn for services, €24bn in lost economic output and €159bn on pain and suffering. The costs of preventive measures are substantially less than the cost of violence. Women's rights are human rights and have to be protected at any cost; however, measuring the economic consequences of violence help us to highlight and make visible the consequences of the patriarchal society, the impunity of those crimes and the lack of action taken by public authorities.

Today, there is neither a legislative act establishing measures to promote and support the action of member states in the field of prevention of violence against women, nor a comprehensive strategy to combat gender based violence. On 26 February 2014 the EP voted on the Parvanova report, a legislative initiative report that demands the commission submits a regulation "establishing measures to promote and support the action of member states in the field of prevention of violence against women and girls" including detailed recommendations for an EU-wide strategy to end violence against women.

Extract from article published on TheParliament.com.

Photo by bcbusinesshub.

PN Member Raül Romeva I Rueda is Member of the European Parliament and the Greens/EFA Group rapporteur on Combating violence against women.