Sr Fiona Pryle
Coming up to the elections, Ireland has a chance to do something radical! Will violence against women be on all the manifestos of the political parties and will they give a commitment to provide proper refuge spaces in each county? We, the voting public can hold our politicians accountable when they appear on our doorsteps. It is an opportunity to ask them about their policies and if they get into Government, what are their plans regarding ending domestic violence.
Women have heard so many platitudes about zero tolerance and too many times being told ‘never again’ – what we now need as a country going forward is action.
Future
This year, Simon Harris, speaking in the Dáil in an open debate on gender-based violence, said “It’s incumbent on men to take leadership positions and not allow the worst of us to speak for the rest of us on gender-based violence every time we see or hear misogynistic behaviour we need to call it out. Do not stay silent as silence can be perceived as agreement.”
Let us hope that the 2024 elections which coincide with 16 days of Action and its theme of unite, calling on Governments to show how much they care about ending violence to women and girls, will result in the formation of a government which makes this call a priority.
The dream will be to see if the new government will be courageous enough to put measures in place to address what the World Health Organisation (WHO) states that violence against women is at a pandemic state.
The annual 16-days campaign to challenge violence against women and girls is an international campaign and runs every year from the November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women December 10, Human Rights Day.
Since initiated in 1991 by the first Women’s Global Institute more than 6,000 organisations from approximately 187 countries have participated in the campaign. The colour orange is chosen by the United Nations to symbolise a brighter future, free of violence.
This year’s theme is ‘Unite! Invest to prevent violence against women and girls’. The Campaign calls on citizens and governments to show how much they care about ending violence towards women and girls.
Numbers
Sadly from the statistics and reports, violence in general is on the increase across the world. Every day 137 women in the world are killed by a partner or by a member of their own family (UN Global Study on Homicide, Gender Related Killing of Women and Girls 2018).
In Ireland, we are witnessing an alarming increase of violent incidents, leniency in the courts, little accountability or rehabilitation of offenders. In Women’s Aid Annual Report for 2023, the agency experienced the highest number (18% increase) of disclosures in their 50-year history. When records first started in 1996 to the present day, 265 women in Ireland have died violently, 9 of them occurred in 2023.
Each woman killed violently is an outrage, resulting in utter heartache and trauma for those left behind. Alongside this statistic, 20 children have died from incidents where women have died violently. In almost all murder/suicide cases, the killer was a current or former partner of the woman.
These statistics only speak of the extreme physical aspect of domestic violence. It is reported that 1 in 4 women suffer some form of abuse in their relationships. From my experience of working in the sector, women have described the abuse of coercive control as having to walk on eggshells and living a nightmare with their children. With the current housing crisis and high rents, women feel trapped and have no option but to continue living in unhappy and unsafe homes.
Change
Legislation has changed over the years and in January 2019, coercive control was introduced as a criminal offence. This legislation has given more possibilities for women to go through the courts system, to address psychological, emotional, sexual and financial abuse.
However, even with some legal changes, and small increase of services, it has done nothing to change the statistics and we continue to see more and more women and children abused.
While writing this article I heard a news bulletin reporting on an Irish man arrested in Hungary for the murder of an American woman, it stated the man said it was an accident and he didn’t mean to do it. Unfortunately, time and time again, a harrowing case emerges in the public consciousness that reshines the light on the underbelly of male violence that lies deep in our society.
What therefore needs to be done to bring about real changes? It is imperative, that addressing gender-based violence, we need money to invest in education at all levels especially schools to explore relationships and what is misogyny, sexism, power, control and consent. I believe this education would go a long way to developing healthy relationships and make society safer for future years.
Sr Fiona Pryle is a Good Shepherd Sister and social worker currently journeying with women seeking justice in the courts.