“Chilling”. These are the figures for the care provided to women victims of male violence (510) and their children (46) at the Oficina de la Dona, according to the Comisión Feminista de Ibiza’s manifesto for 25N, the reading of which closed the events held on the island to commemorate the Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in Vara de Rey. “These data show a deficit of democratic values and respect for human rights in our immdiate reality,” continued the spokeswomen, addressing the approximately one hundred people who came to the rally, despite the cold late in the afternoon.
The text, which was read by six members of the different groups on the island, recalled that Ibiza is home to some of the “thousands of women and girls sexually exploited in the country”. Victims of “people trafficking”, a phenomenon “inseparable” from prostitution. “As a society we have to start putting the focus on the cause: the brothels,” demanded the Feminist Commission, which continued: “If our brother, partner or friend pays for sex, let’s not look the other way, our silence makes us accomplices”.
“No more sexist violence, not in Eivissa nor in the world!”, concluded the reading of the manifesto of 25N
Pandemic’s collateral effect in Ibiza
The first words of the text were dedicated to the pandemic, a crisis that “has made the discrimination and violence suffered by women in all areas more visible”. “Poverty has increased significantly and has had a harsher impact on women, despite the fact that work in health and commerce, fundamental during the pandemic, are also feminized jobs”, they continued. The voices of Amèlia, Graciela, Sister, RocÃo, Laura and Eva, alternated in the reading of the text, which stressed that “the number of women in a situation of social exclusion has grown with the pandemic by 15.6%, double that of men, as stated in the report of the European Anti Poverty Network”. In fact, in this regard, they stressed that the “many resources” that are generated on the island “tourism or luxury businesses do not have an impact on the quality of life of citizens”. The manifesto emphasized the extreme hardship of these recent times of confinement and restrictions “for women and children who live with male violence in their homes”.
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