“When women are murdered because of their gender, it is called femicide,” writes Eva Reisinger in ZEIT ONLINE following the murders in Vienna the week before last. It has been reported as if they were sad isolated cases.
Violence against women is not a private issue but a political one. It is the responsibility of politics to prevent femicides and ensure the safety of women. Instead, the right-conservative Kurz government has cut budgets for violence protection and feminist work; the FPÖ warns that women’s shelters destroy marriages and portrays femicides as an imported problem from other cultures. Moreover, when women become victims, blame is often placed on them.
“All these acts share a common denominator: men. In most cases, it’s not men lurking in parks targeting strangers, but men from the victim’s immediate environment. Men kill women. Men kill men. Men also have a high suicide rate. The patriarchal system harms not only women but also men. Archaic concepts of masculinity are deeply rooted in society. The fact that men murder their partners because they make their own decisions, want to separate, or do not meet their possessive demands is directly related to this.
“Of course, not all men are perpetrators. However, what is needed are men who admit that saying ‘we’re not like that’ is not enough. Men who oppose hate and violence. Men who no longer laugh at sexist jokes. Men who take care of their children. Men who believe women when they report violence or boundary violations. It requires politicians who understand that this is not just about so-called women’s politics. There needs to be a general understanding that this cannot continue, and a willingness to change structures.”
Posted by herCAREER,
Published on LinkedIn on 07.03.2024
