Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/949290
maltatoday SUNDAY 4 MARCH 2018 Interview 14 By Raphael Vassallo Yesterday, the University of Malta announced it would be hosting the first 'European Observatory on Femicide'. The launch took place against the backdrop of a number of much-publicised (often very violent) crimes perpetrated against women in Malta, as well as a global campaign against violence on women in general. Why is there so much of a spotlight on this issue now? Is it because of a reported increase in actual cases? There is no evidence for any in- crease in the numbers of women killed. But there is more awareness today. What is so upsetting, or heart- breaking, to me is that femicide is often so preventable. Femicide is the killing of a woman because she is a woman. The vast majority of cases – though not all – concern intimate partner violence. It can also refer to deaths caused by FGM (female geni- tal mutilation) or sexual assault: as in, not by an intimate partner. Nonethe- less, the vast majority of cases are in- timate-partner killings. Women who live in an abusive relationship, and are then murdered by their intimate partners. And it's so preventable, be- cause... we know what happens: it's not as though suddenly, out of the blue, a woman gets killed. We know that there are these abusive relation- ships, and that a number of them are going to end in murder. We need to take steps before. One good thing that is happening, however, is that the media seems to be finally paying the issue the attention it deserves... At the risk of widening the discussion beyond domestic violence, would political assassinations targeting women also be included in the definition? To mention one case: British MP Jo Cox was stabbed to death shortly before the UK's Brexit referendum in 2016... [nodding] ... Yes, and she was stalked by her murderer before. Stalking is one of the forms of vio- lence against women that is specifi- cally mentioned in the Istanbul con- vention. For while violence against women has always been a reality... the 'methods' have changed. Partly as a result of social media. As times change, the number of ways in which I can hurt you... that I can cause you pain, suffering, torture, whatever... have changed. It's still the same thing. It's still violence against women. But the methods have changed, and we have to keep up with them. Sticking to 'intimate-partner violence' for now: we've seen a few local cases and they seem to follow a certain pattern: often, for instance, the murder would be occasioned by jealousy of a very possessive nature... indicating that the killer somehow perceives the victim as his 'property'. Would you agree? Sadly, a lot of the cases of intimate- partner femicides occur when the woman leaves, or is in the process of leaving. We recognise that there is this coercive pattern: people don't wake up one morning and say, 'Oh I think I'll kill my wife today'. There is a pattern of control and coercion. Of- ten, the most dangerous time is when the 'controller' – in 99% of cases, the man – is about to lose that control. And the ultimate form of control is, well... [trails to silence] On the subject of 'control'... traditionally, women in Malta tended to be completely dependent on their husbands until fairly recently. So could it be that part of this violence could be explained by a 'refusal' to accept changes that allow women to take more control of their lives? You used the word 'dependent'... another word is 'submissive'. I'm sorry to have to say this, but our cul- ture is still a patriarchal culture, and generally – generally, let me stress – still attaches more importance, valid- ity and worth to men than women. I say 'generally' because there are situations, in a relationship between a man and a woman, where the woman will have more power. She might have a higher level of educa- tion, independent wealth, etc. But generally, our society gives power to the man. We have been brought up in this, whether we like it or not. As I tell my students: we have absorbed it, by virtue of being brought up in this society. And to be perfectly clear: it's not just in Malta. It's not because we're backward, or anything like that. I'm a member of WAVE [Women Against Violence in Europe], which is a Europe-wide network, and vice- President of the monitoring commit- tee of the Istanbul Convention, so my experience is wider than Malta. We – society in general – have absorbed this. I, as a woman, will 'act like a woman' in certain circumstances. And 'acting like a woman' means cer- tain things. And you, as a man – even if you resist it, like I do – will 'act like a man' in certain circumstances. You will find yourself just slipping into the role that society told you you should be taking. So in many relationships, there is still this feeling that, in order to 'fit', you have to act the role given to you by society: as a man, or as a woman. Both of these roles have to change. One cannot change without the other. What sort of effect does this society- imposed gender role have in cases of domestic violence? That women would be submissive or passive, for instance. They'd say: 'What can you do? Doesn't every- one have a cross to bear?' etc. Then they'd get together and grumble – 'Look what he did to me', etc. – but take no action. Why? Before, it was because in most cases, women were entirely dependent on men. What could they do? And before, there was nowhere to go. And before, there was no awareness: no voice telling people: 'Hey! You don't deserve to be treated this way. You have rights. You are worthy of being a human being. And human beings should not be treated in this way'. There was none of that... This was, as you say, 'before'. But a lot has surely changed since then (if not in attitude, at least in recognition and rights)... We just published a report, and one of the things we found in this research – done now: not 20 or 40 years ago – was that we still have women saying things like: they were raped by their intimate partner, and they didn't re- alise it was rape. They were forced to have sex when they didn't want to, but they didn't consider it 'rape', because: well, he was their husband or the boyfriend. [Pause] Of course it's rape! But still, to this day, there is this misconception. Many women have absorbed it. Now, we tell them: No. You have a right to say: 'Not to- night, Josef'... ('au lieu de Josephine', in case I'm misunderstood). You have the right to say no, and it should be respected. You have the right to go out and meet your friends. You have the right to meet your mother or your sister, or whatever. You have a right to have a mind of your own, an opin- ion of your own... to be financially in- dependent, if circumstances permit... you have a right to these things. 'Financial independence' is in fact one of the areas where cultural perceptions of women have changed. But isn't it also true that 'financial control' is another form of bullying/ abuse directed at women? There is what is known as 'eco- nomic' or 'financial' abuse – it's called by various names, but basically we're talking about money – in that, some- times, women will have no idea what their family's financial situation even is. They are given so many euros a month, and that is what they deal with. They don't know if they have a million euros in savings somewhere; or if they have 100 euros. They know nothing about that, because the hus- band keeps the information from them. And when they try to get it, they are told to shut up. That is a form of abuse, because if you are living in a partnership with somebody, you have a right to know these things... Coming back to something you said earlier: about how 'preventable' femicide is... what could be done about it in practical terms? The Observatory launched yesterday, for instance: how will it function? This is the European Observatory on Femicide, which the University Rector very kindly accepted to have hosted within our University. It is the result of a four-year EU Cost Action: a source of EU funding for networking of researchers. One of the objectives of this Cost Action was to launch an observatory at the end of it. We're starting very small: there's me, and a part-time researcher. We also have an advisory board which is made up of members from various European countries where the research was conducted. The idea is to have a fo- cal point in every EU country, in or- der to gather data, harmonise data... because one of the problems we face is that different countries supply dif- ferent data relating to homicide. All countries report homicides, and al- most all countries segregate cases by gender. But they don't all give you the context. They might not specify whether the killer was an intimate partner, because they don't specify the relationship to the perpetrator. You will know, for instance, that '12 women were killed in four years'... but it's not enough to draw too many conclusions. Where were they killed? How? We know that most femicides occur indoors rather than outdoors, whereas many other categories of murder happen outdoors. But we don't have this kind of information, and we need it. In Malta, the situation is perhaps a little better because the numbers are small. The numbers... not the proportion per 100,000. But the actual figures are low, and this means we can research each case, in- sofar as the information is available. How would you approach an individual case? What sort of data would you be looking for? We would want to know: were there any reports to the police of previous violence directed at the victim? If so, did the police take any action? Were the police aware that there were fire- People don't wake up one morning and say, 'Oh, I think I'll kill my wife today'. There is a pattern of control and coercion. Often, the most dangerous time is when the 'controller' – in 99% of cases, the man – is about to lose that control 'Femicide: the killing of a woman, because she is a woman'. Dr MARCELINE NAUDI, of the University of Malta's Gender Studies department, outlines the role of gender perceptions in violence targeting women CONTROL WE NEED TO STOP AND THINK We need to stop and