Every November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is commemorated. However, there is a type of violence that is hidden, that is invisible in some cases even to themselves and to society, because it has been normalized, because there are obstacles to its identification, because many of those who experience it are not aware of it or because Environmental professionals are not sufficiently trained to detect it. This is gender-based violence against elderly women. If not identified, prevention and eradication may become difficult to achieve.
Two studies carried out in Spain in 2019 by the Government Delegation for Gender Violence give figures. The macro survey on violence against women, carried out every four years since 1999, found that 25.5% of women aged 65 or over had turned to formal support services due to physical, sexual, emotional or fear violence (VFSEM). ). This figure increased considerably when the same entity carried out a study, now focused on women over 65 who had already requested help from the Telephone Service for Attention and Protection of Victims of Gender Violence (ATENPRO Service) . There, 78% of the women interviewed admitted to having been physically attacked by their attacker.
However, these women rarely report their attacker. “When we want to analyze the extent of violence against older women, we need to look at objective data, namely complaints, calls to helplines, restraining orders and murders,” emphasizes Mónica Ramos Toro, doctor of social sciences. Anthropologist, geroanthropologist and technical coordinator of the UNATE Social Group in Cantabria. This November 22, a group of specialists in gender violence and elderly people gathered to talk about this violence during an international meeting organized by UNATE.
“If the macro survey indicates that 6% of older women report having suffered physical violence, in the ATENPRO survey this figure rises to 70%; That is to say, when we see all the types of violence of these women [mayores] It’s totally devastated. Those who identify him and are already calling on the phone are starting to say ‘he controls my money, he controls who I go out with, he insulted me, he threatened me, he hits me’, for example.”
Indeed, when the elderly woman takes the step of asking for help, the data is different. The 2019 study on women over 65 who are victims of gender-based violence shows that 78% of those questioned say that throughout their lives, the attacker has pushed them around; 75% say they have been slapped; 63% indicate that they were hit with a fist or some other object; 50% report being kicked or dragged to the ground; 44% were threatened with guns or knives and 30% revealed that the attacker tried to suffocate or burn them.
These are the most recent figures. Until now, no results have been published for 2023. There have been no resources, time or interest to delve deeper into a reality, that of older women, who, according to this study which should have drawn the alarm when it revealed that 40% of older women Abused women have suffered violence from their partner or ex-spouse for more than 40 years and 27% are between 20 and 30 years old. Live in hell and don’t let anyone see the flames.
Why is gender-based violence against older women invisible or made invisible? It is made invisible, among other things, due to structural factors that perpetuate two types of discrimination: marginalization based on gender and age, according to experts. “They are perhaps much more invisible than violence against women in other age groups because this intersection between machismo and ageism makes it much more normalized,” says Neus Pociello Cayuela, advisor to the Cabinet of the Ministry of Justice. Equality and Feminisms of the Generalitat of Catalonia. .
The symptoms of this violence are in the culture, they are structural: “It is in the system and this means that, because of ageism, family networks and institutional systems often justify this violence by the idea that women are already older. been like this all their lives, they have little time left and this normalization is strengthening,” explains this specialist. This reality, he adds, makes its recognition difficult.
The phenomenon of gender-based violence against older women has been the subject of investigations since around 2011. But for six or seven years, the echo has been greater, explains Pociello Cayuela. But these studies must still delve deeper into an “intersectional vision” which makes it possible to identify the interaction of multiple discriminations in the same person.
Older women have been educated in the culture of secrecy, of silence, of “dirty laundry cleaned at home”. This is why “socially, it is difficult to understand that gender violence is not a personal problem but a social and political problem”, explains an expert.
Some of these factors can be explained by history and culture. In this country, unlike groups of young women, “older women have lived in a context of political, religious and social repression that has existed for a long time in society,” observes Arantxa Núñez Alcaide, master in Intervention against violence against women. women. and expert in equality policies and plans.
This population has been educated in the culture of secrecy, of silence, of “dirty laundry that we clean at home”. For this reason, “socially, it is difficult to understand that gender violence is not a personal problem but a social and political problem,” emphasizes Núñez Alcaide. “Those who experienced this violence and discrimination throughout their lives generated less resistance and less defense. They learned to obey first the state, then the father, then the husband and then – in the cases we see today of violence by children against mothers when they are older – unfortunately also towards the children. They went from obeying each other,” he adds.
What is preventing these elderly women from escaping this violent situation? Núñez Alcaide explains how they developed the role of endurer: it is difficult for them to talk to their children about the episodes of violence they are experiencing because they do not want to cause problems. Sometimes they perceive this rejection in their environment. In other cases, these elderly women are financially dependent on their partner, do not have control over the issue and do not know their rights, which prevents them from denouncing, separating or leaving the family home.
When they come to report, after a long period of support by social workers, they sometimes find that the judge tells them that if they have already endured 60 years, they just have to wait a little longer for the attacker to die. For Ramos Toro, this represents “a terrible re-victimization”. In the cases analyzed of elderly women, the aggressor is often in a situation of dependence and they are not going to stop taking care of him, they are not going to denounce him, they are not going to separate, warns Ramos Toro, pioneer of the investigation into violence against this population group.
When an older woman dares to say she’s been raped, even to medical professionals, in many cases they probably haven’t been prepared to respond, experts say. “In the case of older women, sometimes it is necessary to address the aggressor, sometimes the family, sometimes the approach is more complex and even professionals are not prepared for this, because they are not prepared for this reality. because they do not understand that there is a specificity compared to older women,” emphasizes Ramos Toro.
Outings for older women
Recently there is a wave that is driving many sectors, there is greater institutional awareness that includes municipalities. In the particular case of Catalonia, there is a growing desire to apply a strategy based on intersectionality to address challenges such as, in particular, information systems and the recording of cases of violence. “Transforming structures takes a long time, but you have to roll up your sleeves and start,” encourages Neus Pociello Cayuela, who will participate this Friday in Santander in a specific day on this issue.
In the legal field, there is only one tool that obliges States to guarantee the human rights of older persons, but it is only valid for the Americas: the Inter-American Convention on the Human Rights of Older Persons, in Spain, for example. For example, “there are commitments of will, but no action,” laments Pociello. And at the same time she wonders: “Are we taking older women into account? Have we counted on the entities that work the most or are made up of older women to define this policy, this service, this awareness?
Ramos Toro recommends supporting older women who are victims of gender violence in a process that provides them with greater well-being. And, in addition, train professionals who detect and generate with them a link in which a space of well-being is sought. “We need to understand that we should not act as saviors either, but rather make it clear that what is happening to them is causing them a lot of discomfort.” They must, he adds, be aware that learned helplessness is normal, that normalizing violence is the most normal thing and that they have nothing to be ashamed of.
Núñez Alcaide advocates making the most hidden sexist violence visible and putting it in the words of those who experience it, otherwise “they won’t see it”. “Let them talk,” he said. But he also takes a step forward and demands compensation for the damage. According to her, society owes a huge debt to older women: “What they have done for life and for care is a very important element… because they are victims, but they are also survivors of many things,” she emphasizes.
It is to fuel these silences that the UNATE Social Group, an entity specializing in the human rights of older people that works from Cantabria, is organizing the international meeting “Gender violence against older women: naming the invisible”, which will take place will be held this Friday. November 22 at 6:00 p.m. and which can be attended in person or online. The event will feature the presence streaming from New York of Silvia Federici, Italian-American writer, professor and feminist activist, as well as the Femicide Survivors Collective, who will participate from Mexico. At Espacio Magallanes (Calle Magallanes, 6, Santander) there will be Mónica Ramos Toro, Neus Pociello Cayuela and Arantxa Núñez Alcaide.
This same Friday, these non-profit entities launch “The Violentómetro”, a tool built by older women from Santander so that other women like them can clearly identify what violence in relationships is. The Violentómetro was translated into audiovisual language by the women who wrote it in a shocking video that directly addresses older women who suffer gender-based violence. If all goes well, some invisibility cloaks should become history.
