26/02/2025
FSG
The report includes, for the first time, specific measures for Roma women among the 462 measures it develops in areas such as security, education, and prevention.
At the FSG we believe that the approach of the new State Pact is a good reference for other public policies, addressing general measures for all victims of gender violence and incorporating specific actions adapted to the circumstances of Roma women.
Today, the report prepared by the Subcommittee for the Renewal and Updating of the State Pact on Gender Violence, which updates the previous one from 2017, is being approved in the Spanish Congress of Deputies. This approval means the renewal of the State Pact against Gender Violence for the next five years.
Among other advances, the report recognises for the first time the specific situation of Roma women in dealing with and escaping violence and adopts measures to address it.
Roma women are not immune to the problems faced by other women but, in addition to gender inequality, they suffer other forms of discrimination based on their ethnicity. This is what we call intersectional discrimination.
Although violence against women affects Roma women to the same extent as women in the rest of society, since gender-based violence has its origins in a patriarchal system and is not specific to any culture, Roma women have certain singularities that are determined by their ethnicity and that involve experiences of discrimination and antigypsyism.
That is why we very much welcome the fact that the new State Pact recognises this specificity for the first time and defines adapted strategies and measures.
Thus, in measure no. 148 it recognises the need to ‘Apply a specific approach for Roma women in institutional policies, measures and responses against gender-based violence with the aim of guaranteeing their full access to and effective exercise of rights. Implement or adapt specialised resources to the needs and conditions of these women, to make them fully accessible and coherent for them, with the help of specially trained Roma mediators.’
It should be borne in mind that many Roma women face greater barriers when it comes to leaving violent situations, due to sociocultural issues, antigypsyism and poverty, among others, which results in a lack of guarantee of their rights as citizens and in an obvious risk to their well-being and their lives, as well as that of their children.
One of the most noteworthy points of the new Pact is that it emphasises specialised training for professionals. Thus, measure 149 calls for ‘Addressing with specific measures, which take into account the intersectional perspective, interventions in cases of gender violence against Roma women and training the professionals involved in caring for these victims to do so.’
It also emphasises the need to take into account the voices of Roma women when designing public policies that directly affect them. Measure 147 advocates ‘Involving groups such as women with disabilities, migrants or Roma women in the design of specific policies, as well as in any institutional measures and responses adopted to combat any form of violence against women’.
The work of Fundación Secretariado Gitano in the fight against gender-based violence
At Fundación Secretariado Gitano we have been working for more than two decades to support Roma women who are victims of gender-based violence: 650 cases dealt with between 2014 and 2024. In the context of this experience, FSG believes that, in order to provide an adequate response to the specific needs of Roma women, the following is required:
Since 2016, the FSG has been running the Calí Programme for the equality of Roma women, mainly financed by the European Social Fund, with the aim of providing support for the social and labour inclusion of Roma women who are in a highly vulnerable situation, and of accompanying women victims of gender-based violence through specialised support.
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