Fundación Secretariado Gitano

The new State Pact on gender violence in Spain recognises the specificity of Roma women [editar]

• Gender Equality and Romani Women
• National level

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:

• Greater coverage of resources and professionals throughout the State, increasing the number of resources of all kinds, as well as the number of professionals who attend to these resources.
• Adapting and ‘humanising’ housing resources so that they are better suited to the circumstances of the women for whom they are intended.
• Carrying out awareness-raising actions for the staff of all services to reduce prejudice and stereotypes.
• Improving the psychological care service in public resources, including professionals from different backgrounds and profiles (for example, Roma, migrant, racialised, Muslim professionals, etc.).
• Adapting resources to the needs demanded by participants, avoiding rigid and pre-established support pathways that are not adapted to the needs of the victims.
• Encouraging networking and the coordination of public and private resources to ensure and streamline care and referral within the public victim care system, for example, including the possibility of referring victims to resources and services in other regions to better address the situation of violence suffered by the victims.
• Bringing protection and care services closer to security (police) resources for victims to reduce resistance when it comes to asking for help.
• Ensuring continuous care and support from all professionals in judicial or police intervention processes, especially at critical moments, guaranteeing their availability.

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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