"The abuser leaves through the main door and I am left dead in life."

BarcelonaHalf of institutionalized sexist violence is carried out in the courts where women go to file complaints or resolve disputes with their abusers. "The judge left me like a dirty rag. She said I acted in bad faith and didn't take evidence or medical reports," explains a young woman about her personal experience, adding: "The abuser leaves through the main door and I'm left dead." This is one of 117 women (including three teenagers and three children) who have filed an anonymous complaint with the court.State Observatory of Institutional Gender Violence (OVIM), that A year ago, the Helia entity and the feminist cooperative Almena promoted. During that time, 198 institutions or agents have been identified as having engaged in re-victimizing behavior toward women.

Among these institutions, male and female judges are the worst off. In fact, more than half (52%) of the complaints received through an online form They point to the judicial sphere. At a great distance from the judges, the behavior of prosecutors and lawyers on duty is also criticized. In another of the complaints collected, a teenager who as a child had been forced to live with her father, convicted of domestic violence, reported him for abuse years later. The surprise was that the judge "continuously questioned" her, to the point that she pressured for family reconciliation.

The OVIM notes that the judicial system reproduces the gender stereotypes that mark machismo and patriarchy, but also continues to discriminate, applying a racist and classist bias, as well as a logic of ageism and ableism, that is, it questions women with disabilities, explains Marina Oliva Seguro, spokesperson for the Observatory and member of Helia, who notes that the bulk of the complaints refer to the denial of protective measures, shared custody and visitation rights for convicted men. "It is very serious that we still the false PAS (parental alienation syndrome) is applied", rejected by the UN and recognized by law as institutional gender-based violence.

11% of the complaints refer to the lack of attention and obstacles to filing complaints by the police forces. This is the case of a woman who ended up with a complaint for contempt of authority when she tried to report the authority when she tried to report the authority.

Abuse in the consultation

Third, health professionals are found, which follow defined patterns that indicate, for example, restricting care to women who lack proper documentation or a health card, as well as ignoring minors' requests for psychological care if the father doesn't agree. During her third pregnancy, a woman recounts how the obstetrician humiliated her and made her cry with rage when she made offensive comments, not understanding why obese women like her were allowed to become mothers. "Less crying and more running," he replied. The professional. A Honduran woman was also denied emergency care despite having a nasal fracture because she lacked a health card.

Social professionals, mainly educators and social workers, the third most targeted group, are not immune to complaints. Women criticize the fact that they issue reports favorable to the abusive father to facilitate reunion with his children, without taking their opinions into account. In this context, a Moroccan woman brought her case to the Observatory: she could not receive care from social services because she was not registered, and without any response to her suffering from the violence, she had to move from one service to another.

For Oliva Seguro, the 117 complaints that the OVIM has been able to investigate are only "the tip of the iceberg," and although she admits it is a small number, she values that it gives a voice to the thousands of women who suffer violence and are unable to break the silence. The report does not identify any individual, court, or police station because, according to the activist, the cases do not point to "bad apples or isolated cases, nor are they the bad experiences of a few women, but rather respond to "patterns and logic of the patriarchy."

Following the complaints, the OVIM has made 40 recommendations for all areas, calling for compliance with the law on gender-based violence and the creation of mechanisms for investigation, reporting, and sanctions for actions that violate the fundamental rights of women, especially migrants who lack legal residence permits. Otherwise, Oliva Seguro points out, institutional abuse will continue to go unpunished.