site.btaOne in Three: Violence against Women in European Union

This article is based on content provided by agencies participating in the European Newsroom (ENR), including the Bulgarian News Agency.

Being a woman means not just having to deal with gender-based discrimination or gender pay gaps daily but also living dangerously. Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8 here’s how EU Member States attempt to combat gender-based violence as it varies, as do perceptions. 

Hardly a day passes across the European Union without a woman being injured or killed because of her gender. The vast majority of perpetrators of physical or psychological violence are the women’s current or former partners. 

Carlien Scheele, the director of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), spoke when presenting the organization’s latest report in February. 

Carlien Scheele, Director EIGE: “Violence against women is rooted in control, dominance and inequality.”

The EU has made combating gender-based and domestic violence part of its policies. The Commission, under the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 committed itself to help prevent and combat violence, as well as supporting those affected and holding perpetrators accountable. It committed itself to make “significant progress” towards a gender-equal Europe. 

On Friday, Commissioner for Equality Hadja Lahbib presented the Commission’s new Roadmap to strengthen women’s rights, with freedom from gender-based violence as the first step on this path.

In recent years the EU has taken several steps to achieve these goals, among them concluding the accession process to the Istanbul Convention – to which the Commission became party in October 2023. The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women, as it is properly known, is the first legally binding international instrument on this topic. It defines violence against women as falling under four key forms: physical, sexual, psychological and economic.

In May 2024, the Council adopted the EU Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence. It criminalizes at EU level certain forms of violence against women  such as female genital mutilation and forced marriage, and also online violence – for example non-consensual sharing of intimate images, cyber stalking, cyber harassment and incitement to hatred and violence on the ground of gender. The Directive was hailed as a big step in the right direction, but also came under fire as member states failed to agree on the criminalization of rape. There was no consensus on a consent-based definition of rape.  

Widespread violence

Member States have until June 2027 to implement the directive in their national laws and policies. However, progress is uneven and the scale vast. The statistics, which are rolled out as every year around International Women’s Day on March 8, make for harsh reading. 

The EIGE Gender Equality Index 2024 presented recent policy and legal developments on violence against women in the EU and Member States. It stated that violence against women was “widespread and underreported”.

In its composite index of violence across 12 member states, the score was 31.9 points with Greece (24.6 points) and Finland (41.7 points) at the ends of the spectrum. 1 indicates a situation where there is no violence and 100 that violence against women is widespread and severe. 

According to the statistics and EU wide survey data used for the index, 31% of women over 15 in the EU have experienced physical and/or sexual violence and 57% of the victims have suffered health consequences. 

In a recent German survey 92% of women between 18 and 35 said they have experienced harassment or assault. 

What is femicide?

According to EIGE, counting femicides – the murder of a woman or girl because of her gender – across the bloc is difficult due to differing definitions. Not all member states have specific laws concerning femicide, though countries such as Malta, Cyprus or Croatia have dedicated femicide laws in their criminal codes.

But women across Europe are still being murdered, as these examples show: 

In France, the interior ministry said 96 women were victims of “conjugal femicide” in 2023. 

In Spain, 48 women were murdered due to “gender violence” in a relationship or family situation in 2024. In the same year,  9 minors were killed in crimes perpetrated by their fathers or their mother’s spouse. There were also at least six femicides committed by someone who was not a current or former partner. It was the lowest number of murders due to gender violence recorded since 2003. Since that year, 1,293 women have been murdered in Spain by their partners or ex-partners.

In 2024, in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH), 12 women were killed in femicide cases, yet there is no unified register of domestic violence, making it difficult to track the scale of the problem and for institutions to respond effectively.

Italy reported over 90 femicides in 2024. At least 48 of the victims were killed by their partner or ex-partner, according to the country’s interior ministry. About one in five victims were over 70. 

In Germany, there is a femicide reported almost every day. In 2023, some 938 girls and women were victims of attempted or completed femicides. 360 of these women died. “Almost every day there is a femicide. Every day around 400 women are victims of violence in their relationships,” said Minister for Women’s Affairs Lisa Paus in November , when presenting the first situation report titled “Gender-specific offences against women”. 

Protecting victims 

Across Europe, countries are at different stages in their legal systems in how to combat gender-based violence. 

In Spain, where the government has long made fighting gender-based violence a priority, parliament is debating the renewal of a State Pact against Gender-Based Violence with about 460 measures aimed at protecting victims. 

In Slovenia, one in two women and girls over the age of 15 have experienced some form of violence, according to official statistics. In late 2024 the country adopted an action plan to implement a national programme to prevent domestic violence and violence against women. It provides for more funding and strengthening of social protection and other assistance programmes. The issue of femicide is also receiving additional attention. Also amendments to the Criminal Code are being prepared to impose stricter penalties for killings that occur within the family or in other permanent living arrangements. 

EU candidate country North Macedonia recently ratified the Istanbul Convention, but according to activists serious problems remain: While amendments to the criminal code in 2023 updated definitions on rape based on lack of consent and criminalised stalking and sexual harassment, they left some victims unprotected by not defining or criminalising psychological violence. 

Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) also adopted a law on protection from domestic violence. The Federal Minister of Justice, Vedran Škobić, stated that this law places a strong emphasis on protecting women and represents the implementation of the Istanbul Convention as well as certain EU recommendations and directives, which are fundamental obligations in the EU accession process.

However, social worker and psychotherapist Tea Rebac Mikulić points out that women in BiH often do not report violence due to traditional gender roles, economic insecurity, and an inadequate institutional response.

In Bulgaria, Eurostat data from 2024 said the country registered that only 6% of women have experienced non-partner violence. This is the lowest such percentage in the EU. The Interior Ministry however presented information that there is an increase in cases of domestic violence, as well as protection orders issued, and proceedings initiated for crimes in the context of domestic violence. Justice Minister Georgi Georgiev said the government is preparing actively for the application of the EU Directive.

Poland’s Minister of Equality Katarzyna Kotula has repeatedly spoken out on the subject of violence against women, emphasizing its seriousness and systemic nature, calling for the need for systemic change. 

Progress delayed and threatened

Advancements are uneven across the bloc. Five member states – Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovakia – have not yet ratified the Istanbul Convention. 

Although the EU has taken firm steps from a legal point of view, the fight for real progress requires urgent action by policy makers, civil society and citizens, insists EIGE. The report reveals worrying levels of tolerance of violence against women, with 17% believing that reports of sexual abuse or rape are often exaggerated. 46% of men and 26% of women believe that financial control in relationships is acceptable and 27% of men and 15% of women think that sexual harassment in the workplace is acceptable.

Political opposition to gender equality is also on the rise. A report by UN Women warned this week that in a quarter of countries around the world, women’s rights regressed due to factors ranging from climate change to democratic backsliding. “The weakening of democratic institutions has gone hand in hand with backlash on gender equality,” the report said, adding that “anti-rights actors are actively undermining long-standing consensus on key women’s rights issues”.

“Questioning gender equality is questioning progress. Gender equality is not up for debate — it should be as natural as the air we breathe. It is at the heart of our European way of life”, Commissioner Lahbib said Friday when presenting the Roadmap.

EU Commissioner Hadja Lahbib: “This Roadmap for Women’s Rights is our guiding light, our vision for a world where women and girls can lead, thrive and live up to their full potential, free from violence and discrimination.”

According to the commissioner, the roadmap aims to address structural discriminatory norms in European societies. Apart from achieving freedom from gender-based violence, it looks to improve health standards for women, achieve equal pay, work-life balance, equal employment opportunities and equal representation, among other.

While many member states have action plans to tackle violence against women, their effectiveness varies. For example, funding for prevention programs, access to shelters, counselling or other victim services falls short of requirements, EIGE criticised. 

Maria Mollica, who leads the EU Directorate-General for Justice team focusing on gender-based violence, hopes the implementation of the EU directive on violence against women by June 2027 will address many of these shortfalls.

“Through the transposition of the Directive, the vast majority of the Istanbul Convention’s requirements will have to pass into national law, even for those member states that have not yet ratified the Convention,” she said. 

Fighting violence against women not only demands a change in how societies perceive it, but also more funding, said Stephanie Futter-Orel, director of the network Women Against Violence Europe (wave). 

Gender-based violence not only causes untold suffering, but also carries significant economic costs. An EIGE estimate from 2021 says it amounts across the EU to about 366 billion Euro, with violence against women making up 79 % of this amount. The costs come from the physical and emotional impact of the violence, costs for criminal and civil justice services and lost economic output.