LADIES ONLY TO POST Femicides in the DR

[Matilda]

The number of femicides in this country is appalling, and it is in the news even more now, with 2 cases in San Pedro de Macoris where female fiscals forged signatures allowing men out of jail who had been jailed for the attempted murder of their wives - and as soon as they were let out, they finished the job off.

Looking at the statistics, so far this year at least 62 women have been murdered, of whom only 8 had previously complained to the authorities about their partners.

Since 2005, 1,295 women have been killed by their partners. There were 90 femicides in 2005, 93 in 2006, 86 in 2007, 121 in 2008, 79 in 2009, 86 in 2010, 116 in 2011, 91 in 2012, 64 in 210, 85 in 2014, 73 in 2015 and 76 in 2016, 74 in 2017.

In the 62 cases this year, 19 of the men killed themselves after the crime, six are on the run, and the rest are waiting for trial.

The women killed were aged between 16 and 57, and the killers were between 24 and 73.
The women were killed by stabbing, shooting, blunt force trauma, poison, burned, strangled and asphyxiated.
The Attorney General’s office say there needs to be a change of attitude, a change of the culture of machismo, and an education process.

The men kill the women as they are jealous. If the women is with another man, if she goes to university, if she wears nice clothes, if she goes out with her friends, if she gets on well with her boss - anything. According to my husband, it is cultural and many men still consider women to be their property and she has to do what he says and behave as he wants.

Any thoughts on how to stop this? There are programmes in place, but although they are supposedly making some of a difference - the situation is still dire.

Matilda

 

[Meemselle]

It's poignant to me that the report re: femicides came out just a few days before Patrician Anton's murder.

Or perhaps by "femicide," you mean the kind of murder where a woman is killed by her partner.

In any case, to me it seems clear that the only solution is education, education, education. And a complete cultural shift in the way many Dominican men view women.

 

[Matilda]

I think the press usually uses the term to mean someone being killed by their partner as over 70% of the women killed are killed by their partners. As you mention, women being killed is not just that. Domestic violence was amazingly not a crime in the DR until 1997 – hard to believe that before then men could beat their wives as often as they wanted without fear of legal reprisals.

Matilda

 

[keepcoming]

I agree education, change in thinking. Some women may accept the behavior because it seems the norm to them. Happened to grandma, mom, etc...that type of thinking. I also think families need to speak up/step up.

 

[Jelly]

But how do we do that educating when school is oftentime seen as an option? (perhaps not in your social circle, mine is not nearly as scholarly)

 

[Chirimoya]

It is not strictly connected to educational or even socio-economic level. More than a few high-profile men in the DR have been implicated in domestic violence. Everywhere in the world, domestic violence is perceived as a low-income, low-education issue because it is less likely to be covered up in poorer households/neighbourhoods.

Several organisations have preventive programmes aimed at young men and women, but they don't reach everyone and it is a slow process. They are also being thwarted by certain sectors which see any movement towards gender equality as a threat to the status quo.

 

[Jelly]

I wasn't suggesting femicide was connected to education level or socioeconomic status, just for the record. I was thinking that if education is the solution (which we all seem to recognize it to be), then how can we make that happen in the DR where formal education is more (in my circles) like an afterthought and continuing education a rarity.

I'm happy to hear there are some programmes in place.

In Canada I try to educate our younger family members through conversation and my lifestyle choices. In the DR, I am often ridiculed for having 'the big job' and for not caring about the "feminine" things that are cared about there (i.e. the blow outs or nails or 6 inch heels, etc etc) so conversation or my lifestyle choices mean nothing there. I don't know how to be the light in the darkness, so to speak.

 

[Chirimoya]

I wasn't suggesting femicide was connected to education level or socioeconomic status, just for the record.

Understood. I was making a comment about general perceptions and having said what I said there is no doubt that poverty puts women in a more vulnerable position. If you don't have a profession, or financial independence, you're more likely to be stuck in an abusive relationship, so in that aspect improved education does help poorer women by providing them with alternatives to financial dependence on abusive partners. However, one of the features of gender violence in the DR is that women who are brave enough to leave a violent partner are targeted by their exes who still consider them their 'property'.

In Canada I try to educate our younger family members through conversation and my lifestyle choices. In the DR, I am often ridiculed for having 'the big job' and for not caring about the "feminine" things that are cared about there (i.e. the blow outs or nails or 6 inch heels, etc etc) so conversation or my lifestyle choices mean nothing there. I don't know how to be the light in the darkness, so to speak.

I agree that it's not at all easy to counter all those deep-rooted social and cultural influences. I see young people, especially in poorer sectors, with low expectations, no self-esteem, absence of role models, and an incomprehensible failure to learn from other people's mistakes.

I tried talking to a young woman I know to stress that she should make finishing her education and getting financial independence her priority before thinking about having children. I tried to help her understand that getting pregnant at a young age, to an unreliable partner, was one of the worst mistakes a young woman could make. Her relatives also tried to ensure she was using contraception, but she still got pregnant at 19. She left her partner during the pregnancy following a violent incident. A couple of years later she had another child with another man and their relationship also broke up before she gave birth (don't know if violence was an issue but it may well have been the case). She has since migrated and both children are being brought up by her mother.

 

[keepcoming]

Of course domestic violence/abuse happens in all sectors, poor, rich, educated, uneducated... But many times it is the "norm" for the victim. It is something they have seen all their life. Many think it is something they need to accept to maintain a economically secure future. And again many think it was just a one time incident and it won't happen again. Education comes in all forms. Getting the victim to understand that there are choices in life, better choices. Agreed it is a slow process but definitely a needed one.

 

[Matilda]

There is also the cultural issue, that not only do women feel it is normal to be violently abused, some have even said to me that it proves their man loves them. If he did not love them, he would not hit them. How on earth you change that perception, I have no idea.

Matilda

 

[Africaida]

There is also the cultural issue, that not only do women feel it is normal to be violently abused, some have even said to me that it proves their man loves them. If he did not love them, he would not hit them. How on earth you change that perception, I have no idea.

Matilda

In essence, it is the same, just internalized misogyny.

Depressing to say the least.

I am firm believer that only local organizations can make a difference. Only them would understand and know how to go about addressing these complex issues.

 

[Chirimoya]

In essence, it is the same, just internalized misogyny.

Depressing to say the least.

Exactly - some women still brag about how jealous their husband/boyfriend is as if it were a badge of honour.

I am firm believer that only local organizations can make a difference. Only them would understand and know how to go about addressing these complex issues.

A Dominican educator called Elaine Feliz is doing an excellent job of changing young people's attitudes - I got to know her work several years ago when she did a series of workshops at my son's school, with children of all ages as well as with the parents. She has a blog and is very active on social media - www.elainefeliz.com

One of the other programmes is Campeones del Cambio in several Latin American countries including the DR. The video shows four young men, three from Central America and one from the DR, talking about changing the behaviours they grew up with.

https://plan-international.es/blog/2016/11/los-ninos-campeones-del-cambio

 

[AlterEgo]

Invite to a conference this Sunday against femicides

Diario Libre - SANTO DOMINGO 11/15/2019, 11:38 AM

The Anacaona Movement invites to the first meeting of women against feminicides.

Women attending the day will receive training in self-defense, martial arts, tai chi and psychological counseling.

The day will be held at the Eugenio María de Hostos Park, located on George Washington Avenue, starting at 9:00 am.

The Anacaona Movement coordinator, singer Maggi Rodríguez, said the goal is to guide women on the prevention of femicides.

computer translated from:
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...te-domingo-contra-los-feminicidios-BE15338238

 

[Auryn]

Machismo is at the heart of this issue (or a very similar mentality) and the DR is not alone. I won’t suggest that I know the historical context of machismo in Latin American countries, the connection is rather apparent.

 

[Matilda]

Another one today, not too far from me. On Saturday, 16 November, there was another femicide when Nilcio de Jesus Fortuna, aged 56, shot his wife, 21-year-old Yoselin Cerda in the back in the community of Higüerito Peñuela, in the municipal district of Guatapanal in Valverde province.
She died later in hospital in Santiago, and Jesus Fortuna shot himself in the head and died immediately at the scene.

This is an epidemic.

Matilda