On November 25th, the streets of Lisbon will once again host a demonstration demanding an end to gender-based violence. The march, scheduled for 6:30 pm, leaving from Intendente to Largo de São Domingos, marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, date in which women from all over the world make this demand.
According to this year’s manifesto, which can be subscribed online, an “end to sexist violence” is demanded: “against patriarchy, misogyny and conservatism we raise our voices and our bodies”. The text begins by celebrating “important progress at the legislative level”, remembering that “often, overwhelmed by the weight of daily life, multiple working hours and the demands of a life that tries to survive capitalism, we are unable to see the power of the collective”, but emphasizes that it is important to celebrate them.
An example of these victories (although not all of them are still in force) is the approval of laws such as the one that enshrines the eradication of obstetric violence, which prohibits the marriage of minors, which creates justified absences from work and classes for people with endometriosis and adenomyosisand the recent approval, in general, of the criminalization of the non-consensual production and sharing of intimate or manipulated images (deepfakes), in addition to the proposal that the rape becomes a public crimealso already generally approved.
The manifesto also recalls the case of Cláudia Simões, currently under appeal, with “hope that this moment will break racist and patriarchal barriers”. At the same time, he defines current times as “dark”, remembering that “the struggles continue to be many and as diverse as our bodies”.
The statement reinforces that Violence against women continues to be the crime that kills the most in Portugal. In the first half of this year alone, 11 women were murdered in the context of gender-based violence. Among the aggravating factors are the housing crisis and job insecurity, which in many cases prevent victims from leaving the cycle of violence. “The absence of effective policies leaves women dependent on the aggressor, with no way to escape”denounces the text.
Violence against pregnant women is also not forgotten in the manifesto, which denounces obstetric violence and a “progressive disinvestment in the National Health Service”, which “it affects not only the working conditions of health professionals (mostly women), but also the conditions of care for pregnant women”. With “obstetric emergencies repeatedly closed due to lack of human resources, the overload on operating units increases, in a system already in collapse”.
It is recalled that, up to the date the document was written, 57 babies had already been born in ambulances or outside health units, more than in the whole of last year. A recent case was that of hypertensive pregnant woman who died at Amadora-Sintra Hospital and the her baby also died the following day.
Still in the field of reproductive health, the manifesto criticizes the difficulties in accessing abortion, theme already highlighted in several Diário de Notícias reports. “There are times when there are no professionals available in an entire district, especially outside large urban centers, where there are no alternatives to conscientious objection.”