Over the past few days, we've done street concentrations. On the one hand, for the machist murder in Orio, in which a man has brutally killed the former partner and, on the other, to denounce the homophobic attack that took place in Villabona, the same international day against LGTBI+phobia. In addition, on the day of the regional and municipal elections we were aware of the death of a woman in Vitoria. It is clear that violence against women does not stop.

Feminists take streets again and again to denounce the sexist and chauvinist aggressions suffered by women, as women, and the dissident bodies of this hegemonic cysheteropatriarchal system. We also denounce the treatment that most media give to this news, highlighting the "benefits" of the aggressors and making the victims invisible and considering them guilty.

We wonder where there are some political parties, including the EAJ-PNV, which has opposed the Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom Act, known as "Yes Only." Except for Ahal Duguk and EH Bildu, the political parties have only highlighted these two issues: reviewing penalties and taking aggressors out of prison. However, the data are very significant: In the CAPV, 62 cases have been reviewed and eight aggressors have left prison on the verge of their conviction.

In the midst of this all-polarised ideological struggle, some political parties have diverted the debate to the criminal arena and have abandoned some essential elements of the law, which seeks to respond to demands for impunity and to the eradication of abuses of women’s sexual freedom. This is the object of this law, prevention, assistance and legal advice, according to what victims and, in general, all women demand. As stated by Elena Larrauri, Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology at Pompeu Fabra University and Doctor Honoris Causa of the UPV/EHU, the present law aims at the need for women to validate their report, that is, that justice be put in their favor without ambiguity, to provide legal advice, assistance and reparation, without linking it.

However, and ignoring the voice of the experts, the politicians on the right call for greater sanctions to be imposed on the aggressors, while inviting the educational community to work from the classroom to end the chauvinist behaviors. They want a school that can do everything, but without enough resources. Let's take an example. The Department of Education of the Basque Government has eliminated the Coexistence and Co-education Plan for the course 2023/24, despite the participation of most of the educational centers of the CAPV. We once believed that the recognition of those responsible for this plan and the hourly credit was not enough, but now it seems absolutely irresponsible to leave this programme to the centres and that the centres themselves decide what plan or project they are going to make. In addition, the new figure BeA will coordinate everything related to Pedagogical Innovation.

In recent decades, the Feminist Secretariat of STEILAS has repeatedly claimed the existence of professionals trained in feminist pedagogy to work from young people in favor of egalitarian educational centers, without male violence of all kinds, with the objective of achieving safer and free spaces for all people. Work on the prevention of sexist and sexual crimes requires professionals and not increase the penalties for these crimes once the crimes are committed. If we are calling for educational institutions to be involved in the achievement of feminist educational policies, the necessary human and economic resources must be put in place. Otherwise, we will not make progress on equality between women and men, a basic objective to eliminate structural inequality and all forms of discrimination on the basis of sex, including permanent male violence against women.

Susana Andino and Ana Pérez, representing the Feminist Secretariat of STEILAS.