MHB makes a stand on International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women

Neuruppin, 25 November 2024

25 November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women; attention is drawn worldwide to violence against women ^[1] which is still commonplace. The MHB joins the protest and raises the flag of the UN Women Action campaign "Orange the world". Numbers of incidents are rising:

• 180.715 women in Germany became victims of domestic violence in 2023
• Every 2nd day a woman is killed by her (ex)partner
• 938 homicides of women and girls were recorded by police last year, of these 360 completed homicides of women and girls.

MHB professor Prof. Knut Albrecht, head of the Brandenburg Institute of Forensic Medicine, drew attention to the topic with a poster campaign: Plakataktion: "Schweigen hilft nur Tätern". Violence against women is not an individual but rather a structural problem. Prevention of femicides^[2] requires that we recognize and fight all preliminary stages of violence. This includes consistent action against psychological abuse such as ghosting, silencing, stalking and mobbing.

Despite high and growing incident numbers, this type of violence is still a taboo, and affected persons are afraid to contact the police, for shame, fear of reprisals, or because they might not be believed. Studies show that such fears are justified.^[3],[4]

Cases of violence in the personal circle^[5] also affect children and individuals in need of care. According to statistics for the State of Brandenburg, women between 18 and 40 have the highest risk of abuse by men. The Brandenburg Ministry for Social Affairs, Health, Integration and Consumer Protection presents its pertinent action plan: Landesplan gegen Gewalt an Frauen und Kindern.

What is often overlooked in this context is the suffering of elderly women. Women of advanced age tend to experience not so much physical and sexual as rather psychological violence, such as humiliation, force and control behavior. About 17 % of women up to 75 report these types of abuse from their partners. Frequently, many years of this experience have damaged their self-confidence to a degree where they do not consider the support services available, and shame plays a major role.  

Due to higher life expectancy, elderly women additionally experience institutional violence, perpetrated by nursing and clinical staff for example. One core element is the threat to refuse assistance as a form of mental violence. Actual neglect and restrictions of personal freedom are further scenarios that may affect older women in particular.^[6] The rising incidence of dementia-type illnesses – which again are more frequent in women^[7] – also increases the risk of force experienced in the context of care provision.

Higher risk for individuals without contact persons

A first step towards prevention can be the creation and empowerment of social networks. The health sector in particular is in the focus where violence against elderly persons is concerned. The growing shortage of skilled nursing staff combined with the increasing number of persons in need of care tends to overstrain the nursing professionals and thus to encourage violence in care settings.^[8] Lawmakers started to address the problem in the 1990s ^[9], but so far with not much success. Awareness-raising actions like the recent AOK campaign for non-violent nursing care in collaboration with nursing associations form part of like-minded efforts.^[10]

Many women affected by violence get sick as a consequence of long-term abuse and only then catch the attention of support agencies – ideally, clinicians and nursing staff are sufficiently sensitized to identify the underlying problem and give assistance. In the worst case, these women end up in care settings where abuse is continued and from which there is no escape.^[11]

MHB equality commissioner Georgia Fehler says the priority must be to sharpen our individual and systemic perception of personal needs in patient care: “The MHB key research interest in patient-centered care for an ageing society indicates that the focus must be on the individual and his or her course of life in order to maintain or create sustainable perspectives.”

In the lives of many women violence is a continuous problem, and the health system is an important element in interrupting this cycle. Don’t look the other way, says Georgia Fehler, there is always something you can do.

Here is a list of external contact points and informative material:

• Frauennotruf: 03391 2303 – also for persons with links to a victim
• Pflege in Not Brandenburg (PiN): 0800 265 55 66 (free of charge), helpline open: Monday 9–12 a.m., Wednesday 2-6 p.m., Friday 9–12 a.m. and 1–5 p.m. (answering machine outside office hours). Specific advice on professional nursing care available. E-Mail: mail@pinbrandenburg.de; Internet: https://www.pflege-in-not-brandenburg.de

• Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, helpline for nursing issues
  Phone: 030-20 17 91 31
• Pflege in Not Berlin / nursing helpline
  Phone: 030-69 59 89 89
• PSU-Helpline – Kollegiale psychosoziale Unterstützung / psychosocial support
  Phone: 0800 09 11 91 2
  Office hours: daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
  E-Mail: beratung@psu-helpline.de
  For more see Website

• Rechtsmedizinische Beratungsstelle Patientenversorgung und Pflege / legal advice
  Phone: 089 21 80 73 01 1
  www.remed-care.de
  For more see Website.
• Handeln statt Misshandeln (HsM) – Frankfurt Initiative against abuse of the elderly
  Phone: 069-20 28 25 30
  
  Here is a list with these and additional emergency contacts: ZQP-Ratgeber „Gewalt vorbeugen. Praxistipps für den Pflegealltag“

• Intimate Partner Violence Against Older Woman

Neuruppin hosts a number of events in the context of the campaign:

• 27 November I 5 p.m. I Museum Neuruppin: Documentary „Freier Wille?“ about forced prostitution and subsequent discussion with a streetworker
• 29 November I 5 p.m. I Turnhalle am Schinkelgymnasium Neuruppin: Self-defence training for women
• 03 Dezember I 6 p.m. I Museum Neuruppin: Christina Clemm reads from her book „Gegen Frauenhass“

Sources:

<sup>https://www.hilfetelefon.de/aktuelles/haeusliche-gewalt-gegen-aeltere-frauen-ist-noch-immer-ein-tabu.html

https://www.frauen-gegen-gewalt.de/de/infothek/gewalt-gegen-seniorinnen/merkmale-und-tatsachen.html

https://www.hamburg.de/opferschutz-fachthemen/4628496/gewalt-gegen-aeltere-frauen/

https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/gewalt-gegen-aeltere-frauen-100.html

https://www.bmfsfj.de/resource/blob/94918/b0b7504ee1174ced05275875fcbc72a5/prm-24194-sr-band-217-data.pdf

https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2022/11/frauen-haeusliche-gewalt-frauenhaus-sozialministerium-brandenburg-berlin.html</sup>

^{[1] Mit Frauen sind all diejenigen Personen gemeint, denen das weibliche Geschlecht zugewiesen wird oder die es für sich selbst beanspruchen}

^{[2] https://www.onebillionrising.de/femizid-opfer-meldungen-2023/#:~:text=2023%3A%20Schon%20293%20T%C3%A4ter%20!!!&text=%23Femizid%20in%20Deutschland%202023%20%E2%80%A2,%2C%205%20J%2C%205%20J.}

^{[3] https://www.bmfsfj.de/resource/blob/84328/3bc38377b11cf9ebb2dcac9a8dc37b67/langfassung-studie-frauen-teil-eins-data.pdf}

^{[4] https://www.medienservice.sachsen.de/medien/news/1065038}

^{[5] https://www.bmfsfj.de/resource/blob/93970/957833aefeaf612d9806caf1d147416b/gewalt-paarbeziehungen-data.pdf}

^{[6] https://www.zqp.de/thema/haeufigkeit-gewalt-pflege/}

^{[7] https://demenzjournal.com/magazin/wissen/forschung/warum-frauen-oefter-an-alzheimer-erkranken/}

^{[8] https://www.zqp.de/schwerpunkt/gewalt-pflege/}

^{[9] https://www.bmfsfj.de/resource/blob/94918/b0b7504ee1174ced05275875fcbc72a5/prm-24194-sr-band-217-data.pdf}

^{[10] https://www.aerzteblatt.de/nachrichten/138743/Aktion-gegen-Gewalt-in-der-Pflege-gestartet}

^{[11] https://www.angehoerige-pflegen.de/gewalt-in-der-pflege-wie-sie-konflikten-vorbeugen-koennen/}