Services for All? Obstacles and Biases within Services for Victims of Gender-Based Violence in Spain

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a global phenomenon that affects all women. Yet its manifestations and effects are not the same for all of them. Intersectionality helps in elucidating how migrant women are exposed to GBV in a disproportionate and specific way depending on variables such as their migration status, ethnic origin, age, or educational background. The community-based forms of GBV like forced marriages, female genital mutilation or sexual human trafficking are also more prevalent among this population group, despite often being the most invisible and unaddressed.

This communication presents the results of a study which is focused on the (non) adaptation of public services to assist victims of GBV in Catalonia (Spain), considering the specific vulnerabilities of migrant women and the particularities of such community-based forms of GBV. Departing from a qualitative methodological approach, results show, on the one hand, significant progress in terms of policy design, but persistent gaps in terms of implementation which incur in several forms of institutional violence. On the other hand, the use of services by migrant women who are victims of community-based gender violence is hindered by a mix of internal and external factors, where migration status and the urgent material needs of women are strongly intertwined with a weak intercultural lens and insufficient language support within public services.