On 18 September 2025, Observatory of Institutional Violence Against Women (OVIM) participated in the training day 'Looks that mark: Symbolic violence, stereotypes and intersectionality'', aimed at management and coordination teams of entities of the Federation of Entities with Assisted Projects and Apartments (FEPA).
Within the framework of this event, a member of the OVIM presented the paper 'Institutions that hurt: sexist violence carried out by the State'', which addressed the institutional sexist violence that is exercised by public systems and entities responsible for social protection.
During his speech, he presented the OVIM as a collective tool To identify, record, and transform institutional gender-based violence, highlighting the importance of recognizing it at all levels of the system: from social services and the judicial system to child and adolescent protection mechanisms.
One of the cases analyzed was that of Mallorca, where at least 16 minors were sexually exploited while under state guardianship.This case was presented as a paradigmatic example of institutional sexist violence, revealing the structural flaws of the protection system.
Other situations that the OVIM has documented throughout its work were also shared:
- Mothers forced to hand over their sons and daughters to abusive parents.
- Children torn from their families to be taken to “protection centers.”
- Threats of withdrawal of custody with clear racist and classist biases, especially towards women in situations of violence or precarious employment.
- Withdrawals from custody justified by substance use or suicide attempts without considering the origin of the violence.
- Denial of social care for administrative reasons, such as lack of registration.
In addition, the OVIM offered practical tools so that professionals can incorporate this critical perspective into their daily work:
- Detect and name institutional sexist violence in the spaces where work is carried out.
- Accompany without re-victimizing, listening to and believing women, girls and adolescents.
- Transforming institutions from within, promoting accountability, grievance filing, and coordination with other services.
- Join the OVIM collective reporting channel, contributing to making these acts of violence visible and documenting them in order to promote structural changes.
The OVIM continues to actively participate in various training, dialogue, and institutional coordination forums to strengthen the recognition of institutional gender-based violence. In recent weeks, it has participated in various forums and meetings:
- 22 / 09 / 2025: presentation at the Consell de les Dones del Eixample by Montserrat.
- 26 / 09 / 2025: Tere's participation (Lunes Lilas) in the days “Accompanying, sharing, and supporting each other in the face of sexist and institutional violence” in Pamplona.
- 02 / 10 / 2025: Development "Institutional Violence and Gender: An Approach from the OVIM" under the program Community Promoters from For You Woman, taught by Júlia.
- 13 / 10 / 2025: presentation of the OVIM in the Working Group on Gender-Based Violence of the Barcelona Women's Council, also by Júlia.
This participation reaffirms OVIM's commitment to the training and awareness-raising of professionals who work in direct contact with women and children, and with the construction of institutions truly free from gender-based violence.
