Workshop
Fr. 16 Mai 2025
| 10:00–13:30
Institutional Violence on the Basis of Gender: Reflections, Challenges and Proposals for Change
Workshop organised by alumnae Cristina Blasi Casagran and Colleen Boland
Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona
The hybrid gathering of expert speakers, including academics, civil society and survivors (with an audience of over 100) sought to bring together the perspective of survivors and the legal angle in order to troubleshoot the challenges of structural gender violence in Spanish legal systems and surrounding institutions. The key themes that came across included outlining current reflections and challenges in both the Spanish and international contexts, and proposing ways forward to effect change.
Key themes and discussions
The first panel foregrounded survivors and their representatives, emphasizing the lived realities of institutional violence. Speakers illustrated how the judicial system often perpetuates secondary victimization—placing parental rights above children’s welfare, reinforcing gender stereotypes, and privileging aggressors. Their testimonies exposed how systemic bias manifests in legal proceedings, child custody cases, and bureaucratic gatekeeping, demonstrating that the justice system itself can become a site of violence. At the same time, these voices underscored the power of community networks and feminist solidarity as counter-forces to institutional neglect and abuse. Their interventions affirmed that centering survivor experiences is essential to achieving meaningful reform.
The second panel turned to the academic and legal dimensions of institutional gender violence. They traced the evolution of Spain’s legislative and regulatory frameworks, highlighting how social activism and feminist advocacy have been vital to shaping these processes. Yet, they noted how progress remains slow and hindered by political inertia. The third panel brought the discussion within the international context. Comparative reference was made to the Inter-American system, CEDAW, and the Istanbul Convention as frameworks that recognize state accountability for institutional violence—tools that can and should be leveraged to strengthen Spanish and European responses.
Outcomes and conclusions
Together, these discussions illuminated how institutional and social violence are co-constitutive, reinforcing one another in a cycle that demands both legal reform and cultural transformation. The exchange between survivors, academics, and legal practitioners reflected the collective desire to move beyond critique toward construction—to build practical, intersectional, and community-driven pathways for change. The concluding reflections emphasized hope and solidarity: while the path forward is long, it is also filled with potential. The gathering thus served as both a diagnostic exercise and a catalyst, marking not an endpoint but a beginning—a shared commitment to transforming systems that perpetuate inequality into ones that uphold rule of law for some of the least visible.
The event was recorded and can be re-watched in Spanish here on Youtube.
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