Unfortunately, gender violence is still a worrying reality in all the European countries. European governments are making laws to defend women’s rights and enable different resources to help women to report abuse, discrimination and gender-based violence. But a greater effort must be done to empower women to recognize these risky situations and to be brave enough to file a complaint against their attacker.
If we are talking about women with mental health challenges and living in rural or isolated areas, the situation becomes even worrier. This collective is more exposed to harassment and even sexual violence: 75% of women with mental health issues have experienced family or partner violence during their live.
The risk of suffering violence for this group is from two to four times higher than in the rest of women and 40% of the women with mental health issues suffering violence do not even identify these episodes.
Here is where the HEROINES project arises.