Fighting Prejudice: Campaigns on Gender Violence in Spain

As in almost every country, Spanish society tends to trivialize cases of violence against women. There is little chance that this violence is perceived as a problem, not only by men, but also by women themselves. Some women have come to accept domestic violence as normal and internalized their oppression to the extent that they expect this as a pattern of acceptable, normative behavior imposed by society. Some social norms and institutions can ensure the perpetuation of violence against women since they are rooted in the culture and traditions that legitimize it. Awareness campaigns that address violence against women serve to counterbalance those institutions and to change that mentality. In fact, greater awareness coincides with periods of more information and social debate addressing the issue of violence against women. The goal of this study is to determine whether the public awareness campaigns carried out in Spain to promote sensitivity to violence against women are effective. To achieve this goal, we analyzed the evolution of Spanish society’s perception of the problem of violence against women from 1985 to the present, relative to the Spanish government’s expenditure on sensitization campaigns on violence against women. The joint analysis of expenses and results will enable us to reach conclusions about the relationship between these two variables. This is a novel analysis that has not been addressed until now in this field of research. It is hoped that this document will contribute to the literature by exploring the effectiveness of awareness campaigns against violence against women in the social perception of the problem