Leona O’Neill: Stopping violence against women starts with stopping the attitudes that allow it |
VIOLENCE against women and girls in Northern Ireland is a critical issue and one we cannot ignore.
Earlier this month, 23-year-old Ellie Flanagan died in her home in Enniskillen.
Martin McCarney (45), also from the town, has been charged with her murder.
While that case remains before the courts and should not be commented upon, it is a fact that almost 30 women have been killed in Northern Ireland since 2020.
We have one of Europe’s highest per capita femicide rates.
We have a serious issue in this part of the world that needs to be addressed if we are to stop violence against women and girls. And we all have our part to play in that.
It is a complicated issue, that’s certain. We have ingrained, post-conflict patriarchy, low reporting rates, and struggling organisations that have to battle for funding every year so they can supply support services.
We also have the very real issue of how violence was and still is normalised and celebrated in some quarters of this place.
People of violence are celebrated and commemorated, painted on gable walls, guns in hand, under slogans about being undefeated or ready for war.
People who have inflicted violence have bands and parks........