25/04/2013 00:00
TW
0

DURING the first quarter of this year, a total of 129 women, victims of domestic violence, asked for help from the psychology department of the Balearic Institute for Women. Edita Navarro, head of the Social Services Institute (INTRESS) claimed yesterday that this figure is 46 more than for the same period in 2003.
With the aim of addressing this significant increase in demand for specialist attention, the minister of the President's Office and Sports, Rosa Puig, has announced that the psychology service provided by INTRESS will be increased this year in the central and eastern part of the Island, specifically in Inca and Manacor. It is hoped that these extended facilities will be able to offer women in need in that area, a more comfortable service closer to home. Navarro reported that of the 513 women and intermediaries who contacted INTRESS to ask for psychological help in 2003, only 380 continued using the service. She believed that this situation is due to the fact that after the first point of contact, many women “get lost along the way”. With this in mind, Navarro confirmed that a study is to be carried out to determine more precisely the reasons for loss of contact. According to data collated by the Institute, the classic profile of a victim of domestic violence in the Balearics is a (Majorcan) woman aged between 31 and 40, married with children, who has had basic primary and secondary education. She could be out of work, receiving unemployment benefit or even earning a low income on the “black market” where employers don't declare their staff numbers in order to avoid insurance obligations. Navarro highlighted the fact that 44 percent of cases of “ill treatment” towards women were perpetrated in a manner both physical and psychological and that only 34 percent were of a purely physical nature. Another aspect of the phenomenon of domestic violence that the Institute highlighted was the fact that more than half of the 380 women failed to take out legal proceedings against the aggressor. INTRESS is a service aimed at women over the age of 14 who have suffered physical, psychological and/or sexual abuse. It offers psychological help for individual or group sessions. Call 971-213247.