In the face of the femicides occurring in Cuba and the state?s negligent response to them, translating into a recent lack of coverage by the state press, and an absence of statistics, civil society organizations have taken on the task of bringing these murders of women to light. In this task of awareness-raising, the independent press has filled the void created by the regime?s, but this coverage has not been free of biases and deficiencies.
This is the opinion of the Cuban Alliance for Inclusion (ACI), which at the end of March presented an online "Gender Alert," which its creators define as "a tool that seeks to publicize the need to promote journalism with a gender perspective, driven by gender editors who manage to question the traditional narratives used in the media, which, often unintentionally, reflect biases when talking about the bodies of women and girls in stories, such that they revictimize, discriminate and stigmatize the victims of femicide."
Among the signs of bias identified by the members of ACI when analyzing the news on femicides in the Cuban independent press in 2022 are the absence of the term "femicide" in headlines, which, in the opinion of the authors of the alert, "perpetuates gender inequalities and conceals the problem of gender-based violence;" the mention of the victim's status as mother in headlines, which, in the opinion of the members of ACI ?depersonifies? the murdered woman by reducing her to her a symbol of motherhood; and the use of violent language that "pedagogizes cruelty and contributes nothing, since it fosters sociocultural narratives of male violence."
Also criticized is the inclusion in some stories of causes such as alcoholism, which may serve as a pretext or justification for femicide, as well as the use, for example, of images of women lying on the ground to complement the story.
DIARIO DE CUBA spoke with two of the members of ACI charged with carrying out this work.
"The Cuban Alliance for Inclusion, as its name implies, is an alliance formed by women from different spheres, all with the same purpose: to prevent gender violence in Cuba," explained Sara Cuba.
"We have been creating actions and educational strategies in line with our purpose, and one of these actions, which, in turn, is an educational tool, is the Gender Alert."
"All women can ensure that our rights are recognized, regardless of our professions," added Zelandia de la Cardidad Pérez Abreu.
Although femicide is defined as "the murder of a woman because she is a woman," a concern that arises related to the requirement to use the term in headlines is the risk of imposing a linguistic impoverishment, as this would not be possible to use synonyms such as "murder."
In this regard, both members of ACI clarify that the purpose of the Alert is educational and they never make demands of Cuban independent media.
"We aim to unite voices and ideas for the prevention of violence against women, and sometimes the media, without realizing it, revictimizes women," Sara explained.
"We have seen how the terms ‘homicide,’ ‘feminicide’ and ‘murder’ are used indiscriminately, and this can confuse readers; it is very important that the term 'feminicide' be used at all times … so that readers associate it with violence against women," she argued.
Zelandia wants Cuba's independent media to be "on a par with the press in other countries."
"That's why we propose that there be a violence editor who knows about this and uses the right gender language," she said. "I'll give you an example: an actor who killed his wife. In many media outlets they only talked about the actor, and that he had committed suicide after the femicide. Many did not even mention the name of the victim. The focus of the story is lost when what is highlighted is that he was an actor. By spotlighting the aggressor, we are deviating attention from the act committed, from the seriousness of a femicide."
Another criticism levelled by the Alert is that several femicides in 2022 in Cuba did not receive coverage. Independent journalists on the island work, however, do operate in a situation of illegality that often prevents them from conducting thorough investigations.
"We do not reproach the independent press. Without their participation, we would never be able to achieve the common goal of bringing attention to the existence of femicides in Cuba," says Sara Cuba.
"We recognize that the press, as well as all activists who defend human rights, are in a state of vulnerability to state violence and repression. We recognize that they are the ones who have taken on the task of highlighting gender violence on the island, in the absence of a government that does not intend to publish figures on femicides, much less recognize them. What this analysis seeks is journalism with a gender perspective."
"We seek an alliance that raises awareness of gender violence and averts common biases that revictimize women," Sara stressed.
The activists argued that, in their view, the stabbing of a woman during an attempted robbery should be presented as a femicide. Does this mean that the murder of a woman should always be classified as a femicide?
"In this case we say it is a femicide because it falls within the scope of the concept. First, a femicide is committed by a man in a situation of unequal power. For women, being on the street exposes them to a situation of vulnerability," Sara reasoned.
"Second, we speak of femicide because it denotes hatred or contempt for women and their bodies, a situation that is evident from the stab wounds that caused the victim?s death. And, finally, we speak of femicide in this case because the victim's body was left exposed on a public road, where this man committed the femicide," she concluded.
But, what if the woman is the victim of her female partner, or the wife of a lover, or the mistress of her husband? Are we dealing with a femicide when a woman is killed by another woman?
In Zelandia's opinion, the answer is yes: "A woman's body is being assaulted, even if the aggressor is another woman. If the victim filed a complaint for harassment or threats, and was ignored, it is a femicide, because the state is failing to fulfill its responsibility, and becomes an accomplice. When there is no support by the state, it is a femicide," she concluded.
