Next to the monument erected a few years ago to commemorate this day, the mayoress of Mijas, Ana Mata (PP), surrounded by part of the government team, the Local Police, the Civil Guard and women’s associations, and in the presence of members of the municipal corporation and representatives of other groups, released 42 balloons, one for each of the 39 women and their children who have died as victims of gender-based violence in Spain in 2025. 

This took place after the mayoress read a manifesto in which she called for inclusive care, education in equality and social awareness as the duties of institutions in improving the fight against abuse and protecting victims, “ensuring that all women, wherever they live, have real access to resources for prevention, comprehensive support and protection against gender-based violence”.

 

In 2024 alone, the mayoress pointed out, “Spain recorded 199,094 reports of gender-based violence, 50 women murdered, according to the Report of the State Prosecutor’s Office, and more than 101,000 active cases in the VioGén system. So far in 2025, murders due to gender-based violence have already claimed the lives of 40 women, 12 of them in Andalusia, the region with the highest number of women murdered, and of these 12, five were in our province, Malaga”, she said.

To eradicate violence against women, Mata detailed proposals included in the manifesto, such as strengthening coverage in rural areas, promoting institutional cooperation, promoting education on sexual and emotional equality from an early age, and highlighting the toxic influence of the manosphere.

Mata also stressed that “it is essential for all institutions and society as a whole to unite in the effort to transform the structures that perpetuate sexism and inequality, with the necessary and firm involvement of men”, and concluded by saying that “once again, we join in the commemoration of the day against gender-based violence. We want to live in freedom, we want to live in safety, we want to live in equal conditions, men and women”. 

These commitments have been taken up by the Family and Equal Opportunities delegation headed by the mayoress herself, so that the Mijas Town Hall can make progress in eliminating violence against women. “Mijas has a municipal information centre for women, which is supported by the Junta de Andalucía and, thanks to the work of its information officers, psychologists and legal advisers, carries out important work”, Mata explained.

Assessments by the corporation

Tuesday 25th was also a day of hope, with the belief that tomorrow can be better. This was expressed by PP councillor Daniel Gómez Teruel: “I hope that one day we will no longer have to commemorate this day because abuse will have been eradicated and we will be able to live in real equality and with affection between different sexes and with mutual respect, because the principle of respect is the most beautiful thing a society can have”.

For his part, the spokesperson for Por Mi Pueblo in the Mijas Town Hall, Juan Carlos Maldonado, assured that “we cannot forget this issue, quite the contrary; we have to be very aware not only on one day, but 365 days a year, because it is a scourge. For the councillor, “there are many murders and I would like to express my full support for women and the feminist movement, which is defending this cause, a cause that is not about confrontation but about joining forces”.

 

Meanwhile, it was pointed out that we cannot let our guard down because since 2003, more than 1,300 women have been murdered in Spain at the hands of their partners or ex-partners. “We are facing a scourge and sexist terrorism that is killing women simply because they are women”, said PSOE councillor Natalia Martínez, who went on to say that “today we are here at a memorial site in Las Lagunas, where a few years ago we were fortunate enough to place this ribbon in memory of all the women victims and also their children, and which can be seen as the refuge and support that we in Mijas offer to all women who are victims of gender-based violence”.

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