Yesterday, a woman was killed by her former partner in Sofia, Bulgaria. He took their infant child and while the police were searching for the perpetrator, he killed the child and tried to commit suicide. The society is outraged and demands justice. Again.
Unfortunately, the death of this 23 years old woman is part of a cruel statistic – a long list of Bulgarian women killed by their partners/husbands/male family members. If I am not mistaken, she is the 22nd such case since the beginning of the year. Well, one that we know about. And judging by looks of it, she won’t be the last one.
See, Bulgarian parliament passed out, earlier this year, on ratifying the Istanbul Convention literally fearing that this will lead to the introduction of the third gender in the Bulgarian constitution. (Don’t ask! Apparently, the majority of Bulgarian politicians read exclusively only crappy translations in Bulgarian and no other foreign languages.)
For months, the political debate was not centered around the prevention of violence against women and children, education, or even change in the legal framework. Instead, the debate shifted towards legalizing equal rights for same-sex marriage and how this has nothing to do with the culture and Orthodox Christian upbringing.
On social media, people are asking for capital punishments, labor camps even. And while I see how this will appease someone’s consciousness, this surely will not affect the growing tendency of 2.2 Bulgarian women being killed by a partner or a family member each month in 2018, or that every 4th woman is a subject of domestic violence.
What the Bulgarian woman needs is a re-educated Bulgarian man – one that values and respects the opposite sex and its existence and contribution to the Bulgarian society. She needs to feel safe.
The above does not happen simply by signing documents, introducing higher punishment, or another half-willing measure. It requires a well-thought, consistent, and time-consuming plan to re-educate the Bulgarian society. It requires hard work at home, in school, at work, and on the legal framework.
Until this happens, everything else will be a working title, the shocking headlines will continue piling up, incredibly insensitive interviews will appear on national TV, and more and more Bulgarian mothers, sisters and daughters will be losing their precious lives.
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Copyright © 2018 Borislav Kiprin. All Rights Reserved.
