At the end of 2004, the Socialist led parliament passed the first law to combat intimate partner violence against women. This new legislation not only established harsher penalties for offenders, but also promoted training programmes for health professionals and judges and also campaigns in public education institutions and the media to raise awareness about violence against women.¹ Prevention strategies to combat this problem are now a priority in Spain.

The law against gender based violence illustrates how this problem has passed from feminist claims to institutional affairs in Spain. The fact that nowadays there exists specific legislation to deal with this problem could lead to other changes, such as for example, a break in the trend that 60% of gender based violence parliamentary acts are still promoted by women politicians.² The role of the mass media in this type of situation has been analysed.³

In a context where the rate of women who suffered violent deaths remained constant, news about this issue …