Protest against male violence, being staged by feminists from the Movimento Democrático de Mujeres (Democratic Woman’s Movement), Plaça de Sant Jaume, Barcelona.

This is a topic which is far more complex and difficult to cover completely in a single short image.

This year alone in Spain there have already been two brutal murders of women by their current/former partner. And I am writing this as the year is scarcely one week old. It is impossible to put in words how utterly appalling this is.

Yet such extremes only help mask other forms of personal and cultural violence that exist in Spanish society today. Other examples include trafficking of women, usually for prostitution. On La Rambla you can see this directly, where immigrant prostitutes hide in the shadows late at night. And unfortunately, being Spain, the objectification of women here is so pervasive that it is often difficult to see it for what it really is.

Spain is problematic in that in many areas of life there still exists a strong patriarchal element, and progress in overcoming this was hampered for much of the last century by Francoism and its traditionalist Catholic approach. As such, campaigning such as this is playing an important part in trying to accelerate that change to create a fairer and more equal society for all.