Free Public Spaces - FPS

The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, approved by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution

48/104 of 20 December 1993, is the first international document to clearly and specifically address this type of violence.

Article 1 defines it as any act of violence that is based on the fact that a woman is a member of the female sex, or may result

in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, as well as threats of such acts, coercion or harassment,

whether occurring in private or public spaces.

In 2013, the UN Commission on the Status of Women identified sexual harassment and other forms of sexual violence in

public spaces as a specific area of concern, and urged governments to take preventive measures.

Public space is a field where multiple and diverse scenarios converge; it is a place of encounter and socialisation, where

"everyone can enjoy the pleasures of pure sociability, relational life without a concrete object" (Delgado, 2007). It is a place

where power relations and the search for and exercise of individual and collective freedoms coincide and confront each

other (Fuentes and Peña 2011).

FPS is based on the capacity to generate relationships between the different educational fields described in the Gender

Equality Strategy 2014-2017. This sets out five priority areas:

1) combating gender stereotypes and sexism;

2) preventing and combating violence against women;

3) ensuring women's equal access to justice;

4) achieving balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision-making;

5) achieving gender mainstreaming in all policies and measures.