Gender discrimination cases occupied fifth place in 2023, with 123 incidents recorded. The main reasons for discrimination are racism and xenophobia, with 230 incidents, discrimination relating to health, with 217, and LGTBI-phobia, with 205.
In terms of gender-based discrimination, the most common incident was a distinction for being a woman, harassment of young people in public spaces, unfair treatment for women and immigrants in health centres and social services, stereotypical treatment and prejudice in leisure centres and working environments. The exercise of rights was also curbed, specifically in the sphere of gynaecological health: the right to information, a quality public service and, in particular, people’s sexual and reproductive rights.
As for the PLURAL service, in 2023, this attended to 447 men, mainly for having exercised psychological and physical violence. The Municipal Unit Against Human Trafficking attended to 391 people, 278 of them for cases of sexual or labour exploitation.
The Care, Recovery and Shelter Care Service (SARA) attended to 1,055 women affected by male violence in 2023, with shelter provided for 286 of them as a measure of protection.
The Social and Educational Assistance Service provided support in 385 cases at their offices, mostly relating to accumulated experiences of sexual and psychological violence in 89.7% of cases with people in unregulated administrative situations.
Intersectional perspective
Reported cases recorded by the Barcelona Discrimination Observatory in 2023 rose significantly. The observatory recorded 865 cases of discrimination, 234 more than last year in all, demonstrating an increasing awareness among members of the public. The largest group of people affected (411) were women between the ages of 40 and 64.
In 252 cases, there were two simultaneous reasons for discrimination, demonstrating the importance of analysing situations from an intersectional perspective. Gender-based discrimination accounted for the second highest intersectional record, mainly combined with health (70), followed by ageism (40) and racism (22). For instance, a migrant woman is denied access to specialised resources to attend to her daughter with a diagnosed mental health need as she does not possess a foreign national identification card.
The main discriminators were private organisations or companies, the most commonly violated rights being moral integrity due to LGTBI-phobia, health and gender in the main; receiving quality public service, particularly for health reasons, racism, gender, ageism and aporophobia; and services provided owing to racism, aporophobia, gender, health and ableism.
The report is the result of joint work between the City Council and social organisations in the city to identify and analyse the reality of discrimination in the city and its impact on individuals, as well as strengthen prevention measures and support for victims to redress under-reporting.