% during the first lockdown and 84% related to domestic violence while since 2016 there has been a steady increase in femicides. In 2020 ten women were murdered and this year in a period of seven months seven women have been killed by their husbands/partners.

Obviously, the pandemic is not the cause of domestic violence. But in the conditions of the pandemic there is the possibility of an increase in the frequency of abusive behavior by those who previously practiced any form of violence, many of whom became even more violent due to anxiety and fear about the pandemic, about the future, about their work.

Gender violence is the ultimate means of domination, a mode of social control, the most violent way in fact to maintain control. And its most extreme manifestation is femicide.

Gender-based violence is essentially a symptom of patriarchy. We too react and try to treat the symptoms but forget that gender inequality is the cause. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), femicide is more common in countries with greater racial inequality and less female government representation, but to reduce domestic violence, gender equality needs to be consolidated individually and socially.

In order to "protect ourselves" we are taught from little girls to shrink our lives while little is done to train boys to respect girls and to react when they see such behaviors from others. We trade our freedom for safety when we learn to plan routes on streets and public spaces so that we can move safely, keep our keys for self-defense, and be ready to call it quits at the suspicion of danger.

But the discussion about what protection measures we can take shifts part of the responsibility to us, while what is required are institutional and social changes such that no form of gender-based violence is tolerated.

The legal institutional framework is obviously a factor in supporting and helping victims but change will come by overturning systems, attitudes and by breaking stereotypes and this is achieved through education. The role of the school can be catalytic through actions and lessons aimed at gender biases, sexuality, concepts of consent, self-determination, etc.