Caritas calls on politicians to provide better protection against violence against girls and women in Austria. Ahead of International Women’s Day on 8 March, the Church’s humanitarian organisation insisted that addressing this issue should be a political priority given the staggeringly high number of femicides and violence in recent days. “We call for more protection for the victims, better prevention, and the expansion and sustainable financing of structures that protect against violence”, Caritas President Nora Tödtling-Musenbichler stressed in a statement today. The necessary “paradigm shift” must be supported by “all: politics, society, economy, men and women”, Tödtling-Musenbichler remarked. International Women’s Day focuses on the issue of gender equality. The following must apply: “Equality is not only a goal, but the foundation for a fair distribution of care work, equal opportunities in the labour market, and for reducing female poverty and violence against women”, the president of Caritas explained, while also calling for a “change in the way we value wage and care work and distribute it equally”.