Content warning: this article and the documents linked within include references to domestic violence and suicide that some readers may find distressing.
A few days before March 8th, Macedonia was shaken by a case that exposed the most painful and darkest side of the systemic neglect toward women and children who are victims of domestic violence. A mother lost her life together with her child, jumping from a building after a long period of psychological and physical abuse by her husband. According to testimonies from friends and family, as well as public reactions, this was a woman who had lived with violence for years, without real institutional protection and without feeling there was a way out, because the violence had been reported on multiple occasions.
For that very reason, this year’s March 8th was not just a day of symbolic struggle for women’s rights, but a day of collective anger, grief, and protest. Thousands of citizens took to the streets, and for me personally, one of the most striking banners read: “NOT HAPPY, BUT DEADLY EIGHTH OF MARCH, LADIES!” Though harsh, this message reflected the reality many women face. A reality in which violence, fear, and institutional silence often have a tragic outcome.
Our organization, Youth from Diverse Families, has been advocating for years for one-parent families to finally be legally recognized. Although the term is often equated with “single parents,” there is a fundamental difference. Single parents are a legally recognized category, while one-parent families are parents who, in practice, raise their children alone and bear full responsibility for their upbringing and livelihood, remain outside the legal framework and without adequate systemic support.
As long as one-parent families lack genuine systemic support and equal rights, many women will continue to remain in toxic, violent, and dangerous relationships. Not because they want to, but because they often have no choice.
When the system fails to provide sufficient legal, social, and economic security for parents raising their children alone, freedom becomes a luxury. Women face the fear of poverty, loss of home, lack of childcare support, and enormous financial and psychological pressure. In such conditions, leaving a toxic relationship is not merely an emotional decision — it is a risk to survival. No woman should have to choose between her own safety and the future of her child.
That is why the rights and support for single-parent families are not a “social issue” or “just another question.” It is a question of whether, as a society, we give people a real chance to escape violence and build a safe life.
Until this changes, many women will continue to live in silence, in fear, and in an exhausting struggle between safety and survival.
But for that to happen, institutions must not remain blind to the reality in which thousands of parents and children live. They must not stay silent, delay, and ignore problems that directly affect the safety and well-being of families. And we must not pretend that we do not see it.
Additional weight to the entire case was given by the court verdict. The husband received a 12-year prison sentence, making it the first verdict in Macedonia for incitement to suicide. Although the ruling was within the legal framework, a large part of the public felt that the sentence was insufficient given the severity of the consequences and the years of violence that preceded the tragedy. The reactions showed that we, as citizens, are not only seeking individual punishment, but a fundamental change to a system that has remained silent for too long in the face of warning signs of domestic violence.
Society must not allow such tragedies to become just another piece of news that briefly shocks the public and is then forgotten. Concrete legislative changes are needed, along with functional protection mechanisms and institutions that will respond in time; not after the tragedy.
Because when the system fails to protect a mother and a child, that is not an individual failure — it is a collective defeat of society as a whole.
About the author: Elena Bozhinovska is President of Youth of Diverse Families, a youth-led NGO supporting and empowering children and youth from single-parent and diverse families through advocacy, education, and community initiatives. She holds a BA in Marketing from UACS Skopje and an MSc from the University of La Sapienza, where her thesis focused on ESG policies and controversies.
Design by Menche Jovanovska.
**DISCLAIMER: All opinions in this article reflect the views of the author, not necessarily of COFACE Families Europe**
