Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said that beating a woman is „a minor offence" and that „the system is functioning". From the SDSM Women's Forum, Rozalija Angelkovska answered: „This is a shameful defence of violence against women, and Minister Pance Toskovski must resign."

Mickoski's statement was about an incident involving his bodyguard, who, according to the accusations, beat a woman. The prime minister played it down - „a minor offence". That isn't a slip of phrasing. It's policy. When a prime minister uses the word „minor" for beating a woman, it sends a message to every man in the country that this kind of thing isn't serious.

Angelkovska named the cases. Veles. Kocani. Staro Nagoricane. Each one is a story where institutions failed to react the way they should. Women file complaints, the police don't take them, prosecutors don't open cases, courts don't try them - and then comes the tragedy. The case of Stojance Jovanovski and Ivana Stojanoska (12 years in prison for „incitement to suicide") is fresh, with international resonance because the six-year-old daughter was killed too.

SDSM is demanding: the resignation of Interior Minister Toskovski. This is a system in which women look for protection every day, and every day they don't get it. The Interior Ministry isn't just „police" - it's the first filter for women's safety at home. If the top of that ministry doesn't bear political responsibility for failures - then responsibility, like violence, stays with the women.

Mickoski's reaction is predictable. The prime minister will probably say his words were „taken out of context". Then will come the party defence - „the opposition is manipulating". Then will come - nothing. That's how Macedonia handles questions of violence against women: 48 hours of discussion, then on to the next topic.

The question we should all be asking: if the prime minister really thinks beating a woman is „a minor offence" - what else is „a minor offence" in the head of the man running the country? And if „the system is functioning" - why does a new story about a woman who didn't survive arrive every single month?