Generally, when one thinks of women or speaks about them, regardless of the context, then more often than not, the mind sort of follows a predetermined train of thought. That women are the ‘softer’ and perhaps the more ‘vulnerable’ or ‘less evil’ of the two genders is what eight (or even nine) in ten minds generally conclude and draw a conclusion around. Isn’t it?
That women can hardly ever be the creators of big crimes or play a party to unprecedented acts of evil or debauchery is something that hardly strikes us, generally speaking. But guess what? Times have changed and with them, the normal standing of women in the society. Take Europe, for instance. At the present moment, among the biggest public campaigns that have been launched pertain to Europe’s most wanted women.
But that told, just what exactly is the campaign regarding Europe’s most wanted women about and why is it creating new ground in the mainstream media?
Well, Europol, which happens to be Europe’s policing agency is busy raising the commoners’ public awareness regarding Europe’s most wanted women; and thus, increasing mass-level public awareness regarding the heinous crimes that women can be a part of and are, as a matter of fact, already a part of!
And central in Europol’s efforts in nabbing Europe’s most wanted women is this campaign that has been widely received courtesy its website. In fact, Europol’s site actually reveals the names and faces of dozens of women (criminals, some who are involved in the most grotesque crimes of them all) who are currently wanted by as many as 21 countries.
These might be women at the end of the day but are, in their right, fugitives dearly wanted by several European countries.
In addition to the above, it’s worthwhile to note what England’s Guardian newspaper published on the relevant and hotly-debated issue:
Europol’s new website, called the Crime Has No Gender campaign, reveals the faces of fugitives wanted by 21 EU countries in an interactive way. Eighteen of them are women.
“People think that usually these crimes are not being committed by women, but they are and they are equally as serious as those committed by men,” said Tine Hollevoet, a Europol spokeswoman.
The wanted suspects face a range of charges including murder, and human and drug trafficking.
The interactive campaign first shows the suspects hidden behind masks, before their faces are slowly revealed as viewers read the stories behind their crimes.
That said, one notes that the more one gets to read about Europe’s most wanted women, the more one tends to understand the fact that at the end of the day, what reigns supreme in the mind of a criminal is the desire to do and persist with ‘evil.’ And that evil is gender agnostic seems to be the key driving point that one can safely understand.
“After the last time a viewer scrolls, the face of the wanted fugitive is revealed and they will be able to see if it’s a man or a woman,” Hollevoet said. “The idea is to attract as many visitors as possible, with experience showing us that the more eyes that look at the wanted fugitives, the higher the chance to locate and arrest the wanted person,” was among the key highlights in The Guardian’s report on the said issue.
France, Germany and other leading Western and Central European countries are still very much on the lookout of women who’ve been a party to unimaginable and terrifying crimes. In fact, of Europe’s most wanted women list, 18 are serious criminals and ‘at large.’