A Guide to Femicide: The ‘Silent’ Epidemic
One in three women globally experiences violence, totalling 736 million women - 30 percent of the world's population. The majority of this violence is Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), affecting around 641 million women worldwide. These shocking figures are predicted to have worsened due to the pandemic. The violence committed against women comprises a wide range of acts - verbal harassment, emotional abuse, daily physical and sexual abuse. At the far end of the spectrum, we have our ‘Silent Epidemic’ - Femicide: the murder of women.
What is Femicide?
Femicide is defined as the intentional murder of women because they are women, but broader definitions include any killings of women or girls. Definitions vary based on their cultural context.
Diana Russell a feminist writer and activist, at first went on to define Femicide as “the murder of women by men motivated by hatred, contempt, pleasure, or a sense of ownership of women” and “the misogynistic killings of women by men.”
Now, the act of Femicide refers to any sort of violence towards women or girls that results in death.
There are many types and prevalences of femicide, but a large proportion of femicides are of women in violent relationships and are committed by current or former partners.
People carry signs against the killing of Noor Mukadam, 27, daughter of former Pakistani diplomat, and to condemn the violence against women and girls during a protest in Karachi, Pakistan, July 25, 2021 (REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro)
Types of Femicide
It is important to note that the mentioned types of femicide below are broad well-known categories of femicide. Quite often various subtypes also exist, but aren’t always discreet and do overlap.
Intimate Femicide
This is usually committed by a current/former husband or boyfriend. Approximately in 2017, more than half (58 percent) of women intentionally killed, were killed at the hands of an intimate partner/family member. The unique database of the Femicide Census noted the death of 272 young women from 2009 to 2018 in the U.K. While killed by intimate partners or boyfriends, several recurring themes were considered a pattern with many of the intimate femicide cases - stalking, coercive control, the impact of pornography, and some men’s inability to handle rejection. Or as researcher Jacqueline Campbell referred to as a ‘If I can’t have you, no one else can’ approach to relationships.
Non-Intimate Femicide
Killings committed by someone without an intimate relationship present between the perpetrator and victim. Such killings can be random and systematic, and is dominant in Latin America, including 5 of 12 countries with the highest rate of femicide.
Armed Conflict Femicide: This is when both state and non-state actors use physical, sexual, and psychological violence against women and girls as a ‘weapon of war’. It is all done with the intent to dehumanize and instill fear amongst females in certain communities and areas of conflict.
Culturally-Framed Femicide
‘Honour’ Killings: This form of femicide is usually committed by a male or female family member for an actual/assumed sexual or behavioral transgression - acts of adultery, pregnancy outside of marriage, or even rape. From the perspective of the perpetrator, the killing of females or girls on these grounds is believed to restore the lost ‘honor’ to the family lost. Such ‘honor’ killings account for 5000+ deaths each year. These killings occur mainly in the Middle East, South Asia, and migrant communities in Europe, U.S., and Australia.
Dowry-Related Femicide: Murders related to a culturally and religious embedded practice performed predominantly in areas of the Indian subcontinent. It involves the killings of newly married women by their husbands or in-laws, over conflicts related to their dowry, e.g. insufficient dowry. Common acts of violence are through burning - according to Indian records, about 20+ women die each day because of dowry-related femicide.
Other types of Femicide also extent to the following:
Factors that increase chances of Femicide
Research has found that violence is influenced by factors operating at 4 levels: Individual, Family, Relationship, Community, and Structural. These range from maternal mortality, prior abuse, leaving relationships, gender inequality, and inadequate social spending for the protection of women or inadequate legislation for the protection of women.
The issue of Femicide has been existent for decades. Women continue to bear the heaviest burden in society due to the present gender stereotypes and social inequalities they face. The efforts that have been made by local, national, and international institutions have been insufficient, which the COVID-19 pandemic made very clear. In 2019, World Health Organisation and the United Nations endorsed a framework - RESPECT - aimed at policymakers action to fight Femicide and Violence against women.
R- Relationship skills strengthening
E- mpowerment of women
S- ervices ensured
P- overty reduced
E- nabling environments (schools, work, places, public spaces) created
C- hild and adolescent abuse prevented
T- ransformed attitudes, beliefs, and norms.
Such effort is needed to scale up and help provide women with sufficient and real protection. Standing together as a society against this societal disease is absolutely essential. To help tackle femicide, we must develop cultural norms that move away from toxic and violent masculinity and gender stereotypes and continue to RESPECT women and girls across the world. This ‘Silent’ epidemic must be cured, STOP FEMICIDE.
