Understanding Femicide: A Global Issue Requiring Immediate Action

Femicide, a term that has gained a significant foothold in contemporary discourse, refers to the intentional killing of women and girls based solely on their gender. This is not merely a statistic but a stark reality affecting millions across the globe. Femicide is an issue that is often minimized or overlooked, yet it constitutes a significant component of gender-based violence.

What is Femicide and Its Definition

The term 'femicide' has been derived from 'female' or 'fem-' and 'cide,' meaning 'to kill.' It specifically denotes the murder of women or young girls linked to the fact that they are women. The gender character of the pattern must be present. A woman killed in a bank robbery or by a reckless driver cannot be considered a victim of femicide because the murderer is not motivated by the victim's gender.

Types of Femicide

The World Health Organization (WHO) distinguishes several cases of femicide:

Intimate Femicide: This is typically connected to domestic violence and is committed by the current or former spouse of the victim. According to a WHO study, more than 35% of women killed worldwide by their partners compared to only 5% of murders involving men fall under this category. Honor Killings: When a woman is accused of breaking moral laws or traditions, such as committing adultery, having sex outside of marriage, or even being raped, she may be killed to protect the family's reputation. The murderer can be a male or female from the family or clan. Dowry-Related Femicide: This primarily occurs in India where young women are killed by their in-laws for bringing insufficient money to marriage. Non-Intimate Femicide: This involves crimes that involve sexual assault or where women are explicitly targeted. The most frequently cited examples include the hundreds of women killed in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, over many years, and the anti-feminist massacre at the école Polytechnique in Montreal in 1989.

Global Statistics and Incidents

According to FBI data, in 2018, 92% of female homicides where the perpetrator's relationship to the victim was known were committed by men they knew. These killings happened nearly three times every day. In contrast, men are killed by other men in 3/4s of their cases and over a quarter of cases by strangers.

In 2017, in France, 109 women were killed by their spouse or ex-companion, as detailed in surveys by Slate and Liberation. In Latin America, over 1800 femicides were reported in 2016, including 466 in Honduras, 371 in El Salvador, 254 in Argentina, and 211 in Guatemala, according to the Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Legal Recognition and Advocacy

The recognition of femicide through legal channels is a critical step in addressing this issue. Latin America led the way when the Convention of Belém do Pará was adopted in 1994. A total of eighteen countries in the subcontinent have since 2007 introduced femicide into their penal codes. Other countries like Spain and Italy have also passed laws specifically addressing femicide and violence against women.

For example, Spain introduced a strengthened law against violence against women in 2004, and in 2013, Italy passed a law to combat femicide. In 2014, the Committee on Women's Rights in the European Parliament published a report emphasizing the need for comprehensive legal measures to address femicide.

Awareness and education are crucial in combating this issue. Women and girls need to be empowered and protected from such violence, and societal attitudes must change. governments, organizations, and communities must work together to ensure that femicide is rightly recognized and legally addressed.

It is time for all of us to take a stand against femicide and to ensure that women are valued and protected in every corner of the world.