Femicide on a Global Scale
July 29, 2024 · Emily Leavey · Article
Content Warning: This paper will discuss the potentially triggering topics of murder, domestic abuse, sexual abuse, gender-based violence, female genital mutilation, overkilling, and sexism. Please take this note as a warning that this paper will contain sensitive material.
Each year, it is estimated that an average of 50,000 women and girls worldwide are killed by their intimate partners or their family members. These killings can’t be classified by the term of murder alone, as these women have been killed because of hatred and misogynistic values existent in their perpetrators life’s. Murder towards women because of their gender has now been classified as femicide and it is broadly defined as “the killing of a woman or girl because of her gender” (European Institute for Gender Equality, n.d.). Femicide is considered to be the most extreme form of gender-based violence.
The first documented use of the word femicide was used in the 1801 book “A Satirical View of London at the Commencement of the Nineteenth Century” by British author John Corry. He used the term to refer to “the killing of a woman”, however in the past 223 years, the definition has expanded to include other forms of gender-based violence, or GBV. Professor Diana E.H. Russell brought the term femicide into the modern age at the International Tribunal of Crimes Against Women held in 1976 in Brussels. At this conference, Professor Russell referred to femicide as “the murder of women by men motivated by hatred, contempt, pleasure, or a sense of ownership of women” (Russell, 1976) and later described femicide as “the misogynistic killings of women by men” (Russell, 2012) at the United Nations Symposium on Femicide. Though these two descriptions are used when describing femicide, the World Health Organization (or WHO) has been able to narrow the definition down to “the intentional murder of women just because they are women”.
Unfortunately, femicide serves as a transnational issue, affecting women and girls in every part of the world. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has conducted studies within the past few years to gain data on the killings of women and girls through femicide in the five most populated regions. In 2022’s data collection, the continent of Africa led with at least 20,000 confirmed cases of femicide in the previous year. Next in the highest confirmed number of femicides is Asia with 18,400, next is the Americas with 7,900, then Europe with 2,300, and lastly Oceania with 200. Many women and girls’ deaths go unreported or are unable to be ruled as femicide, so these statistics are likely higher.
The UNODC has also adjusted these statistics to accurately represent the population of each region. When looking at the rate of femicide per 100,000 female population, the statistics come out as follows: in 2022, Africa had 2.8 femicide deaths per 100,000 females, Asia had 0.8, the Americas had 1.5 deaths, Europe had 0.6, and Oceania had 1.1. When comparing the graph below of adjusted stats compared to the graph above, one can confer where femicide might be more of an issue or might be more policed then in other regions.
Besides looking at femicide on a global scale, there are not many stats about what type of women and demographics of females are killed by femicide. Based on previous stats, it can be assumed that many women who are victims of femicide are usually victims of another type of domestic or gender-based violence. Femicide also usually occurs in areas where crimes against women aren’t heavily criminalized, the police presence isn’t very high, and there aren’t many resources available about domestic abuse and crimes against women. A study conducted in the UK in 2020 broke down femicide census data to gain an understanding of what demographic has been targeted and what the government can do to provide support to women in the country.
During this 2020 femicide study in the United Kingdom, the deaths of 110 women were analyzed to find if there were any connecting demographics between these women. 51% of femicide victims were killed by a spouse or an intimate partner, with the other 49% said to be killed by a relative or someone unknown to the victim. These statistics reaffirm the worldwide statistics given by the UN Women, as femicide victims are said to usually be killed by someone close to them. 64% of the 110 women were victims of abuse ranging from emotional and psychological abuse to stalking and harassment. In 45% of the victims, there was evidence of overkilling, which is the “use of excessive gratuitous violence beyond that necessary to cause the victim’s death” (Femicide Census, 2020). As forensic medicine concludes, overkilling is usually committed towards women and is caused by hatred of a victim for things such as their gender and can indicate a crime of passion.
The victims in this study range from ages 14 to 95 with the largest age group of victims being ages 36 – 45 at 18%. These victims were all part of different demographics: they had different types of professions, lived in different areas, were from different parts of the world, were a part of different ethnicities, and had different attributes that made them unique. The perpetrators in this study were all men and ranged from ages 18 to 85. The largest group of murderers were ages 36 – 45 at 37% with the second largest group being men ages 26 – 35 at 16%. Over half of the perpetrators were known to have histories of abuse against women yet received little to no punishment for their crimes. Out of all the perpetrators, 85% of them were charged with murder, 10% with attempted murder, and 5% were charged with misdemeanor crimes. Overall, most of these perpetrators are spending anywhere from 6 years to 35 years in prison for their heinous crimes. Though time in prison and jail won’t change the outcome of their actions, it gives the victim and their friends and family some type of justice for their murder.
This census is only looking at femicide against women in the UK during 2020, however, we can gain knowledge on what types of women are the victims of femicide worldwide. Femicide can seemingly affect anyone, no matter their age, race, or occupation.
Again, many victims of femicide go uncounted for. It is estimated that 4 in 10 international murders of women and girls aren’t able to be ruled as gender-related killings based on national variations in criminal justice recordings. It is also challenging to rule out what would be considered femicide, as the umbrella under the term changes based on location. Though I have discussed femicide only as the murdering of women because of their gender, there are a variety of other forms of violence against women under this umbrella. According to the WHO, the most common forms of violence against women and girls are sexual violence, female genital mutilation, intimate partner violence, human trafficking, and family violence just to name a few.
There are only a few countries that have put laws in place that criminalize femicide. Usually, these laws are coupled with criminalizing issues such as domestic abuse, female genital mutilation, and gender-based violence. The first country to enact a law against female murder was Costa Rica in 2007. The Law on the Penalization of Violence against Women put in place by the Costa Rican government carries criminal penalties for individuals who commit crimes, including femicide, against women. The sentences can range anywhere from 10 to 100 days in prison for aggravated threats and up to 35 years in prison for aggravated homicide, including sentences of 20 to 35 years for people who kill their partners.
Across the world, at least 162 of the 195 countries have passed laws protecting individuals from domestic violence, however, only 16 of these 162 countries recognize femicide as a different crime from homicide. Most countries don’t recognize that femicide is a form of gender-based violence while homicide is defined as “a person who kills another” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). The majority of these countries that have passed laws criminalizing are based in Latin America, as the highest rate of gender-based sexual violence in the world is in that region.
Unfortunately, the future of femicide does not look bright. Each year, the estimated average continues to rise and countries with extremely high rates of female murder are taking little to no measures to correct this. As seen in this paper, countries such as Costa Rica and the United Kingdom have been taking measures to find out why femicide takes place and what can be done to prevent it.
However, organizations are paving the way to enact change on the topic of femicide. The most well-known campaign against femicide is the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence international campaign. This annual movement kicks off on November 25th, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until December 16th, which is Human Rights Day. This campaign began in 1991 and was hosted by activists at the inaugural Women’s Global Leadership Institute. The 16-day campaign is used to not only create awareness for femicide, but also make people aware of other atrocities against women, such as child marriage, digital violence, and other issues. Now run by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (or UN Women), the 16-day campaign aims to call on citizens of this earth to show how much they care about ending violence against women and girls. Participants are encouraged to “take action to create a world free from violence towards women” (UN Women, n.d.), such as calling on governments worldwide to find out how they are preventing gender-based violence in their regions.
Works Cited
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“Accessing Justice: Femicide and the Rule of Law in Latin America.” Wilson Center, 10 Mar. 2020, www.wilsoncenter.org/video/accessing-justice-femicide-and-rule-law-latin-america#:~:text=In%20Latin%20America%2C%20which%20has,criminalizing%20femicide%20and%20domestic%20abuse.
Dahir, Abdi Latif. “Shaken by Grisly Killings of Women, Activists in Africa Demand Change.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Feb. 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/02/19/world/africa/femicide-kenya-africa.html#:~:text=An%20estimated%2020%2C000%20gender%2Drelated,true%20figures%20are%20likely%20higher.
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“Five Essential Facts to Know about Femicide.” UN Women – Headquarters, UN Women, 22 Nov. 2023, www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/feature-story/2022/11/five-essential-facts-to-know-about-femicide.
“History of the Term Femicide.” Femicide in Canada, 5 Dec. 2023, femicideincanada.ca/what-is-femicide/history/.
“Killings of women and girls by their intimate partner or other family members.” UNODC, 2020, https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-andanalysis/statistics/crime/UN_BriefFem_251121.pdf
Neri, Isa. “Fifteen Years after the First Femicide Law Was Adopted, the Fight to End Gender-Based Violence Continues.” Equal Times, 23 May 2022, www.equaltimes.org/fifteen-years-after-first-femicide?lang=en.
Offiong, Adie Vanessa. “Explainer: What Is Femicide and How Bad Is It Globally?” CNN, Cable News Network, 30 Sept. 2021, www.cnn.com/2021/09/30/world/femicide-explainer-as-equals-intl-cmd/index.html#:~:text=Only%20a%20handful%20of%20countries,defined%20femicide%20in%20their%20legislation.
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The Wilson Center. “Infographic: A Global Look at Femicide.” Wilson Center, 8 Dec. 2021, www.wilsoncenter.org/article/infographic-global-look-femicide.