What is femicide?
Thanks for asking.
Many countries reported increased gender-based violence during recent coronavirus lockdowns.
Femicides are the most extreme form of such crimes against women, and they have been on the rise for many years now.
The term dates back centuries, but has taken on a new meaning in recent decades, with feminists placing emphasis on the specific nature and intent of femicide.
It has gradually been adopted by international organisations like the United Nations and World Health Organisation.
If a man kills a woman, is it automatically a femicide?
No, the murder of a woman isn't always femicide, even if committed by a man.
Femicide refers specifically to murders carried out because the victim is a woman.
The WHO published an information sheet on the subject in 2012, providing details of several different types of cases.
The most common is intimate femicide, which is committed by a current partner or ex-partner.
Worldwide these account for 35% of all murders of women in the world.
A study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime found that 87000 women were murdered in 2017, with 58 being killed by an intimate partner or family member.
By the same logic, non-intimate femicide is when the murderer and victim do not have an intimate relationship.
This includes killings linked to a sexual assault and anti-feminist murders, for example.
Other types of femicide include dowry-related murders and honour killings.
Are there specific laws on femicide?
Some people argue that there shouldn't be a need for additional legislation against femicides.
After all, the majority of murder victims are male.
But many countries treat femicide as a distinct category of killing, especially in Latin America.
Elsewhere, the sexist element of such an act could be considered aggravating circumstances by law.
In those scenarios, a sentence for femicide could therefore be stronger than for a similar murder which wasn't gender-related.
The law can also require investigations to look specifically at the role gender may have played in a crime.
Feminists say this is important in order to raise awareness of the issue and to get justice for victims.
Rather than being mislabeled crimes of passion, femicide should be recognised for what they are the killing of girls and women just for being female.
There you have it.
Now you know what femicide is.
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