Want To Raise Your Voice Against Femicide? Know What’s Causing It First
If there is one gender aggression and crime that we should always raise our voices against, it is femicide. The sad part of our culture is that most people aren’t even aware of this crime and whether they are still prevalent. Hence, femicide, meaning as a Google search result, keeps popping up.
It is odd to believe that something that sounds so medieval still tarnishes our reality. No matter how much we want to believe that we live in a socially better world now, a case of femicide fills us with horror.
What Is Femicide?
It is the intentional killing of a girl or a woman on account of gender discrimination. It is often conducted by men, but it is not always necessary. In some cases, elderly women of a tribe are known to indulge in such heinous activity as well.
In some areas, femicide cases are that of a newborn. Known as female foeticide, there are well-documented cases of female foeticide in areas like Australia, South Asia, and Northern Alaska. One cannot just blame a singular country or culture since it is quite universal in nature now. In some cases, victims of femicide are teenage girls or adult women. Such gruesome acts of violence do make us wonder about femicide’s meaning. Most importantly, it voices one important question among the responsible citizens of the world.
Why?
Reasons Behind Femicide
Now that we know the meaning of femicide, it is important to decipher the reasons behind femicide. Without the proper knowledge of the subject, we cannot raise our voices. Fighting a cause always requires the right data. So, here is why femicide is still prevailing in the world.
- Stereotyped gender roles which promote females as the weaker sex.
- Discrimination of a certain community is unwilling to accept women’s rights.
- Unequal power relations between the two genders normalize such actions against women.
- Not wanting a girl child because of the added financial responsibilities. This is quite prevalent in the rural areas of Southeast Asian countries. Countries like Vietnam, Myanmar, India, and Pakistan have strict rules against gender-revealing procedures during pregnancies since pregnant women are forced to endure late abortion surgeries when the family discovers a female fetus.
Figures On Femicide
Femicide’s meaning can have different connotations. For some, it is the killing of a female child to abort the responsibilities. However, female killings by former or current intimate partners are also on the rise.
In the year 2021, more than 45000 girls and women worldwide were killed. The culprit almost always is an intimate partner. On average, approximately five women are killed by their family members. In Southeast Asian countries, a woman’s dowry is one of the leading reasons behind femicide. (Source: United Nations).
In cases of female homicide, a whopping 56% of the culprits are male members the victims knew before or a family member.
Even environmental degradation is a reason behind the rise of female violence and femicide. Violence against women and girls skyrockets when there is displacement, which causes frustration. This frustration leads to aggression among many. There has been a 53.6 rise in rape cases in trailer park settlements after Hurricane Katrina hit Missicpi Bay in 2005.
War is another major cause where women are the victims of sexual violence and femicide. This is a dark side of war which most history books do not speak about. As of 3 June, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had received a skyrocketing number of 124 alleged acts of conflict-related sexual across Ukraine — crimes mostly against women and girls. (Source: United Nations). This is to say nothing about the number of women who have been victims of femicide and lost their lives amidst the conflict.
What You Should Be Aware Of
“What does femicide mean?”
In simple words, it is the intentional killing of innocent women, irrespective of the reason.
Is there a way to voice your concern against it?
Yes!
You have to understand a few patterns of behavior in order to do so. Here is what you should be aware of when trying to protect the potential femicide victim in your area.
It Is Always The Closed Ones
Rather than asking about the femicide meaning, we should focus on who is likely to commit it.
Every day, we are saddened to hear cases of women and girls being killed by their family members. Yes, fathers, mothers, brothers, relatives, and intimate partners. There are tortured souls who are dealing with rigorous physical and emotional abuse by their in-laws as well, especially in South Asian countries where it is traditional for women to shift to their in-law’s house after marriage.
When it is too late, these scenarios can cause painful, untimely death of the victim. Therefore, the world is still not successful in eradicating such an issue.
If you want to raise your voice against it, do so by understanding the pattern of behavior. Keep a close eye on a family or couple you are suspicious about. Any hint of physical violence, report to the police.
Earlier detection is definitely one of the successful means to avoid further cases of femicide.
Marginalized Woman Might Have Higher Chances
Latin American women protest against femicide.
Marginalized races like Latinos, South East Asians, Muslims, and African Americans might have a higher chance of femicide cases, especially if they are still in refugee status and still at the below-poverty line wage gap. Lack of education and poverty are two aggressors that can make family members more violent, especially if they have beliefs of strong gender stereotypes, often where women are seen as the weaker sex.
At 4.3 per 100,000 women and girls, the femicide rate in Canada was five times higher for indigenous than for women and girls in 2021.
According to data, approximately ten women die every day in Mexico due to cases of femicide. Many have asked this question: what does femicide mean in Mexico?
These are the seven scenarios considered a femicide in Mexico:
- It has to be a female.
- There is a distinct sign of sexual violence.
- Degrading wounds on the woman’s body or a form of mutation.
- Records of violence in family, office, and school. This is why reporting as a potential victim or as a bystander is so important. Your suspicion can save someone’s life one day.
- An indication that the suspect has threatened to harm, abuse, or kill the victim beforehand.
- Not allowed to communicate or tortured before killing.
- The culprit exposed and publicly degraded the body. Wartime sexual violence is the top femicide case in this scenario.
It Is Universal
Femicide meaning doesn’t imply only the women of underdeveloped countries. Even the most developed countries have a femicide rate, which is rising.
Seven thousand five hundred in the Americas and 2,500 in Europe, to be precise. Therefore, as responsible citizens, we always have to be aware of the patterns and raise our voices when needed.
Suppose you know other methods of showing concern and raising your voice against this pressing issue. Or, if you have to add up to our excerpt on femicide meaning, please do let us know in the common section below.
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