What are the Causes of Femicide? and what is?

The article that we are going to develop deals with that depressing and worrying phenomenon that some women are victims of by generally macho men, we will talk about the causes of femicide among other aspects.

Introductory definition

As we said before, this article aims to provide the reader with information related to femicide, types, causes of femicide, as well as the maximum consequence of this type of female gender violence.

There are two aspects such as inequality and violence in terms of the female gender which are recurrent in the history of societies. Due to the development of feminist movements, these types of circumstances have managed to obtain a higher vision than the one presented in decades in much of the world.

What is femicide?

Femicide is a term that deals with or refers to the homicide of women, generally this action is carried out by men or women, girls or girls can also be immersed because they belong to the female sex.

Generally, these types of acts in a different way than usual, usually occur in the home itself as a result of gender violence. They are immersed in crimes characterized by hate, due to the way they occur and because it is a context in which feminism is stigmatized for several years.

This term is found among different opinions; because some authors maintain that this belongs to any type of murder in which the victim is a woman, regardless of whether it is committed by a man or what his motives are.

Femicide represents the harshest experience or act of violence that can exist from men towards women or the female sex. This is often produced as a result of physical aggression, rape, forced or forced maternity is also common, as well as genital amputation.

Femicide is considered the most brutal term in relation to the violent scale towards women. The United Nations Organization (UN) determines that 70 percent of women suffer from this type of violent acts in their lives.

In this aspect we can determine something much more worrying since 21% of deaths in the entire world are due to homicide; 28% in Europe, 12% in America and 29% in Asia.

According to the UN, half of the victims in 2012 were victims of murder by their own partners: boyfriends, husbands, spouses, intimate partners or relatives.

In 2012 there was a figure of 14% of women murdered in the world, by their partners and relatives. This figure is represented by 43 thousand 600 women. According to this figure, 19,700 violent deaths occurred in Asia; 13,400 in Africa; 6,900 America; 3,300 in Europe and 200 in Oceania.

According to the figures of the causes of femicide in the world, it reveals that violence against women is social and in a general way in many countries of the world. The effect of gender inequality relations is considered, as well as the permission of society regarding this violence.

Causes

Regarding this issue, there are multiple reasons or causes of femicide, the most frequent we can define as jealousy. Some men who have been immersed in this type of attitude affirm that it is jealousy that leads them to commit murder against their partner. They also allege infidelity as the cause of these crimes.

As a second cause we can mention is the decision of separation that may arise between the couple, this leads the aggressor (man) to commit the crime, since such a decision is contrary to his will.

In this way, the rejection or negativity to continue maintaining the relationship on the part of the victim, makes this cause for attack or aggression.

As causes of femicide we can also mention the consumption of both drugs or narcotics and alcohol, since they make the human being take attitudes that are not typical of the person, becoming violent and aggressive.

Another reason or causes of femicide is the machismo developed in some men, unfortunately there is currently a high degree of male population to have wrong ways of thinking, to believe more than the figure of the female sex or woman.

This thought makes them believe that they have more power than the woman herself and for this reason they are often humiliated, this form of the multiple existing causes of femicide .

As for the cause of machismo, we can determine that it is an aggressor who is often a person who was raised in a macho culture, who will have a thought of dominating the woman with whom he lives or has direct contact in all aspects. .

This opinion was also determined by the person in charge of the Feminicide Registry of Peru, Teresa Viviano.

It can also be determined as organized crime, which is considered another cause of femicide. This cause is considered a factor that creates a number of femicides, especially in Central American countries, where there are large numbers of drug traffickers and criminals.

Causes in Mexico

In this regard, it is important to note that the causes of femicide in Mexico or the level of female violence is considered high level, as is the rate of gender violence, which affects the areas of daily life. The highest incidence of violence against the female sex or gender is femicide.

In Mexico, violence against women is due to the cause of machismo, which is deeply embedded in this, however there is a series of social, political and economic issues. All this is endorsed by the Human Rights Commission of Mexico City.

An example of the above is impunity, age, criminality, ethnicity, gender discrimination, social conditions, as well as others.

All these elements are a vulnerable cause of women’s rights, since they place them in danger in terms of their integrity, even death.

Data and statistics

According to some calculations, around 66 thousand causes of femicide are caused worldwide. However, we must bear in mind that the number of cases of gender violence is often underestimated and many countries do not see the difference between homicides and causes of femicide.

We can determine that 80% of murder victims are men, however when we refer to family or intimate homicide, the figure drops to a third. This is a factor that shows us that femicide must be distinguished from other types of murder.

Among the countries with the highest rates of femicide are: Jamaica, Guatemala, South Africa, Russia and El Salvador. In another vein, we can say that more than half of the 25 countries in America have the highest rate of femicide crimes. Among these are: Colombia, Honduras, Venezuela, Brazil, Dominican Republic and Bolivia.

killer’s motives

We can consider as motivations of the crime a special particularity regarding femicide in relation to other types of homicides.

According to the opinion of Diana Russell, to whom the popularity of the term “femicide” (“femicide” in English) is attributed, among other attitudes that exist for femicides are anger, hatred, jealousy, search for pleasure.

Other opinions that Russell considers important are about shyness, another is the sense of believing oneself superior to gender and the conception of women as possession. These characteristics are culturally transmitted and can be the cause of violence from men to women.

On the other hand, female murders are closely related, as we mentioned earlier, to the consumption of alcohol and other substances such as drugs by the aggressor and murderer.

types

Some authors, including Diana Russell, already mentioned above, have presented different types of femicide that differ in terms of the relationship between the victim and her murderer, as well as the motive for the crime. Next we will determine them.

1. Intimate and familiar

Intimate femicide may be used as a term in relation to the acts that are carried out by men within the home and their family, which is close. It can also be used to determine the murder of the partner or ex-partner, whether or not the two people have a legal relationship.

This type of femicide is related to the intake of alcohol as well as other types of substances and is established at a figure of 35% of all female murders.

There is a type of murder called “honor killing” which is committed against women who are classified as dishonoring the family. In this case, the most common causes are dishonor because the victim suffered rape or is accused of adultery.

According to established data in India, Bangladesh, Iran and Pakistan, dowry murders are committed. In this case, the marriage, or the husband’s family mistreats the wife using extortion methods in order to get a larger dowry.

In this type of case, the woman is pushed to suicide or the possibility of death by murder, she may suffer a consequence of a live burn in the event that the family cannot pay the debt.

2. Lesbicide

It is not easy to achieve historical situations in which the murder of women as a form of punishment for being homosexual is legal.

As an example we can mention that in France during the thirteenth century there was a law approved in which women were subject to amputation of a limb during two times they had sex, these two times was the first time they did it and the third time the victim was cremated.

Similar to this type of crime called lesbicide, it is corrective rape, which deals with the sexual abuse of a homosexual woman, in order for her to behave heterosexually, it was simply classified as punishment.

This is considered a form of imposing a “natural order” through the use of power and violence.

Currently, homosexuality of men and women continues to be condemned by countries such as Libya, India, Morocco, Iran, Pakistan and Nigeria. This type of attitude is favorable to violence against this type of person, because they legitimize them from the institutions.

3. racial femicide

This type of racial femicide has a characteristic in that the gender element is added to an ethnic element, in this case the aggressor kills the victim for the sole fact that she is a woman as well as because she has different cultural and physical characteristics. East.

It is a mixture of situations that implement hatred in an unusual way, although it is nevertheless characterized by dynamics of discriminatory stories.

Racism is very influential in this type of murder, since the victim is from an ethnic group or culture that is considered of less value in the community, this can interrupt the legal process as well as the image that the media gives in terms of the victim.

4. serial femicide

In this case, as its name indicates, it is the type of femicide where the aggressor kills the victim repeatedly since with this attitude he obtains sexual pleasure and is considered sadistic. These are mostly caused by suffocation or trauma.

Women who are victims of this type of serial femicide occur in situations that are related to waitresses or prostitutes. In some cases this femicide is attributed to pornography, especially that considered to induce violence.

Psychological explanations of gender violence

Gender violence in terms of this issue is characterized by two different orientations or forms: symbolic interactionism and psychology.

Symbolic interactionism and patriarchy

Symbolic interactionism can be determined as a theoretical current in terms of sociology, social psychology and anthropology. It allows people to jointly create symbols that give meaning in terms of reality and different aspects, ordering our behavior.

Regarding this situation, femicide can be defined as a determination of different roles that are granted to each gender by societies. It is understood in terms of the public sphere that it is dominated by men or the male sex, affecting women in terms of reproduction and care at home.

Sometimes it is also called “patriarchy” in terms of social structure, which is supported by laws or established norms that strengthen attitudes in terms of behavior differently in relation to biological sex.

These patriarchal structures are manifested in the majority of women who receive abuse, those who take care of their children or take care of their homes, are also represented with low fidelity in terms of social culture, are discriminated against in relation to earning less that men in terms of work and their sexuality is seen in a negative way.

All of the above is supported by the sociologist Sylvia Walby. They also tend to be disrespected in terms of decision-making and developments in the field of power that they can exercise.

The concept that women are inferior according to the concept of some men, allows that in the social aspect there are fewer murders in patriarchal environments. Regarding this, it could be thought that violence against women occurs more frequently if they are not penalized or punished by the law and the corresponding culture.

Central America, with the highest rate of femicides

According to data from the United Nations Office for Women known by its acronym (UN-WOMEN), it maintains that 14 of the 25 countries with a high rate of femicide are found in Latin America. Among some we can mention: Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador.

Honduras

In this country, the femicide rate is 14.6 per 100,000 inhabitants. These data are determined by the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH). During the year 2013, 636 Honduran women were victims of violent death, and 600 cases remained unpunished.

The Savior

The rate of femicide in this country is 12 per 100,000 inhabitants, these data are determined by the Small Arms Survey, a government group based in Switzerland. In previous years, 1,161 women were murdered in the last three years in a simulated manner.

Nicaragua

Regarding the rate of femicides in this country, 12 homicides are specified for every 100 thousand people. As for the year 2013, there were 9 homicides for every 100,000 inhabitants, according to what the country’s Police reported.

Guatemala

The femicide rate in Guatemala is 9.7 women murdered per 100,000 inhabitants. In 2013, according to data that determines, 755 women were murdered.

Some were deaths by firearm (359) and (41) by suffocation; another number of women victims of violence was 28 times they were beaten to death, also 11 were dismembered. Some of these cases were not clarified.

Preventive measures

Regarding the preventive measures that can be taken in order to put an end to femicide as much as possible, we can say that it should not only be concentrated on one focus of the matter, since it is divided into complex aspects at various levels, among which we highlight: the psychological, psycho-social, and sociopolitical.

For this reason, everything will be treated from the point of view of the individual changes of each subject and collectively. Programs should be developed in terms of prevention and mental health. The collective changes will not only deal with changes in the culture and sensitivity of violence towards the female gender.

Topics should be included in terms of material and objectives in urban planning that publicizes the safety of streets, policies regarding penitentiary matters and protect victims.

Every woman must report any aggression or physical abuse she is subjected to from the very moment it occurs, since a timely complaint can save the lives of many of the women who are victims of these situations that currently affect the world.