Female geronticide: the case of Israel

Abstract

This study of femicide involving elderly women, or female geronticide, aims to fill a gap in the research literature. The article is divided into three parts: a review of the literature on femicide, geronticide, and specifically female geronticide; a review of the literature utilizing Israel as a case-study and an empirical report on the findings of the first longitudinal study on female geronticide in Israel, which demonstrates that over a period of 10 years (2006-2015) female geronticide was perpetrated solely by intimate male partners. Findings of the study also show post hoc that while femicide is perpetrated in disproportionate numbers by, and towards, members of particular ethnic categories, such as Ethiopian immigrants and foreign migrants, there were no cases of female geronticide in these two groups. The likelihood of an elderly woman being murdered by her intimate partner or family member was higher among the following groups in the following order: immigrants from the former Soviet Union; Israeli-born Jews and; Israeli Arabs. The findings are important for policymakers in Israel but have applications globally.

Gendered pandemics:suicide, femicide and COVID-19

“…In other cases, femicide may be the result of ongoing brutality over years. In the case of female geronticide, or the killing of elderly women (Weil & Keshet, 2021), it is sometimes the final act in long-term abusive relationships in which males act violently against their female partners over a long period of time (Zink, Jacobson, Pabst, Regan, & Fisher, 2006).…”

Everyday genocide: femicide, transicide and the responsibility to protect

“…Femicide, the deliberate killing of women because they are women, has been termed female-homicide or gendercide but also: “racist femicide (when black women are killed by white men), homophobic femicide (when lesbian women are killed), marital femicide and femicide committed by a stranger” (Corradi et al , 2016, p. 977). Femicide includes the death of women following failed abortions, sex-selective pregnancy terminations, female infanticide, and the neglect and starvation of female children in societies that value male babies and children more (Standish and Weil, 2021; Weil and Keshet, 2021):…”

“…While Africa and Latin America are said to experience the highest rates of female homicide (femicide) in the world, new gendered analysis in other regions has increased recognition of this form of violence (Weil and Keshet, 2021). Accumulative detection of femicidal and/or gender-based crimes, especially during COIVD-19, has elevated increased awareness that when women and girls are killed, there are not harmed in spite of their sex but because of it (Weil and Keshet, 2021; Álvarez-Garavit and Acosta-González, 2021).…”