Identifying femicide locally and globally: Understanding the utility and accessibility of sex/gender-related motives and indicators

Abstract

Femicide, the gender-related killing of women and girls, has received an unprecedented rise in international attention in the past decade, prompting increased discussions about how to define and measure femicide. Following a review of definitions and indicators, this article examines the utility of numerous sex/gender-related motives and indicators (SGRMIs) for distinguishing femicide from other homicides as well as the accessibility of these indicators in data sources typically accessed by social science researchers. Specifically, using a comprehensive database whose primary focus is femicide, the presence of SGRMIs in male-perpetrator/female-victim homicide – those killings most closely aligned with the concept of femicide – is compared to other perpetrator–victim gender combinations. Results show that multiple SGRMIs are more common in male-perpetrator/female-victim killings than other homicides, meaning they are useful for distinguishing femicide as a distinct type of violence. However, accessibility to information is weak with high proportions of missing data. Implications of these findings for prevention are discussed, including how data biases may be putting the lives of women and girls at risk and the need to emphasize prevention as the priority for data collection rather than administrative needs of governments.

Intersectionality and Invisible Victims: Reflections on Data Challenges and Vicarious Trauma in Femicide, Family and Intimate Partner Homicide Research

“…A key reason for these data gaps stems from the underlying rationale and goals of data collection by statistical and criminal justice agencies, which are not designed with researchor preventionin mind (Dawson and Carrigan 2020). Rather, they are largely administrative in purpose and the types of data collected reflect administrative, not research or prevention goals.…”

“…Given the above, a key recommendation would be that we reconceptualize the purposes or goals of official data collection from the primarily administrative focus to prioritize, or at the very least, include, the routine collection of data that can inform the development of effective prevention initiatives (Dawson and Carrigan 2020). If we were to succeed in doing so, however, we would then have to address the issue of accessibility.…”

“…Yet, at the same time, if official agencies or administrative data sources switch from collecting the category 'sex' to 'gender', without being able to disaggregate by sex at birth and so capture a transgender history, this makes it difficult to track male violence against females or violence against transgender persons. The latter of which was already difficult to collect given many instruments do not provide the space to capture gender identity or expression (Dawson and Carrigan 2020).…”

Time trend and spatial distribution of the cases of lethal violence against women in Brazil

“…In recent decades, discussions on how to define and measure femicide have increased significantly, driven by the high incidence in Latin America and the recent laws implemented in several countries that have harshened its punishment (2) .…”

Factors associated with the homicides of women who are victims of violence

“…For gender-related homicides, the term "femicide" refers to the murder of women or girls because of their role and status as women. Femicide does not represent isolated cases or sporadic episodes of violence, but rather a structural and social situation, a cultural phenomenon deeply rooted in customs and mentalities (10) .…”