Femicides

[RO]

In literature the term femicide was first discussed by Diana Russell (1976) who associated femicide with ‘the killing of women by men as a result of misogyny’ (Radford & Russel, 1992: xi in Carcedo, 2011: 4).

The Vienna Declaration on femicide (2012) brings up several types of femicide, recognizing that femicide is ‘the killing of women or girls because of their gender, which can take various forms such as: 1) the murder of women as a result of domestic violence/ violence between intimate partners; 2) the torture and murder of women due to misogynism; 3) the killing of women and girls in the name of “ honour” (honour killings); 4) the predilection of killing women and girls in the context of armed conflict; 5) the killing of women and girls for economic reasons (because they must be given dowry); 6) the killing of women and girls due to their sexual orientation and gender identity; 7) the killing of aboriginal and indigenous women and girls because of their gender; 8) female infanticide and gender-based sex selection; 9) genital mutilation related femicide; 10) accusations of witchcraft and 11) other femicides connected with gangs, organized crime, drug dealers, human trafficking, and the proliferation of guns” (Laurent et al, 2013: 3).

In 2016, Shalva Weil proposed using the term femicide to designate all types of murder committed on a woman, regardless of the type of relationship between the murdered woman and the aggressor.

References

CARCEDO Ana, 2011, We will not forget nor will we accept: femicide in Central America 2006-2008, disponibil la http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca/dspace/bitstream/10625/49648/1/IDL-49648.pdf

The Vienna Declaration on Femicide  26 November 2012 at the United Nations Office at Vienna in: Claire Laurent, Michael Platzer and Maria Idomir (eds) 2013 Femicide A Global Issue That Demands Action, Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) Vienna Liaison Office
Weil Shalva, 2016, Making femicide visible, Curent Sociology, vol 64(7), pp. 1124-1137.