By Jessica Akinyi
They say time waits for no man, well, it’s high time to discover the root cause of the rising issue that is affecting women worldwide. When people hear femicide, they most often assume it is tied to feminism therefore looking at it in terms of battle of equality of the sexes. This should not be the case because femicide is any killing of women or girls. It occurs because violence against women continues to be accepted, tolerated and justified.
The term was first established by Diana E. H. Russell in 1976 during the First International Tribunal of Crimes Against Women held in Brussels. The realization was that femicide is deeply rooted in gender-based discrimination which takes different shapes and forms. Its classification is manifested in three forms; the behavior of the perpetrator, the relationship with victims and context of occurrence of the crime.
Let’s look at the three major types of femicide.
- Femicide by an intimate partner – an intimate partner kills the wife or girlfriend due to prior abusive relationship.
- Femicide by family – this is committed by a family member. One example is “honour” killings whereby if a woman or girl goes against the norms of the family they are killed and also dowry death which is caused by the bride’s family failing to give the grooms family money or other valuables leading to domestic violence.
- Femicide in war and conflict setting – women are targeted during war and are raped as a form of weakening the opponents.
From the past to present, it’s time for each and every voice to be heard. The society should be fed up of the deafening news on femicide cases across the country. We must plant the seeds of fraternity.