In my previous post, I talked about how femicide (or feminicide) is a major issue in several countries including South Africa and Mexico. In this blog post, I want to go into more depth about this phenomenon.
Feminicide is the killing of a woman or a girl because of her gender. It is generally committed by a man and it is the most extreme form of gender-based violence. This word became popularized in 1976 by the late South African feminist activist and scholar, Diana Russell. The term was first documented in 1801 but it wasn’t used frequently until Russell began to use it. This made it easier to address this social issue as it provided the heinous phenomenon with a recognizable name.
As much as the world’s society has taken great strides towards equality and has slowly stripped open the curtains of patriarchy, those curtains continue to provide much darkness to our everyday lives. There are different types of femicides that all have to with the traditional gender-based ideologies, they include intimate femicide, honor killings, dowry-related femicide, and non-intimate femicide. The ones that I am most familiar with are intimate femicide and honor killings. Intimate femicide is femicide committed by a current or a former husband or boyfriend. Murder is the most extreme consequence of domestic violence. Honor killing is femicide that is committed by a male relative or other family members. The main reasoning for this killing would be because the woman engages in sexual or adulterous behavior that could tarnish the family’s honor. Honor killings occur mainly in the Middle East and South Asia, but they also occur in immigrant communities residing in Australia, Europe, and North America.
I personally believe that the main reason why this continues to occur is due to the continuous belief that women subordinate to men and that there are rules that we are meant to follow. Only someone that feels entitled to themselves will be ok with taking the life of someone else. The most frightening thing is that women are constantly being told to engage in relationships with men (if heterosexuality is the case) but in reality, being in a relationship could heighten your chances of being in danger.
The first time I heard about this term was at the beginning of 2020 for several reasons. There was an unfortunate killing of a young girl, about my age, in my hometown. She was celebrating New Years’ at a beach party that happens every year when she and her friend were attacked by two men. She fought but was stabbed and unfortunately didn’t make it. The second time that I heard about this term was on social media from the several protests and demonstrations people in Mexico were having against gender violence.
As a young female, I am constantly fearful of what could happen to me. I live my life to the fullest but I always have one foot back because I am afraid of all of the dangers of the world like this one.
Once again, this is a tough topic to swallow but an important one to address. Obviously, murder in itself is evil but even more so when done on the grounds of a person’s gender. Regarding honor killings, I find this extremely disturbing because cheating should not be punishable by death no matter how wrong it may appear to be. Personally, as a male, I do not fear these things happening to me but I pity the fact that many women have to face the reality that this is a possibility for them.
This is a very powerful and insightful blog on what’s going on in the world. It’s devastating to realize the inequality treatment towards women around the globe. Your last sentence was especially poignant as girls and women shouldn’t be fearful simply because of their gender.
It is truly disheartening and heartbreaking that women are treated inferior in this society. Reading this post actually made me sad when thinking of the millions of people in this world who truly believe that women are inferior to men. We’ve come so far as the human race with so many crucial, groundbreaking developments over centuries, but the fact that we can’t treat men and women equally is quite baffling and discouraging. I hope we can reflect on the mistakes and wrongdoings we have committed in the past and learn from it, making it a better, more equal place to live for women.