Blame Game with the Victim: A Femicide Story
by Anchal Agarwal
In this article, find an overview of femicide and how the issue is reported all over the media.
What is Femicide?
Femicide is the killing of women and girls because of their gender. World Health Organization defines femicide “to involve intentional murder of women because they are women, but broader definitions include any killings or girls” [viii]. The definition was later expanded to “the misogynistic killing of women by men”. Not much research has been done yet, but femicide often involves an intimate partner/family member in the murder. Femicide is an extreme and ultimate form of violence against women and girls [ii]. Femicide violates the basic fundamental right of women, i.e., the right to life.
There is no comprehensive data available on femicide from states around the world. This could be due to several factors: first, states adhere to different definitions of femicide; resulting in discrepancies in the data [i]. Second, while recording homicides, the police or the media often doesn’t have a full account of violence and sometimes fails to determine the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator. Inadequate reporting while accounting for the violence leaves out gender as the motivation to commit murder [v].
A sharp rise in femicide cases has been observed during the ongoing pandemic which trapped women with their abusers, unable to use a local and national support network. Restrictions on mobility have led to increased violence against women.
Types of femicide
All forms of violence against women and girls are to be condemned. Femicide is called different names in different states. Somewhere it is referred to as honour killing or as dowry deaths. Femicide can be categorised as intimate or non-intimate femicide [v].
- Honour killing — killing of a woman or a girl by her family and male relative to preserving family honour. It usually happens when the victim deviates from a set gender role and engages in behaviour believed to be dishonourable. Honour Killing is more prevalent in parts of the Middle East and South Asia.
- Dowry related deaths — when a woman and her family fails to fulfil the demands of the groom and his family. In certain parts of the world, the concept of dowry is culturally constructed and is socially accepted. A new bride is expected to bring wedding gifts with her for her new family; failure of which leads to torture and in some cases prolonged death. Dowry related deaths are quite prevalent in India.
- Intimate and non-intimate femicide — intimate femicide is when the victim has an intimate relationship with the perpetrator and non-intimate femicide refers to when there is no intimate relationship between the victim & the perpetrator. Latin America has seen a drastic rise in non-intimate femicide.
Femicide in Media
Media outlets are powerful institutions and play a vital role in shaping public opinion around a case or an incident. Responsible media reporting could generate more attention to cases of femicides, promulgating swift response and challenging gender stereotypes. The normalization of violence against women and the blame game played against the victims needs consideration. Gender sensitization and a policy of non-discrimination in reporting can demographically increase the reporting of violence against women. The media must refrain from calling murders “a crime of passion” or use terms like a drunk, anger, outburst, or jealousy for the perpetrators of violence [ii].
After the brutal murder of Pinar Gultekin in Turkey, women in Turkey started and engaged in a black and white photo challenge on Instagram to raise awareness about the rising femicide cases in Turkey and to shed light on Turkey’s unconventional withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention. The Turkish government does not record cases of femicide, however, several organizations are rallying against violence targeted at women. We will stop femicide has been collecting data of women killed and has been advocating to stop femicides. According to their data, 28 femicides were reported and 12 women were found dead under suspicious circumstances in February 2021.
Check out the news below to see the media presentation of femicides.
- Man admits to killing missing autistic woman, tells cops where to find her body
- Murder of 75-year-old woman in 2019 never publicly reported by Toronto police
- Man killed woman he had ‘disdain’ for after blaming her for relative’s death, prosecutors say
- Man married to another woman convicted of killing fiancee
- Man kills ‘drug dealer’ pregnant wife in Delhi; video of killing surfaces
All these articles describe women being killed by their intimate partner or family members because of the women’s perceived inappropriate conduct or men’s misogynistic attitude. In these cases, the media overlooked the accepted norm of men in dominant and women in a subservient position. Jane Monckton-Smith, a criminologist, argues that “the media often develops the intimate partner femicide discourse only as a tragic story of a man’s love for women, instead of building a story about violence itself and hence missing the value of human life” [iii].
Missing White Women Syndrome
Missing White Women Syndrome is another term corresponding to the representation of missing women and girls in media. In his article, Jack Sommers focuses on the media coverage of the disappeared girls. The disappearance of girls does not feature in the media at the propensity it should, especially if the disappeared girls are not white [vi]. This leads to a lack of awareness about the disappearances and delays legal actions. It also reflects on the gender and race disparities in the disproportionate coverage of violence. Focus on the disappearance of young, white, wealthy women and girls which garners more media attention as compared to women and girls of colour, transgender people, migrants, sex workers, and women engaged in nightlife [vi]. The inequality in the media coverage tied to race and gender tends to focus more on the disappearance of a white woman and less accountability from the administration over the disappearance of other women and girls.
“Coverage disparities (can) affect the chances of discovering the fate of a missing individual”, Sommers [vi].
Ways to address femicide
Countries with laws addressing femicide should effectively implement and enforce such laws. Countries with insufficient or ineffective laws should legislate laws to address growing concerns around femicides. The wide implementation gap can be attributed to a lack of political will, resources, data to supplement policy-making, and deep-seated gender and race notions. Violators of laws around femicides should be strictly punished. Campaigns raising awareness about gender inequality and femicide should be organized at individual and community levels. Resources should be deployed into research to study the motives, motivation, and behaviour of perpetrators of violence [viii].
With awareness and knowledge, femicide can garner attention to hold states responsible and accountable for the murders of thousands of women each year.
References:
[i] Bautista, N. (2020, August 28). Femicide Is a Growing Issue in the United States. MSN. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/femicide-is-a-growing-issue-in-the-united-states/ar-BB18sDz1
[ii] Fuentes, L. (n.d.). Policy Brief №1. Femicide and the Media: Do reporting practices normalize gender-based violence. Retrieved from https://antipodeonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Policy-Brief-1_Femicide-and-the-Media.pdf
[iii] Pratiwi, M. A. (2019, September 12). What’s missing from media reports on femicide? The Jakarta Post. https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2019/09/12/whats-missing-from-media-reports-on-femicide.html
[iv] Roberts, Y. (2021, April 26). The UK’s femicide epidemic: Who’s killing our daughters? The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/apr/25/the-uks-femicide-epidemic-whos-killing-our-daughters
[v] Rodriguez, L. (2020, November 3). Femicide: Everything You Need to Know. Global Citizen. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/what-is-femicide-everything-you-need-to-know/
[vi] Sommers, Z. (2017, April 3). Missing White Woman Syndrome: It’s Not a Media Myth. The Crime Report. https://thecrimereport.org/2017/04/03/missing-white-woman-syndrome-its-not-a-media-myth/
[vii] Warrick, C. (2020, September 3). 5 Facts About Femicide in Turkey. The Borgen Project. https://borgenproject.org/femicide-in-turkey/
[viii] World Health Organization. (2012). Understanding and addressing violence against women; Femicide. Retrieved from https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/77421/WHO_RHR_12.38_eng.pdf?sequence=1
