Abusive Partners: the Protest against Femicides

Femicide can be defined as women being killed by men, though in countries such as France, it has taken a more nuanced meaning of women being killed by a current or former partner. The commonly occurring headlines reporting of protests against “femicide” in various parts of the world have become worrying, especially since it seems as if nothing is being done to ease the creeping worries felt by women around the world that they are unsafe with their partners. It is no wonder that protesters are adamant, as the World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that in 2018 the global combined estimate of 30% of women 15 years or older have been subjected to “physical and/or sexual violence from any current or former husband or male intimate partner, or to sexual violence from a non-partner, e.g. strangers, acquaintances, friends, peers, teachers, neighbours, family members, or to both of these forms of violence combined at least once in their lifetime”.[1] 

Focusing on Europe, France and Germany have the highest rate of overall femicides (as per the second more nuanced definition). A poll conducted by NousToutes also found that out of the 100,000 women polled eight out of 10 said they had suffered physical or psychological violence during sex, and more than half stated that sex had been forced on them at least once. An estimate of approximately 200,000 women in France suffer from domestic violence yearly. Nonetheless, fewer than one in five report the issue to the police. The number of abuse cases has only increased with lockdowns during the pandemic, as women have been forced to stay at home with their abusive partners. The French government attempted to tackle the issue by setting up a hotline for female victims of violence which has called to attention the seriousness and the widespread nature of the issue. During the first three months alone of running the hotline, 45,000 calls were received. Even in Finland, a country where equality is protected to one of the highest standards in the world, the murder rate of women as a result of domestic violence is soaring worryingly.[2]

Considering these factors, calls for the recognition of ‘gendered crime’ have been made. This would entail acknowledging that some crimes are predominantly experienced by one sex. Appreciating this fact would help the state to better understand the nature of such crimes, allowing for a more appropriately refined state response to the issue. This should in theory lower the rates of such crimes. Indeed, recognizing that women are disproportionately affected by crimes such as domestic violence could possibly allow states to take better preventative measures as information about the crime and managing it could be targeted at the correct group.[3] Nonetheless, this cannot be seen as a universally applicable method of managing crime, as it has only led to the expansion of tougher state control and higher imprisonment rates, both of which have been proven not to lower rates of offending.[4]

Furthermore, accepting the justice system’s tendency of secondary victimization in sexual abuse cases such as rape would give way to the system’s development towards a more victim-friendly approach. In current circumstances, the victim is subjected to harsh modes of questioning where they must relive events that have possibly been extremely traumatizing, in order to prove their claim. This repels victims from actually coming forth with theirs. Restorative justice, a process in which parties with a stake in a specific offence resolve how to deal with the aftermath of the offence and its implications for the future, might be of help here as it would give the victim an opportunity to confront the perpetrator in a safe environment.[5] This would afford victim satisfaction and perhaps reduce victim-blaming as they will no longer be a faceless entity in the process of seeking justice, rather being actively involved in it through a more open platform that gives an opportunity for discourse. Nonetheless, it should be recognized that this type of open conversation and confrontation of the perpetrator is not suitable for all, and it might even lead to further trauma from having to face one’s perpetrator again.[6]

The threat femicide causes should be taken as a more pressing issue, as it widely affects women all over the world. France has taken a step towards the right direction by creating hotlines specifically targeted at an issue typically experienced by the female sex, however, this should be expanded to the establishment of a whole sub-category of offences that appreciate the imbalance when it comes to who is affected by specific crimes. Only then can we properly prepare for the consequences of such offences and respond to them in the most ideal way possible.

[1] World Health Organization, “Violence against women prevalence estimates, 2018 – Global fact sheet” World Health Organization (5 March 2021) https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-SRH-21.6

[2] Kim Willsher, ” 'No more shame': the French women breaking the law to highlight femicide” The Guardian (23 March 2021) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/23/no-more-shame-the-french-women-breaking-the-law-to-highlight-femicide 

[3] McAra, Lesley, Shadd Maruna, and Alison Liebling. The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. Oxford University Press, 2017, 221

[4] Nicola Lacey, Political Systems and Criminal Justice: The Prisoners' Dilemma After the Coalition, Current Legal Problems (2012), Vol 65, Issue 1, 203–239

[5] Tony F. Marshall, “Restorative Justice: an overview” Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate (1999)

[6] McAra, Lesley, Shadd Maruna, and Alison Liebling. The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. Oxford University Press, 2017, 222-223