3 Things to Know About Femicide in the United States

The term femicide was first used in John Corry’s 1801 book, “A Satirical View of London at the Commencement of the Nineteenth Century,” as "the killing of a woman." Later, it was described again by South African activist Diana H. Russell as “the killing of females by males because they are females.” 

Femicide is a global tragedy, but we still don’t know enough about it in the United States. Here are the three facts about American femicide.

1. Femicide is often the last act in an abusive relationship. Threats to the victims do not usually come from strangers but someone they know - most frequently by a spouse or a boyfriend. According to preliminary findings of a study by the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 35 percent of all murders of women are globally reportedly committed by an intimate partner. Rates of intimate partner/family-related femicide per 100,000 female population are 1.4 In the United States.

2. The homicide rate for Indigenous women and girls is six times higher than for white women and girls, National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center reported. When BIPOC women suffer violence, their names hardly make it to the news. When they are reported missing, less afford is put into finding them. 

3. Most Americans do not recognize the term femicide.

People in the United States often think of femicide as a problem happening in other countries. Most of the crimes are labeled as “homicides”; meanwhile, more than five women in one day are the victim of gender-based hate crimes in the country. The United States has 70% of the total deaths of women in high-income countries. This silence leads to ongoing murders of women and lethal gender-based violence.