Femicide: what it is and what is the situation in Italy
Femicide is the recurring theme of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which is celebrated every year on November 25 to inform about this burning issue. Even in Italy, the data on femicide are always disheartening, and initiatives to raise awareness of the issue they multiply from year to year. But how is femicide defined? And what is the situation in Italy for 2019?
The meaning of femicide
Femicide, as the word itself says, is the killing of a woman, motivated precisely by the gender to which she belongs, by a man. In other words, a woman is killed precisely as a woman, as if this were the motive The roots of this phenomenon can be found in a male-dominated and patriarchal society that is unable to accept social changes such as women's emancipation, women's freedom and their capacity for self-determination. A complex phenomenon that produces violent men, often difficult to identify and recognize in time. This term was created precisely to emphasize the worldwide phenomenon of a large number of women killed to limit their freedoms, or to silence their protests as a result of the limitations to those same freedoms.
A familiar phenomenon
In many cases of femicide it has been seen that women have already reported episodes of violence or persecution, such as stalking. The fact that many of these complaints then ended up on deaf ears, leading to the episode of extreme violence, speaks volumes about the ineffectiveness of the measures used against stalking and other forms of persecution of women. An international study revealed that an average of 7 out of 10 femicides is preceded by episodes of violence, especially domestic violence. Another worrying fact is that most of the femicides are committed by the husband, boyfriend or ex of the victim. The data on the phenomenon change from country to country, and from year to year, but this trend never seems to diminish: women are often killed by their male relatives.
Femicide: some data
According to the WHO, World Health Organization, at least one in 3 women, 35% of the world's female population, has suffered at least once a form of violence by a man. One in 4 femicide was committed by the victim's partner . And in Italy? Over 6 million women have suffered an act of violence by a man at least once in their life. An impressive number. 9 times out of 10 acts of violence are not reported, and often result in femicide The data on femicides vary from year to year.
Femicide in Italy in 2019: where are we?
There are 92 cases of femicide in our country, as regards 2019, but the data stops in July, since the "Viminal dossier" examines the period between 1 August of the previous year and 31 July of the current year. According to the data provided by the Interior Ministry, the number has remained almost stable over the last two years.
Although it is widely read that there has been a slight decline compared to previous years, there is an alarming fact that we cannot ignore: the increase in murders at the hands of partners or former partners. The proportion of women killed by partners or ex-partners out of the total homicides involving women victims has in fact increased over the years, going from 39% in 2002 to 51% in 2016. Hence the slight decrease in homicides that have women as their victims, it is explained exclusively by the substantial decrease in murders perpetrated outside the couple relationship, but it immediately counteracts them, to extinguish any kind of positive consideration, the considerable increase in feminicides within the home or for hand of ex boyfriends.
In fact, Istat data tell us that in 55.8% of femicides, victim and executioner are linked by a sentimental relationship, with a relationship still in progress at the time of the murder or just ended: in fact, for 63.8% of cases spouses or cohabitants, in 12% of cases engaged and in 24% of cases they had a relationship that ended just before the murder.
The average age of men who commit femicides is between 31 and 40, followed by the 41-50 range. The victims are generally younger than their tormentors: the average age of the victims in Italy is in fact between 18 and 30 years. However, there is an increase in the killing of women aged between 71 and 80. The victims are mostly Italian - only in 22% of foreign cases, mainly from Eastern Europe - as are the executioners: as many as 74.5% of the killers are of Italian nationality.
In addition to the most serious cases, we cannot fail to forget the daily violence, even of a psychological nature, which escape data but which have devastating impacts on the victims and their lives. In fact, according to Istat data, almost 7 million women have suffered a form of abuse in the course of their lives. As many as 3 million and 466 thousand women in Italy who have undergone stalking in the course of their lives, two thirds of which, by the former partner. Unfortunately, only 2 out of 10 of these have turned to the institutions.
For this reason, and in the light of the worrying data, it is essential to raise public awareness about the delicate issue and to disseminate, through widespread information, a careful and timely social policy that speaks not only to women, guaranteeing them relief and safety, but also to men, so that they collaborate to eradicate and transform the male subculture, very often underestimated, at the basis of our civilization.
