Around the world last year about 87,000 women were killed – 58 per cent of them by intimate partners or family members.
That sobering statistic comes from a study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) this week.
The report, Gender-related killing of women and girls, the first part of the Global Study on Homicide, found that about 50,000 women were the victims of homicide by people who claimed to love them, which equates to six women being killed every hour this way.
It backs up what we already know to be true: that home is the most dangerous place for a woman to be.
“While the vast majority of homicide victims are men, women continue to pay the highest price as a result of gender inequality, discrimination and negative stereotypes,” said UNODC executive director Yury Fedotov.
“They are also the most likely to be killed by intimate partners and family.
“Targeted criminal justice responses are needed to prevent and end gender-related killings.”
Mia Freedman chats with the founder of Rize Up, Nicolle Edwards, about how she is helping women flee domestic violence…
Fedotov said the UNODC released their findings on International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to “increase understanding and inform action”.
Geographically, the organisation found the place where women were most at risk of being killed by a supposed loved one was in Africa, followed by and North and South America.
The study has also found that despite legislation and programmes being developed to eradicate violence against women in recent years, no “tangible progress” in reducing these rates of violence has been made.
The study calls for multi-pronged action to be taken: effective crime prevention and criminal justice responses; greater coordination between police and the justice system; and involving men in the solution, including through early education.
Top Comments
I find these gendered violence stats meaningless when they are not compared against male stats I.e. how many men are killed by loved ones? How many men killed by women?
Not saying it's not shocking nonetheless- but would paint a more complete picture
There are very few men killed in DV situations, when compared to how many women are killed. Most of the female killers are (or claim to be) victims of DV so it's seen as more self defense.
I agree it would help knowing the full statistics.
I've heard anecdotes of men being assaulted / murdered by their girlfriends brother / father / male friends because she said he hit her, but i can't find any statistics on that yet.
Most males are killed by friends or acquaintances, many men who are
murder victims are involved in criminal activity, the socio-economic factors are similar in both male murder victims and perpetrators, low education, exposure to violence when young, terrible parents, low employment and residing in areas where criminal activity is high. Alcohol is often a factor. Men are not at risk in their homes like women are. Most men are killed by other men and women pose little danger to them.
I do believe that we need to be addressing both issues, but the first thing that needs to be admitted before we can do this is that men are more likely to be the perpetrator of a murder, regardless of the sex of the victim. It's a gendered issue and men need to be leading the conversation about male violence, aggression and entitlement when it comes to violent crime, because they cause most of the issues in this area and not pretend that women are just as much of a problem or that women need to put aside helping each other through violence to also address the problem with men. It's time for men to step up and own this, and do something about it.
“While the vast majority of homicide victims are men, women continue to pay the highest price as a result of gender inequality, discrimination and negative stereotypes,” said UNODC executive director Yury Fedotov. - What an odd statement. I'm sure all those men who died would love to currently be victims of discrimination.
That's some Orwellian use of language there.