What is Femicide?

Femicide is the murder and killing of women because they are women. Murder or killing of anyone is horrific, however when the main intention of the murder is because the person is a woman it counts as femicide. In colonial India they practiced sati, which was suicide after the death of a husband. Most of the time this was done to child brides and if they were coerced into sati it would be considered femicide. Sati was banned in 1829 and today the practice has died out. The phenomenon of femicide is still relevant and important today. The picture depicts the problem of female infanticide in India.

What is female infanticide?

The stigma around women in India has not changed; women are often seen as dispensable compared to men. There are practices of female infanticide, female foeticide, and dowry murder femicide. Female foeticide is the name given to forced sex-selected abortion. This happens to many women in that they are forced to abort a child because the child is female or to avoid the stigma of a daughter. Female infanticide is a problem in both India and China. In China, women are not seen as the main income earners, and in the parents; old age they lose a child to care for them as women go to live with their husbands. In India, families do not want girls because girls are seen as a burden. This is because they are often married off into their husbands' family and in some cases they would have to pay a dowry when their daughter gets married. To avoid this there are cases where women are forced to get an abortion if they fmd out they will birth a daughter. Female infanticide is Femicide; these infants are murdered because they are girls. Although female infanticide is not as obvious as it once was, it is still there. The justifications for this used to be the financial burden that a girl has on the family. Often people who live in poor neighborhoods and cannot afford to feed their children will starve a girl baby rather than refusing food to a boy baby. If a girl baby gets sick, they may not get medicine for the baby. The image depicted for femicide is a picture showing suitcases of, implied, baby girl corpses in the back of a van about to be buried. A dowry is when the bride's family pays the husband's family for marrying the daughter. Women are killed or have been driven to end their lives because they are constantly harassed by their husband's family about the dowry that is owed. Dowries have been outlawed in India since 1870; however, it is one of the most underreported crimes. According to one article, in 2014 there were over 4,000 deaths related to dowries.

Where else is Femicide?

There are other places, not just India, where femicide is a problem. These places include South American countries like Argentina, El Salvador, and Honduras; where women are at risk for being sold, abused, and killed. Femicide is a crime in most countries but is still prevalent today, however when reported is rarely taken seriously, or it is never reported in the first place.

Text by Ariel D. Hernandez