Femicide: Many countries are making the killing of women a specific crime – here’s why

Since most femicides are perpetrated by current or former husbands or intimate partners, it is of utmost priority to tackle toxic masculinity and to promote gender equality

Thousands of protesters march against the runaway cases of femicide in Nairobi, Kenya, in January 2024. Thousands of people marched in cities and towns in Kenya during protests over the recent slayings of more than a dozen women. The anti-femicide demonstration was the largest event ever held in the country against sexual and gender-based violence. Photo: AP/Brian Inganga

In 1782, a judge in England gave husbands the right to use violence on their wives as long as any implement used was not thicker than their thumb. This standard of measurement led to the coining of the term “rule of thumb”.

Society has thankfully made enough progress to find such archaic ideas abhorrent. However, tens of thousands of women continue to be killed every year around the world just for being women. UN data shows that, on average, five women or girls are killed every hour by someone in their own family. Some countries are now passing laws to specifically criminalise femicide — an extreme manifestation of gender-based violence.