New Global Study Reveals Why The Home Is The Most Dangerous Place For Women
Everyone thinks of home as a place of safety, and women are considered even more homely than men, but a new global study is awakening the consciousness of the world to what is clearly a contradiction of those thought patterns.
Specifically, across the world, about 58 percent of murdered women and girls were killed by husbands, partners, or family members, according to a new global study on homicide released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The study which was released on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, found that, of 87,000 females murdered in 2017, around 50,000 were murdered by people they know — presumed loved ones.
The study found overall, more than one out of three murders were perpetrated by intimate partners, while an average of 137 women met violent, untimely death at the hands of family members.
Close home, the UNODC informs that 69% of female homicide victims in Africa were killed by intimate partners or family members, which is the highest rate in the world for the year 2017.
Image Source: Twitter (@UNODC)
Conversely, men accounted for only 18% of fatal murders between intimate partners.
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Apart from physical abuse leading to fatal ends for many women, honor killings and dowry killings prevalent in some cultures escalate the culture of violence against women worldwide.
“Homicide represents the most extreme form of violence against women, a lethal act on a continuum of gender-based discrimination and abuse,”
said UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov.
“As this research shows, gender-related killings of women and girls remain a grave problem across regions, in countries rich and poor.”
Governments across the globe owe the world the responsibility to not only restrain the violence but to study, track, and report it.
Image Source: Twitter (@BBC100women)
More specifically identified targeted groups for gender-related killings, were the killing of sex workers, the killing of indigenous women, the killing of queer women, and the killing of women in war-related conflicts.
Africa recorded the highest rate of violence against women, recording 3.1victims per 100,000, according to the study, followed by the Americas with 1.6, Asia 0.9 and finally 0.7 Europe according to the study.
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Perhaps what is most revealing and alarming in the study about this reality is that violence against women is not getting better, but worse.
The study reports female murder victims have increased since 2012, and the percentage of domestic murders of women has risen from 48% to 58%.
Recommendations to the government from the study encouraged the inclusion of men in the battle against gender violence with improvements to their police departments, their criminal justice system, and their health and human services.
“In order to prevent and tackle gender-related killing of women and girls, men need to be involved in efforts to combat intimate partner violence/family-related homicide and in changing cultural norms that move away from violent masculinity and gender stereotypes,”
it said.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released a statement that said,
“Gender-based violence harms us all. It affects families, schools, and workplaces – and holds back whole communities from reaching their full potential.”