South Africa continues to experience one of the highest femicide rates in the world. But it is currently not recognised as a crime.
Criminalising femicide is an important step to recognising the gendered motivation behind the crime, including the drivers behind the killing. Patriarchy. Toxic social and cultural norms. Unequal power relations.
Without the distinction, patterns of gender-based violence that precede femicide (e.g. intimate partner violence, rape, stalking etc.) are treated as isolated incidents.
Femicide constitutes the most extreme form of violence against women and the most violent manifestation of the discrimination and inequality women face.
The criminalisation of femicide alone won’t stop the killing of women but it will be a powerful tool to hold the state accountable for not doing enough to protect women in South Africa. It would compel the state to confront their failure to protect women and girls from violence. You can’t fix what you don’t track.
Not only are men killing women and girls but by not acting the state is allowing it to happen.
Call on the South African government to codify femicide as an independent crime.
