Femicide

The term femicide is used to describe the murder of girls and women on the basis of their gender. In Germany, a man tries to murder a woman (often his (ex-)partner) every day – every third day he succeeds. For 2019, the Federal Criminal Police Office counts 125 femicides.

This refers not only to so-called honor killings committed by supposed strangers, but also to separation killings and violence leading to death within a relationship. Such crimes are embedded in structures and norms favored by patriarchy. Women are not understood as individuals, but as objects and thus as property of a man. The concept of femicide makes it possible to no longer downplay these crimes as private matters and tragic results of relationship problems or family dramas.