Five essential facts to know about femicide
Femicide (or feminicide, as it is referred to in some contexts) is defined as an intentional killing with a gender-related motivation. It is different from homicide, where the motivation may not be gender-related.
Femicide is driven by discrimination against women and girls, unequal power relations, gender stereotypes or harmful social norms. It is the most extreme and brutal manifestation of violence against women and girls which occurs on a continuum of multiple and related forms of violence, at home, in workplaces, schools or public and online spaces, including intimate partner violence, sexual harassment and other forms of sexual violence, harmful practices and trafficking.
Every 10 minutes, partners and family members killed a woman intentionally in 2024.
Gender-related killings (femicide/feminicide) are the most brutal and extreme manifestation of violence against women and girls.
UNWOMEN (www.unwomen.org/en/ ) have shared these 5 essential facts:
1. Women and girls are most likely to be killed by those closest to them
In 2024, around 50,000 women and girls worldwide were killed by their intimate partners or other family members (including fathers, mothers, uncles and brothers). This means that, on average, 137 women or girls are killed every day by someone in their own family. In 2024, intimate partners and other family members were the perpetrators of 60 per cent of killings of women and girls globally.
2. Femicide is a universal problem
Femicide is a global crisis that affects women and girls in every country and territory.
3. The true scale of femicide is likely much higher
While the numbers presented in the report are alarmingly high, they are the tip of the iceberg. Too many victims of femicide still go uncounted:
Behind each number, there is a woman or girl whose life has been brutally ended because of male violence, misogyny and social norms that tolerate and perpetuate violence against women and girls.
4. Some groups of women and girls face greater risk
Women in the public eye, including those in politics, women human rights defenders, and journalists are often targets of deliberate acts of violence, both online and offline, with some leading to fatal outcomes and intentional killings. One out of four women journalists globally and one in three women parliamentarians surveyed in Asia-Pacific reported having received online threats of physical violence, including death threats
With violence against transgender and gender-diverse people on the rise, the Trans Murder Monitoring 2023 research data showed that 94 per cent of the 321 trans and gender-diverse people reported murdered were trans women or trans feminine people. The number gives a small glimpse into the reality and trends as the data is based on only reported cases, and not all transgender victims are identified as trans or gender diverse in the reports of their deaths.
5. Femicide can and must be prevented
Gender-related killings and other forms of violence against women and girls are not inevitable. Often, femicide/feminicide is a culmination of repeated and escalating episodes of gender-based violence, which means it can and must be prevented if the early signs of violence are addressed effectively. Initiatives that focus on primary prevention, changing social norms, and engaging whole communities to create zero tolerance for violence against women, work best in preventing gender-related killings.
The police and justice sectors have an important role to play, by believing and supporting survivors of gender-based violence, responding to reports of violence, and punishing perpetrators to end impunity. In too many cases, victims of femicide had previously reported violence and their killings could have been prevented.
But what we do know, is that women’s rights organizations play a crucial role in preventing violence against women and girls, by driving policy change, holding governments to account, and providing critical survivor-centred services.
Read the report Femicides in 2024 here https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2025/11/femicides-in-2024-global-estimates-of-intimate-partner-family-member-femicides
Prayer and Call to Action Against Femicide and Gender-Based Violence
Let us pray
Gracious Creator,
We come before you with heavy hearts, grieving the countless lives lost to femicide and gender-based violence. We remember every woman and girl whose life was ended by violence rooted in discrimination, unequal power, and harmful social norms. We lament the suffering endured by those targeted simply for being who they are, including women in the public eye, human rights defenders, journalists, and transgender and gender-diverse people.
We pray for justice and healing for survivors and families. We ask for courage to confront the realities behind the statistics, to see each victim as a beloved individual, and to challenge the systems that perpetuate violence.
Move us to action. Help us recognize early signs of violence and respond with compassion and resolve. Guide our communities, leaders, and institutions to create zero tolerance for violence against women and girls. Empower us to support and fund women’s rights organizations, drive policy change, and hold governments accountable.
May we be instruments of peace, justice, and transformation.
Let us not be silent or passive but rise together to end femicide and all forms of gender-based violence. May it be so AMEN
Images from UNWOMEN website
