According to a new study, the home is the most dangerous place for women.
A UN study shows that out of an estimated 87,000 women killed last year, 50,000 — or 58% — were killed by partners or family members, according to the 2018 report on the gender-related killing of women and girls by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Additionally, more than a third of women that were killed in 2017 were killed by a current or former partner, and 137 women are killed by family members every day, the report said. The study was released on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
The study confirmed that women are more likely to be killed by someone they know, although the majority of intentional homicide victims are male and are killed by strangers. UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov said women “continue to pay the highest price as a result of gender inequality, discrimination, and negative stereotypes” and that gender-based homicide is a “lethal act on a continuum of gender-based discrimination and abuse.”
The results were found data connected to gender violence and “femicide,” a term understood as a gender-based hate crime perpetrated by men. The issue is a worldwide issue and has sparked the first steps to ending the problem. Some measures include coordination between police, the criminal justice system, health and social services, and involving men more in addressing the problem.
“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.
