The most primary characteristic of violence against women and femicide is systematic. It is a systematic and conscious state policy due to the state’s misogynist actions, discourses, and practices in the forms of continuous, conscious, sequential, classification, desensitization, within its social, political, legal, educational, economic systems.

EKİM ZEYNEP YAĞMUR

Ankara- Violence against women affects women all around the world. Due to lockdowns imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the rate of violence against women increases by 30 percent in many countries. One in three women has been subjected to domestic violence, according to data of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

137 women across the world are killed by a member of their own family every day, says the UN Women’s flagship report, “Progress of the world’s women 2019–2020: Families in a changing world”.

Lockdowns around the world bring rise in domestic violence, according to the UN Women’s “Violence against women and girls: the shadow pandemic” report. The same report says, in the previous 12 months (2019), 243 million women and girls (aged 15-49) across the world have been subjected to sexual or physical violence by an intimate partner. But the wide under-reporting of domestic and other forms of violence has previously made response and data gathering a challenge, with less than 40 percent of women who experience violence seeking the help of any sort of reporting the crime.

Turkey ranks first in femicide

Turkey ranked first in violence against women and femicide among OECD member countries. According to the data of Society at a Glance 2019, women having experienced intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime, Turkey (38%) ranked the first among 36 countries. The USA ranked second (36%), New Zealand (35 %).

 300 women were killed by men in 2020, according to the report prepared by the We Will Stop Femicide Platform. The death of 171 women was recorded as suspicious deaths. According to the report, 97 women were killed by their husband, 54 women were killed by their partner, and 21 women were killed by their ex-husband and 17 women were killed by their father. 60% of women were killed in their house.

24 women subjected to violence per minute in the USA

An average of 24 women aged between 18 and 24 per minute are subjected to male violence in the USA, according to prepared by the National Domestic Violence Hotline in the United States. On a typical day, there are more than 20,000 phone calls placed to domestic violence hotlines nationwide, says the report. The report prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasized that the number of women who lost their lives in 2010-2017 increased 26 percent compared to the last 10 years.

Sexual violence increased

According to the report prepared by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), one in five women experience sexual violence in the USA. Various researches and studies conducted by international organizations on the subject every year reveal that this issue is a global issue and they point out that violence against women is increasing across the world.

A systematic and conscious state policy

The most primary characteristic of violations of women’s right to life is systematic. Women in many parts of the world are being subjected to violence, harassment, sexual abuse, or being killed while we say “End violence”. Everything changes in the world but physical, sexual, psychological, economic violence against women never change. Women are still subjected to violence “for” not cooking, speaking out against their husband or partners, or refusing to have sexual intercourse. These are the reasons for violence against women. Each reason shows how women are deprived of their basic human rights, oppressed, and discriminated for being women.

Income inequality, poverty, and the lack of social security form the ground for violence against women and make women's lives unbearable. Women need social policies. States and governments should give priority to women in every economic decision they take, and urgently carry out projects for women’s participation in working life. Today, violence against women is recognized as a human rights violation, and laws to prevent this violence are enacted. However, the existence of these laws is insufficient. It is necessary to produce bureaucratic mechanisms that will facilitate the implementation of these laws. For this reason, social awareness should be raised against femicide.