Meaning of Femicide (What it is, Concept and Definition)

Femicide means the persecution and intentional killing of females, classified as a Heinous crime in Brazil.

Femicide takes place when the causes of murder are proven, which must be exclusively for gender reasons, that is, when a woman is killed simply because she is a woman.

Some scholars on the subject claim that the term femicide originated from the expression "gendericide", which means the massive murder of a certain type of sexual gender.

In general, femicide can be considered an extreme form of misogyny, that is, hatred and revulsion for women or against anything related to the feminine.

Learn more about the meaning of Misogyny.

Physical and psychological aggression, such as sexual abuse or harassment, rape, sexual slavery, torture, genital mutilation, denial of food and motherhood, beatings, among other forms of violence that lead to the death of women, can configure the femicide.

Femicide can be classified into three situations:

• Intimate femicide: when there is a relationship of affection or kinship between the victim and the aggressor;
• Non-intimate femicide: when there is no relationship of affection or kinship between the victim and the aggressor, but the crime is characterized by violence or sexual abuse;
• Femicide by connection: when a woman, in an attempt to intervene, is killed by a man who wanted to murder another woman;

Femicide in Brazil

According to data from the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea), in recent years at least 50,000 women have been killed in Brazil, and the murders are classified as femicide. The study also points out that 15 women are murdered a day in the country, due to gender-based violence.

In 2015, the National Secondary Education Examination - ENEM, the most important test in the country for the entry of students into public and private universities, brought as a writing theme "the persistence of violence against women in Brazilian society”.

femicide law

To try to prevent crimes against females, the president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, sanctioned the Law 13.104, on March 9, 2015, known as the Feminicide Law.

The law amends the Penal Code (art.121 of Decree Law No. 2848/40), including femicide as a form of aggravated homicide, entering the list of heinous crimes.

The justification for the need for a specific law for crimes related to the female gender lies in the fact that 40% of murders of women in recent years have been committed within the victims' own homes, often by partners or ex-partners.

According to the Brazilian Penal Code, crimes classified as aggravated homicide are punishable by imprisonment that can vary from twelve to thirty years.

According to the text of the femicide law, the crime penalty can be increased by 1/3 (one third) to half if it was committed under some aggravating conditions, such as:

1. During pregnancy or in the three months after childbirth;
2. Against a person under 14 (fourteen) years old, over 60 (sixty) years old or with a disability;
3. In the presence of a descendant or ascendant of the victim;

See also the meaning of Genocide, protective measure and domestic violence.