Closely associated with the gender-related killings of women (femicide), UNSA Vienna also focuses on the broader issue of violence against women. It has organized various events on selected and not that well-known dimensions, e.g. violence against elderly women, misogynistic hate crimes, VAW against women in flight.
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Preface
This paper questions the relationship between datasets on fem(in)icide and highlights the complexities of rendering it comparable across time and spaces. Theoretically, it contributes to the sociology of knowledge as it offers a reflexive critique of the practices that create objectified forms of knowledge. Knowledge is conceived not just as an ‘abstract social “construct” [but], specifically a social product, generated by and embodied in particular forms of work’ (Connell et al. 2017: 24). The role of numbers in the shape of data, statistics or indicators are understood as ‘part and parcel’ of the object of study they seek to describe (Bigo et al. 2019; Bruno et al 2016; Desrosières 2002, Foucault 1968, 1978, Hacking 1980; Uprichard 2012; Ruppert 2019). This means that categories, concepts and patterns transmute along with the numbers used to represent them. The argument is divided into three sections, the first of which explores the theoretical conceptualisations and quantifications of fem(in) icide. It questions to what extent the problems of quantifying fem(in)icide are an epiphenomenon of its variance in definitions. The second section grapples with empirical ‘global’, ‘regional’ and ‘national’ efforts to compare fem(in)icide across time and spaces. By zooming in on Mexico as a case study, the paper highlights the complexities of generating comparable data on fem(in)icide due to distinct differences in context. The danger in reducing fem(in)icide to ‘intimate-femicide’ is highlighted as this leaves certain bodies outside of the ‘global’ logics of quantification. As an alternative, the paper’s final section stresses the need to embrace multiplicity through reflexivity in knowledge production. Given the rapid acceleration of digital technologies and data collection methods, it suggests how future studies could strongly benefit from looking into alternative ways of collecting data on fem(in)icide if our aim is to understand further the contextual particularities of this heinous phenomena.
Preface
Despite numerous harrowing stories covered by the media on a daily basis, it is still a challenge to actually understand the extent of violence against women and girls (VAWG). A vital instrument in the fight of VAWG is reliable and up-to-date information and statistics. In India, these numbers are especially important for an in-depth analysis of the occurrence of this heinous crime across the regions, economic strata and social structures of the country. The need for a femicide watch or observatory was first emphasized on a global platform by the UN Special Rapporteur, Dr. Dubravka Simonovic on 25 November, 2015. (1) Dr. Simonovic focused on how since homicide cases do not include information between the victim and criminal, femicide cases are hidden in female homicide cases.
There is a need for a multidisciplinary national mechanism such as a ‘Femicide Watch’, ‘GenderRelated Killing of Women Watch’ or an ‘Observatory on Femicide’ whose establishment would need a coordinated effort between the State, NGOs, independent human rights institutions, academia, and other stakeholders of this field.(2) Only such an organized manner of data collection and analysis will be able to properly and accurately identify the number of victims of VAWG and the number of femicides occurring periodically. In 1990, Nobel Prize winning economist, Dr. Amartya Sen, claimed that nearly 100 million women were ‘missing’ in the world, with almost 40 million in India alone.(3) In 2011, according to the United Nations Population Fund a record of more than 117 million women were ‘missing’ in South Asia. (4) In December 2006, Rita Banerji initiated ‘The 50 Million Missing Campaign’ to raise awareness about the disappearance of women and girls of India in a span of a century. (5) This disconcerting figure, by Ms. Banerji, is an estimate based on an analysis of three generations, observing the systematic extermination of India’s girls and women through forced abortions and female foeticide, female infanticides, dowry murders and other acts of gender related violence that lead to femicide in India.
