Many scholarly definitions of femicide speak to the killing of women and girls just because of their gender – being a girl or woman. The Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) space, utilise this framing of femicide and limit the conceptualisation of “killing a woman’ to be a sudden or physical death often times influenced by intimate partners or family members. These definitions limit the interrogation and intervention of femicide to when actual death has occurred. The process of a girl or woman losing agency over her own life and wellbeing, be it socio, economic or otherwise, should also be framed under femicide.
Nigeria has had varying occurrences of women and girls dying from many violence related incidents. Some of the crimes against women and girls are violently perpetuated from the onset of how social norms and cultural expectations are instituted to the level at which the reinforcement of such behaviours are policed. Women and girls grow up in a system that ensures agency is very controlled under watchful lenses.
When a woman loses her life, even in death, she is still questioned by society. Women and girls are still vilified and shamed for losing thier lives in the hands of violence. Violence apologists will still find reasons to shame and blame the woman for the inability to remain alive. Women are killed across religion, socio-economic status and educational achievements, and suffer discrimination across political, legal, cultural and economic intersections. My opinion stands strong to posit that femicide is not just the act of an eventual death. Femicide is the way women and girls are still violently controlled by institutions and systems of power that are structurally created to enable violence.
In Nigeria, I often ask the question, ‘what is the justification of killing a woman in our society?’ Is it because she is a woman? Or is there more root-cause reasons? Analysing the most recent killing of a young woman in the hands of her intimate partner, investigations allude to the fact that the man killed the woman due to economic reasons. In a society where the quest and realisations from social norms is highly expected- some of which are for women to marry (as an achievement and societal acceptability), and men to provide financially and protect the home (as show of manhood and responsibility)- the outcomes experienced in the society is that some men will always be seeking to provide and using any means necessary to be financially able with some touring the path of fraud or ‘yahoo yahoo’ (a diabolical means of get rich quick schemes). Women are pressured to marry and “settle” down to meet societal expectations and in the process, some girls and young women get entangled with some unplanned, unforeseen, exploittaive and manipulative connections. In this case of an IPV within the last few days, the man used his power and influence over a vulnerable woman with the intent to be financially successful. He killed because of his intentions, in my opinion. The deceased and the perpetrator are entangled in a web of achieving societal expectations however, the victim, as many before her, did not deserve the sudden loss of life.
Women and girls always live in a constant fear to protect themselves – remain vigilant, careful, controlled, sensible and yet still face vilification, shaming, commodification, oppression, and blamed if or when an act of violence is perpetuated.
When will society call out the root causes of injustices that women and girls face from the system that is strongly patriarchal, hegemonic and structurally violent? Femicide is the dying of a woman’s body, soul, spirit and purpose on a daily when violence is instituted and reinforced as a norm in our society. Femicide is the silencing of voices of victims by systems of power that should protect and prevent. Femicide occurs daily in our society and requires a re-addressing of this crime.
Femicide should be re-defined and described as death even while still breathing.
Añuli Aniebo
References
Nadera Shalhoub‐Kevorkian (2003). Re-examining Femicide: Breaking the Silence and Crossing “Scientific” Borders