Two Global Pandemics: Femicide and COVID-19

Abstract

Both femicide and COVID-19 are global pandemics, only the former has not been recognized as such, while the latter has. Nearly 90,000 women were killed by men, mainly their partners and family members in 2017, the last year for which we have statistics. Since the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown in many countries, there has been a surge in domestic violence and femicide globally. Clearly, there is no systematic data yet. However, the article describes recent reports in the spike in violence against women and femicide in different countries, ranging from Europe to South America. Violence against women is inextricably tied to issues of power and control. Even if the social order has changed and there is more gender equality, the fact remains that this is still a male-dominated world, today dedicated to combating the virus, but not yet dedicated to eradicating the other pandemic of femicide.