At FiLiA, we are alarmed that the number of registered female homicide victims in the UK has risen to the highest level since 2006. While the Office for National Statistics recently published report notes a decline in male victims of violence, they highlight that in the 12 months prior to March 2019, the number of female victims of infanticide, manslaughter and murder is up by 10% in comparison to the previous year. Distressingly, this is the second consecutive annual increase in the number of females who are killed.
From March 2018 until the end of March 2019, the lives of 241 women and girls were violently taken from them, overwhelmingly by male violence, in the United Kingdom.

We find ourselves deeply worried that the statistics of female girls and toddlers who have been killed has reached its highest number since the earliest available figures: the highest in the past decade. Among the reported homicide victims were 14 baby girls under the age of one and 13 toddlers who were between one and four years old.

Equally disheartening are the findings of the Annual Report on UK Femicides for 2018, published today. Among the key insights from the report are the following:

• 149 women were killed by 147 men

• 91 women (61%) were killed by their current or former male spouse or intimate partner

• 12 women (8%) were killed by sons or step-sons; a further 5 women (3%) were killed by a son-in-law or ex son-in-law

• Only 6% of femicides (9 victims) were committed by a stranger or where there was no known relationship between the victim and the perpetrator

• There was evidence of previous abuse or violence in over half the cases where the perpetrator was known to the victim (52%; 69 out of 133 cases)

• The youngest victim was aged 14 years and the eldest 100, with 23 women (16%) aged 66 or over when killed

• Approximately one third of victims (34%) had a child/children under 18 when killed

• In at least 37 cases, women had separated/taken steps to separate from their male partner

• 41% (37 of 91) of women killed by a partner/ex had separated or taken steps to separate with 30% of them (11/37) killed within the first month and 70% (24/37) killed within the first year

• 102 (68%) femicides took place in the woman’s home, whether shared with the perpetrator (33%) or not (35%)

• Men most frequently killed women with a sharp instrument (69 cases; 46%)

• Overkilling was evident in over half the femicides (83 cases, 56%)

• Most perpetrators were aged between 26–55 (100 perpetrators, 68%)

• At least 76 (52%) perpetrators were known to have had histories of previous violence against women

• Three perpetrators had killed women before

• At least 16 (11%) perpetrators used pornography and/or women in prostitution in relation to the femicide

• 89 perpetrators (61%) were found guilty of murder.

• 25 perpetrators (17%) were found guilty of manslaughter; 12 (8%) on the grounds of diminished responsibility

• Sentences for murder ranged from minimum tariffs of 12.5–38 years

• Sentences for manslaughter ranged from 2–20.5 years, with three perpetrators being given suspended sentences and eight being given hospital orders/detained under the Mental Health Act

When examining figures such as this, it is crucial to remember that femicide is an extreme end of violence against girls and women. Previous to this lethal step, there are escalating contexts which, if tackled properly, could help prevent male violence.

It is equally important to remember that for every single girl or woman who has been killed by male violence, there are dozens who came close.

Although the responsibility of killing girls and women lies with the males who make the decision to resort to violence, a number of societal actors play a role in normalizing and legitimizing the abuse which usually leads up to the violent deaths of females.

Far more than numbers, each girl and woman represent someone whose life, hopes, aspirations and future were taken from herself. She was someone who was violently taken from her family and community. She was a sister who was stolen from all of us. And that is unacceptable.

In their conclusions, the authors of the Femicide Report UK 2018 emphasise the context in which these killings take place by stating:

“Alongside the constant fact of men killing women, societal norms, structures and attitudes serve to minimise, normalise and indeed naturalise male violence against women and women’s subordinate social status.”

There is by now an ample and international body of combined knowledge, expertise, experience, research, evidence and lobbying by the violence against women’s sector (practitioners, activists, academics and survivors). It has identified and disseminated information and recommendations about perpetrator risks, patterns, trends, prevention and intervention opportunities, which could save and improve women’s and children’s lives.

Yet we continue to see the marginalisation, and indeed, eradication of specialist women’s sectors and women’s voices, and dwindling resources or understanding for male violence against women policy and services. The current populist and political trends – both nationally and internationally – of an ever-shrinking state, a neoliberalist perspective which fails to recognise structural inequality and discrimination, and a resistance to attempts to scrutinise or challenge the use of power are an additional threat to women’s ability to access justice and safety.”

At FiLiA, we have committed ourselves to transform the rightful rage that we feel about the male violence and abuse of women and girls worldwide into a unifying force within feminism. We have committed ourselves to continue to walk alongside women and girls, as we move forward to proclaim loud and clear that women and girls’ rights are human rights. There can be no social justice movement without the voices and experiences of women and girls, front and centre.

We are grateful to the women whose work in front line services and refuges for women and girls exiting male violence is invaluable. And note that their hard work and dedication on this issue is particularly straining. We thank the community workers, researchers and policy makers who work directly with victims and survivors across the UK, who investigate how best to tackle this problem within academia and who create policies to try to prevent it, from the non-profit sector and the State.

We urge every single person in society to do all that we can to actively tackle and repudiate the normalisation and impunity which enables male violence and abuse. And to take up the mantle of ending male violence against girls and women, turning it into their own cause, until the number of women and girls killed by men becomes zero.

Raquel Rosario Sanchez, Spokeswoman for FiLiA
20th February 2020