Is dowry-related reasons continue to be the leading cause of femicide.
Dowry-related violence remains a significant issue in many parts of the world.
It is a major contributor to femicide.
According to a 2022 report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), dowry-related violence accounted for 11% of all female homicides worldwide in 2017.
This practice of dowry is often seen as a way to compensate the groom's family for the financial burden of supporting a wife and children.
However, dowry can also be used as a form of control over women, and it can lead to violence if the bride's family is unable to meet the demands of the groom's family.
Dowry-related violence can take many forms, including physical assault, emotional abuse, and even murder.
In other cases, women may be driven to suicide as a result of the abuse they have suffered.
These factors can create an environment in which women are seen as less valuable than men, and in which they are more likely to be subjected to violence.
Trend of women being more vulnerable to gender-related violence by family
In general, victims of homicides worldwide tend to be men or boys.
Men formed 80% of the total victims of homicide in 2022,
While women’s share was 20%.
When the data is examined based on the perpetrators of these murders, a significant disparity becomes evident between female and male victims.
Women are more likely to be murdered by their partners or someone known to them.
This extends from the fact that women are subjected to physical violence mostly from their immediate family members.
The 88,900 female victims of homicides in 2022, 48,800 or 55% were killed by family members or intimate partners.
Only 12% of male homicide victims were killed by persons known to them.
This trend of women being more vulnerable to gender-related violence by family is prevalent across the globe.
The continent-wise split of the share of intimate partner/family-related homicides among all female and male homicides.
Across all regions, the share of such homicides among women in which perpetrators are known was higher than in the case of men.
The African continent exceeded Asia in femicides for the first time in 13 years.
In Asia, 18,400 women were killed by their families during the same period.
Notably, while the Americas reported 7,900 such cases, the rate of such femicides per 100,000 female population was 1.5.
Data also suggests that there was a general trend of reduction in gender-related killings of women before 2021, though it increased drastically in 2021 and 2022, especially in Africa.
According to three national studies conducted in South Africa across 18 years, the female intimate partner homicide rate halved between 1999 and 2017.
There has been a small decline in gender-based killings in India over the past decade.
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