Why We Call it Feminism: Femicide
Written by Meltem Cana Etiz
Thumbnail Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash
Header Photo by Matilda Vistbacka on Unsplash
To begin, I want to draw attention to a topic of discussion that is both socially relevant and important. Perhaps you have seen the black and white photos womxn have been posting on social media platforms captioned #challengeaccepted in solidarity with victims of femicide in Turkey. Or maybe you have heard or read about the latest global news on the empowerment of womxn concerning abuse and victimization. I use ‘womxn’ as an inclusive term of all gender identifications falling under the feminine umbrella. The discourse around violence and femicide might seem new but has actually been going on for ages. Lately, we've seen an increased awareness of gender-based violence in our world. As students and emerging adults, our understanding of this discussion is two-fold: We look at the issue as a form of knowledge to acquire about the world we live in, and also one that concerns our individual and collective well-being.
In Canada, females between the ages of 15-24 have significantly higher victimization rates than males and the majority of reported cases of domestic/intimate partner violence are reported in the current relationships. This is an issue that knows no bounds of culture, age and location, which calls for awareness from a young age regardless of one’s background.
I would like to discuss the matter’s significance and allow you to consider the subject through the writer’s lens. I am a young Turkish woman and I have spent nearly half of my life in Turkey. More importantly, I am a witness and a student. I have witnessed and experienced inequality in many forms, in every place I have had the privilege of existing. Gender-based violence is one example of this inequality.
Moving forward, I want to introduce you to a keyword that is important to understand. First, Femicide is a gender-based hate crime, defined as the intentional murder of womxn and girls because of their gender. It can be preceded by gender-based crimes such as sexualized violence and domestic abuse.
Recently, there has been political debate surrounding The Istanbul Convention, which is the first human rights treaty focused on combating domestic violence and other violence against womxn. The Istanbul Convention opened for signing in May of 2011, by the Council of Europe. To date, it has been signed (i.e. acknowledged) by 12 countries and signed, ratified and enforced (i.e. formally committed to) by 34. Amidst the conversation surrounding Russia and Azerbaijan’s refusal to sign and ratify, as well as Poland and Turkey’s decision*** to withdraw from the convention, an apparent conflict between convention and progress is distinguishable. The point of contention is a systematic (i.e. governmental and social) attachment to gender roles and the obvious need for them to change.
However, to view the matter as exclusively a national (or even a continental) issue puts all of us in danger. This is a global issue that has incited forceful pushback on social platforms and in political circles. The reason behind the political pushback against the enforcement of this legally binding agreement toward providing safety to womxn is an unwillingness to admit that a system designed to benefit one gender is killing another. To give an example, the current president of Turkey (where femicides are on the rise) has deemed childless womxn “deficient” and sees them as “denying their femininity”. He has also said that “equality between sexes is against nature” and uses his view to justify the indoctrination of womxn into second class citizenship. These are not just words. Conservative politicians, lawmakers and law enforcement are saturated with attitudes against the financial, social and political liberation of womxn. Shortened prison sentences and avoiding jail-time by marrying their victims (and yes, this is legal) are just two of the many ways Turkey’s conservative government protects perpetrators of gender-based violence.
Photo by Mads Schmidt Rasmussen on Unsplash
This is where we can start talking about feminism. Feminism is a word worshipped, scorned, followed, or altogether ignored, depending on the orators and their audience. I have met and discussed feminist ideology with people of similar and differing points of view, and my understanding is that we are all very confused. I would like to take this opportunity to help relieve our collective confusion with the aid of my favourite metaphor: work. Let’s operate on the assumption that staying alive is a job. I invite you to think of the difference between a full-time job and a part-time job. A part-time job can be a valuable experience that requires effort and energy while allowing you time and space outside of the work environment to recharge and take care of your wants and needs.
In contrast, a full-time job is time-consuming, harder to divorce from once it becomes routine, and starts to weigh on you if you don’t learn to prioritize your own well being. In this analogy, our labour is rewarded with life instead of money. We all have one life to maintain and cultivate; no more and no less. Now, imagine that whether you work full-time or part-time for the same income is determined at your conception, by the chromosomes that you were randomly assigned. This is the central point of the Feminist movement, why it needs to exist and why it will continue to do so. Feminism is not about switching jobs or forcing men into subservience. Feminism is about sharing the workload and allowing womxn a life that they have worked too hard for and received too little of. In simple terms: the desire to ignore the disparity of survival is incurring the loss of human lives.
Unfortunately, some people (namely anti-feminists and those who shy away from using the word feminism at all) fall into straw-manning and lose sight of why the name makes the movement. Straw-manning is the fallacy of focusing on the arbitrary or superficial parts of ideology and using them to define the entire movement while ignoring the central points. In Canada, straw-manning is used to overlook minority populations like Indigenous womxn and immigrants who experience domestic homicide and femicide at an upsettingly high rate. When straw-manning occurs, it causes people to distort the argument that is being made into an irrelevant version far from the central point, which makes it easier to attack. To put it in perspective, if someone is trying to raise awareness about the subject of femicide, and discuss the necessity of feminism in combating it, counterpoints like “well, this doesn’t happen here” or “so, you’re saying female lives are more important?” are not only dishonest, but also beside the point.
The importance of this issue surrounds us as students, as womxn, allies and citizens of the world. To anyone still reading and wondering how this is a subject relevant student life at Saint Mary’s University, I humbly ask you to consider our school tagline “One University. One World. Yours.”
Note: If you or someone you know is experiencing violence/domestic violence, please take a look at the resources below. You matter.
Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative
NS Domestic Violence Resource Line
NS Domestic Violence Resource Centre
***Editors note added August 15th: For the Istanbul Convention, Turkey remains as a signatory and Poland has withdrawn.