This is what we call a chestnut tree in journalistic jargon. Every year, the question comes back to the table. Like the figures for street demonstrations, the government’s count of feminicides is always lower than that carried out by associations. And even between different nonprofits, the number can vary. In 2022, the Ministry of the Interior recorded 118 feminicides over the year, when the Nous Tous collective counted 146. And the gap is still relevant in 2023. If the official state figures will not be revealed until ‘in the summer, as is customary, the Minister of Justice has already made an announcement on this subject in the columns of FigaroTuesday January 2, 2024. Éric Dupond-Moretti thus affirmed that the government counted 94 femicides in 2023, a decrease of 20% compared to the previous year. If he considered that this development was “far from satisfactory”he congratulates all the same “the commitment of French justice” who has “bearing fruit” in the work to combat violence against women. Issue, these figures do not correspond to the count made by feminist associations. Current wife therefore wondered where this systematic discrepancy came from. We’ll explain it to you.
The government does not take into account ongoing investigations, nor cases never brought to justice due to the murderer’s suicide
Everything actually comes from a difference in methodology. “The Ministry of Justice counts the number of women killed by their spouse or ex-spouse”explains Florence Sturm, head of the Société de France Culture department, at the microphone of public radio on Wednesday January 3, 2024. This is also the case of the collective National Federation of Victims of Feminicides, which however identified 102 feminicides “at a minimum” over the year. In a press release shared on Facebook, the association said “surprised by the figures announced” by Éric Dupond-Moretti, and thus questions the methodology used by the Ministry of Justice “to justify its count”.
Julia, member of the collective Féminicides by companions or ex – which also counts 102 feminicides in 2023 –, denounces to West France a “communication operation” of the ministry, and expects a number “higher” during the official reveal in July 2024. She also thinks that the government does not take into account the victims “whose investigations are probably not completed or elderly women, whom a spouse or ex-spouse has killed out of ‘greatness of soul’”nor those whose cases have not led to a procedure, “because when the perpetrator commits suicide, there is no legal action”.
Some associations include forced suicides, or women killed by “a father, a brother, a colleague”
As for the Nous Tous association, the figure put forward is significantly higher: 134 feminicides in 2023, including 96 committed by the spouse or ex-spouse. Here again, the gap lies in the criteria taken into account for the census of these murders. On its website, the collective details its methodology and indicates rely on “a broad definition of femicide”which includes two key elements: “the murder of a woman because of her gender” And “the role of patriarchy as a system of power and domination in the perpetuation and trivialization of this murder and sexist and sexual violence in general”.
But unlike other associations, Nous Tous does not take into account forced suicides, which it nevertheless considers to be feminicides, without however being able to count them effectively. The collective, however, includes women in its figure “killed by a father, a brother, a colleague, or even sex workers killed by a clientwhatever the victim’s link with their attacker, but which is, for the collective, a patriarchal terrorism”specifies Florence Sturm on France Culture.
Femicide does not (yet) exist in the penal code
Let us also recall thatin the eyes of the law, the term femicide does not exist. This denomination does not appear in the penal code – just like infanticide and parricide, which were removed in 1994 – to the great dismay of all these associations defending women victims of violence. The term “feminicide” was theorized for the first time in the 1990s by two English-speaking sociologists. It has now entered everyday language, and was even elected “word of the year” by the Le Petit Robert dictionary. in 2019, which defines it as “the murder of a woman or girl because of her sex”. Officially, justice recognizes aggravating circumstances for murders by spouse, or because of gender, which can increase the penalties incurred to life imprisonment. This is currently what Cédric Jubillar risks, for example, who should face a trial at the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025.
Sources:
– The number of “feminicides” down 20% in 2023, announces Éric Dupond-Moretti – Le Figaro, January 2, 2024
– 12:30 p.m. news – France Culture, January 3, 2024 (video extract above)
– Femicides: four questions on the battle of figures between the government and associations – Ouest-France, January 3, 2024
– National Federation of Victims of Femicides – Facebook, January 3, 2024
– Wall of women – noustoutes.fr