All it took was a can of petrol, a fiery-tempered boyfriend, and the death of an Olympic runner to remind us all of the horrible realities of femicide – the killing of a woman or girl, in particular by a man and on account of her gender.
On September 3, 2024, Ugandan marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei suffered severe burns and was in critical condition after her attack in her home in western Trans Nzoia County, Kenya. Her now-former boyfriend, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, had bought a can of petrol, poured it on her and set her on fire during a disagreement on Sunday. Cheptegei died four days later, with Maranagach some days after.
Less than a day later, the story of the abduction and murder of Christianah Idowu, a 300-level student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), went viral. She was abducted on August 19 between Itaoluwo and Yaba, where Christiannah was undergoing her Industrial Training (I.T) program.
The abductors requested a ransom fee of N1,500,000 to her account, but Christiannah was yet to be seen after her parents had paid over N350,000. With further police investigations, the bank account given was traced to an Ayomide Ayodele, who later confessed to killing Christiannah and burying her in his house. Ayodele has also been accused of being behind the murder of his previous girlfriend, as well as his sister in 2018 and 2020 respectively.
Since September 3, we have witnessed more femicides, including that of Damilola Abigail, and the brutal murder of former Miss Switzerland, Christina Joksimovic, who was killed by her husband and ‘pureed’ in a blender.
For me, this is not my first time reading or writing about the horrific nature of femicides, but I would say the frequency and consistency of the murderous deaths of women across the globe has becoming twice as alarming- and these are only for the reported cases. There is still the issue of the deaths that are yet to be reported as femicides.
Here are the femicide statistics, according to these countries
Nigeria
Between January 2020 and September 9, 2024, Marie Claire Nigeria observed that there were over 40 femicides involving Nigerian women and girls, including some cases occurring abroad. These figures were compiled through specific keywords in newspaper articles and data from human rights organizations. It is essential to note that these statistics do not fully capture the extent of femicide in Nigeria; rather, they illustrate the trends and patterns prevalent across various states.
Kenya
Since 2016, over 500 women and girls have been murdered in Kenya, despite the government’s attempts to combat gender-based violence, according to the Africa Data Hub, a regional network that compiles data on such killings from newspaper reports.
The organization noted that its figures likely underrepresent the total number of femicides during this period. They stated, “the cases are not isolated; instead, they reveal recurring patterns, indicating a deeper and more systemic issue.”
South Africa
According to the South African Police Service annual report for 2021/2022, 3,198 women were murdered from the overall total of 25,204 murders in 2021-2022. That’s an average of about nine women murdered every day.
Compared to other countries for which statistics are available, South Africa ranks among the five countries with the highest female homicide rates, along with Central and South American countries such as Venezuela, Honduras and El Salvador. This is according to data accompanying the 2019 Global Homicide Report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Femicide statistics across the world
Nearly 89,000 women and girls were killed intentionally in 2022
This was the highest yearly number recorded in the past two decades. Moreover, available data suggest that while the overall number of homicides globally has begun to fall in 2022 after a spike in 2021, the number of female homicides are not decreasing.
The femicide of women and girls are gender motivated
In 2022, around 48,800 women and girls worldwide were killed by their intimate partners or other family members. This means that, on average, more than 133 women or girls were killed every day by someone in their own family.
Women represent 53% of home killings and 66% of intimate partner killings
While most homicides worldwide are committed against men and boys (80% in 2022).
Africa is the region with the highest number of femicide victims
With an estimated 20,000 victims in 2022, Africa has – for the first time since 2013, when UNODC began publishing regional estimates—surpassed Asia as the region with the highest number of victims in absolute terms. In 2022, Africa was also the region with the highest number of victims relative to the size of its female population (2.8 victims per 100,000 women), although the estimates are subject to uncertainty due to limited data availability.
Remembering Her
Now that you have a sense of the statistics, it is important for you to know the names behind the numbers. We have decided to humanise the death toll of femicide for majorly Nigeria, with key cases mentioned for Kenya and South Africa:
