Femicide, broadly defined as the murder of a woman motivated by gender, is a prevalent issue in Latin America. In 2016, 14 of the top 25 nations with the highest global femicide rates were Latin American or Caribbean states. In 2021, 4,445 women were recorded victims of femicide in the region, translating to the gender-based murder of about one woman every two hours in Latin America.
Throughout the 2010s, Latin American governments began legally recognizing and distinguishing the crime of femicide. This, coupled with records collection support provided to many states by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), has allowed Latin American nations to produce more comprehensive data on femicide rates across the region. Ten Latin American countries have laws ordering the collection of data on gender-related violence, and femicide as of 2022 with the GEO's data.
Despite efforts to reform, Latin American femicide rates have not decreased substantially in recent years, with the total number of femicides increasing from 4,091 2020 to 4,445 in 2021. A series of factors account for high rates of femicide in Latin America, including entrenched gender roles and the persistence of machismo, organized crime and criminal governance, and weak justice institutions that treat gender-based crimes with impunity. The impacts of femicide include violation of basic human rights, displacement of women, and amplification of organized crime and ineffective justice systems. Activists and feminist groups across Latin America have created movements protesting high rates of femicide and state complicity in failing to address violence against women. Some of the movements that have gained traction are the "Disappearing Daughters" project in Ciudad Juarez and the "Ni Una Menos" movement originating in Argentina. Pink crosses are used to commemorate victims of femicide throughout Latin America.
Incidence Every year, the Gender Equality Observatory (GEO) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) publishes a report of the national femicide rates provided by Latin American and Caribbean nations and territories for the previous year. In 2021, 4,445 women were recorded victims of femicide or gender-related killing in the 18 Latin American nations and territories that reported their data to the GEO. The Wilson Center estimates that this rate translates to women in Latin America dying every two hours due to femicide.
According to the GEO's data for 2021, Brazil reported the highest raw number of femicides at 1,900 women murdered, while Puerto Rico reported the lowest raw number at 12 women murdered. However, Puerto Rico's rate may be impacted by the fact that it only records instances of femicide that are specifically perpetrated against women by their intimate partners - the same stipulation is true of Nicaragua, which reported 15 femicides in 2021. The different trends regarding femicide across the countries in Latin America show that factors such as machismo, organized crime, and gender roles have roles of varying severity in each country.
Highest rates of femicide Honduras, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Bolivia, and Brazil reported the highest rates of femicide across the region respectively in 2021. In Honduras, 4.6 women per 100,000 were the victims of femicide. In the Dominican Republic, 2.7 women per 100,000 were the victims of femicide. In El Salvador, 2.4 women per 100,000 were the victims of femicide. In Bolivia, 1.8 women per 100,000 were the victims of femicide. Finally, in Brazil, 1.7 women per 100,000 were the victims of femicide.
Lowest rates of femicide Nicaragua, Chile, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and Peru reported the lowest rates of femicide across Latin America in 2021. In Nicaragua, 0.4 women per 100,000 were the victims of femicide. In Chile, 0.5 women per 100,000 were the victims of femicide. In both Costa Rica and Puerto Rico, 0.7 women per 100,000 were the victims of femicide. In Peru, 0.8 women per 100,000 were the victims of femicide.
Femicide rates over time ECLAC has compiled data on the change in rates of femicide across Latin American nations and territories over time. Despite recent efforts to reduce gender-based violence in the region, there was no significant decline in rates of femicide across Latin America from 2019 to 2021. Some nations have recorded a small drop in femicide rates in recent years. In Honduras, for example, the femicide rate dropped from 6.0 female victims per 100,000 in 2019 to 4.5 female victims per 100,000 in 2020 - before increasing slightly to 4.6 female victims per 100,000 in 2021. Other nations have recorded an increase in femicide rates over the observed period. In Mexico, for example, the femicide rate increased from 1.5 female victims per 100,000 in 2019 and 2020 to 1.6 female victims per 100,000 in 2021.
Femicide rates by relationship to perpetrator Globally, the largest perpetrators of femicide are women's intimate partners - both current and past partners. In Latin America, however, data on the connection between femicide and the victim's relationship to the offender is less cohesive.
For some nations, the vast majority of femicides are committed by former or current intimate partners. In 2021, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Chile all recorded that women were murdered by former or current intimate partners in over 70% of femicide cases. Specifically, these intimate partner femicides accounted for 93% of Chile's reported gender-based murders of women. In Uruguay, 1.1 women per 100,000 were the victims of femicide by intimate partners in 2021. An important consideration to make is that certain Latin American countries like El Salvador and Uruguay do not characterize intimate partner violence or femicide as a crime, which can underestimate the incidence of femicide in these countries.
By contrast, for other nations, intimate partner femicides account for the minority of gender-based murders of women. In both El Salvador and Honduras, 25% or less of recorded femicides in 2021 were committed by past or current intimate partners. This is thought to be due to a larger presence of organized crime and violence in society that accounts for a larger portion of femicides, with women being killed by strangers and gang members.
Femicide rates and migration According to qualitative studies, high migration flow across Latin America likely contributes to increased rates of femicide. Migrant women are particularly vulnerable to gender-based killing and violence as a result of contextual issues like deficient support systems, discrimination, social stigma, insecurity of legal status, and language barriers in Latin America. Furthermore, many women are traveling alone without company or protection against the gender-based crimes they could become victims of.
However, a limited number of Latin American nations and territories have recorded data on the nationality or migratory status of the victims of femicide. In 2021, foreign women were murdered in 18% of recorded femicides in Chile. In the Dominican Republic, foreign women were the victims in 13% of recorded femicides. Finally, in Costa Rica, foreign women accounted for 11% of recorded femicides. According to ECLAC, these three Latin American nations have experienced high rates of migration and migratory flow in recent years - potentially indicating a relationship between female migration and femicide.
The North Triangle of Central America (NTCA) consists of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and also experiences high rates of emigration and migratory flow. This is due to a lack of safety for women in these countries. which have very high rates of gender-based violence. However, according to 2017 data from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), close to one third of women who passed through Mexico while migrating were sexually abused. The perpetrators include individuals, gangs, and law enforcement, which have been reported to abuse their authority to take advantage of the migrants.
Femicide rates and age According to data collected from 2019 to 2021 from the Gender Equality Observatory, the greatest incidence of femicide occurs in victims aged 15 to 29. The impacts of femicide start for girls at a young age, with over 4% of femicides regarding girls aged 14 or younger. This data shows a negative correlation between age and incidence of femicide.
There is also a high rate of Child marriage that disproportionately impacts girls and young women in Latin America, compared to young men, predisposing them to be more vulnerable to gender-based violence. Data from the GEO has shown that child marriage increases the likelihood of girls and women to be victims of intimate partner violence and femicide.
Data collection concerns Accurate and comprehensive data collection on crime and violence in Latin America poses significant challenges. In the context of gender-based killings, public and private organizations similarly have struggled to aggregate quality data on rates of femicide and relevant contextual factors in Latin American countries. Instances of violence against women and femicide are often underreported, and many nations fail to include intersectional variables like race, ethnicity, migrant status, pregnancy, or sexual orientation in data on femicide victims. Recorded femicide rates are also impacted by definitional differences across the region. For example, both Puerto Rico and Nicaragua, with some of the lowest recorded rates of femicide in Latin America, only report intimate partner femicide to the Gender Equality Observatory - excluding gender-based killings committed by other types of offenders.
However, many nations are making efforts to address issues of incomplete and under-reported data on violence against women. Ten Latin American states have recently passed laws requiring the collection and circulation of data and information on femicide and other crimes of violence against women. Many countries have updated their definitions, indicators, and investigation methods in the context of femicide in recent years - resulting in corrected and more complete data on historical incidences of gender-based killings. ECLAC has continued to support Latin American nations in expanding and enhancing their records and data collection on femicide rates.
Contributing factors While data are limited, a host of cultural, economic, and political factors may contribute to the high rates of femicide and gender-based killings across Latin America.
Gender roles Patriarchal beliefs and practices persist in many Latin American cultures. Gender roles in Latin America are influenced by an historical commitment to the cultural phenomena of machismo and marianismo.Pantaleo, K. (2010). Gendered Violence: An Analysis of the Maquiladora Murders. International Criminal Justice Review, 20(4), 349–365. Machismo denotes aggrandized masculinity and male superiority, and prioritizes traditional conceptions of men as aggressive, dominant, and even violent towards women. Information collected from Guatemala shows that violence is seen as an appropriate and justified manner of "discipline" for a husband, or man in a relationship. Marianismo, by contrast, conceives of women and traditional femininity as domestic, inferior, self-sacrificing, and accommodating of male aggression and violence.
Due to the emphasis on a strong male protagonist and a submissive female side character, both concepts derived from Roman Catholicism, harmful gender roles have been tied to religion and deeply entrenched in Latin American society. The term marianismo is rooted in the precedent set by the virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, which women are expected to adhere to.