The Myth of Women's Protection; The West's Unique Record in Femicide
For decades, the West has presented itself as the safest geography for women; a shining showcase of women's rights and gender equality. But behind this attractive facade lies a dark reality: structural and repeatedly recurring femicide is a chronic crisis in America and Europe, which is neither unusual nor accidental.
Ahlul Bayt News Agency: In January 2025, local American media reported the murder of a 34-year-old woman in Pennsylvania. Before her death, she had repeatedly reported her partner's violence to the police. A no-contact order had been issued, a case had been opened, but the police announced that "there were no signs of immediate danger." A few weeks later, the same man shot and killed her in her home.
At approximately the same time, a woman in Spain was murdered by her ex-husband. A man who had a record of threatening her and was even under judicial supervision. These two cases made headlines because they reached the media; not because the cases were unusual. They are just two of dozens of recorded incidents of femicide in the West in the first weeks of 2025. In these countries, femicide is not an "unfortunate incident" but a disaster that the system knows about in advance and is practically powerless to control.
The Myth of Women's Protection in the West
For years, the West has presented "the protection of women" within its borders as a civilizational achievement. But a study of statistical facts reveals a deep contradiction: for many women, the most dangerous place is not the street or a public place, but the home.
Numerous studies and research in the United States and Europe indicate that more than 70% of women who fall victim to lethal violence experience warning signs before being killed: threats, beatings, stalking, economic control, psychological abuse, etc. Government systems are aware of these signs. The police have been notified, cases have been filed in courts, social services have been informed. But intervention comes late or is merely for show. The home, presented in official advertisements as a safe place, has practically become the crime scene for millions of women. A crime that has been normalized for years.
Statistics That Demolish the Official Narrative
According to data from American federal centers (CDC and FBI), approximately 4000 to 5000 women are murdered each year in that country. More than 55% of these killings are directly related to intimate partner violence. The rate for men who are victims of murder is much lower. In simple words: if a woman is murdered in America, it is highly likely that her killer is her husband, fiancé, or former partner.
Femicide in the Jurisdiction of the European Union
The picture is not much different in the European Union either. Official reports from the European Commission and national statistical agencies indicate that on average, more than 50 women fall victim to lethal domestic violence every week. In countries like France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, femicide is one of the most common forms of murder. In France alone, over 100 incidents of women being killed by male partners are recorded every year.
And yes! These are only "official statistics." That is, the data that governments permit to be published. Many killings—especially in immigrant communities, lower classes, or marginalized areas—are never recorded as "femicide" and get lost in the general category of "homicide" incidents. This statistical concealment is itself 'part of the problem'.
Structural Failure of Support Systems
In many Western countries, women's shelters chronically suffer from budget shortages. In America, most of these centers are managed by NGOs that rely on limited government aid or private donations. In Europe, austerity policies following economic crises hit social services first, including services for women victims of violence and abuse.
Restraining orders, which were ostensibly meant to be a means of salvation, are practically unenforceable. In many cases of women's murders, the killer had previously violated these orders, but the response of the administrative, judicial, or supervisory system was either too slow or fundamentally ineffective. In the West, support systems focus more on recording violence rather than preventing it.
When Violence Becomes a "Private Matter"
One of the key pillars of the West's failure to prevent women's murders is the 'theoretical perspective' regarding domestic violence. Institutions like the police and judiciary still define violence in terms of "family disputes" or "private matters."
This is not merely cultural but a 'deeply political' viewpoint. When violence is considered a private problem, the state can evade direct responsibility; thus, the woman is left alone and the ruling system remains a silent spectator. This is where Western liberalism, despite all its pretenses, deceptions, and cunning, enters the stage of structural helplessness.
Firearms and Femicide
In America, widespread access to firearms plays a decisive role in femicide. Statistics show that the presence of firearms in abusive relationships increases the likelihood of a woman being killed fivefold. More than half of femicide incidents in America are committed with firearms.
This reality is a direct result of policies that have prioritized the "right to bear arms" over "women's right to life." Powerful gun lobbies have blocked legislative reforms for years, even if the victims are women! Here, the logic of capitalism becomes completely naked: "The profit of gun companies is more important than women's lives."
Femicide and Modern Capitalism
Femicide analysis is impossible without considering its economic context. Job insecurity, livelihood pressures, the breakdown of support networks, and increasing inequality fuel violence. But instead of confronting these roots, 'modern capitalist system' prefers to reduce the degree of violence to [the perpetrator's] "individual pathology."-
The murderer is presented as a patient, not as a product of the structure that gives rise to violence. This reductionism is purely ideological and allows the system to deny its responsibility. Thus, this reductionism in the chain of social crimes is completely ideological and allows ruling systems to refuse to accept their responsibilities.
'Selective' Human Rights or Discrimination in Human Rights, and Imperialist Logic
The same states that impose sanctions or political pressure on other countries under the pretext of women's rights are facing a major and unresolved crisis within their own borders. Femicide is viewed as a domestic and trivial issue in the West. But violence against women in the non-Western world becomes a 'legitimate means' for intervention by these same states.
This duality reveals the imperialist nature of the women's rights narrative: women's rights only matter as long as they can serve as a tool and instrument of Western countries' foreign policy. When it comes to internal responsibility, these rights are sidelined, ignored, acknowledged as 'an ordinary incident,' and turned into a private or family matter.
How Media Normalizes Death
Mainstream media in the West plays a key role in the 'normalization' of women's mass murder. The use of terms like "murder over emotional dispute" or "crime of passion" normalizes violence as a 'routine' in Western societies. In these narratives, the murderer is often the center of the story, and the murdered woman is reduced to a mere "number" among statistics.
The economic, legal, and political structures are deliberately ignored; because discussing them questions the system's legitimacy.
Why Does This Crisis Continue?
The answer is clear: because the social crisis of femicide has not yet resulted in a 'political crisis.' As long as governments do not have to pay a real price for women's deaths, fundamental change will not come. In words, the West is the protector of women. In practice, it is the protector of the current discriminatory order.
Ultimately, femicide in the West highlights the deep gap between claim and reality. Behind the shiny window of human rights, the Western cycle of violence continues—chronic, structural, and unresolved. Anti-imperialist criticism begins here: exposing a civilization that has not even guaranteed the lives of its own women.
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Photo credited from BBC: Women hold up numbers to represent the 101 femicides in France this year
Written by: Fateme Kavand
Translated by: Abu Farva
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