Women’s rights activist wants Guyana to introduce femicide law

…says “women deserve greater protection”

By Samuel Sukhnandan

Women’s Rights Activist Nicole Cole is urging the Government to impose tougher punishments on those who murder women and girls as part of efforts to stem high levels of violence against women.

Cole, who sits on the Women and Gender Equality Commission (WGEC), told Guyana Times in an exclusive interview on Monday that Guyana should create a ‘femicide law.’

Several countries, including neighbouring Brazil, have introduced similar laws, dubbing as femicide violence against women and the killing and maiming of women solely because of their gender. Femicide, as a criminal act, has already been incorporated into legislation in many Latin American countries, where violence against women is widespread.

Cole says it is important to distinguish “femicide” from “homicide”, as most research conducted in countries with high rates of femicide doesn’t consider the act as such. “Femicide is the sexist violence against women because of a patriarchal system that believes in the inferiority of women themselves,” she explained.

The WGEC official told Guyana Times that femicide is not just the murder of women, but the murder of women because they are women. She noted that in many cultures and societies like Guyana’s, this form of violence has long been accepted and encouraged.

Cole says that if Government is serious about addressing this scourge, implementing new measures through this new law would help to reduce the number of women being killed annually at the hands of their spouses, lovers or family members.

She acknowledged that certain laws in Guyana offer some level of protection to women, but expressed her belief that having a separate law to address this issue would offer greater protection to women.

“Women deserve greater protection in this country,” she said. “Tackling violence against women is not an overnight job. It does not change the underlying cause of the violence: the range of macho culture which stands in direct opposition to gender equality.”

Cole pointed to the recent case involving a 29-year-old woman from Parika, East Bank Essequibo who was allegedly strangled with a bed sheet by her reputed husband. She said that if Guyana had implemented a femicide law, it would probably have deterred the perpetrator, and other men like him, from committing such acts, while at the same time provide greater protection to the victim and other women faced with similar situations.

According to the World Health Organization, violence against women – such as intimate partner violence, rape and emotional abuse – poses a significant public health problem in every country. The most extreme form of violence against women is femicide. Unfortunately, because cases of femicide are underreported or misidentified as general homicide, the true prevalence of this crime is not known.