As cited in Perempuan Berkisah IG, the investigation in Untold Stories of Woman Living in Violence Lived Realites of Woman Stay: a Case Study of Ngombe and Kanyama Compound in Lusaka (2019) found that the majority of women respondents choose to stay in a husband-wife relationship to protect their children.
In such relationship, women choose happiness and security for their children than happiness and security for themselves. The National Women Rights Commission notes that there were 289,111 cases of violence against women in 2023. The number is a decrease of 12% or 55,920 from that of 2022.
The Commission also notes that violence against wives was highest at 674 cases, followed by violence against ex-wives. Violence against ex-girlfriend topped 618 cases, while violence in relationship amounted to 360 cases.
The numbers differ from the previous year. In 2022, violence against ex-girlfriends was highest, while violence against wives and violence in a relationship ranked second and third. The increase in violence against wives in 202 is 22% compared to the previous year (2022).
The numbers illustrates that toxic relationship continues to prevail against victims. This toxic relationship shifts from girlfriend-boyfriend relationship to husband-wife relationship. If left unchecked, the trend will continue to rise.
Femicide Emergency in Indonesia
Casnadi (30) killed a young woman (AN) in Cirebon. He covered his action by storing the deceased body in a cupboard.
Cirebon City Police solved the murder case after investigation. The Police arrested Casnadi after they discovered the deceased naked body in a rented house in Blok Pulomas, Kedawung Sub-district, Cirebon City, on Thursday night (9/5).
Another murder happened in Manado, South Minahasa just a few weeks earlier. A young woman was just giving birth to her second child when her husband murdered her in front of the children. Still earlier than this, a woman (RA, 23 y.o.) from Bogor was found dead inside a case on a Panjang Jimbaran Bridge, Badung, Bali (Friday, 3/5/2024). The victim was, possibly, a prostitute who had just had sex with her murderer, Amrin Al Rasyif (20). Another female body was found in Tegalgubug Lor Village, Arjawinangun Sub-district, Cirebon District on Sunday (5/5). The victim was Indah Fitriyani (22), a resident of Panguragan, Cirebon District.
@rifkaannisa IG account wrote, Femicide: they were killed because they were women. Femicide is a murder of a woman because of her sex or gender. Femicide does not happen suddenly as it results from an escalation of prior gender-based violence (National Women Rights Commission).
Diana Russel was the first to use the term Femicide during International Tribunal on Crimes against Women (1976), and defined it as “misogynic killing of a woman by a man.”
The trigger to Femicide: domination, satisfaction, sense of ownership, envy, depression, superiority, and mental illness.
Who commits femicide? In Indonesia, intimate femicide happens more, where the perpetrators are people who are known to victims, including husband, ex-husband, former fiancé, or couples living together.
Femicide cases happen every year, suggesting that killing of a woman is not coincidental, or that it only happens in one place once. Femicide is a global phenomenon that requires systematic attention. Individuals and governments should take a responsibility to build a safe ecosystem for women as vulnerable group.
Femicide in Indonesia (National Women Rights Commission Data) suggests that there were 95 cases of femicide in 2020, 237 cases in 2021, 307 cases in 2022, and 159 cases between January and April 2023.
The general public is unaware of femicide prevention, as there is no mechanism to prevent it or to provide recovery to victims.
The Indonesian criminal law, Law on Domestic Violence, Law on Human Trafficking, Law on Child Protection, and Law on Violence against Women state that more severe punishment should be given for acts that results in the death of a woman.
@rumahkitab IG account suggests that femicide or identity-driven murder of a woman is a tragedy that has deep roots in such factors as patriarchy and misogyny. Patriarch is a social system which places men in a superior position and women s subordinate, which feeds into a sense of control and ownership of women. Misogyny is hatred and prejudice against women, often based on stereotypes and presumption that women are weak, have no value and are considered objects.
Murder of a woman should not be treated as ordinary murder case. However, not all murders of women should be treated as femicide.
A National Women Rights Commissioner, Rainy M. Hutabarat indicates in a webinar that femicide is not yet known as a gender-based murder against women, or as a form of most extreme and sadistic acts of violence. (Ast)
