Gender progress and government expenditure as determinants of femicide

Purpose: We sought to explore the effect of economic/political factors and gender progress on femicide. Methods: An ecological and retrospective study was undertaken that focused on 61 countries and analyzed the relationships of femicide with the following statistics from the period 1990 to 1999: economic indicators (domestic consumption, gross capital formation, imports and exports per capita, unemployment rate and percentage of urban population), political indicators (government final consumption expenditure, GINI coefficient—a summary measure of the extent to which the actual distribution of income or consumption expenditure or a related variable differs from a hypothetical distribution in which each person receives an identical share—civil liberties and political rights index), and gender progress indicators (female and male unemployment rates, percentage of girls in primary education, gender ratio for primary and secondary education, and percentage of parliamentary seats occupied by women). Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses (likelihood ratio) were performed to explore the relationships between these variables. Results: The bivariate analysis revealed strong links between reductions in government final consumption expenditure per capita (odds ratio [OR] 20.83;95% confidence interval [95% CI] 5.622–77.205), domestic consumption and gross capital formation (both with OR 16.67, 95% CI 4.715–58.911), and the civil liberties and political rights index (OR 7.91, 95% CI 2.526–24.747). In the multivariate stage, statistically significant associations were only observed between government expenditure per capita (OR 61.75;95% CI 7.064–539.81) and occupation of parliamentary seats by women (OR 10.95;95% CI 1.26–95.06). Conclusion: The reduction in government final consumption expenditure and democratic backwardness in terms of gender equality appear to be relevant factors in deaths caused by gender-based violence. To fight femicide effectively, gender-related structural, political, and economic responses should be considered.Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Observatorio de Salud de la Mujer (Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo)