Femicide, the killing of women because of their gender, is one of the most extreme forms of gender-based violence. At its core, femicide stems from deeply rooted and long-standing patriarchal and misogynistic systems in which women’s lives are considered inferior and expendable, and the exercise of control over them is normalized. When women defy social norms, violence becomes legitimized. Femicide is rooted in structural inequalities and is the fatal endpoint of a continuum of violence against women.

Around the world, various factors contribute to femicide. Patriarchal norms that regard women as subordinate or as male property are the primary drivers of this phenomenon. Economic dependency is another key factor that traps many women in abusive relationships, blocks their exit paths, and exposes them to deadly risk. Regressive cultural traditions—such as so-called “honor” killings or dowry-related murders—also facilitate femicide. Legal loopholes, impunity, and lenient punishments further aggravate the crisis. In many countries, femicide is not recognized as a distinct crime, or even if laws do exist, they are poorly enforced. For instance, in Latin America—even in countries that have explicit laws on femicide—many such murders go unpunished. In these regions, women are killed both symbolically and deliberately, and their murders are often attributed to drug cartels, organized crime, or armed conflict.

The lack of accurate data and insufficient documentation further obscure the true extent of femicide globally. In many countries, killings of women are not recorded based on gender-related motivations—or if they are, they may be classified as “suicides.” This presents a major barrier to gathering reliable data, conceals the real scope of femicide, and weakens efforts to hold power structures accountable and to enact protective legislation and preventative policies. Despite these shortcomings, existing data paint a harrowing picture of femicide. According to United Nations statistics, around 85,000 women were intentionally killed in 2023. (1) Although this figure is slightly lower than the 89,000 recorded in 2022, (2) intimate partner and family-related killings have increased—confirming that the home remains the most dangerous place for many women.

Femicide trends across regions reveal both differences and commonalities. Latin America and the Caribbean have the highest rates of femicide in the world. In Mexico, the number of women killed (excluding accidental or unrelated deaths) rose by over 135% between 2015 and 2021, reflecting both the worsening of violence and the increased visibility of femicide thanks to the activism of women’s rights, feminist, and human rights organizations. One of the most prominent movements in this area is “Ni Una Menos” (Not One Woman Less) in Europe, which emerged after the COVID-19 pandemic—a period during which femicide significantly surged. In Spain, the rate of women killed rose from one per week to one every three days in 2021. In Italy, the number of female victims of femicide increased by nearly 16% in a single year. In the Middle East, hundreds of women fall victim to so-called honor killings annually. In Iran, estimates range from 375 to 450 cases per year. (3) These figures underscore that femicide is a global phenomenon, recurring within varying cultural, political, and economic contexts.

The persistence or rise of femicide in many regions results from the convergence of multiple factors. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened conditions by trapping women with their abusers, limiting access to support services, and increasing the risk of fatal violence. Meanwhile, greater awareness, civil engagement, and feminist and women’s rights activism led to more cases being reported and classified as femicide. Nevertheless, impunity remains widespread. The reality is that structural gender inequality and weak, misogynistic legal systems continue to reproduce cycles of violence and facilitate the continuation of femicide.

Femicide is not merely a crime; it is a deep-seated crisis with social and political dimensions. Combating it requires comprehensive responses that address its root causes—such as dismantling patriarchal norms, ensuring women’s economic independence, reforming and enforcing laws, and improving data collection systems. Simultaneously, cultural transformation is essential: challenging beliefs that devalue women and legitimize violence, and building societies in which women’s lives are equally valued. Without structural and cultural change, femicide will remain a horrific reality and a dehumanizing crime that will not be eradicated globally.

Femicide today has various forms and contexts that, thanks to extensive research and international institutional data, are now categorized as follows:

Intimate Partner Femicide
The most common form of femicide globally involves women being killed by their current or former husbands, boyfriends, or partners. These crimes often occur in the context of domestic violence, controlling or coercive relationships, or when women attempt to end the relationship.

Family (Non-Partner) Femicide
This includes women killed by family members who are not intimate partners—such as fathers, brothers, uncles, or in-laws. These cases include so-called “honor” killings, dowry-related killings in South Asia, and murders over inheritance or property.

Non-Family Femicide
These are cases where women are killed by men who are neither relatives nor partners (e.g., neighbors, acquaintances, or strangers). Such murders are often linked to sexual violence, hatred, rejection of romantic advances, or jealousy.

Culturally Justified Femicide
Murders stemming from local customs or traditions, seen as socially legitimate, constitute another category. Notable examples include:

• Honor killings: to “punish” women for allegedly “immoral” behavior.

• Dowry-related killings: killing or pressuring women into suicide over dowry disputes.

• Female infanticide: killing newborn girls due to preference for male children.

These are widely documented across West Asia (Middle East), South Asia, and North Africa.

State-Perpetrated or State-Enabling Femicide
These are deaths or killings of women caused by state actions or negligence. They include murders by police or security forces, ignoring reports of abuse, failure to implement protective measures, and dysfunctional healthcare or justice systems that enable gender-based killings.

Femicide Based on Gender Identity
This involves the killing of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women. When transgender women are targeted, it is also referred to as transfemicide.

Conflict-Related Femicide
These occur in the context of war or armed conflict and include killings linked to sexual violence, genocidal femicide (such as the killing of Yazidi women by ISIS), or murders by armed groups.

Organized Crime-Related Femicide
Murders of women related to gang violence, drug trafficking, or human trafficking networks fall under this category—especially documented in parts of Latin America. According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in 2022, over 55% of all female homicide victims were killed by intimate partners or family members, compared to only about 11% for male victims. This shocking disparity shows that the home remains the most dangerous place for women. Effective prevention strategies require coordinated, multilateral interventions, including robust legal frameworks, data-informed policymaking, and targeted efforts to dismantle patriarchal power structures and initiate foundational cultural shifts.

Strategies to Prevent Femicide

• Explicit criminalization of femicide and gender-based violence in national laws both holds perpetrators accountable and recognizes femicide as a distinct crime rooted in gender discrimination.

• Implementing and improving laws to protect women, prosecute perpetrators, and ensure survivor-centered justice reduces impunity.

• Establishing clear legal definitions in line with international standards allows for coordinated global monitoring and action against femicide.

• Early interventions in domestic violence cases and support services for women and girls at risk can prevent femicide.

• Risk assessments in abusive relationships and safety planning can significantly reduce the threat of femicide.

• Increasing access to shelters and protective services for women in unsafe conditions, alongside economic support for at-risk women and girls, enhances their security and empowers them to leave abusive environments.

• Providing legal, psychological, and financial assistance to survivors prevents repeated violence.

• Changing social norms and raising public awareness through educational campaigns challenges gender roles and stereotypes, reduces tolerance of violence, and fosters a culture of equality and respect.

• Engaging men and boys in prevention efforts and gender-equity education strengthens community-wide commitment to ending violence against women.

• Empowering women and girls and ensuring their participation in lawmaking and policy development is key to lasting change.

• Collecting data on the multiple dimensions of femicide and continuous monitoring form the foundation for designing and implementing effective prevention strategies.

• Systematically tracking and analyzing femicide cases helps identify contributing factors and harm pathways.

• Establishing femicide observatories and improving data systems creates evidence-based prevention strategies and compels governments to be accountable.

• International collaboration is essential for setting global standards and facilitating shared efforts.

• In countries with democratic structures and rule of law, coordinated action among the state, enforcement agencies (e.g., police, healthcare, education), and civil society can lead to comprehensive and effective prevention systems.

• Increased funding, coupled with political will to empower women and prevent violence, can significantly reduce femicide rates.

Ultimately, the effective prevention of femicide depends on three fundamental actions: addressing structural gender inequality, enacting and enforcing protective legislation, and dismantling patriarchal ideologies and misogynistic mental frameworks.

Femicide in Iran
Among the various forms of femicide in Iran, so-called honor killings are among the most prominent. Additionally, the execution of women has contributed to Iran’s high global ranking in certain international assessments. Other globally prevalent forms of femicide are less commonly documented in Iran.

Honor killings in Iran are usually a combination of intimate partner and family-related femicide. In these patterns, husbands kill their wives, or fathers and brothers kill daughters and sisters to “protect the family’s honor.” Another aspect of this phenomenon is coerced or forced suicides, in which women—under family and social pressure—are compelled to take their own lives. These are essentially disguised honor killings, often recorded officially as suicides to conceal domestic abuse and the underlying patriarchal violence. Thus, honor killings in Iran are not isolated family tragedies but rather prominent examples of structural femicide rooted in discriminatory laws, patriarchal traditions, and a state apparatus that reproduces such violence. These patterns show that the femicide crisis in Iran is a socio-legal and political phenomenon deeply intertwined with systems of power and state structures.

The lack of media coverage and transparency on honor killings in Iran stems directly from the Islamic Republic’s misogynistic governance and state censorship. Several key factors contribute to this:

Media Censorship and State Control
Iran’s official media is under tight supervision. Any report that presents a “negative image” of social structure or exposes legal inadequacies is either censored or manipulated. Honor killings, especially when involving husbands or male relatives, rarely receive national coverage and typically appear only in local media or on social networks.

Discriminatory Laws that Legitimize Violence
The Islamic Republic’s legal system often legitimizes violence against women. For instance, Article 630 of the Islamic Penal Code allows a husband to kill his wife and her partner if he catches them committing adultery, and exempts him from retribution if certain conditions are met. In many honor killings, fathers or brothers—being the legal guardians—waive qisas (retaliation), resulting in minimal punishment. These legal gaps enable repeat offenses, and the state shows little interest in highlighting or reforming them.

Patriarchal Ideology and Proprietary Views of Women
In the Islamic Republic’s official discourse, women are not viewed as independent citizens but as the namus (honor) of the family and tools for social control. Broad media coverage of honor killings would challenge this ideological framework, so the government prefers to label such cases as “private family matters” or “marginal incidents.”

Fear of Social and Political Backlash
Each time horrifying cases such as the murders of Romina Ashrafi and Mona Heydari become public, they spark widespread outrage. The government fears such reactions, knowing these cases rapidly lead to fundamental critiques of the legal and cultural systems of the Islamic Republic.

Efforts to Erase the Problem
As seen in official statistics (e.g., sudden monthly drops in murder rates compared to independent reports), the government attempts to downplay or conceal the issue rather than confront the reality.

Lack of media coverage and transparency in statistics regarding honor killings in Iran are rooted in the Islamic Republic’s patriarchal structures, discriminatory laws, and censorship policies. This approach reveals that femicide is not merely a family tragedy, but a deep political-social crisis that directly reflects power dynamics and ruling ideology.

Estimates suggest that tens or even hundreds of women fall victim to honor killings or domestic violence in Iran each year. In 2025 (1404), women’s rights activists reported a disturbing rise in these cases. What is publicly reported is only the tip of the iceberg, as many crimes remain hidden in the private sphere. Reports also show that most of these killings are carried out by the victim’s husband.

Since the beginning of 1404 (March 2025), at least 108 cases of women being murdered have been recorded. (4) These alarming figures highlight the urgency of legal reform and protective policies. A month-by-month review from March to mid-September reveals the depth of the crisis: while unofficial sources report 127 killings, one internal government source claimed only 40 cases in July. (5) This statistical contradiction itself reflects censorship and a lack of transparency. Moreover, many suicides result from domestic pressure and honor-related violence and must be analyzed within the same framework.

According to research, prior to 2021 (1400), between 375 and 450 women and girls were murdered annually in Iran. (3) Provinces like Kurdistan, Khuzestan, Ilam, and Sistan and Baluchestan had the highest rates of such crimes. Names like Romina Ashrafi and Mona Heydari have become enduring symbols of a deep societal crisis.

In Iran and other countries in West and South Asia, femicide can no longer be seen as just domestic violence, but also as a political consequence of widening generational gaps. Young people, especially women and girls, increasingly access global conversations on rights and freedoms through digital tools and online communities. These ideas of dignity, equality, and autonomy directly conflict with restrictive family and state norms that view women as bearers of family honor and enforcers of social morality. This generational rift deepens due to unequal access to digital technology, which intensifies family tensions. Urban youth with smartphones and social media demand new lives, while traditional households often lack access to such technology—leading to stricter control of girls and women under the guise of cultural preservation. The digital divide thus mirrors and magnifies generational and societal divides.

In Iran, regressive, anti-women policies intensify these tensions. Instead of addressing generational demands for freedom and equality, the state enforces patriarchal norms through law, policy, and surveillance. From codifying male guardianship to failing to prosecute honor killings, the state legitimizes violence against women. Femicide thus becomes the final point of conflict between women’s aspirations and state-imposed patriarchy.

The Islamic Republic’s legal system reflects what can be called himpathy—legal sympathy for men. The judiciary’s compassion is directed not at victims but at male perpetrators, often justified using traditional concepts like “honor.” Such legal empathy helps normalize femicide and reinforces the cycle of violence against women.

In truth, tackling femicide requires more than legal reform and support services; it demands recognition that digital expression and intergenerational dialogue are vital tools to dismantle the structures that perpetuate gender-based killings. Ultimately, femicide is not an isolated crime but a reflection of failed social, legal, and cultural systems. The history of femicide in Iran demonstrates how patriarchal traditions, legal inequality, and institutional silence have created fertile ground for the continued perpetration of this grave injustice.

Notes:
1– UN Report: One woman or girl is killed every 10 minutes by a family member, Al Arabiya Persian, November 25, 2024.
2– 89,000 Women Were Killed Last Year, Mostaghel Online, November 26, 2023 (5 Azar 1402).
3– Femicide Tragedy in Iran: Women and Girls Murdered by Male Relatives / Which Provinces Are Most Affected?, Khabar Online, April 4, 2025 (16 Farvardin 1404).
4– Rising Concern over Honor Killings in Iran in 2025: 10 Women Murdered in Less Than Two Months, Asr Iran, May 13, 2025 (24 Ordibehesht 1404).
5– Only the Murder of Women, Jahan-e San’at, September 6, 2025 (16 Shahrivar 1404).
6– Website of the Campaign to Stop Honor Killings.