Murdered women’s children: A social emergency and gloomy reality

Abstract

Femicide, defined as the killing of females by males because they are females, is becoming recognized worldwide as an important ongoing manifestation of gender inequality. Actual or imminent separation, abuser’s access to firearms, prior threats with a weapon, prior threats to kill the victim, a stepchild in the household, problematic alcohol and illicit drug use, as well as mental health problems, are associated with a substantially higher risk of femicide. Little is known about the number of orphaned children who have instantaneously lost both parents. Sparse attention has been focused on children whose mother was murdered: these are difficult cases for child psychiatry teams. Decisions about protection could be made by judges, the police, social workers or officers that attend victims, on the basis of empirical data and not merely by using intuitive criteria.