Chapter 1: Counting Femicides Across the European Union Available to Purchase

This chapter delves into the complexities of defining, measuring, and operationalising femicide within the European Union (EU). Highlighting the efforts of feminist activists, who have meticulously documented femicide cases for years, it emphasises the importance of grassroot initiatives in bringing visibility to the issue and encourages governments to systematically follow and complement these efforts. Despite the availability of criminal justice data, femicide often remains hidden within general homicide statistics, underscoring the need for a better informed and more comprehensive approach to data collection and analysis. The chapter provides an overview of the current state of femicide data collection in the EU, paying particular attention to administrative sources. Key challenges include the fragmentation and incomparability of data due to differing definitions and measurement units used by various entities, such as the police and the judiciary. Ultimately, it advocates for a unified conceptualisation of femicide that incorporates and prioritises the gender dimension and the production of gender-disaggregated data. In conclusion, the chapter proposes the femicide classification system of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) as a step towards a shared measurement framework, aiming to improve data quality and comparability across the EU. This initiative seeks to enhance the visibility of femicide, inform policy, and ultimately contribute to the eradication of violence against women and girls.