Italian lawmakers have unanimously voted to introduce a separate crime into the law: femicide (the murder of a woman based on gender). The crime will be punishable by life imprisonment.
The BBC writes about this.
The bill was symbolically approved on the day dedicated to the elimination of violence against women worldwide. All 237 deputies of the lower house of the Italian parliament voted in favor of it.
The idea of a femicide law had been discussed in Italy before, but the murder of Giulia Cecchettin by her ex-boyfriend spurred action.
In late November 2023, Filippo Turetta stabbed 22-year-old Giulia to death when she refused to return to him. He wrapped her body in bags and dumped it on the shore of a lake. The perpetrator was eventually sentenced to life in prison.
The murdered girlʼs sister, Elena, said that Tourette was not a monster, but "a healthy son of a deeply patriarchal community". These words prompted people across Italy to protest and demand change.
After just two years of debate, Italian lawmakers have voted in favor of a law on femicide. This makes Italy one of the few countries in the European Union to have a legal definition of femicide in its criminal codes. Cyprus, Malta and Croatia are also among those countries.
Before drafting the law, an expert commission of the Italian parliament studied 211 recent murders of women in Italy. The initiator of the bill was the head of the Council of Ministers Giorgia Meloni.
There is no universally accepted definition of femicide, which makes it difficult to calculate and compare statistics.
The Italian law will apply to murders that are "an act of hatred, discrimination, domination, control or subordination of a woman" and also those that occur when she ends a relationship.
- The term “femicide” emerged in the 1970s to distinguish the killing of women from other intentional acts of violence. Today, it is understood as the killing of women as a result of intimate partner violence, misogyny, or stereotypical views of women’s roles and discrimination. It is not simply a random killing, but a crime motivated by hatred of women.
- Femicide also includes sex-selective abortions, deaths from domestic and sexual violence, and other forms of violent deaths of women caused by their gender.
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