Events

CHAIRPERSON

Dr Lavanya Balachandran, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

Femicide cuts across all regions and societies and is currently considered the major cause of unnatural death of women globally (Weil 2015, 2016). It often also involves the murder of family members or bystanders, such as the couple’s children, relatives or the victim’s new partner. Patterns relating to the murder of women display empirical proximity to the family arena: women who are murdered are primarily murdered within the framework of their family, i.e., by their partners, usually after lengthy periods of prolonged physical violence accompanied by other forms of abuse and coercion (Dobash, Dobash, Wilson and Daly, 1992).

Most literature on femicide is based on studies conducted among the Western population. Consequently, the possible varied heterogeneous manifestations of femicide across different social groups in general, and in non-Western social groups in particular, are still in dire need of study. In studies of non-Western femicide the phenomenon of ‘honor killing’ has received considerable attention recently. However, these studies tend to focus on cultural notions of honor cultures, and there is still a dearth in understanding possible sociological factors that may influence the frequency, severity and modus operandi of women killing.

In line with current scholarly interest in the possible links between femicide and various socio-cultural and ethnic factors, the seminar will present empirical observations from nation-based data on femicide in Israel. The seminar will offer an analysis of various forms of femicide across the social, cultural and ethnic groups that make up Israeli society: Israeli Jews (veteran Jews and Jewish immigrants from the former USSR and from Ethiopia), Israeli Arabs (Christians, Druze, Muslims and Bedouins) and foreigners (foreign workers and African asylum seekers). The seminar will conclude with theoretical postulations for further future research of the phenomenon of femicide.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Hava Dayan is a senior staff member at the School of Criminology, University of Haifa. She received her first degree in Sociology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1986), her second degree in Sociology with a specialization in Social Psychology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (cum Laude, 1990), her PhD in Sociology from the National University of Singapore (2001), and her LLB from the University of Haifa (2006).

Dr Dayan conducts research in the field of crime, law and society, with a particular interest in gender and crime. Her most recent published papers explore several issues pertaining to lethal violence against women (femicide, uxoricide, battered women who kill their abuser and legal criminal doctrines related to the phenomenon of femicide). Dr Dayan is a member of the Femicide Research Network of the London Centre for Social Studies and a member of the European Network on Gender and Violence. Her upcoming book Femicide and the Law: American Criminal Doctrines is about to be published by Routledge, and she is currently in the final stages of writing an inter-disciplinary book on femicide in Israel, covering sociological, criminological and legal perspectives of the phenomenon.

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