Abstract

In Uruguay, femicide is a pressing problem that has remained at alarming levels since there has been an official measurement: 1.7 femicides per 100,000 women. Feminicide is the murder of a woman for gender reasons, it is a hate crime and is part of the structural violence that most cis-gender and trans women usually experience. All forms of violence that affect women are conditioned, beyond their sexual orientation and gender identity, by economic, age, ethnic, cultural and religious differences, among other aspects. This research incorporates into the analysis of femicides the socioeconomic dimension, that is, the economic autonomy of women, which until now was absent in the research on femicides carried out in our country. The central hypothesis of this study is that the socioeconomic vulnerability or lack of economic autonomy of women exposes them to a greater extent to femicide. When the State is absent or its policies do not reach the entire population or fail to fully protect the victims of gender violence at risk of life, having their own economic resources could help them to prevent these fatal outcomes on their own. To this end, the research proposes to carry out a statistical analysis of the available data that incorporates the variable of women’s socioeconomic level to examine whether and to what extent it has an impact on femicides in the country. It also seeks to study the public policy to address and combat situations of gender-based violence (hereinafter GBV) in our country and the information on which the measures designed are based. Finally, it aims to provide new empirical evidence and, based on this, to elaborate recommendations aimed at improving public policy against GBV in Uruguay. To address these objectives, a mixed methodological strategy was developed, i.e., quantitative and qualitative, incorporating both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis techniques. On the one hand, with regard to quantitative techniques, a statistical analysis was carried out using data on femicides for the period 2001-2019. In particular, the relationship between the rate of femicides and the estimated socioeconomic level for a geographic area of interest (town, municipality, neighborhood) was studied. In addition, the qualitative technique of semi-structured interviews with qualified informants was used, as well as the analysis of institutional documentation and the current regulatory framework on the subject, to expand the study on the characteristics of public policy and the state approach to combat GBV.

Key words: femicide, gender based violence, public policies, economic autonomy