Femicide rates on the rise during COVID-19 pandemic, says Guelph researcher

A gender-based violence expert at the University of Guelph says femicide has increased in Canada and around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A gender-based violence expert at the University of Guelph says femicide has increased in Canada and around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Myrna Dawson points to repeated lockdowns and a lack of access to services and shelter as well as tense home environments for the steady increase in sex- and gender-related killings of women and girls.

“The numbers are showing increases over the three years — pre-COVID, beginning of COVID and as COVID continues — and in that context, it is something that we should be concerned about,” Dawson said.

She said she is not just concerned about the increase in the numbers, but also that the numbers are only capturing women and girls who were killed. “This does not capture the increases in those who have and continue to experience violence throughout the pandemic.”

Dawson is the University of Guelph’s director of the Centre for the Study of Social and Legal Responses to Violence. She also services as director of the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability, which is a group focused on understanding the causes and consequences of femicide.

According to the group, 92 women and girls were killed in Canada in the first six months of 2021, up from 78 during the same period in 2020 and 60 in 2019.

“That’s an increase of 32 women and girls killed from 2019 to 2021,” Dawson said. “Canada is not the only country experiencing these continual increases in numbers. It’s a global trend.”

She added that women have been hit harder by the pandemic when it comes to layoffs and reduced access to child care.