Nearly Half Of UK Women Killed By Men Are Killed By Their Boyfriends

Sorry to bring you all down, but new research released today has found that of all the women murdered by men, 46% of them were killed by their partners or exes.

If that doesn’t make you want to crawl into a hole and weep then try this: the Femicide Census, launched by Freshfields law firm for Women’s Aid and Nia, also found that the most commonly used weapon was a knife or sharp instrument – with strangulation a close second.

‘On average, two women per week are killed by a partner or ex-partner [in the UK],’ says Polly Neare, chief executive of Women’s Aid. ‘We need to know what happened to these women before their deaths – for example, if there were previous reports of domestic violence, if they have had previous contact with the police or other agencies, but the warning signs were not picked up on.

‘We are launching the Femicide Census to identify common themes, so that we can learn from them, and so that we can reduce deaths by working with all relevant agencies and professionals to better protect women.’

Karen Ingala Smith, chief executive of Nia, an initiative aiming to deliver services to end violence against women and children, told The Telegraph: ‘If we don’t name man’s fatal violence against women and don’t reveal its extent and the various forms it can take, we will never be capable of a thorough enough analysis to reduce or end it.

‘If the bigger picture is revealed, people can begin to see the connections across the spectrum of men’s violence against women.’

This comes after President Obama’s heartfelt speech during this year’s Grammy Awards, where he called for artists to join the fight against violence against women.

‘Together we can change our culture for the better, by ending violence against women and girls,’ he said in the public service announcement. ‘One in four women has experienced some form of domestic violence. It’s not OK and it has to stop.’

Yes, it does have to stop. And hopefully these horrifying new statistics will kick our government into action.

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Picture: Eylul Aslan

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.