Violence Against Women (VAW) as Gendered Hate Crimes

Abstract

Violence against women (VAW) is a deeply rooted form of misogyny that has always been universally predominant. It targets women and girls from all socio-cultural backgrounds and impacts their self-fulfillment at the personal and professional levels. The utmost manifestation of gendered hatred and sexism, VAW has evolved into a pandemic phenomenon. This paper is based on two main premises. Gender is a risk factor in crimes that women are exposed to, such as rape, femicide or even domestic violence. For this reason, violence against women in all its forms should be legally dealt with under the scope of hate crimes. This article aims at defining the various types of VAW and studying their in-depth impact on the victims. It analyses some statistics based on the United Nations and the World Health Organization reports. It historicizes the concept of hate crimes scrutinizing its relationship with VAW. It argues for the legal relabeling of violence against women (more particularly, femicide and rape) as subcategories of hate crimes, hence the urgency to a legal reform that would protect women worldwide from such a social plight.