The Observer - End Femicide campaign

[Spiegelx]

Shocking article about the murders of older women and how the system fails older women on so many levels. It’s a very harrowing read but well done to the newspaper for tackling this issue.

Links to the OP's pieces in this thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4185454-Observer-campaign-to-tackle-femicide?

Thanks for the links, OP.

Thanks for links

Bumping this - it's such an awful article - and pleased to see that Nia are involved. Although I haven't read the Guardian for ages because of their anti women stance, I noted the Observer had an excellent leader about Keira's case and am pleased to see them highlighting this.

Really awful and shocking article, but very glad The Observer is focusing on this.

Correction to my comment - the Observer are not highlighting it - it's their campaign.
A good old fashioned campaign to right a dreadful wrong - just like the good old Manchester Guardian used to do when they were an ethical campaigning newspaper.

persistent - I dont think the campaign has anything to do with nia. It is associated with Karen Ingala Smith because of the work she has done of the Femicide Census - although you may be aware that her "ownderhsip" of the project has led to some women complaining that their contribution has been erased.

Karen Ingala Smith may (still?) work at nia, but as has been said many times, nia is in fact Hackney Women's Aid and as such doesn't much the same sort of work as most refuges.

Sorry if this seems a niggle, but it is only right to be clear about the sources of something. And who does the work.

As it says in the article: "We are working in conjunction with Karen Ingala Smith and Clarrie O’Callaghan, creators of the unique Femicide Census."

It 1as shocking. I read it this morning and have been thinking about it at various points in the day. I was particularly shocked that murder stats after a certain age. 65? Are not counted in the same way. Wtaf?!

Thank you stumbledin The article states that Karen is the Chief Executive of Nia and I evidently didn't read it carefully enough to appreciate the distinction
This is such an important issue it would be sad if it gets caught up with criticism of women and organisations. Given the attention we get on here from so many anti-women individuals, I try not to give them any ammunition.

@Okbussitout

It 1as shocking. I read it this morning and have been thinking about it at various points in the day. I was particularly shocked that murder stats after a certain age. 65? Are not counted in the same way. Wtaf?!

I was shocked at that too. And that they raised it, rather than abolishing it.

Yeah @jay55 just can't fathom the logic behind it.

@Okbussitout

It 1as shocking. I read it this morning and have been thinking about it at various points in the day. I was particularly shocked that murder stats after a certain age. 65? Are not counted in the same way. Wtaf?!

It was 59 till 3 years ago, raised to 75.

I've just turned 60, very wtf indeed.

There is a call to action outlined here with the specifics of the 3 things that need to happen:

If you want to join our campaign, write to or email your local MP and ask them to support our three calls to action.

www.tortoisemedia.com/2021/01/26/what-you-can-do/

There's also a good website: Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse

www.aafda.org.uk/

[quote EmbarrassingAdmissions]There is a call to action outlined here with the specifics of the 3 things that need to happen:

If you want to join our campaign, write to or email your local MP and ask them to support our three calls to action.

www.tortoisemedia.com/2021/01/26/what-you-can-do/

There's also a good website: Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse

www.aafda.org.uk/[/quote]
Brilliant, thanks. Sometimes I just feel so powerless about things like this.

Good to see The Observer supporting women.

Great campaign and article. I was shocked that so many older women are killed by sons, grandsons and strangers such as tradesmen to their home!
Reverse the sexes and it’s even more upsetting. How many older men are killed by their daughters and granddaughters? Probably none at all.

The references to the windows being left open and the wrong timing of medication/wrong medication feels weirdly akin to Agatha Christie novels and even modern crime fiction/drama. I'd sometimes wondered if the basic techniques of indirectly killing people had gone away with better forensic investigations - rather like the drop in domestic 'accidents' involving cyanide or weedkillers after people could no longer purchase them.

It's disturbing to consider what might be happening when nobody is counting. I'm astonished that these age thresholds exist and were so low until 3 years ago - especially in what felt like an era of post-Shipman sensitivity.

We may have very little idea of who is doing what to whom. But it's important to scope what we don't know.

A cheer for Karen IngalaSmith - SO glad her work now has this profile.... and also glad that for once I can say, wow The Observer you are doing the right thing and I want to be associated with this.

Totally bowled over by the age limit and amazed

1. That it was only 59 just three years ago
2. In reforming it they chose mid 70s rather than open-ended
3. That no one seems to know this!!!!

What the heck?

I was looking round for more clarity on the previous and current age cap and learned that it will be removed altogether next year.

The age cap applies to the intimate violence module in the CSEW, so domestic abuse against 75+ not currently captured. Until 2017 the age cap was 59. Has been announced it will lift altogether from next year. Not age cap on homicides as data comes from police/homicide index [.] However the headline findings published by ONS do not focus on age and the data tables provided alongside the reports don’t allow for meaningful disaggregation of the data. I cover this here:

academic.oup.com/bjsw/article/49/5/1234/5211414

[Further discussion about age cap]

Well the original jurisdiction was particularly shocking as it was based on an argument that people aged 60+ couldn’t use a computer to complete the survey and even if they could this should be viewed as elder abuse not domestic abuse[.] I talk about this here from page 16 onwards

etheses.dur.ac.uk/11941/1/Full_final_thesis_PDF_version.pdf?DDD34

Above from this thread: twitter.com/Hannah_Bows/status/1368546457108758531

Well the original jurisdiction was particularly shocking as it was based on an argument that people aged 60+ couldn’t use a computer to complete the survey and even if they could this should be viewed as elder abuse not domestic abuse[.] I talk about this here from page 16 onwards

As a 60yo who is still gainfully employed to write scientific software, an even bigger wtf. As to whether it's domestic abuse or elder abuse - don't they have any way of tracking intersectional crimes?