Woman killing : intimate femicide in Saskatchewan 1988-1992

Abstract

The term femicide was used to refer to the murder of women. Intimate femicide referred to the murder of women by men with whom they had an intimate love relationship. The purpose of this research was to make visible the intimate and domestic nature of femicide by describing all femicides in Saskatchewan between 1988 and 1992 inclusive. A second purpose of this research was to learn about prevention both from committed femicides and from two women who had survived an attempted intimate femicide. This research was feminist in nature and utilized elements of both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Data were gathered on all women known to be murdered between 1988 and 1992 from sources such as newspaper searches, coroners' reports, and police files. Based on these data, femicides were classified as intimate or non-intimate femicides and as possibly preventable or not preventable within the femicidal incident itself. Further data were gathered from interviews with two women who had survived an attempted intimate femicidal attack. Both sets of data were then reviewed and themes relating to the prevention of femicide were elicited. These themes focussed on failures of the communities in which these women resided or were murdered, failures of the medical community to correctly identify femicidal men, failures of the judicial system in their dealings with femicidal men, failures of the organized church, and failures of the institution of the family. Ten femicides were classified as possibly preventable within the femicidal assault itself. In addition, the interviews with both survivors identified many areas of possible intervention relating to prevention over a longer period of time. The study concludes with my reflections on the process of engaging in research on femicide, discussions about areas for further research and the identification of possible implications for public policy.