15 Mayo women involved in Ireland’s femicide epidemic

FEMICIDE: the hate crime of systematically killing women, girls, or females in general because of their gender.

‘Because of their gender’- let that sink in.

Why are we just hearing about it?

Despite what some may think, femicide has been a huge issue in Ireland for a very long time. 583 women have been violently murdered in this country in the past century, and concerningly, the numbers are only growing each year.

A recent research project by X user @ care2much18 mapped out where each one of these killings took place across our nation. The map pinpoints the date, location, criminal proceedings, and facts about each of these murders.

Mayo made up 2.5 percent of the overall murders, with 15 women being killed across the county since 1922.

It’s not unfair to say that a map of this country should not be flooded with so many pins, representing so many tragedies, and so many innocent women who had their lives cut short.

Among the 500 plus cases with a known killer, there was a very well-defined pattern of perpetrator - 98.3 percent of them were murdered by men.

The 20’s and 30’s saw the least killings with 25 each, while in the 2000’s 107 women had their lives taken.

Women’s Aid statistics reveal that 63 percent of victims were killed inside their own homes.

55 percent were killed by a partner or ex (of the resolved cases), and almost 90 percent of women knew their killer.

In her programme, ‘Dr Cassidy’s Casebook — The Femicide Cases’ former State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy revealed that while the murder of defenceless women in their homes wasn't unique to Ireland, she was struck by the numbers here. Previous to working here, she worked in Glasgow where she said cases were mainly male-on-male violence.

The current highest number of killings came in 1996, when 19 women were murdered here. In the course of her Irish career, Dr Cassidy has investigated the deaths of 200 women, most of them murdered by someone known to them (husband, boyfriend or relative).

Cassidy chillingly explained the situation in this famous quote: “We’re all worried about the bogeyman … but it’s someone in the bed, not someone under the bed”.

Motive - why are women being targeted?

Researcher @ care2much18 found in his studies that violent killings of women and girls progressively worsened as the 20th century progressed: “It seemed to me that as women's rights gained traction and women became more independent, domestic violence against them worsened.”

The 2022 report ‘Domestic, Sexual and Gender based violence - A Report on Crime Levels and Garda Operational Responses’ carried out by An Garda Síochána showed that a domestic abuse motive was recorded for 90 percent of all females who were victims of Murder/Manslaughter/Infanticide and 43 percent of all females who were victims of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments and Related Offences between 2019 and 2021. Male victims, whilst also experiencing domestic abuse, are more likely to be subject to violence by offenders unknown to them and/or in incidents not relating to domestic abuse.

These harrowing numbers undoubtedly have an effect on women, and how safe (or unsafe) they feel in their everyday lives.

A 2018 report by children’s rights charity, Plan International Ireland, examined how women perceive the world around them and how a fear of harassment prevents them from going about their daily lives.

Nine in ten women feel unsafe in Ireland just because of their gender; More than one-third have experienced physical harassment in public; with 93 percent of survey takers saying they feel more at risk to violence simply because of their gender.

In a more recent (2022) survey by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), more than twice as many women cited safety concerns as a reason for not walking more frequently, compared to men.

Where do we go from here?

On the day this article was written, it was the two year anniversary of Ashling Murphy’s unprovoked, random murder in the town she grew up in. The posts and discussions in her honour are touching and present a community like feeling. However, it should not take an attack as vicious as Ashling Murphy’s, and the 582 other women on this map, to start a discussion around this topic.

We are barely four years into the 2020’s and there have already been 25 murders. If the numbers continue to grow at this rate for the rest of the decade, we could expect this number to reach up to 83 by 2030.

In a time where women have so many rights and independence compared to the 1920’s, women still do not have freedom, and it is starting to feel like they never will. Education is so accessible, living conditions in this country are mostly of a good quality, everyone has phones to help keep them safe (in regards to sharing their whereabouts, being able to contact others instantly, etc), and there is still such a high rate of these brutal crimes against women, for just being women?

We remember all of the women and girls violently killed.

Mayo women murdered since 1922

Honora Kelly (47) - 1922, Lisloughna.
Mary Mulkeen (68) - 1932, Cullintra.
Annie Benson (54) - 1957, Kiltimagh.
Mary Josephine Rogers (21) - 1967, Kilmaine.
Annie Deane (63) - 1969, Srahnaplaia.
Mary Duffy (23) - 1976, Castlebar.
Mary Ann Moran (72) - 1982, Ballintober.
Lily Ormsby (55) - 1985, Ballina.
Lisa Marie Sweeney (17 months old) - 1995, Faranoo North.
Gillian Thornton (20) - 1997, Ballina.
Carmel Marrinan (61) - 2009, Derrymore.
Noreen Kelly Eadon (46) - 2011, Derrycreeve.
Sara Staunton (28) - 2013, Cnoc na Niúr.
Kitty Fitzgerald (72) - 2016, Ballinrobe.
Valerie French Kilroy (41) - 2019, Kilbree Lower.

MORE

See the full report at https://femicideireland.blogspot.com/2024/01/100-years-of-femicide-in-ireland-women.html