Women of all ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, and races widely experience intimate partner violence (IPV) which can include physical abuse, sexual abuse, stalking, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, and psychological abuse by an intimate partner (i.e., husband, ex-husband, boyfriend, ex-boyfriend). Women who have experienced some type of intimate partner violence are at a higher risk of being victims of intimate partner femicide.
Intimate partner femicide (IPF) is the killing of women by an intimate partner. The term femicide was first introduced in 1801 by journalist John Corry to refer to the murder of girls and women. The term was later reintroduced by feminist writer Dr. Russell in 1976 to portray the misogynist character of the killings of girls and women across the world.
From 2015 to 2020, the RGV reported about 30 cases of IPF (these reports were made available by the Texas Council on Family Violence Narratives). In 2020, the RGV reported a 400% increase in intimate partner homicides during the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, with Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra stating, “We had 1 murder in 2019 and in 2020 we had 5 murders.”
More than 34.4% of Latina women are victims of intimate partner violence during their lifetime, compared to 37.3% of women in the general population. The National Latin@ Network reports that 37.5% of Latinas living in cities along the U.S./Mexico border experience intimate partner violence. It is evident to state that Latina women from the RGV are at-risk of Femicide caused by an intimate partner.