These unfortunate events are accompanied by the orphaning of children and family trauma.
The high figure puts the authorities in alarm as they face, on the social field, one of their main challenges.
The numbers corroborate that current public policies are insufficient to stop homicides against women in the domestic or work environment.
The Dominican Republic, which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with Haiti, has a population of 11,270,827 inhabitants. Men represent about 52% of the population and the rest is made up of women.
To understand why so many women are murdered in this country, it is necessary to analyze, more than the facts themselves, the causes of a worrying social phenomenon for the government and above all for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and organizations defending gender equality.
One of the indicators that shows the excessive violence is to be found, according to these sources, in the socio-economic situation of the population.
This nation shows one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America and the Caribbean in the last decade, driven by services. The Gross Domestic Product recovered (4,9% average growth) after the Covid-19 pandemic, in line with the rise of tourism, its main source of income.
However, not all social sectors are progressing equally and their living conditions are not even improving.
The Monetary Poverty bulletin issued in 2022 by the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development highlighted that the percentage of women in this condition is 29,37%, four points higher than men, 25,84%, which results in them being considered inferior social figures.
This is evidenced by unjustified wage gaps, occupational segmentation in lower paid activities, short working lives and higher unemployment.
Reality shows that the male part of Dominican society does not see their female counterparts as equals, which they also abuse homes. In many cases they command and women obey.
In addition to all this, there is a deep-rooted machismo in the Dominican Republic, based on the belief in male superiority; traditional gender roles are maintained and assign women a role of submission and dependence, relegating them to household chores, and there is a culture of intimidation.
In addition, impunity surrounds these crimes. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), last year only 16% of the cases of femicides was brought to justice, and only five percent of the perpetrators of these crimes were sentenced to death.
Fundación Vida Sin Violencia (Life without Violence Foundation) and other organizations insist on the urgency of a law that creates the Integral System for the Prevention, Attention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women, which continues to be an undone task by legislators.
The referred bill, presented by the Executive to the National Congress at the end of last year, establishes the typification of femicide and punishes it with sentences ranging from 30 to 40 years, penalties that would be aggravated when the crime is committed against a girl or adolescent, over 65 years of age and with some type of disability.
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