A march will take place on International Women’s Day in Bristol to remember women who lost their lives to male violence in 2022. A list of 107 women killed in 2022 has been compiled by Karen Ingala Smith, who began counting them in 2009 and co-founded what is now the Femicide Census.
The Bristol Feminist Collective, which is organising the March 8 demonstration, is encouraging people to bring candles, lights, placards and signs. The march starts at 6pm on College Green with 107 lilies being held up to represent each woman murdered last year in the UK.
Organisers say they hope to raise awareness of ‘the dangerous society women and others subjected to misogyny live in and to wake people from the false idea that feminism has already achieved its goal’. The route of the march and the speakers are yet to be confirmed.
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Bristol Feminist Collective member Annie said: "Despite more laws and resources being put towards tackling male violence, it's not enough. It's not a problem that will go away any time soon unless we all get together and fight it with everything we've got. In a world where a trans girl Brianna Ghey is killed, police officers assault, abuse and kill women and the far-right gather in their hundreds outside hotels where migrants are housed, we cannot sit by quietly. All these issues are connected and it is time for us all to join forces and take action."
A report from the 2020 femicide census shows that in 52 per cent of the cases of women killed, the perpetrator a current or former partner, statistically lower than other years. Around a quarter were killed by their own sons, a figure that has been on the rise since 2016.
Although the vast majority of those charged already know the victim, the nature of their relationship is not always confirmed and in some cases where the cause of death is unknown, the figure could be higher.
While men’s violence against women had already been the leading cause of premature death for women globally, in the UK the figure dramatically increased over the lockdown with the 2021 figures being significantly higher than previous years. Campaigners hope that the research and awareness raising will bring more attention to the patterns of behaviour that lead to many of these deaths.
Bristol Feminist Collective welcome all genders to the demo next Wednesday at 6pm that will be followed by a social event in Stokes Croft. You can find the full details on Eventbrite or Facebook.
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