Femicide: many countries around the world are making the killing of women a specific crime – here’s why it’s needed

In 1782, a judge in England gave husbands the right to use violence on their wives as long as any implement used was not thicker than their thumb. This standard of measurement led to the coining of the term “rule of thumb”. Society has thankfully made enough progress to find such archaic ideas abhorrent…. UN data shows that, on average, five women or girls are killed every hour by someone in their own family.