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Querying feminicide data in Mexico

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Abstract

jats:p The full extent of feminicide in Mexico remains unknown. When available, data on the gender-related killing of women and girls are often incomplete, inaccurate, or inexplicable. In this article, a sociologist (Saide) and a statistician (Maria) query feminicide data in Mexico. Drawing on Timnit Gebru et al.’s ‘datasheets for datasets’ and Sarah Holland et al.’s ‘data nutrition label’ frameworks, we zoom in on the two primary governmental sources measuring feminicide in the country, the mortality records processed by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI) and the alleged feminicide investigation files published by the Secretariado Ejecutivo del Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Pública (SESNSP). In the discussion, we shed light on two noteworthy remarks. First, the discordance between INEGI and SESNSP data, whereby we outline four crucial variations: naming, underreporting, comparability, and availability. Second, the shortcomings of these data sources in measuring feminicide as we understand it sociologically. In other words, neither explicitly gauge the ‘gender-related’ motivation underlying the crime. Instead, what data from INEGI and SESNSP currently provide us with are discordant approximations of the phenomenon, aligning with what Sandra Walklate and Kate Fitz-Gibbon define as ‘thin’ feminicide counts. This contribution seeks to act as a guide to better understand feminicide data in Mexico, to enhance effective communication between data creators and users concerned with data-making practices, and to ignite the querying of data engaging with social justice and accountability against feminicide and beyond. </jats:p>

Description

Peer reviewed: True


Funder: Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología; FundRef: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003141


Funder: Cambridge Trust; FundRef: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003343

Keywords

4402 Criminology, 44 Human Society, Minority Health

Journal Title

International Sociology

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0268-5809
1461-7242

Volume Title

39

Publisher

SAGE Publications
Sponsorship
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/P000592/1)