The geography of femicide in Sergipe, Brazil: matriarchy, human development, and income distribution

This research analyzed a joint spatial distribution and explored the possible associations between epidemiological aspects and feminicide rates, in towns of the Sergipe State in Northeastern Brazil.

An exploratory ecological study investigated the global spatial autocorrelation of epidemiological aspects with femicide rates from towns in Sergipe State, Brazil, (n = 75), in the 2013-2017 period, using the "global" and "local" Moran statistic method and a multiple spatial regression. The exposure variables included socioeconomic and demographic conditions, services and health condition, and femicide rates. We used the software Stata 11.0, SPSS 18.0 and GeoDa 0.95-i.

The spatial distribution of femicide rates was not random and showed high spatial autocorrelation and predominance of significant spatial groupings of towns with the highest mortality rates due to femicide in the central region of Sergipe State. In the multiple regression analysis, the percentage of women in charge of families and the Municipal Human Development Index were positively associated with the femicide rates in towns in Sergipe's municipalities in the studied period (p < 0.05). The opposite situation occurred between the Income Concentration Index (GINI) and the femicide rates.

This is the first study that has analyzed the factors associated with the spatial clusters of femicide rates in a geographical space where there is a predominance of patriarchal culture. There was a femicide increase in locations with the lowest social inequality, the highest human development and authority exercised by women in the family environment.