Perceptions of Middle Aged Men and Women about Women Killers

Saba Walayat, Syeda Salma Hasan & Asir Ajmal

Abstract
The present study was conducted to investigate the indigenous perspective of Pakistani
women killers .Survey research design was used to explore the possible perceptions for the
murders committed by Pakistani women. The data was drawn from middle aged male and
females (n=200) with an equal distribution of gender. Purposive convenient sampling was
used. The participants were asked to write their perceptions regarding killings by women.
The responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The exploratory study indicated
that 23% middle aged women perceived that women commit murders in self defense, 19%
perceived it to be an attempt to protect their children, 18% perceived that murder is usually
the last limit to compromise while 14% perceived that it’s a reaction against situation. On the
other hand, 20% of middle aged men perceived that murder can be the result of self defense,
20% perceived that it is due to extramarital affairs, 14% perceived that women kill for
economic reasons or poverty while 14% perceived that either it is not possible for women or
they don’t know about the possible reasons behind killings by women. This study has wider
implications for the forensic psychologists and women killers significant others to develop
an insight that how a victim becomes a killer.

Key words: Perceptions, Killings by Women, Indigenous Perspective, Self -defense