Between April 1 and May 4, 2020, nine women and girls were killed in Canada. Police believe all of them died at the hands of a man in their lives — a husband, father, son or boyfriend.

One unfortunately common reaction to those numbers is to say, “Oh, right; the pandemic. People isolated at home together.” That reaction isn’t meant as an excuse, of course, but it does come across as some kind of explanation — as if pandemic-related fear and stress, no matter how severe, is an understandable, albeit unforgivable, reason for murder.

But a man’s killing of his daughter or mother or partner is never an acceptable result of any situation. A killer isn’t “driven to it” by circumstances; he chooses to take his feelings of rage or inadequacy out on the nearest female. In the past, maybe he called her horrible names or slapped her or took away her car keys or cut her off from her family. This time, he went all the way and killed her.

The thing is, this rate of femicide — the murder of a girl or woman because of her gender—is really pretty normal. Figures from the office of Maryam Monsef, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development, estimate that a woman is killed by an intimate partner every six days in Canada.

Maybe we need to stop trying to explain the reasons, and stop being surprised at the reality of men’s violence against women. It’s not okay that one woman has been killed every four days during this time of isolation. It’s not okay that one woman is killed every six days in normal circumstances.

After all, there’s only one acceptable number when it comes to women killed by the men in their lives: zero.