The Government is being urged to review cases where women are killed by their current or former partner.
Statistics show men who are convicted of the manslaughter of a woman they know serve less time.
It is believed this is because their relationship is seen as a mitigating factor in sentencing rather than an aggravating one.
Minister Regina Doherty said this is unfair and that she would like it to change.
"Your home is supposed to be sacred - it is supposed to be where you go to escape the normal trivial stuff that goes on in the rest of the world," she said.
"It's where you go home to be yourself, to put your slippers on, to be loved, to be cared [for], to be minded. It is not where you go to be abused by somebody you have fallen in love with and put your trust in."