Femicide

Femicide in Latin America and the United States

 "Crimes against women permeate Latin American culture and society. Defined by the United Nations (UN), femicide is, "a crime involving the violent and deliberate killing of a woman" because of her gender. Although femicide refers to cases resulting in deaths of women, other forms of gender discrimination include degradation of women on a physical, psychological, economic, or sexual level. Of the 32 countries where femicide most frequently occurs, Latin American countries represent 17 of them. Mexico, ranked sixth in the world for crimes against women, has seen a rise in femicide by 46 percent since 2013. In February 2016, the Mexican state of Jalisco felt obligated to declare a “gender alert,” due to the systemic violence targeting women. Femicide statistics in Mexico are frightening. On average, seven women are killed each day as a result of gender violence, a rate 15 times higher than the world’s average. Husbands, boyfriends, or family members commit 66 percent of femicide attacks. To make matters worse, these numbers are likely underestimated since many cases are either not reported or classified properly."

    - Malone Gabor. "Femicide: Not one more"

 

"More than 40 percent of femicide victims in Mexico knew their killer, and femicides are particularly brutal crimes: women are more likely than men to be killed by strangulation, drowning, suffocation, and stabbing. These astounding statistics have an impact on the perception of security in Mexico as 77 percent of Mexican women report not feeling safe."

    - Linnea Sandin. "Femicides in Mexico: Impunity and Protests"

 

Number of femicides in Mexico from January 2019 to December 2021:

 

  

 

 

 

ig @feminist_collages_nyc  Photo by @colin.cauldwell (posted November 2, 2021)

 

"On average, there are 5 to 6 femicides every day in the U.S."

 

 

 @feminist_collages_nyc (posted April 30, 2021)

"50% to 75% of fatal domestic violence happens when women try to leave the relationship or after they have left. The total number of women killed by an intimate partner in the U.S., regardless of the weapon, is closer to 127 per month (based on the 2017 figure)."

 

 

  

 

I first heard the word "femicide" when reading about hundreds of women who went missing in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. They would be found murdered, dismembered, and mutilated, or they would never be found again. The Mexican government was not showing that they were concerned with this dire issue. Mexican women protested against the government who were not prosecuting the men who committed femicide. In most cases, it is known who murders the thousands of women killed so far. They are male, and they are the women’s partners, family members, or an unknown man (or men) that a woman comes into contact with while walking home, or while riding a bus. I later found out femicides were also occurring in other countries in Latin America and in the United States. Since then, I have found out femicide is prevalent in many other parts of the world.

This issue is important to me because the number of women and girls who are being killed is increasing and instead of being addressed, governments are not acknowledging what is happening or not interested in locating and prosecuting the men responsible. Awareness of this issue needs to be spread across the world so that more people will learn about what femicide is and work towards ending it.

Blog post created by: Priscilla Palato

 

Activism

"The impunity situation in Ciudad Juárez provoked many citizens to join, organize, or create social movement organizations. The general goal of these movements is to address the impunity and lack of police and government action relating to femicide. The organizations use social movement framing to present their concerns and proposed solutions to the government and the public."

   - Chelsea Starr. "When Culture Matters: Frame Resonance and Protests against Femicide in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico"

                                                                                                                   

 

Local art collective “Los Dos” in collaboration with Maintain Studios present mural in Juarez in celebration of “Dia internacional de la lucha.” https://www.theprospectordaily.com/2020/03/02/feminists-fight-for-change-through-artivism/

A mural in Cali, Colombia aims to raise public awareness about violence against women. (Ellas Hacen Falta). https://deeply.thenewhumanitarian.org/womenandgirls/articles/2017/11/01/street-artists-challenge-sexism-with-spray-paint-in-colombias-cities

 

 

"Women Are Being Killed With Impunity in Mexico" 

(WARNING: This video contains graphic content.)

 

 

"Mexico's Historic March Against Femicide"

 

 "Feminist Collages: The Fight to be Seen"

 

 

 

 

Additional reading (not used as a source):

"Disappearing Daughters" https://projects.seattletimes.com/2020/femicide-juarez-mexico-border/

 

 

Sources:

  

Albaladejo, Angelika. “Street Artists Challenge Sexism with Spray Paint in Columbia’s Cities.” The New Humanitarian, 1 Nov. 2017, deeply.thenewhumanitarian.org/womenandgirls/articles/2017/11/01/street-artists-challenge-sexism-with-spray-paint-in-colombias-cities.

Feminist Collages NYC [@feminist_collages_nyc]. “She Leaves Him He Kills Her.” Instagram, photographed by Feminist Collages NYC Collective, 30 Apr. 2021, www.instagram.com/p/COS5Lt1ArYB/.

Feminist Collages NYC [@feminist_collages_nyc]. “To Our Sisters Murdered in 2021 We Won’t Forget You.” Instagram, photographed by Colin Cauldwell [@colin.cauldwell], 2 Nov. 2021, www.instagram.com/p/CVyF54Err0R/.

“Feminist Collages: The Fight to be Seen.” YouTube, uploaded by Nichole Tan, 22 June 2021, youtu.be/HOZbtArWlsI.

Gabor, Malone. “Femicide: Not One More.” Council on Hemispheric Affairs, 24 Oct. 2016, www.coha.org/femicide-not-one-more/.

Martinez, Jaqueline. “Feminists fight for change through ‘artivism’.” The Prospector Daily, 2 Mar. 2020, www.theprospectordaily.com/2020/03/02/feminists-fight-for-change-through-artivism/.

“Mexico’s Historic March Against Femicide.” YouTube, uploaded by Brut America, 29 May 2020, youtu.be/P0a5cBxPJ_I.

“Number of femicides in Mexico from January 2019 to December 2021.” Statista, Jan. 2022, www.statista.com/statistics/979076/mexico-number-femicides-month/.

Sandin, Linnea. “Femicides in Mexico: Impunity and Protests.” Center For Strategic & International Studies, 19 Mar. 2020, www.csis.org/analysis/femicides-mexico-impunity-and-protests.

Starr, Chelsea. “When Culture Matters: Frame Resonance and Protests against Femicide in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.” The Qualitative Report, vol. 22, no. 5, 20 May 2017, pp. 1359-1378, DOAJ Open Access Full Text, doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2017.2967.

“Women Are Being Killed With Impunity in Mexico.” YouTube, uploaded by VICE News, 17 Aug. 2020, youtu.be/NO3uj81X7O8.