Gender Violence in Mexico: "Let Me Know When You Reach Home" Raising our Voices

Image Source:  Twitter @Santiago_Arau

By: Ana Herrera

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the KCL Latin American Society or El Cortao.

“Amiga, compárteme tu ubicación y avísame cuando llegues a casa” (“My friend, share your live location and let me know when you reach home”). In Mexico, this is the message that most women send to another to take care of each other due to the rise of violence against them. Today, eight out of ten Mexican women feel unsafe in the country. Why does making a journey from one place to another have to be worrying and scaring for women? Do only men deserve the privilege to arrive home without fear? 

It is estimated that every day, an average of ten females are killed in the country. All of them have names, dreams, expectations and lives that are taken away. They are daughters, sisters, mothers, friends, students and professionals who are killed just because of their gender.

During January of the current year, 320 women were killed in Mexico, the double than the same period in 2019. But, how do we know whether this is dramatic or not? Well, in the country there are seven municipalities that have exactly the same number of females as part of their population. Therefore, in the first month of 2020, the number of women that were killed in Mexico is equivalent to the whole female population of one of those municipalities. 

Currently, the crisis in Mexico is evident and cannot be hidden. Official records suggest that 2019 was the most violent year in Mexico’s history. Nearly 4,000 women were killed, that represent an increase of 77.7% compared to 2015. Though, 1,010 of those homicides were categorised as feminicides, the highest number since 2015. According to the Wold Health Organisation (WHO), a feminicide is usually perpetrate by men (frequently a partner or ex-partners) and involve ongoing abuse in the home, threats or intimidation, sexual violence or situations where women have less power or fewer resources than their partner. 

However, the reality is more than just statistics and numbers. Sadly, Mexico is full of tragic stories where women are kidnapped, raped, killed, or the three acts. Unfortunately, new tragedies like these come up every day in the country. One of the most shocking and brutal recent feminicide that caused outrage in Mexico was the case of Ingrid Escamilla. She was a young woman who was killed by her partner, she was mutilated, and her organs and skin were removed. Along this atrocity, Mexican authorities were not able to protect Ingrid even when she was already dead. Leaked images of her mutilated body were shared and posted by a Mexican newspaper and social media, assaulting her memory.

A week after, another barbaric killing happened in Mexico. Now, the victim was a seven-years old girl, Fátima Aldrighett. Her innocence, happiness and dreams were taken away by a woman who kidnapped her and a man who committed sexual abused of her. Her body was found dumped in a plastic bag with signs of abuse. 

Those two cases, among many others, show that women’s attackers do not distinguish between age or vulnerability, the atrocity is the same. Mexican women are angry and determined to shift the current situation. We demand equality not only for economic opportunities but also for the access to justice. We are not willing to live with fear anymore for the sexual harassment that we face daily on public transportation and the streets. And, we will never accept the fact that when a woman is killed nothing happens.

Tackling the feminicide crisis concerns the Mexican government, but also society. On the one hand, Mexico has an urgent necessity of having a solid rule of law to fight against impunity. There is not time for good intentions and wishes, because every day 10 more Mexican women are likely to be killed. So, how many more lives have to be taken to start acting? On the other hand, as a society, we need to change the way we treat women and erase the gender stereotypes that rule our behaves. It is time to empower girls, and the only way to do it is through the education and example, which starts at home.

Finally, I would like to say that this article does not aim to demand pity or just empathy with women. On the contrary, it is to illustrate that we are more powerful than ever, but to reach our demands of security and justice we also need the support of the whole society. On 8th March 2020, more than 80,000 people protest against the feminicide crisis in Mexico. The Mexican women showed how resilient and powerful we are. We are commitment to continue promoting the changes that are necessary to obtain justice for all the women that are no longer here, and security for those we still alive. It has been demonstrated that a woman is not alone, there are thousands of other females that are willing to support and take care of her.

Ana Herrera is a postgraduate student of MSc in Public Policy and Management at King’s College London. She is from Mexico, where she mainly has worked on fields such as poverty, gender gap and development. Currently, she is researching about the role of technological tools to alleviate poverty in developing countries like Mexico.