The City of Femicide

By: Hannah Tiner

2 / 10 / 2016

My mother taught me to clutch my keys like a weapon when I walk to my car in the
dark, jagged bits of metal protruding like claws from my fist. I learned to fear shadowy
figures and listen for footsteps behind me. One out of five women in the U.S are victims of
sexual assault and 35% of women worldwide have experienced sexual and/or physical
violence, so it is not surprising that women are taught to live with a constant concern for
their safety.

One of the worst cases of brutality towards women in the western hemisphere can
be found just south of the Texas/Mexico border. Referred to as the City of Femicide,
Ciudad Jurez has experienced over two decades of rampant violence. The North American
Free Trade Agreement established the city in Chihuahua as a free-trade zone, welcoming
industrial assembly plants called maquiladoras. Women from Mexico and Central America
rushed to the city for employment, but many were met with assault and murder. Hundreds of
women have been viciously raped, tortured, and killed, their bodies often dismembered or
burned. Thousands more have gone missing.

The attacks are the result of a toxic mix of organized crime, an unstable
government, centuries of patriarchal customs, and hatred. The ideals of machismo and
marianismo are also an underlying factor in the homicides. These gender roles expect
women to be passive and domestic and men to be aggressive and dominant. The women
who went to Jurez challenged these gender roles by working outside of the house. The
violence may have been the result of women "gaining greater personal autonomy and
independence while men lost ground, according to Frontiers: A Journal of Women
Studies.

Corruption and negligence in the Mexican government worsened the situation . Of

the approximately 400 murders of young women in Jurez, there have been only a handful
convictions. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found Mexico guilty of discrimination
and inadequate investigating. Various laws have been put in place to protect women, but
without sufficient resources and enforcement, the death toll continues to rise.

Sadly, the situation in Jurez is not unique. All over the world, women face the
injustice of oppression and violence. Girls faces are disfigured by acid when they reject
marriage proposals, female infants are left to die, and more than 70% of rapes go
unreported. Gender-based violence is closely tied to poverty and illiteracy, making this an
economic concern as well. Womens well-being is a key indicator of the overall health and
productivity of a nation. Therefore, ending violence against women and challenging the
misogyny that fuels the attacks does not only help women, but society as a whole.
 The key to eradicating these evils lies in what former Secretary of State Clinton calls
the unfinished business of the twenty-first century - the improvement of womens rights.
Local, national, and global lawmakers must cooperate to elevate the status of women,
prevent violence, and rightfully punish perpetrators. Affordable healthcare treatment for
sexual assault victims will allow for more women to come forward and report the crimes.
Implementation of zero-tolerance policies in regards to gender-discrimination and
harassment will keep offenders responsible for their actions.

Programs like the U.N.s UNITE to End Violence Against Women campaign serve as
a great first step in this uphill battle. However, policy does not change deeply-rooted sexism
overnight. The task before us is not simple, but as the families in Jurez say, Ni Una Ms,
not one more girl deserves this cruelty and injustice.