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Femicide

Why Women Will Prove More Vulnerable Than Men In This Pandemic Moment Of Economic Crisis

Before I found myself “sheltering in place,” this article was to be about women’s actions around the world to mark March 8th, International Women’s Day. From Pakistan to Chile, women in their millions filled the streets, demanding that we be able to control our bodies and our lives. Women came out in Iraq and Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Peru, the Philippines and Malaysia. In some places, they risked beatings by masked men. In others, they demanded an end to femicide -- the millennia-old reality that women in this world are murdered daily simply because they are women. This year’s celebrations were especially militant. It’s been 45 years since the United Nations declared 1975 the International Women’s Year and sponsored its first international conference on women in Mexico City. Similar conferences followed at five-year intervals, culminating in a 1995 Beijing conference, producing a platform that has in many ways guided international feminism ever since.

Mexican Women Plan Historic Strike Against Femicides

On 10 February, two Mexican newspapers published leaked photos of the mutilated body of Ingrid Escamilla, a 25-year-old woman who was murdered and skinned from head to toe by her boyfriend. Five days later, on 15 February, the body of a seven-year-old girl named Fátima, who had been reported missing, was found in a plastic bag. She had been kidnapped, raped, tortured and had her organs removed. In Mexico, where an average of ten women are murdered each day, many are growing restless – and angry at this level of violence. Tens of thousands are expected to take to the streets on Sunday 8 March, as part of protests happening around the world for International Women’s Day. But recent news of gruesome femicides – murders with suspected or confirmed gender-related motives – and the government’s perceived indifference have driven women to also organise a nationwide strike the next day, 9 March, under the banner #UnDíaSinNosotras (#ADayWithoutUs).

Thousands March Against Femicide In Argentina

Thousands of protesters marched on June 3 in Buenos Aires and dozens of other cities across Argentina against violence towards women. Shortly before 5 p.m. on Wednesday, massive crowds of protesters gathered in the Dos Congresos square outside of the National Congress in Buenos Aires. Almost 200,000 people, according to Argentine news agency Telam, participated in the march. The protesters demanded an end to gender violence in the country, and the organizers asked politicians in attendance to sign a five-point promise to put an end to femicide. “Femicide is the most extreme form of violence that crosses every social class, beliefs or ideas,” organizers read from a statement on stage outside of Argentina’s Congressaccording to the Buenos Aires Herald.
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