{"id":17685,"date":"2019-08-25T20:02:51","date_gmt":"2019-08-25T20:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=17685"},"modified":"2019-08-26T04:47:20","modified_gmt":"2019-08-26T04:47:20","slug":"mexican-women-are-angry-about-rape-murder-and-government-neglect-and-they-want-the-world-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/mexican-women-are-angry-about-rape-murder-and-government-neglect-and-they-want-the-world-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexican women are angry about rape, murder and government neglect \u2013 and they want the world to know"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luis G\u00f3mez Romero<\/a>, University of Wollongong<\/a><\/em> and Mar\u00eda de la Macarena Iribarne Gonz\u00e1lez<\/a>, University of Wollongong<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Wearing green bandannas and dousing police in pink glitter<\/a>, Mexican women on Aug. 16 staged a furious protest<\/a> in Mexico City after a 17-year-old girl reported being raped by four police officers earlier in the month.<\/p>\n

Officials have sent mixed signals about ongoing investigations of the case, and Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum triggered fury among feminists when she said there would be no \u201cfabrication of suspects<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The alleged police rape has hit a nerve in Mexico, where women face extremely high rates of violence and incessant catcalling<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another teen girl was reported being raped by a Mexico City policeman<\/a> days before the women\u2019s march, which drew an estimated 2,000 people and included both violent property destruction<\/a> and wrenching tributes<\/a> to Mexico\u2019s missing women and girls.<\/p>\n

With 1,812 women<\/a> murdered between January and July this year \u2013 about 10 a day \u2013 Mexico is Latin America\u2019s second-most dangerous country for women<\/a>, after Brazil, according to the United Nations. More than 200 Mexican women have been kidnapped so far in 2019.<\/p>\n

Yet Mexican President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador \u2013 who was elected last year in a landslide<\/a> with a progressive gender agenda<\/a> and promises to \u201ctransform\u201d Mexico \u2013 has not followed through on promises to expand women\u2019s rights. In fact, his administration has rolled back some the few federal policies designed to protect and empower Mexican women.<\/p>\n

Women in the workplace<\/h2>\n

Under austerity measures meant to curb public spending, the Mexican government in February ended<\/a> an internationally lauded<\/a> day care program that allowed low-income families to sign up for state-subsidized<\/a> child care close to their workplace or home.<\/p>\n

Rather than pay subsidies to this network of private day care facilities, the Mexican government now gives vouchers worth about US$80<\/a> every two months directly to families.<\/p>\n

Each family may now decide whether to send their children to day care or pay \u201ca sister, an aunt or a grandma,\u201d L\u00f3pez Obrador said in a February press conference<\/a>, giving parents more choice in their child care.<\/p>\n

The suggestion that female relatives should care for Mexico\u2019s children infuriated women\u2019s groups and human rights organizations<\/a> in Mexico.<\/p>\n

In a joint statement<\/a>, 17 civil society groups said the new policy would \u201cstrengthen gender streotypes\u201d and \u201cpromote discrimination and gender inequality.\u201d It reminded the president that women do 70% of all domestic work in Mexico and that grandmothers already care for 50% of all young children not in their parents\u2019 care.<\/p>\n

\"\"
President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador remains popular in Mexico, with an approval rating consistently above 60%.<\/span>
\nAP Photo\/Fernando Llano<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mexico\u2019s subsidized child care network, which has served 2 million children<\/a> since it was established in 2007<\/a>, has been successful in enabling more women to work outside the home.<\/p>\n

According to a 2017 government evaluation<\/a>, the day care network had relieved 1,825,394 parents of child care duties for 34 hours a week over the past decade. A significant percentage of the communities served by the day care network were either very poor or home to a predominately indigenous population<\/a>, according to the U.N. Women were the primary beneficiaries.<\/p>\n

Mothers who used government subsidized day care were 18% more likely to have gotten a job between 2007 and 2017 compared to those who did not receive government-subsidized child care, according to a government program evaluation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even so, Mexico still has the second-lowest female participation in the workforce among developed countries, behind Turkey. Only 4 out of 10 women are employed outside the home<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Defunding women\u2019s shelters<\/h2>\n

The Mexican government disappointed feminists again when the government announced in March that it would additionally slash funding<\/a> for women\u2019s shelters and instead give the money directly to victims of domestic violence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Worldwide, women are most likely to be murdered by a male partner and may be unsafe in their own homes<\/a>, making shelters a vital sanctuary.<\/p>\n

In Mexico, the number of women stabbed or strangled at home rose 54%<\/a> between 2012 and 2016. In March 2019, the same month the cuts were announced, Mexican police received 56,590 reports<\/a> of domestic violence \u2013 a 16% increase over February 2019.<\/p>\n

The plan to stop funding women\u2019s shelters funding was met with immediate and fierce backlash<\/a>. Advocates<\/a> for victims of domestic violence warned<\/a> that cutting shelter funding would expose women and children to even more danger.<\/p>\n

Public uproar forced L\u00f3pez Obrador to retreat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe women\u2019s shelters will remain,\u201d he said on March 7, announcing a new plan to expand the Mexican government\u2019s role in the \u201cprotection, attention, punishment and eradication of violence against women and girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s shelters have nonetheless seen substantial budget cuts<\/a> under the government\u2019s austerity measures<\/a>. News reports in June revealed that 29% of Mexico\u2019s 81 publicly funded domestic violence shelters<\/a> received no federal funding at all for the second half of the year.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s rights \u2018not a priority\u2019<\/h2>\n

L\u00f3pez Obrador, a leftist firebrand who won the Mexican presidency in a landslide<\/a>, remains very popular<\/a> eight months into his six-year term.<\/p>\n

To quell criticism that it doesn\u2019t care about women, his administration in late May announced the launch of a European Union and United Nations program in Mexico to eliminate violence against women.<\/p>\n

The investment of \u20ac7 million, or about $7.7 million, is called the Spotlight Initiative<\/a>. It will target three Mexican states with high rates of violence against women<\/a>: Mexico state, Chihuahua and Guerrero.<\/p>\n

The EU program\u2019s goals are to design public spaces that are safer for women, facilitate women\u2019s access to justice and protection services and to \u201cfundamentally change the perception of women within their families and in society.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the European Union told<\/a> the Spanish newspaper El Pa\u00eds that L\u00f3pez Obrador initially rejected this initiative because gender \u201cwas not a priority\u201d for his government.<\/p>\n

After the Mexico City women\u2019s march, L\u00f3pez Obrador defended his government\u2019s dedication to women\u2019s issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s our main issue \u2013 to guarantee the safety of men and women,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The president also criticized demonstrators for defacing a famous monument with feminist slogans. He urged Mexican women to protest in a \u201cresponsible way, without violence<\/a>,\u201d and to \u201cprotect the cultural and artistic patrimony of Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story, originally published<\/a> July 10, 2019, has been updated.<\/em><\/p>\n

[ You\u2019re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation\u2019s authors and editors.<\/em> You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter<\/a>. ]\"The<\/p>\n

Luis G\u00f3mez Romero<\/a>, Senior Lecturer in Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Legal Theory, University of Wollongong<\/a><\/em> and Mar\u00eda de la Macarena Iribarne Gonz\u00e1lez<\/a>, Lecturer, School of Law, University of Wollongong<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luis G\u00f3mez Romero, University of Wollongong and Mar\u00eda de la Macarena Iribarne Gonz\u00e1lez, University of Wollongong Wearing green bandannas and dousing police in pink glitter, Mexican women on Aug. 16 staged a furious protest in Mexico City after a 17-year-old girl reported being raped by four police officers earlier in the month. Officials have sent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":17684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[4731,6838,6837,3385,6839,1336,1440,3382,3379,185,1591],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17685"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17685"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17689,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17685\/revisions\/17689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}