For the past 25 years, the women of Juarez, Mexico have been kidnapped, raped, beaten and murdered by the fellow men in their society. Each day, six women die, and they die because they were born a woman. These horrible events are called femicides. There is a huge difference between femicides and a murder of a woman, that not many people know about. A murder of a woman is a murder that has nothing to do with their gender, where as a femicide is a murder because the fact that someone is a woman. And there are burned and previously raped female bodies in sewage canals and water tanks that are not being investigated because of the male supremacists of Juarez.
Since the 1990's, these murders are not being treated as seriously as they should be. Recently when a girl has been murdered in this area of Mexico, authorities have been brushing them off and not giving consequences to those who have raped and tortured the women. Men are easily getting away with torturing these citizens; and when one can get away with it, the rest think it's OK to do it, too. In some cases, they rule the deaths as suicides when they are clearly femicides. As to why the authorities of Juarez are not doing anything about it: it is a male dominated society. Many of the men of the household demand respect, and when they do not receive it, they can take it out on the woman of the household.
Most of the deaths occur due to hate crimes for the female gender. Many of the men see the women of Juarez as objects and territory and due to that, they believe they can do whatever they want with and to them. Mothers, sisters and daughters of the victims are living their everyday lives with not only grief, but fear that they are next. Juarez, Mexico is seen as one of the most dangerous places in the world to live as a girl or woman.
As a country, we need to raise awareness for the women of Mexico. As they protest, themselves, in Juarez with pink crosses to represent femicides and to fight for justice of those who died and those who might in the future, we need to stand beside them. I bet majority of the people reading this article now didn't even know that these femicides were not only occurring in Mexico, but increasing each day. I bet you didn’t even know that femicide is a word. Hate crimes need to stop not only in Juarez, but everywhere. Stand up for women’s rights, and help stand for the women of Juarez to find justice. It has been happening for far too long.
