What’s Happening with Women in Mexico?

In 2019, the Secretariat of Public Security declared there had been 976 femicides in the country. 

In the first 50 days of 2020 there were 250 women murdered, 20 of them being only 14 years-old or younger.

On August 6, 2019, a young woman denounced 4 cops who kidnapped and raped her. Days after the accusation was levelled, the cops walked free because there was no ‘real evidence’, not even the doctor who examined her wanted to follow protocol and continue with the prosecution.

Due to the government’s response, in August 2019 the whole country held peaceful protests and the social media hashtag #NoMeCuidanMeViolan (I’m not protected, I’m raped), was born.

3 days after this happened, there were 2 other reports of women being raped by police on the streets of Mexico.

On August 12, 2019, the protests continued and the Secretary of Security said, “We’re getting insulted by these radicalized protests”.

Instead of alarming the country and addressing the amount of femicides and rape that have been happening, the media decided to turn the focus onto the protesters and call them violent.

In November 2019, Abril Pérez was murdered while driving with her kids. This was after she denounced her husband (former director of Amazon México who is still free, with no charges having been laid) for trying to murder her a short time before. The judge ruled against her and set him free. This same judge has ruled against women in other violent assault and rape cases. 

February 2020, Ingrid Escamilla was brutally murdered and mutilated by her male partner and hours later,  the media published uncensored photos of the victim’s body. 

This is what caused the protests to continue and women in face masks even escalated to burning media facilities. 

At the same time, Mexico's General Attorney, responsible for the investigation of federal murders, proposed to delete the crime of femicide and substitute it with a regular homicide.

Now Mexican women all over the country are taking a stand to demand that their judicial system protect them and not turn their backs on the violence against women just because they’re women. Some protests have involved burning and graffiti, but largely remain peaceful, and the media still sees fit to blame women for demanding their rights.

March 8th, International working women day, there’s a march to be held internationally but,
this Monday 9th, March 2020, Mexican women will take a new stand, a silent protest.

 ‘A day without women’, to simulate a scenario where all women disappear, as so many have because of femicide and violence.

This protest calls for women to not buy anything, not go to work, to school, to the doctor, to do their housework, etc. It calls on them to abstain from all of the activities they would normally pursue to show the people of Mexico what it would be like if women disappeared. It would be like they don’t exist.

At Flying Saucer more than 60% of the team are women, and four of us are Mexican. We will join this protest because even as a remote team, our lives are affected day after day by gender violence. 

We share this as our story, but this it’s not only happening in Mexico, it’s happening around the world. Women are still being persecuted for deciding for themselves and their own bodies, the pay gap is a real issue and violence against women exists as part of many cultures. We want to raise our voice as an international company and remind you that women are managing, designing, editing, creating and generally making real your innovative products and ideas. We are working with you to make the world a better place through technology, but violence against women needs to stop, and for it to do so, we need to acknowledge that it exists. We need to demand better from our institutions, our legislation, and our government. We demand better.