‘One day without us’: women in Mexico protest femicides and promote equal rights
Photo courtesy of: TownDown/ Wikimedia Commons
On March 9, 2020, no women living in Mexico will attend school, work, go to the supermarket or do house chores. Making up 51.9 percent of the population, men will see the impact women have on Mexican society, since their roles are constantly undervalued.
Women have come up with an act of civil disobedience; on March 9, 2020, no women living in Mexico will attend school, work, go to the supermarket or do house chores. Making up 51.9 percent of the population, men will see the impact women have on Mexican society, since their roles are constantly undervalued.
Latin America is branded as one of the places in the world with extreme violence against women. Mexico is part of the long list of countries that have a large number of murdered women, with a high in 2019 of 95 women being killed every day. Women have been protesting for years, but haven’t been heard.
The idea first came from a collective feminist group called “The Witches of the Sea” on a tweet that immediatley went viral. The feminist group began to gain attention back in Sept. 2019, after an international protest for abortion rights. After their tweet, more media began to cover the future protest.
Soon after a renowned radio host, Adela Micha, in a segment of her radio show, Heraldo Radio, explained what is going to happen on March 9. “Today, March 9, 2020, women in Mexico are going to disappear to be heard, they don’t want to be part of the most painful statistics in the history of our country,” Micha said.
Many institutions including private and public universities, and government institutions are joining in on the protest. Although many are in favor of it, many private institutions are turning their backs on it, as it will cost the economy 26.3 billion pesos, which is around 1.3 billion US dollars, as women make up 45 percent of the labor force and 48.3 percent of the commercial and services sector.
The Mexican Employees Association (Coparmex) recommended to 36,000 different corporations that they give the day to their female employees: “For companies that, due to their turn or service, are unable to maintain their operation without the female labor sector, they could allow their collaborators to freely join the national strike #OneDayWithoutWomen #OneDayWithoutUs, by using the purple color in their garments dress during this day. In addition, they could promote some talk, workshop or commemorative event in the workplace,” they tweeted.
Your donation will support the student journalists of Walnut Hills High School. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment, cover our annual website hosting, printing costs and offset competition and conferences fees for students.
