We Get Killed Because We Are Women
You kill me because I am a woman? Who would have thought that a motive to murder would have been one’s sex. This is known as the femicide act, pinned by Jill Radford, Diana E. Russell and Jane Caputi . The dictionary states that femicide is, “the act of killing a woman, as by a domestic partner or a member of a criminal enterprise. Women are being killed because they are women. For a lot of men, in different countries, a woman means demonstrating that they are the dominant figure and that they are the most powerful. Men can go to extreme measure to show this. This can lead to abuse and then abuse leads to death/murder. Many sources indicate that there is not enough information on femicide. There has not been a lot of research on this topic. People, in countries that have always learned that women are inferior, do not do anything about this issue. Women have even learned that they are less. Due to this not many people report it. It has become a norm. It is nothing out of the ordinary. Latin American countries have been reported to be at the worst situation with femicide. In “Gender: Violence Against Women”, Nadine Gasman and Gabriela Alvarez women state that these countries suffer the most from femicide, “from 2003, show that seven Latin American countries score among the worst 10 nations when measuring the rate of femicide per one million women in 40 countries”. These statistics indicate that Latin American women are the women who are getting killed more.
Being a woman can take your life. Some women do not stand up at all. Some women, even, think it is normal for men to be so abusive. In other cases, women do stand up for themselves and when they do they get killed. For instance, in “The long road to justice, prosecuting femicide in Mexico”, the author states that many women in 2016 were killed and it was,in fact, gender related, “In Mexico, at least seven women were victims of gender-related killings every day in 2016”. What does this say about Mexico and violence against women? Sure, the horror of violence against women may not be as bad as it was years back; however, this was two years ago. This should not have to be a problem. On June 28th of 2010, Mariana Lima was killed by her abusive husband. Mariana had been in that toxic relationship for quite some time, but she had finally decided to leave her husband. Mariana’s mom, Irinea Buendia, says that before her daughter left, she said they were going to have lunch together. As one can guess, Mariana did not make it home. Right after the incident happened, the husband, Julio Hernandez, called Irinea and said Mariana had commited suicide. Irinea Buendia fought this case for six years to bring justice for her daughters death. This case would not have been investigated further if it would not have been for Buendia’s persistence. Mexico and other countries are so corrupted and so lenient when violence against women happens. This is the reason as to why people are not informed. This is why women do not stand up. The police do not help them. In “The long road to justice, prosecuting femicide in Mexico”, the author states that. “According to the Observatory, between January and June 2017, 800 women were murdered in 13 states across Mexico, out of which only 49 per cent of the deaths were investigated as femicide”. 49 percent of the 800 women that were killed were identified as femicide. These were only the cases that were investigated or even reported. How many more? How much more would he death rate for femicide increase if every single case would be reported?
Femicide happens all over the world. In “Latin American women’s problem:we keep getting murdered”, Adriana Esteves gives the summaries of different women, in different countries who were murdered by men. On October 8th of 2016, there was a Peruvian, pregnant woman found dead at a beach. The woman was not only found dead, but she had been found with signs of rape and with abusive language written on her leg. She was found badly beaten. On October 8th, in Argentina, Lucia Perez was kidnapped, drugged, and raped. Lucia’s heart eventually stopped and died. It is said that a group of men(gang) did this to her. Esteves states that Latin America is not the place for women, “Several studies have shown that Latin America is the worst place in the world to be a woman”. Not only do Latin american women get the most abuse; however, they also get murdered.
Femicide occurs in all places. The only difference is that it is recognized in some places better than in others. In many situations cases are not investigated; they are dropped. The law is corrupt. One would think that in America, the laws would be more equalling to women. However, they are not, “American law embodies a curious gender bias: it treats women and men differently in relation to violence, typically in ways that disadvantage women”. Lucinda Joy Peach, in “Is Violence Male? The Law, Gender, and Violence” states that the laws do not benefit women. The laws are corrupt. If the laws in America are not equal than how can we expect laws in more poor and less developed countries to be better. There is no awareness.
