A Man’s Perspective on Fixing the Femicide Issue in Mexico City
When I left for boarding school four years ago, even though I was much younger and naïve, I had the perception that Mexico City remained an oasis of safety in the middle of a dangerous country. And it was, but I came back to see all of that changed, as I began reading about the rising cases of femicide (the deprivation of a woman’s life on the basis of their gender), increasingly violent protests for protection and justice, and with my sister telling me how she would never go out alone again as she didn’t feel safe anymore. I quickly realized how the city’s situation regarding gender violence had quickly deteriorated, no longer being an exception where security reigned over crime.
Indeed, the capital’s situation concerning gender violence worsened drastically, with the number of investigations of femicide rising by 60% between 2018 and 2019. Mexico City slowly became the third state with most femicide cases in the country, registering 68 cases classified as such in 2019. However, many experts believe — and I agree with them — that the government’s data is inaccurate as many cases aren’t classified as femicide but simply as homicide and because many suspects walk free due to mistakes in the investigation processes and evidence storage. Moreover, Mexico City’s laws regarding femicide are less harsh than most states and federal law. Mexico City punishes acts of femicide with 20 to 50 years in prison, compared to the 40 to 60 years in federal law. Furthermore, Mexico City’s law makes it harder to classify a murder as a femicide as it includes less circumstances to categorize the crime as such and it doesn’t include aggravating factors when a public servant intervenes with the justice system. In short, it is clear that impunity is a major issue in the mounting cases of gender violence and the government must do something to bring justice to these victims.
To make matters worse, the majority of males tend to underplay the issues of gender violence and femicides, including the President. This year, women protested the impunity in cases of femicide and kidnappings by staying home on March 9th to show men how life would be if all of them disappeared. This was supposed to be a strong symbol to change people’s minds towards this issue, but many men simply laughed it off saying that it was a great day because no women were around to bother them. Additionally, as the feminist movement grew more aggressive and caused rioting in recent protests, men have disqualified their protests by arguing that they can’t demand respect with violence and by destroying the city. It is evident that this cognitive distortion of the severity of the issue must be addressed by changing men’s views towards it and re-educate them to support equality and respect and challenge their sexist ideologies.
The Mexico City government must take action to reverse the course of the rising femicide cases in the capital. From my perspective, a combination of efforts must be taken. First, legal framework must be modified to make sentences harsher, the criteria for classifying a homicide as femicide broader, and to ensure all cases are brought to justice. Second, the government must begin efforts to challenge male views on the issue of gender violence, educate young boys to respect women’s rights, and address the sexist beliefs widely held by many. Finally, they must also take on programs to make the city safer, to provide more support for women who face violence at home, and to clean up unsafe neighborhoods and public transportation lines were sexual harassment and gender violence reigns. Nevertheless, there are still questions I would like to answer in future research. How do the rising cases of femicide compare to the change in reports of homicide or other types of crime? What lies behind the sexist ideology held by many in Mexico City? What concrete programs could the government create to slow down the increase of femicides? Clearly, there are many questions left to be answered, but one thing is certain, Mexico City must fix the worsening issue of femicides before it becomes the state with most cases of gender-based homicides in the country.
Reference List *
https://www.forbes.com.mx/que-es-feminicidio-codigo-penal-mexico/
*I will properly cite these sources for my final draft
