Ancillary 8
The typification of this relatively new form of crime or gender-based homicide known as “feminicide” results from the rising numbers of violent female homicides committed by men over the past two decades. Although it may seem hard to believe that gender violence is a reoccurring issue in today’s society, violence towards women is a problem incrementing in numbers in several countries. According to the World Health Organization, a study conducted to gather data around the prevalence of violence between partners shows that Western Europe holds a 19.3%; Central America has a larger number of 29.51%, but these numbers are no match for South America’s 40.63% (Saccomano). The mistreatment, or in this case, blatant violence expressed towards the feminine gender, is not only a violation of a person’s human rights, a social problem, and imposes an obstacle for a country’s public health system, but it also affects the number of feminicides shared across the globe and holds South America as the continent most affected by this atrocious crime.
Unfortunately, amidst this chaos, the city of Juarez, my hometown, has only been an outlet to amplify the feminicide epidemic and bring this discussion onto the global stage while creating for itself an infamous reputation. The feminicidal wave of violence seen in Ciudad Juarez in the 1990s has been a point of generalization for these violent crimes. Although no one explanation accounts for these crimes, as each story is different regarding the victim and her circumstances, the beginning of the spike in feminicides in Juarez takes place in 1993, according to most scholars. Although picking a date to address this issue’s insurgence is important to bring this conversation to light, the conceptualization other have of them as a “new” problem is incorrect. Instead, scholars like Monárrez Fragoso argue that “that the crimes committed in Ciudad Juárez since the 1990s simply represent an intensified acceleration of a line of violence against women that has always existed” (Finnegan, 23).
The 330 maquiladoras employ nearly one-fourth of the city’s 1.3 million population- a demographic estimated to range in 280,000 factory workers, in which women make over half of the labor force. With workers making approximately 39 cents per hour in a ten hour-hour workday, a maquiladora’s wage ranges from three to six U.S. dollars per day (Lozano). However, the cost-benefit of these jobs greatly change for women, who by day are forced to take care of their children-as most families cannot afford child care- and by night take on the graveyard shifts, which are approximately 12 hours long. Furthermore, the locality of the homes of these women employed by maquilas consists of colonias on the outskirts of Juarez, miles away from the maquilas. Neoliberal globalization, in this situation, has not improved this issue, as the passage of the NAFTA, or North American Free Trade Agreement, has only lead to multinational corporations setting shop in Juarez, forcing many other Mexican women around the country to migrate North and take on these graveyard shifts. As a result, “if a woman disappears off of the assembly line, or on her way to or home from work, there is often no one to look for them” (J. Marquez, personal communication, November 1, 2004).
