Mexican citizens were outraged because Fatima Cecilia Aldrighett, a 7-year-old girl, was brutally killed. She was missing on February 11, and the next day, the police found her corpse in a plastic bag. The suspects of the homicide were found to be a couple, one of them being a friend of Fatima’s mother. Moreover, another 25-year-old woman, Ingrid Escamilla, was found skinned and mutilated on February 15. After this incident, citizens started protesting. Many women are resisting the fact that they are frequent targets of violent crimes in Mexico.

The term femicide means female homicide, but it does not include all the murder cases of women. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “Femicide is generally understood to involve intentional murder of women because they are women, but broader definitions include any killings of women or girls.” On February 24, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched a “call to action” against human rights violations and “alarming levels of femicide.” Likewise, the UN has been dealing with femicide very seriously. Latin America had suffered from increasing numbers of femicide, and Mexico was no exception.

Fatima was kidnapped after school by her mother’s friend. The surveillance camera captured the suspect, and the police started the investigation. The police found out that Fatima was sexually abused and killed brutally. After the crime, the suspects disposed of the dead body inside a plastic bag. The woman who kidnapped her and her husband were arrested as suspects. People were outraged by this incident and made hashtag movements such as #JusticiaParaFatima on Twitter, meaning #Justice for Fatima.

Ingrid Escamilla was killed by her partner in Mexico City on February 15. The police found her body the next day, with some of her organs missing. The 46-year-old man, who was her partner, was arrested at the scene. He later insisted that he had to kill Escamilla because she threatened him with a knife. Some news media photographed the corpse and reported the photo on the front pages of their newspapers, which incurred the anger of the citizens even more. People were infuriated and protested, demanding a change in the law.

Strong Resistance Followed

Mexico City’s mayor Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on Twitter, “Femicide is an absolutely condemnable crime. It is appalling when hatred reaches extremes like in the case of Ingrid Escamilla.” People are actively protesting against femicide in various ways; holding a vigil in front of Escamilla’s house, marching, and tweeting. On March 8, at the International Women’s Day, more than 80 thousand women marched in Mexico City. On March 9, women – including the first lady of Mexico ‒ participated in a national strike called #UndiaSinMujeres, meaning “Day without women.”

The recent two brutal femicides triggered Mexicans to fight back. Several feminist organizations protested in front of the National Palace several times in February, censuring the government’s response after the incident. They painted one of the doors of National Palace with blood-red paint writing “femicide state” and other slogans against femicide. The protestors claim the administration did not actively respond to reform the society against the rising number of femicides.

People are also protesting online through twitter by sharing a picture drawn by an anonymous artist, with the hashtag #JusticiaParaIngrid, criticizing “the one who killed Escamilla,” “the one who leaked the picture,” and “the one who profits off morbidity.” They are insisting that along with the culprit, the news outlets that used this issue to make a profit should also be held accountable.

However, the Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (Amlo) showed a passive attitude toward solving gender-based violence problems in Mexico. According to The Guardian, the Mexican president only showed a “tone-deaf response” to the crimes. Their disappointment was reflected in the approval rating of the president, dropping to 57.1 percent on March 5, 2019, a fall of about 10 percent since August, 2019. The president also once attributed the cause of femicide to the neoliberalists, causing a controversy—this remark also affected his declining approval rating.

Citizens condemn the government for not bringing out concrete policies to stop the problem. The Amlo Administration is reluctant to take responsibility. Furthermore, the Mexico attorney general Alejandro Gertz Manero said the current standard for classifying femicide made the situation seem more severe than it is. He then said he is willing to change the process. This remark enraged the citizens even more.

Femicide Prevalent in Mexico

According to the UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, “We are increasingly seeing a rise in femicide, and even in countries where the overall number of murders is decreasing, the proportion of women being killed is increasing.” 10 women, on average, become the victim of femicide every day in Mexico. In 2019, 1006 cases of femicide were registered. According to the Mexico attorney general, femicide cases have risen 137 percent in the last five years.

According to Professor Lee Soon Joo (Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies, University of Ulsan), “The deep-rooted tradition of Machismo and patriarchy are all the causes of femicide in Mexico.” A male chauvinism like Machismo can encourage some delinquent men to commit crimes when they saw women defy or if they want to show off their superiority.

Another cause of the frequent femicide in Mexico is the weak judicial system. A report from the Committee on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) points out that the “systematic pattern of impunity” is severe in Mexico. Moreover, many female victims cannot access the justice system, and a large number of femicide cases do not go through formal investigation. Although some states of Mexico managed a stringent law ‒ 40 to 60 years imprisonment or life sentence ‒ to punish femicide cases, it is not often applied due to the impunity.

Perhaps the 1006 cases of femicide are underreported because there might be more un-investigated cases. Professor Lee pointed out that there had once been a stark difference between the femicide statistics provided by the government and the civic organizations. The authority had announced that 45 femicide cases happened in Ciudad Juarez from January, 2018 to November, 2019. In contrast, the Red Mesa de Mujeres en Ciudad Juarez (RMMC) announced that 109 women were murdered in this city from January to August, 2019.

The recent two issues raised awareness on femicide again. Citizens expressed their opinions by protesting online and offline. This problem, however, is not only limited to Mexico. Femicide is prevalent all around the world. Professor Lee insisted, “We have to be aware that femicide is an issue of our neighbors, friends, and families.” The global community, including South Korea, should face this issue and put forth an effort to eradicate femicide.