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Mexico: Six thousand girls and women murdered in the last five years

By Sara Lovera López

Mexico City.-The 363 women who have been reportedly murdered in Juárez (Chihuahua) since 1993 are just the visible part of many crimes committed against women just for their condition of women.

In Mexico, four women are killed every day, according to the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Information Technology (INEGI), and one every five endures repeated acts of violence by their couples, as indicated in a National Survey on Violence against Women (ENVIM) that was conducted in 2003 by the Ministry of Health.

Over 6,000 murdered women cases have been reported by judicial authorities and prosecutor and attorney’s offices in the last six years, only in ten Mexican states, where over 40 percent of the overall population lives. This came from an in-depth research work carried out at the request of Congresswoman Marcela Lagarde.

The study showed that murdered women had suffered from cruel treatment, torture and other acts of violence in the past, while many others have survived gender violence based on male domination and women’s discrimination.

Women couples and relatives made up 34 percent of victimizers. Most of these criminals have gone unpunished; the documentation has been poorly prepared; reports to the police have been made in a hurry or have been incomplete; and details have only come to light through the press.

Media reports made it possible to know of murders in Juárez 13 years ago. Esther Chávez, director of Casa Amiga (Friendly House) followed up these cases.

Society and women movements end up accepting these crimes. The latter have sought to denounce what is taking place in Juárez, but have failed to assess the tragedy in its full dimension.

The women who carried out the research work met with civil groups working for or supporting violence victims. They learnt that another 1,000 crimes against women had not been reported in the state of Mexico (a valley area surrounding the capital city).

The authorities have been accomplices or have remained indifferent to what has taken place. They have formulated no prevention policy and coping strategy. These murders have become crimes of State.

Local congress people have enacted no legislation to address the situation. They have merely tackled family violence, especially against children, old people and other family members. Violence against women has not been made visible, despite state-provided statistics showing that women make up 90 percent of reported cases.

Many other women die of preventable diseases, cancer, etc. Over 65 pregnant women die every 10,000 live births. In Chiapas, one of the states under review, 70 women die every 10,000 live births due to malnutrition and poverty.

Over 50 percent of murders occur in the state of Veracruz (close to the Gulf of Mexico) and are related to traffic accidents.

The research work, which had first focused on Chihuahua and had been given 10 million pesos in financing, also revealed that murders connected with women’s poor living conditions have reached alarming proportions in some areas of the country.

These crimes are usually preceded by human rights violations (either publicly or privately) and are defined as feminicides. They are directly related to inequality, gender-based exclusion and discrimination.

The work on violence against women in Mexico was undertaken after a House of Representatives’ Ad Hoc Committee headed by MP Lagarde made such a request.

This was the first gender-based scientific study conducted in Mexico. It showed disparities in education, political participation, economic status and employment.

The map of violence against women had been given a low profile and came to light only after the Juárez murders were known. The map was put together after 900 interviews and empirical observation missions were developed, government reports were prepared and women organization experiences were given careful consideration.

The work was carried out in Baja California, Chiapas, Chihuahua, state of Mexico, Guerrero, Morelos, Oaxaca, Sonora, Veracruz and the Federal District (Capital City). It examined the characteristics of gender violence in rural, urban, border and inland areas having different cultures and development levels.

Violence against women is present in any society based on hierarchical and anti-democratic systems.

In the state of Mexico (San Salvador Atenco area), where police repression became manifested on May 3-4, there have been 1,288 murders in the last four years. Over 25 percent of all murdered women cases have occurred there.

This is an economically developed area with 15 million inhabitants and huge social differences. The local Human Development Index is much lower than in the Federal District.

Federal District and other states

There have been 743 women murders in the capital in the last six years. The total number has made the city rank eighth in the country.

The Federal District occupies the first place in human development, exhibits the oldest experience in public women-centered policy implementation and is the area with the largest number of non-governmental organizations combating sexual inequality.

By the time the research work was undertaken, however, no individual or group had identified the problem. Society accepts and tolerates violence against women by keeping silent about and not reacting to what is happening.

Veracruz is a state with a rich history and culture and a lot of natural resources, including oil, fisheries and livestock, as well as high music and literary development. The largest volume of domestic oil produced in the second half of the 20^th century was extracted from this state.

There have been 1,494 murders in the last five years and over 800 women got killed in traffic accidents. No local institution has developed gender policies there.

Feminist and anthropologist Marcela Lagarde said that there will be no effective democracy and development if violence against women is not eliminated.

In the northern state of Sonora, 260 girls and women have been murdered in the last 10 years. This is a highly advanced area with one of the largest copper reserves in the country. It also has other mining reserves, fisheries and tourist projects. There is a myth in the state about women being “strong”.

The local prosecutor admitted that 60 percent of murdered women had made reports to the police indicating that they were being abused, raped and discriminated against.

The hypothesis of MP Lagarde, who was the first Latin American expert to define the situation in Juárez as feminicide in 1994, was validated by a number of investigations that involved 100 specialists and technicians.

Statistical measurements were made and Human Development Indexes were compared. The rural village of Cuautla in the state of Morelos was identified as one of the most dangerous cities for women. The region is devoted to sugarcane growing and processing.

After the research work was completed and the collected information was included in 11 volumes full of statistical data, statements and programs, the Ad Hoc Committee on Violence against Women urged the Mexican government to formulate and implement a comprehensive policy seeking to prevent, address, gradually eliminate and punish acts of violence against women. It also put together a far-reaching piece of legislation to guarantee that Mexican women can live in a violence-free society.

Peru: Death penalty, a proposal that causes division

By Julia Vicuña

Lima.- They are psychopaths incapable of regenerating. Despicable, wicked, vile abusers should be eliminated. Physical castration for the perverted. This is a psychosocial campaign. Prevention work versus death penalty. Death penalty provides a simplistic, easy-to-devise solution. Death penalty will mean defeat for the legal system.

These opinions are all part and parcel of a public debate that is becoming increasingly sharp between those in favor and those against President Alan García’s proposal to impose death penalty on children rapists and murderers.

There has been an increase in the number of raped and murdered children in the last few months.

A total of 23 children have been raped and killed so far this year. This accounts for a 12-case increase as compared to 2005.

According to the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development (MIMDES), the Women Emergency Centers (CEMs) under its umbrella have dealt with 1,053 child-sexual-abuse cases in the first half of this year. There were 305 reports in Lima alone.

Only the most dramatic cases attract the attention of the press, said Rossina Guerrero, coordinator of a sexual and reproductive rights program at the Center for the Promotion and Defense of Sexual and Reproductive Rights (PROMSEX).

She added that there is a growing number of girls being raped by family members: fathers, uncles, brothers or cousins. These cases are not reported because the victims fear retaliation or feel ashamed.

"Some families do not report cases to the police and do not take the victims to the doctor because they are in doubt, they feel ashamed or fear stigma. In some instances, the girl is thought to “provoke” the situation and the mother is blamed because she has “failed” to look after her", she indicated.

"We will not address the problem in a successful manner and do victims justice by simply adopting tougher sanctions on rapists. We should consider the way trials are organized and the judges’ adequacy. Many of them question testimonies by girls and believe the rapist when he says the girl seduced him. Forensic doctors should no longer consider broken hymen as an authentic evidence for rape", Guerrero stressed.

Most reported cases do not go beyond the criminal admission barrier due to procedural flaws and gaps. Children get back to the place where unpunished victimizers are, said María Elena Iglesias, representative of the Social Studies and Publications Center.

Jeannette Llaja, a lawyer at DEMUS, a women’s rights advocacy group, feels that these actions will be eliminated only after inter-sectoral public policies based on a human-rights approach and gender-conscious multidisciplinary intervention are implemented. "They can help change attitudes conducive to sexual violence in general", she added.

Prevention depends on actions by schools and other training facilities, community centers, the media and social institutions. "The biggest obstacle to justice is not related to sentences, but to the trend not to prosecute sexual abusers", she explained.

President García has not addressed the situation of victims and the way of facing rape consequences, such as unwanted pregnancy. Some girls are forced to have the babies or are not legally allowed to resort to abortion.

If we want to express indignation, we should become indignant at forced pregnancies that result from horrendous crimes, and take effective measures to avoid further violations of children’s rights, Rossina Guerrero emphasized.

"We still have laws that prevent girls and teenagers from having after-rape abortion. Nobody talks about tha", she indicated.

Human rights under threat

If President García’s initiative, which is not being fully supported by the Council of Ministers, makes headway, the country will have to denounce the San Jose Agreement and stay out of the inter-American human rights system.

Any proposal by the Executive should be approved of by the Council of Ministers. That is why, García asked his ministers to help him meet an electoral promise, as they are part of a government that pledged to submit the proposal to Congress. Although you disagree with it, we will have to meet our promise, he told them.

Peru signed the Agreement in 1969 and ratified it in July 1978 under Decree Law No. 22231. It became a State party to the Inter-American Human-Rights Protection System in January 1981.

Greta Minaya, dean of the Lawyer’s College in Lima, said that the government should adhere to the rule of law. Renouncing the San Jose Agreement would jeopardize even the extradition of fugitive Alberto Fujimori, she stressed.

President García issued a communiqué indicating that Peru will not have to get out of the accord to establish death penalty. Several jurists have disproved his statement, and Foreign Minister Jose Antonio García Belaunde himself has warned about the constitutional change negatively affecting the very government.

Jurist and constitutionalist Francisco Eguiguren underlined that imposing death penalty on rapists should not be equated to staying out of the Agreement. This move would prevent millions of Peruvians benefiting from its effective protection.

"There are other drastic, effective sanctions to keep rapists out of society. They include life imprisonment and no penitentiary benefits. There is no need to eliminate the", he stressed.

On September 14, 1957, twelve gunshots killed Jorge Villanueva Torres, a 35-year-old black man, who had been accused of raping and murdering a four-year-old boy. He was called the Armendáriz monster at the time. He was found not guilty some years after his execution.

Congressman Raúl Castro, representative of the conservative alliance National Unity and coordinator of the Justice Committee in Congress, thinks that death penalty is not viable at this point because the local Judiciary’s error margin is rather high. " Excesses could therefore be committed", he added.

Society: Disadvantages for those in disadvantageous positions

By Mirta Rodríguez Calderón

Santo Domingo.– The same thing happens year after year. On Mothers and Fathers’ days, advertising encourages consumerism and takes advantage of people sensibility, because who would not want to give presents to these important persons?

The problem is not the presents as such, but the age-old gender stereotypes that advertisements reproduce. I decided to examine the case of the Dominican Republic this year. This country and market do no differ much from the rest of the continent.

Celebration dates in this Caribbean nation are different from those in many parts of the world and are similar to those in the United States. Dominican men and women celebrate Mothers’ Day on the last Sunday of May, the flower month, and Fathers’ Day on the last Sunday of July. Advertising strategies, however, are the same for both.

Sons and daughters are urged to buy their daddies brand-new computers, cars, sophisticated cell phones, wines and other beverages, portfolios, home exercising equipment, CDs, tool sets and barbecues.

Last week, one of the largest shopping malls in Santo Domingo launched a special supplement showing a frustrated father holding a small box and saying: A big screen does not fit in here. And you could read below: Daddy will not be happy with any gift!

This will certainly annoy the employee who made quite an effort, the student who saved snack money and the loving grandson or granddaughter who kept on insisting that something had to be bought for the grandfather.

The main thing is not that either; it is the message that these announcements convey. Fathers are supposed to be given gifts that will make them enjoy and/or relax: state-of-the-art-technology products, good wine, sexy clothes, and seductive perfumes.

On the other hand, advertisements on Mothers’ Day were all an invitation to buy them chinaware, kitchen sets, furniture, beautifully packed foodstuffs, washing machines, refrigerators, curtains, table cloths and even carpets.

Supermarket sections in advertising materials are devoted to make mammy happy. They include attractively priced detergents, disinfectants, pre-cooked food, giant pizzas, turkey, beef, grouper and salmon.

They also feature some perfumes and attractive clothes (though not as sexy as those for dad). The subliminal idea places mom in a sacred position. She is pure, moderate, discreet, never supposed to be bold in her way of dressing.

Albert Einstein, whose collection of lovers has raised him from his grave at this point in time, put it very wisely: It is easier to disintegrate an atom than defeating a prejudice.

Everything is not lost

What is lost should be recovered, and things should be put back where they belong. The current division in the world, with the executive father using a portfolio his daughter gave him as a present and the mother inviting her women friends over to see the new kitchen set her children bought her does not make it possible to promote equality and is not in line with modern thinking. Why not present her as a businesswoman and him as doing household chores and decoration?

We all know that social and individual imagery (subjective world) changes much more slowly than reality itself. And that is what is happening today.

Advertisers suggest buying a new encyclopedia for daddy, but they never recommend buying a last-generation computer for mommy. They do not usually come up with the idea of devoting supermarket sections to fathers rather than mothers.

Changes in communication products under the current role-playing reorganization process demand careful consideration.

Those developing advertising materials should be aware of the fact that many things are changing and that new realities run counter to old stereotypes.

A Gender-Conscious Journalists Network was established in the Dominican Republic five years ago. It is made up of media professionals working for inclusive communication, recognizing the leading role both of men and women, and helping remove gender-based stereotypes.

A man who kills his wife, for example, is not a jealous husband. Love does not kill, and that should not be the news headline. A piece on a vaccination campaign should not ask mothers to take their children to get vaccinated, because they are not the only ones responsible for children.

Of course, splendid hips and buttocks shown to highlight sexual pleasure of heterosexual men should be completely removed from the media. In the meantime, however, efforts should be made to raise awareness and promote equality.

The local network is publishing a magazine that is unique. It is Front Page (www.aprimeraplana.org) and seeks to advance a gender-equality agenda.

Gender: Double shift and stress

By Cristina Canoura

Montevideo.– Women’s double shift is related to the obligation to do household chores after a full day at work. This is not as stressing, however, as devoting all the time to any of these tasks.

Such a conclusion came from a research work by the Brazilian subsidiary office of the International Stress Management Association, a British foundation studying and treating stress. It involved 200 employees at large corporations and housewives in Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre.

In exercising two or more equally important activities, women split concerns and do not focus expectations and frustrations on one of them only. In an effort to take up many tasks, they end up attaching little or no importance to minor problems.

Those exclusively devoted to one single activity tend to experience more anxiety and dissatisfaction.

If they work outside home only, an argument with the boss will be more devastating than what it should really be.

In an interview with Brazilian magazine Veja, American psychologist Christina Maslach said that, when there are other sources of concern, women tend not to over-exaggerate labor problems because they are not the only thing affecting their lives. She is a professor at the University of California and has written over ten books on stress.

Veja also mentioned a research work by the London University College, which was made public in mid May. It showed that women over 50 years of age who are mothers and wives working outside home have a better health condition and less overweight problems than housewives do.

The British researchers compared health indexes in 2,000 volunteers during 28 years. Over 40 percent of housewives became obese, as compared to 20 percent of those with double shift.

Women who spend most of the time at home usually eat more and exercise less than those having many activities outside home.

The Brazilian research work corroborated that the older women are, the more pleased they feel with performing several functions.

Six every ten women in the 20- to 44-year bracket said they were pleased with various roles. This index went up to 80 percent among those in the 45- to 60-year bracket. Looking after children does not take long at this age.

Brazilian psychologist Ana María Rossi, who was the research coordinator, indicated that performing several functions burn women out only if they face problems in their personal lives. For example, if marriage is under crisis, playing various roles has the opposite effect, and the risk of suffering from stress and other health problems grows.

Veja quoted a study by several hospitals in Toronto (Canada) showing that women will be less likely to develop cardiovascular diseases if they have satisfactory marriages (despite stressing work).

If the domestic pressure is big, the risk of developing certain pathologies doubles.

The American psychologist told the magazine that heavy work has nothing to do with stress and burning out. She had been asked whether or not stress becomes all the more severe when women do additional hours and take work home.

Although a woman may work harder than her colleagues, if she really likes what she does, she will not feel as burnt out as a woman working half time, but feeling frustrated with her profession, she commented.

In her view, one of the main things is to feel pleased with the work we do, understand that the mission has been accomplished after a report is submitted or a project defended. Those who accumulate failures are strong candidates to feel burnt out, she stressed. Parallel activities like sports and voluntary work are very helpful, she added.

Maslach pioneered burnout research and developed a scale to measure it. It is known as Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). At a workplace, the most stressed people are those she calls “sandwich”, that is, those coordinating a team and, at the same time, rendering accounts to a boss who is above them.

They can not make decisions, but have the responsibility to guarantee that their subordinates work efficiently, she concluded.

Guatemala: Women with the highest number of children in Central America

By Alba Trejo

Guatemala City.- Being poor and illiterate and having no access to family planning services make Guatemalan women, especially indigenous women, have the highest number of children in Central America.

The autochthonous population makes up 60 percent of the country’s 12 million inhabitants. Mayan women get pregnant up to six times in their lives, as compared to four times in the case of non-indigenous women.

The birth rate in Guatemala is higher than in El Salvador (three children), Honduras (four children), Nicaragua (three children) and Costa Rica (two children).

The Association for Family Wellbeing (APROFAM), a non-governmental organization working in the country, said that this situation is due to poverty and illiteracy.

Statistical data of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) showed that 6.4 million Guatemalans live in poverty and 1.8 million in extreme poverty.

Data of the General Planning Secretariat revealed that 28 percent of the local population has gone to school, 40 percent of the rural population is illiterate and only 6.5 percent has completed secondary education.

The Mayans have several gods and believe that abortion is an insult to their deities.

Entitled Ethnic and cultural diversity: citizens in a plural state, a UNDP report indicated that, out of 82.6 percent of the indigenous women who are aware of some modern contraception method, only 23.1 percent actually uses it.

APROFAM has been working along these lines for 47 years. The fertility rate begins at 14 years of age among rural women, it announced.

While there have been some changes in attitudes, there are indigenous women who have up to 15 children each, it stressed.

The local Ministry of Public Health confirmed that teenage women are getting pregnant all over the country. One every two adolescents is either pregnant or becomes a mother before she turns 20.

A total of 43 every 100 inhabitants are under 15 years of age, the government-run National Institute of Statistics announced. Ministry of Public Health reports indicated that there were 2,600 deliveries by girls under 15 and 80,000 by women aged 16 or 17 in 2000.

In this context, the infant mortality rate has gone up. It is much higher than in other Central American countries.

A total of 49 indigenous children die every 1,000 live births and 40 non-indigenous children every 1,000.

The situation in neighboring nations is as follows: 11 children die in Costa Rica, 28 in El Salvador, 31 in Nicaragua and 34 in Honduras.

High birth rates and far-from-recommended delivery spacing lead to mental retardation and small size and growth in children aged three to five, officials at the Ministry of Public Health said.

The government has taken a number of measures to redress the situation. It has just launched a campaign encouraging women to space their pregnancies and obtain family planning information from health-care centers.

APROFAM has devised a way of combating high birth rates. It has introduced the Electronic Babies Program in Mayan communities. It consists of simulated adoption of computerized dolls similar to newborns. The aim is to raise awareness about the responsibility young mothers and fathers must take. Around 10,000 youngsters have the experience every year.

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