The majority of the population is not a stranger to the word femicide anymore; with an annual average of over 80,000 femicides on a global spectrum. 

According to Oxford Languages, the definition of a femicide is the killing of a woman or girl, in particular by a man and on account of her gender.

However the important thing about femicides is the reason behind their happening. 

Femicides happen when gender inequality is in the root of the system. 

If women and men are not seen as equals then the killing, raping and violence against women is accepted and tolerated. 

I saw a Tik Tok the other day where this girl asks women to comment what they would do if there were no men for 24 hours. 

The answers were all similar; they would walk alone at 3 a.m., take the night shifts, they would go to the gym and not worry about what sportswear to use.

There was one particular comment amongst  the hundred of comments that caught my attention.

It said that she wished her government actually cared about her rape case and concluded her comment with the phrase “#NiUnaMas”. 

I knew then that she was from Latin America, an enormous region of femicides.  

Latin America suffers from high numbers of femicides. 

In 2018 Brazil reported 1,206 cases and in 2019 there was a 7% increase in cases.

Nadine Gasman, former head of UN Women in Brazil said, “Men are killed in the street, women are killed in the home. Men are killed with guns, women with knives and hands.”

Mexico in 2018 came as the second country in Latin America with most femicide cases, however the numbers have exponentially grown ever since. 

In the first four months of 2020, there were over 300 cases. 

I believe that the numbers have always been the same, however women are reporting their abusers which therefore increases the numbers. 

Because the numbers are not decreasing, women are desperate. 

They have had both protests and riots, which has angered those who do not support the movement. 

Fernanda Dudette, Mexican political comedian said, “We are tired of this patriarchy.

“This is not a ‘berrinche’ to get attention, this is us fighting for our sisters.”

On March 9th there was a national strike predominantly in Mexico, however other Latin American countries participated as well. 

It was to teach men how the country would be without women; men were still able to go on 3 a.m. strolls.  

Men did see the difference however it seemed as if not enough to stop violence against women since in the month of June 127 women went missing. 

Later in the year this group of women confiscated and took over the National Human Rights Commission, after not following through with their reported cases. 

They kicked everyone out and took over it for a month. 

They vandalized offices and found a fridge full of expensive meat, when the CNDH had said that they were limited in resources. 

They took a famous painting of Mexican revolutionist Francisco Madero, altered it and put it out to auction so that the proceeds could go to the families of the victims. 

After President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gave a statement in which he was outraged by the painting of a “fighter of democracy” women became even more outraged. 

The streets of Mexico were once again filled with women screaming about how he could be outraged with a painting and not with an actual human being suffering from violence. 

Netflix released a new documentary called “The Three Deaths of Marisela Escobedo” this month. 

It brings light to the activist Marisela Escobedo of Ciudad Juarez and what happened to the case of her daughter and herself in 2008. 

After watching it, Anamaria Donmiguez, teacher, said, “It’s as if I was watching it over the news all over again.

“All of the feelings resurfaced 12 years later.” 

A day without men would be the happiest day for women and I can abide by that.

They would be able to do so much more than be able to go to the gym comfortably, they could be at peace.

Peace that men have taken away from them. 

Women still need to be heard, this is not a trend where you show your support for only one day, women are dying and getting raped every single day!