Violence Against Women in Mexico: An Analysis of The National Survey on the Dynamics of Household Relationships and the Movement to Address Gender and Inequality
Creators: name: Magallanes, Alexi
Publisher: name: Stanford Digital Repository
Year: 2024
Subjects: Women
Violence
Mexico
Gender
Inequality

description: Dulce Cristina Payan was 17 years old when she was kidnapped while she was with her boyfriend right outside her home.1 Her boyfriend, who was taken with her, was tossed from the truck within a few blocks. Dulce was taken away, stabbed repeatedly in
the face and stomach, and murdered. Her father, Pedro Payan, thinks she was murdered because she resisted rape and is still seeking justice for her. Debanhi Escobar went missing outside of a hotel and was found two weeks later inside one of the establishment’s water tanks.2 Authorities claimed that she must have just fallen in. Her parents are still demanding justice and commissioned another autopsy that revealed it was a murder and she was sexually abused. Mariana Lima, 29, was married to her husband Julio Hernandez for only three weeks when he hit her for the first time and told her that if she didn’t respect him the way he wanted to be respected that he was going to kill her.3 He told her he had done it before and gotten away with it because he is untouchable due to his job as a policeman. Her mother, Irinea Buendia, spoke to her right before she had decided to confront Julio Hernandez and divorce him and she was supposed to return at 3 p.m. so they could have lunch together. Instead, Mariana Lima’s body was found in her home and staged to look like a suicide. Police ruled it a suicide despite the rope and hook from which she would have hung herself not being strong enough to hold her body weight. Jeysol Amaya was stabbed 37 times by her former partner and spent two months in intensive care.4 Her attacker is still free and she lives in fear everyday that he might come after her again. She is a survivor of attempted femicide and has been left without justice or protection. Esmeralda Castillo Rincon’s parents took her to school and picked her up every day. When her father had fallen ill she had volunteered to stay home and care for him.5 After missing school for a day her father worried she would get behind and encouraged her to return to school and that he felt well enough to care for himself. It was noon and there was no one to take her to school. Her father assured her that since it was the middle of the day and broad daylight that nothing would happen and it would be ok for her to walk to school this once. Esmeralda has not been seen or heard of since she left for school that day. Her father demands justice and blames himself for her disappearance. Maria De Jesus Jaimes Zamudio, 19, was thrown from the fifth floor of a building while trying to defend herself from attacks from her professor and classmate who had been witnessed forcing her to let them into her apartment.6 Her mother, Yesenia Zamudio, demands justice for her daughter and says she will not stop until her daughter and all women receive justice. She won’t stop until there is change. Mexico is reported to have the second highest rates of femicide in Latina America with on average at least 10 women being killed daily and thousands being reported missing.8 The rates of violence against women continue to increase annually in Mexico despite calls for action and change. In order to address the epidemic of gender based violence that Mexico faces, it is important to understand how women face violence, what has previously been done, and how victims wish to see justice. My study will fill these gaps as I analyze survey responses regarding the rates at which women in Mexico experience violence and conduct case studies regarding the response to
violence.