Women Workers Targeted Ciudad Juarez in Mexico, just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, has experienced immense growth in the last 10 years, but it has also become the site of the brutal raping and killing of over 200 young women and girls, as young as 12 years old-all workers in the city's maquiladoras, mostly U.S. assembly plants and factories. In addition, these companies, including big American brand names like Ford, Motorola, and General Electric, do not provide adequate transportation from the city's industrial complex to the workers' residences-mostly squatter settlements made up of shacks fashioned out of discarded scrapwood and cardboard from the maquilas . The Feminist Majority Foundation has spoken out on this issue, meeting with the Secretary of Commerce, urging pressure against the industrial leaders. Thus far, little change has been made.
Women still walk home on unpaved roads with poor or no lighting, and fall victim to attackers.
And the feminist movement in Juarez, led by Esther Chavez, has tried to bring attention to this deplorable situation. Chavez was a speaker at Feminist Expo 2000. Her death has implicated local bus drivers, a group of whom confessed to killing Rosales. The Washington Post also reports that a recent meeting of industrial leaders resulted in a resolution to install more street lamps, among other safety measures. DC's health department deputy director in charge of substance abuse services Larry Siegel questioned the ethics of the program, noting that it capitalizes on addicts' need for cash and effectively coerces them into a life-altering decision.