When we think about crimes against women, we usually think of the oppressive Taliban regime in Afghanistan or the mass rape of women in the Congo. We seldom think that the phenomenon is taking place much closer to home—in fact, right across the border. UCSC professor Rosa-Linda Fregoso aims at changing that perception. In Terrorizing Women: Feminicide in the Americas, a new book which she co-edited, she tackles the problem in Ciudad Juarez, right across the border in Texas. More than 1,000 women have been murdered there since 1993.
When we think about crimes against women, we usually think of the oppressive Taliban regime in Afghanistan or the mass rape of women in the Congo. We seldom think that the phenomenon is taking place much closer to home—in fact, right across the border. UCSC professor Rosa-Linda Fregoso aims at changing that perception. In Terrorizing Women: Feminicide in the Americas, a new book which she co-edited, she tackles the problem in Ciudad Juarez, right across the border in Texas. More than 1,000 women have been murdered there since 1993.
This isn’t simply the brutal death of women caught in the crossfire between drug lords and government forces. The book defines feminicide as something that “occurs when the historical conditions generate social practices that allow for violent attempts against the integrity, health, liberties and lives of girls and women.” This is possible in the Mexican state of Chihuahua because of systemic inequalities between men and women that are inherent to the local culture, but also because of the maquiladoras, or border factories, where many women work. Only 10 percent of the murders of women in Mexico are directly linked to the drug wars, says Fregoso.
She and her co-editor Cynthia Berajano have launched a new website intended to draw attention to the plight of women in Central America. On it they claim that there has been a sharp rise in violence against women over the past two decades, and offer resources where people can help to stamp it out. What is needed, she says, is “a grass roots shift of focus to a human security model. The further militarization of law enforcement will not help. The military is not trained to combat this.” Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
