Women stayed off the streets in Mexico just a day after the International Women's Day, to protest against the crimes women face in the country. The strike was staged to highlight the deaths of women and children in the country during the past year. Statistics from the country says that around 1,000 women and children were murdered in the past year.
The strike symbolised the significance of the women in the country and what would happen if they disappeared for one day. Only a small number of women were outdoors. The women didn't go to the office, restaurants or cafes nor did they use public transport. There has been an alarming number of femicides in the country. Several of these murders were gruesome in nature.
Statistics of the femicide in Mexico
Around 10 women are murdered every day in Mexico. The gender-based killing called femicide is being tracked for the past eight years. According to the Attorney General in Mexico, femicide has increased by 137 percent since the past five years or so. The rate is five times more than the general homicide rate.
During the silent protests, several people posted pictures displaying the situation where women didn't exist. A bus driver from Mexico wrote on Twitter along with a picture of an empty bus saying that the bus was empty and sad without the women in the country.
Several daily newspapers in the country published the papers with purple coloured pages to show solidarity with women in the country and the cause they were fighting for.
Mexico's Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce said that the women in the country make up for around 40 percent of the workforce. Women's absence from the country would mean that the economy would be affected severely. When the no-women day was first announced following two deaths last month, government and businesses said that the women would be paid normally.
A leader of a feminist organisation, Yindira Sandoval, said that when the protest was announced men felt compelled to give their permission highlighting the core patriarchal society in Mexico. Women are not only protesting against femicide, but they are also working against various issues they face on a day-to-day basis.
