Violence against Women and Femicide in Mexico

Since 1993, over five hundred women have been murdered in Ciudad Juárez. Many of the murders remain unsolved today. Some scholars have defined the murders femicide, or the misogynist killing of women to maintain male domination. It seems likely that the women have been murdered in an attempt to perpetuate the patriarchal system and to enforce the subjugation of women in Ciudad Juárez. Although Mexico is a patriarchal society, women have been gaining more access to income and power in recent years. Female encroachment on male domains of society has threatened the patriarchal hegemony in Mexico, which could be one reason women have been the targets of violence in Ciudad Juárez and other areas of Mexico. In February 2007, the Mexican federal government passed an important piece of legislation pertaining to violence against women and femicide. Hopefully, this new law will lead to more prosecutions for those who commit crimes against women and bring justice to the murder victims of Ciudad Juárez. This study is meant to be useful for scholars of Latin American history and sociology, especially those studying gender and/or violence in Mexico.