Women March to Demand Respect and Equality

(Acapulco, NA 26 November) In observance of the International Day Against Violence Against Women yesterday, two groups organized marches in Acapulco.

Around 100 women, dressed in white and carrying pink roses and placards, marched from Fort San Diego to the Zócalo, a distance of about 1 kilometer. The demonstration/parade started around 9:30 am. Signs read, “Stop Abusive Fathers; We demand respect for your children” and “Stop Discrimination Against Women: Equality in Politics.” The gathering at the kiosk in the Zócalo was punctuated by cries of “No more violence against women,” “No more homicides of women” and “No more abuse of children.” Rosa Rayo Macedo, president of a local women’s rights group known as the “Female Circle,” said that domestic violence against women was, unfortunately, on the rise in Acapulco. “There is a law that protects women from domestic violence,” she said, “but it is ignored in Guerrero, and this has caused an increase in the beating and murder of wives.”

In a separate event, the Network for Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Mexico marched from La Diana to Papagayo Park to demand that violence against women stop, and that the authorities enforce the law and provide justice to women.

In parts of Mexico, by cultural tradition going back for centuries, husbands sometimes feel they have the right to beat their spouses with impunity, even to the point of murder. The situation is gravest in rural areas and poor urban neighborhoods. The women in the activist groups angrily accused law enforcement of being complicit because the legal right of women to their physical safety is so rarely enforced.