Conclusion
Organizations like Casa Amiga have raised awareness against femicide for various decades, large NGOs like Amnesty International have addressed the problem in the maquilas, and Humans Rights Watch has launched investigations to learn more about routine pregnancy testing since they do consider these intrusions on human rights violations. Despite the growing efforts to address the issues, ten women are victims of feminicide every day in the country (Agren, 2021). Even with the growing awareness, and the rise in feminist groups in the country, there are still many women murdered every day. Non-intimate femicide still occurs and the maquilas are still exporting their goods without the proper regulations. Some programs that have been implemented are those of Casa Amiga in 1999, where they help women and children who have suffered from domestic violence get a safe place for them to recover and move away from the place they are experiencing violence. Casa Amiga was founded by Cano. It worked as a rape and sexual assault crisis center in Juarez (Wright, 2001). There have been other successful organizations that have been founded in Ciudad juarez and are still active today. These organizations have applied for the help of international agents and the Mexican government to continue protecting the local women (Castañeda Salgado, 2016). The growing Mexican feminist groups and associations have now picked up the fight in demanding justice for the women in the city (Agren, 2021).
Since the case studies in the 1990s, the murders in Ciudad Juarez have continued to rise with the main peak occurring in 2010 (Vulliamy, 2020). These issues have not been resolved and there is still a lot of work being done by activists to change the ongoing situation. These problems as stated by other scholars are deeply ingrained in the patriarchal values of Mexican society where the exploitation of women is seen as the norm (Wright, 1997). The sexualization and harassment of women in their place of employment contribute to the alarming rate of femicide. Women in the maquilas are devalued and seen as expendable and have become the embodiment of cheap labor (Garwood, 2002). Despite the demands for change, maquilas are still producing material goods and paying very low wages to their employees. NAFTA was created to reduce obstacles between the exporting process in the countries and this has taken a toll on the Mexican laborers who have suffered from the relaxed regulation the trade deal offered (Wright, 2001). However, NAFTA only exacerbated the already growing disparities in the country and created dependence of Mexico on the United States (Saudt, 2018). Overall, the conditions in Ciudad Juarez are those of violence. The existence of women is threatened just because they are women. Gender is a determining factor in the quality and standard of living in the city. Being a maquila worker exposes women to a dangerous profession where they will have to endure multiple forms of harassment (Pantaleo, 2010). This review’s purpose was to shed light on the issue and show some of the steps that have been taken to address the abuses in the maquiladoras and the lack of protection they provide for the women who work in the factories. This will hopefully show the importance of the problem and urge others to take action and become more informed of the femicide crisis happening all over Mexico.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Methodological Approach
- A brief history of feminism and femicide
- NAFTA and other factors that can affect maquiladoras
- Reported Cases of Femicide from Maquiladora Workers
- Discussion
- Limitations and Future Studies
- Conclusion
- Works Cited