One can only imagine the horror of thousands upon thousands of women who were violently murdered just because they were female. In Mexico, as well as many other places around the world, this is the horrifying reality of so many. Mothers, sisters, nieces, aunts, daughters, murdered simply because they are female. Sadly, the current pandemic has made everything worse; it can be called an epidemic inside an epidemic. The numbers of homicides have sky-rocketed because of the “stay-at-home” order that was put in place. Women and little girls are being murdered in their own home.

The femicides in Mexico have been getting worse. Mexico started collecting little data on femicides in 2012. Since 2015, the femicides have been growing at a rate of 145 percent. This number could possibly be much larger since the government collects such little data on the femicides alone. 2019 has been the most violent year in Mexico. Almost 35,000 people were murdered, 10 percent of that being women. In just the first four months of 2020, 987 women and girls were murdered, according to the Mexican government data. Sadly, more than 40 percent of the women murdered were familiar with their killer.

So what is being done to help prevent these femicides from happening, one might ask? The answer: not much. The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, seems indifferent or not completely aware of the severity of these murders. He claims there is no proof of these murders. Most of the emergency calls from possible homicides are not followed through, therefore incomplete, so the government can ignore the calls and deny them as proof.

All over Mexico, there are many protests to help get more protection for women. March 8th was International Women’s Day so in honor of that, the next day, women had a national walkout day. They stepped out for 24 hours to show “Un Dia Sin Nosotras” (“A day without us.”)