Thousands of Women Rally for Safety, Rights Across Latin America Agence France-Presse | |
go to original March 9, 2017 |
Demonstrators take part in a march on International Women's Day in Mexico City. The banner reads, "Latin America will be all feminist". (Edgard Garrido/Reuters)
Thousands of women across Latin America took to the streets Wednesday to demand an end to sexual harassment and violence, in a region where crime against women is rife and often steeped in traditional culture.
Violence against women is part of long-held traditions in many of South America's Andean nations, with mixed Spanish-indigenous cultures.
But it is also pervasive in countries such as Argentina and Uruguay where most people are of Italian descent.
Even in better-off cities across the region, women who go to police stations bruised and battered to report domestic violence are told to go home and make up.
Grimmer still: half of the 25 countries with the largest number of women killed are in Latin America, according to UN Women, a body that supports gender equality and the empowerment of women.
In Mexico's capital, thousands of women filled the vast Paseo de la Reforma.
"We don't want flowers. We want rights!" they chanted, as well as, "Being a woman should not be a risk factor."
Mexican women say they are constantly beset by unwanted sexual talk on the streets, and often groped by strangers.
The region's only current woman president, Chile's Michele Bachelet, said on Twitter that "we renew our commitment to more rights, opportunities and an end to violence."
Read the rest at Times Live
Related: Women Across the World Walk Out and Unite Against Violence, in Spite of Police Arrests and Harassment (AlterNet)
Related: See Photos of International Women's Day Actions Around the Globe (RollingStone)
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