The fact that Mexico is suffering a fearful crisis of violence is undeniable.

According to the facts,

in the next ten minutes, approximately three women in Mexico will have been a victim of abuse.
However, the data also approximates that 34 murders will occur by the end of the day, 26 of
which are male.
But is Mexico suffering a crisis of women only, or violence in general? Well, hello, today I am
here to discuss the violence and femicide crisis in Mexico, under the guiding question of -Is the
femicide crisis a unique representation of the issue of violence in Mexico? I will do so under
the theme of security, which will be defined as the ability to protect against threats to vital
interests or values. And under the three sub themes of human rights, violence specifically
cultural, and Feminism VS Realism. I will also define the term femicide as the intentional killing
of a woman or girl because of her gender. The term femicide is not homicide of those that simply
happen to be female, but rather females who are systematically murdered because of their
gender.
So, in order to acknowledge this prompt we first have to look at the history and the causes for
such a violent culture, specifically towards women:

HISTORY AND GENDER ROLES:

Even though physical and biological differences play a part, the causes of gender violence are so
much more complex than simple biology, and there is certainly no singular explanation. Rather, a
diversity of factors that have built upon one another.
The reality is that since the birth of early Mexican laws, the general consensus was that women
were more well-suited to the domestic sphere as opposed to men who were born to think and act
as independent agents.
From this, the idea of machismo was born in Latin America. Which is the set of ideals and
beliefs that support the notion that men are superior to women. We can see that from the early
ages, the general understanding was that women were meant to be submissive to men. And
despite past years of feminist agitating, there are still tangible inequalities in Mexico. In 2021,
the Mexican government reported 3,420 murders, 880 of which were being investigated as
femicides. And, being reported by the Mexican government itself, we can imagine many more
hidden or unrevealed. These facts do not deny violence against men and still do not prove a
femicide crisis , but we’ll take a look at that later. However, we can already start to understand
cultural violence, which are social norms that make direct and structural violence seem “right”,
and its damaging effect on the crisis.
This need for the SO desired safety and security has been even more compounded by the
escalation of the Mexican Drug War, whose rise matches perfectly with an increase in not only
gender based but all violence in Mexico. Ladies and gentlemen, corruption, money, and
narcopolitics, three fundamental drivers of violence.
BUT ARE THE INTENTIONAL DEATHS OF WOMEN IN MEXICO A UNIQUE AND
DIFFERENT PART OF THE CRISIS OF VIOLENCE, OR IS IT A CRISIS OF DEATHS,
BOTH MALE AND FEMALE, AND VIOLENCE IN GENERAL?
Today I am here to argue both possible perspectives for this prompt. Starting from the more
feminist perspective, the idea that the Mexican crisis is specifically towards women because of
their gender. Which, some evidence might suggest so. Since the start of the drug war, there has
been a 26% increase in all types of murders in Mexico. Even though it does not prove any signs
of femicide or female focused murder, it already suggests the escalation of violence in a
developing country, and its accentuated effect on the physically, and specifically in Mexico,
socially disadvantaged gender.
There are cultural factors that facilitate and exacerbate human rights violations against women.
In Mexico, this violence has always been a dark part of the national culture. Additionally, we can
certainly put a big part of the blame for the increase in domestic abuse on the pandemic. ​The key
policies during the pandemic were stay at home, shelter in place, quarantine and so on. For many
women, they had to stay home with their aggressor, increasing gender violence and femicide
rates. So, let’s make a stop really quick and talk about some human right violations that have
appeared until now; Article 1, which states All human beings are born free and equal in dignity
and rights, Article 3: Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person. And
of course Article 25 which emphasizes the importance of socioeconomic equality. Three Articles
from the UDHR, once signed by Mexico. So, back onto both perspectives.
The pandemic also worsened all socioeconomic inequality, which already was huge before. This
means the poor were the most affected, and made the social diversion of a developing country
even more substantial. And for many people, where Mexico has a great population from rural or
indigenous backgrounds, this caused the prevention from accessing their rights. Worsening a
crisis that could not seem to get worse.
In this case, many activists argue that a male-dominated culture of impunity is driving both
femicides and the high rate of disappearances of women. Most women’s advocates are also
charging against the government of President Obrador, saying his administration is not doing
enough to tackle the rise in violence against women in Mexico. However, until now, I have
examined the prompt from the more feminist perspective. Which argues that there is an
undoubtable crisis of violence, but women are being more affected and systematically murdered.
Yet, even though women’s security and lives are extremely affected, the data does not bear out to
surely state they are gender related deaths.

So now, in order to get a better understanding and explore the more realist and practical
perspective of the Mexican crisis, we need to compare the data between male and female rates,
as well as internationally.
Firstly, men accounted for the vast majority of homicide victims in Mexico in 2021, at nearly 88
percent of the total. This means that out of all the murders, 88% were men. Where their security
was at a much greater risk than females. In the same year, the average rate of intentional
homicide in Mexico was 22.8 per 100,000 inhabitants. In comparison, 5.3 in the US. With
Mexico also having 62% being organized crime. This reflects an incredibly wide gap in overall
security between the two countries. It is in no doubt that the government’s willingness to
intervene, the level of corruption, and the police are great factors in these pieces of data. But it is
also undoubtedly that Mexico is clearly suffering a crisis of crime, violence, and homicide. There
are huge levels of the deaths of women, but only a small percentage suggest the deaths were
caused because of the fact that they were females.
Because of this, different causes and correlations can be argued, but it is clear that violence in
Mexico is an extremely concerning issue, and not only to those who identify as females.
SO WHAT CAN THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT DO, IF THEY CAN DO SOMETHING?

-In terms of crime incidence, the state of Mexico is near the top of the rankings. These crimes
have heavily impacted Mexico’s security, in a state that has been a perpetual incubator of
poverty.
For more than a decade, much of the state’s territory has been under the control of La Familia,
which is literally a criminal organization! Controlling 44 municipalities, which largely explains
the high crime rates. And together with the large increase in gang members and groups, has
impacted Mexico’s precarious situation.
-The corruption within the government and police is a great factor of this crisis. In order to
decrease the crime rates, and ultimately poverty, the government must find a way to fill in the
gaps in education, reinforce the police, and reduce corruption. Even though these sound like
unattainable solutions, the secretary of education has already proposed investing $85 million into
the construction of two new surveillance centers and doubling the number of security cameras on
public roads and public transit, which would immensely increase the level of security in the state.
Additionally, I believe that violence is a complex problem that is solved less with punitive
actions than with opportunities for social development. Because ladies and gentlemen, the main
setback in Mexico’s path towards developing is everything I have explained until now, their
crisis of violence. For this reason, proposing to address “the causes” of violence through social
programs for young people and families, could be extremely effective in Mexico.

Conclusion: So, in order to answer the question:

Is the femicide crisis a unique representation of the issue of violence in Mexico? According to
the data, no. Mexico, to a great extent, suffers centurties of cultural factors that facilitate and
exacerbate human rights violations against women, where, the women hold the dominant
position in a household, but outside is completely dominated by men, socially, politically and
economically: such as a 30% wage gap between women and men. This has always set women in
the weaker position. However, for the most part, and according to the data, we can argue that
Mexican women have not suffered a crisis of femicide. Instead, they have suffered a violent
culture in Mexico, caused by many different factors. Mainly, the level of impoverishment, and a
tangible separation amongst social classes. So, when it comes to being able to feed, or buying the
necessary pill to cure their children, the 55.7 million Mexicans in poverty have to depend on
using violence to survive, putting security at risk, but for both males and females. This economic
disadvantage has created an extremely dangerous culture of violence, abuse, and murder. And
together with the physical, and social disadvantage women are put into, has endangered the lives
of many citizens.

-To conclude, the violence crisis in Mexico is extremely helpful in the discussion of such a major
issue as it shows that solely focusing on one possible stakeholder or part of the issue will not
help in the intent of reducing it. As Mexico portrays, even though women were extremely
affected and in many cases in more of a social and physical disadvantage than men, even
worsened by the disaster, avoiding the full picture resulted in an extended crisis that has been
going on for about two decades. But it also brings more attention to the worldwide suffering
inequality for women, which in places like Iran, are prevented from accessing their rights, in
social, economic and political disadvantages, and in the worst cases, killed because of their
gender.
Overall, the issue in Mexico emphasizes the importance of dealing with such issues and
defending the once established “human rights” which seem to be ignored. And in Mexico, to
prevent what turned out to be “a gorgeous country plagued by the scars of violence, crime and
murder”.