A tragedy that shook India in 2012, led to a revolution and conversation around women safety and empowerment. Yes, the devastating Nirbhaya story is what triggered that movement. Earlier this month, Argentina saw a similar uprising when a young school girl named Lucía Pérez was drugged, raped and tortured in the coastal city of Mar del Plata. The protest took the name of Black Wednesday and thousands of women came on to the streets to raise their voice against violence against women.
Also Read: NCR Gets First Nirbhaya Relief Centre
According to the prosecutor María Isabel Sánchez, the girl suffered a cardiac arrest because of the cruelty of the attack. The Guardian quoted Sánchez saying, “I know it’s not very professional to say this, but I’m a mother and a woman, and though I’ve seen thousands of cases in my career, I’ve never seen anything like this."
The country has been going through a series of "femicides", a legal term identifying domestic violence, where women have been treated badly and even hurt terribly. Most of the cases are that of women being set on fire by their partners. The men of the nation are on this spree of showing the women their "status" and "place" in the society, to which the women do not belong anymore. The incidents are almost like a message to the women who are supposed to go back to their stereotypical and traditional roles of submission and subordination.
There were marches in support across Latin and South America --- from Mexico to Bolivia and Paraguay, the BBC reports, adding tens of thousands had rallied on the streets, last June.
The organiser of the protest on Wednesday asked every woman to stop working for an hour at 1pm. “In your office, school, hospital, law court, newsroom, shop, factory, or wherever you are working, stop for an hour to demand ‘no more machista violence’,” wrote the march organisers, quotes The Guardian.
The numbers are shocking in this nation, just in the last 18 days, 19 women have been reportedly killed. The government also released statistics that showed crimes against women have risen 78 percent since 2008. Many argue if this is because of the open conversation and dialogue around sexism and women's rights, and if it is, the battle is not easy to fight in Argentina.
Stay strong Argentina, the feminists of the world are with you.
Feature Image Courtesy: Wall Street Journal
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