Put it all together

- Please doctor, tell me I’m having a boy.- Cintya is pregnant and that is what she plans to tell her gynecologist on her following appointment. It is not that she really wants a boy, but she is worried about having a girl. She knows we live in a world that is more difficult and dangerous if you are a woman, so she is scared to have a baby girl.

Last March 8th, Cintya went to the march that every year takes place in some of the most important capital cities in Latin America. In Mexico City, lots of women walked through Paseo de la Reforma avenue. After that, the march continued to the National Palace. They were protesting because the government does nothing to protect them. In 2020, for example, there were 3723 women killed in Mexico. Many of those murders were considered femicides which is a double tragedy because that means that those women were killed just for being women. In Mexico, it is considered that a murder is a femicide when before her death, first the woman lost communication for certain time, her body was exposed in a public place or the body showed signals of sexual violence and also if the woman was killed by someone she knew.

There are many terrifying stories all around Mexico. That is why women from all social status, ages and beliefs march every year. They march because they are alive. However, they don’t know for how long. The police do nothing to stop crimes against them.

Some women march in white dresses with red marks to symbolize all the blood that runs through Mexico. Other women color in red the water in the fountains and some others spray monuments. What should women do so that the government and the police take significant actions?

Everybody in the march chants (chant) "Not one more assassination!" and everybody says that they feel (feel) desperate because the government doesn't help (not help) at all. They just say that women are protesting because they are part of the conservative position and so, they are only attacking (attack) the government.

That is why, some days before the march officials erected (erect) barriers all over the building where the feminist would pass by. The president said that women were arming (arm) themselves with hammers and that they were not really defending women.

Many women say that they feel afraid all the time and they feel that way just because they are women. They don't go (not go) out to the streets by their own, especially if they are wearing (wear) a skirt or a dress because men tell them sexual comments or even worse, some men will even molest them. That constant sexual harassment happens everywhere, not only in the streets. When women are at school, some of their classmates and some teachers tell (tell) them sexual comments. When they are at home, some of their uncles, cousins and other relatives sometimes come up with inappropriate comments. When a woman takes (take) a bus or the subway, she must be careful because men constantly molest them. And of course, they can’t take a taxi if they are alone, it’s too dangerous.