LatinaLista — Every year, during the month of March, otherwise known as Women’s History Month, we like to remind ourselves of how far women in this country have come. Given the recent political debates over contraception and women’s heathcare, it’s clear we have a lot farther to go.
But overall, life for women in the United States is a lot better than what can be found in other places around the world. For example, right on the nation’s southern doorstep lies one of the most grievous places on earth for women — Juarez, Mexico.
The Mexican newspaper El Diario reports that the number of unidentified women found in the Valle de Juarez stands at 51. There have been many more bodies of women found over the years who have been identified and there are daily reports of women and young girls who have disappeared or been victims of unspeakable violence.
In Guatemala, Honduras and points farther south, violence against women is as routine as men making unwanted passes at them.
In every corner of the globe, women are under siege but they can’t be helped if the world doesn’t know about them. That’s where a new site dedicated to exposing the violence against women comes in. Simply titled the Women Under Siege Project, the site features a variety of ways to discuss and share news of violence against women. From honing in on the conflict zones around the world where rape and other forms of sexual violence are used to target women to blog posts written by guest bloggers who write of other areas, outside combat zones, where women are in a constant battle for dignity and safety, the site is a project of the Women’s Media Center that feels exploring the link between the belief that understanding what happens to these women can help prevent it.
Aside from raising public consciousness about these atrocities, Women Under Seige Project hopes to achieve an equally important objective:
The Project hopes to be instrumental in the creation of an action plan to push for the creation of legal, diplomatic, and public interventions to ensure the United Nations, international tribunals, and other agencies with power will understand the gender-based threats is a tool of genocide and will design protocols to intervene and halt gender-based genocide.
