#Niunamenos

Imagine the headlines in Canada or the United States if a kindergarten teacher’s ex-husband had walked in, and slit her throat in front of her class…

A bit of background:

       This exact case was the unfortunate fate of Maria Lanzetti (44) in Argentina, becoming one of the more famous examples of the increasing hyper masculinity of Latin America resulting in the #Niunamenos movement. Young Chiara Paez and Lucia Pérez, victims of murder at age 14 and 16, are also cases which categorize as femicides as these women are being tortured and killed by men, due to their sex. These are some of many tragic attacks on women due to gender which sparked the Latinex community to take action in the form of the biggest feminist rally ever recorded in Argentina of 300,000 people. Many believe that the ‘machismo’ culture is at the root of the problem and the starting place for change. Despite little legal changes being made, the rallies and marches demonstrate power and strength in themselves. 

       The motivation behind the movement seemed to be driven by the unacceptably high gender violence statistics which can be explored at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/niunamenos-how-a-schoolgirls-brutal-gang-rape-and-murder-united/

      
       To a young woman such as myself, it is frightening to see such horrendous statistics when we are supposed to be living in a world moving towards equality. Immediately upon hearing of this issue in Latin America I quickly thought about how interesting it is that most people in Canada or the United States will have never heard of this movement. It seems as though many feminist issues are confined to the media of their own countries such as the missing and murdered Indigenous women. The recent worldwide women’s march provided a refreshing contrast to that theory. By using social media under the hashtag #Niunamenos, meaning not one less (woman), the women of Latin America were able to expand their activism. They now have close to 40,000 followers on twitter @NiUnaMenos_and more than 600,000 posts using the hashtag on Instagram. Using social media as a platform is one of the quickest ways to spread awareness in today’s society.

      

       After having explored the movement, I found myself falling into the Rescue Industry in the position of ‘white savior’… which is interesting coming from someone who self-identifies as Métis. Regardless, I found myself thinking of different ways to help spread the word in western countries, and raise awareness to help Argentina and the dozen other countries being affected. Later, I realized that these women held a three hundred thousand person rally for their Latina women and the femicide issue, meanwhile there has never been such an enormous rally for the Indigenous women of Canada. It put into perspective where I stand, and helped me see how other countries could be thinking the same way about our own femicide issues...

       Could these ‘third world women’ be looking at Canada’s Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women crisis and thinking ‘If only we could share our expertise and HELP them out’? I think it would be naïve to think that this is not the case.

       The successful rallies and actions are proof that these women are not helpless and are not at all dependent on western societies to ‘free’ them. As a Canadian woman, it is difficult to try and find a balance between wanting to become active in the many different movements around the world, while steering clear of the ‘white savior’ attitude. I believe that by acknowledging our position and altering our ways of going about participating in these movements, we will find more success.

To learn more, 

*This video provides valuable insight by hearing from women directly affected by the movement.