Not One Less: One Every 30 Hours

Not one less: one every 30 hours

Femicide is a word that has been used largely in Latin America. In a book about femicide they define it as ‘the misogynist of women for men’ (Radford and Russell). In other words, the intentional murder of girls or women simply because they are women. The word femicide began in Mexico and has now unleashed anti-femicide movements worldwide. Although femicide occurs in many countries around the world, one of the worst sites has been in Argentina.

 In the first 20 days of March, 13 women were killed, that is, one every 30 hours. In Argentina, 13.3% of all legal cases are cases of femicide (McNamara). In the first six months of 2019 there were 155 femicides (Robinson). And these are just some of the many horrible statistics. Because of the injustices occur, feminists have created movements to fight femicide. 

This movement is known as a less or even one more. This feminist movement in Argentina is important because it tries to save women from being persecuted, killed and tortured and inspires women around the world to defend themselves. 

The work of Ni a less have been translated into many languages and their objectives have helped inspire women everywhere, especially in Argentina since this is where the movement began. The movement began with Argentine scholars women and their goal is to fight sexist violence (not one less). 

The movement won popularity on June 3, 2015 when there was a protest in front of the Palace of the Argentine National Congress because a 14 -year -old girl was found pregnant and dead under her boyfriend’s house.

Now there is a demonstration every June 3 in Argentina and many other countries have followed the Camino de Argentina. Not one less has also begun to organize mass strikes because many women are killed in their workplace (or less).

The objective of a less is to ensure that laws and regulations pass so that these murders do not continue to occur. Not one less has also launched many national campaigns against violence. Not one less has also launched numerous national campaigns against violence. In 2012, Argentina modified the Criminal Code to include gender violence as an aggravation of homicides. 

In 2017, not a less helped to approve the National Law for the Protection of Violence against Women (Law 26.485). Also, the Supreme Court of Córdoba for Justice said that a previous relationship or the personality of women are not requirements to establish aggravation. In addition to the femicide law, Argentina has legislation to suppress violence against women. Micaela’s law requires that all state officials and workers go through mandatory sexual training. This is because many cases of femicide are often ignored or managed disrespectfully and incorrectly. A member of the Congress that participates in the Non Ni Movement is Carla Pitiot. She has made many changes and said: ‘Feminicide is specifically included in the Criminal Code. If you kill a woman, it’s not just a homicide, but if you kill that woman because she is a woman, she is a femicide. And, you have a longer phrase.”(Herrera).

Not one less has also begun to help other related causes. Not one less began the national campaign for legal, safe, and free abortion. Since many Argentine children no longer have mothers, the government gives money to children who became orphans due to femicide. The movement has also begun to fight for the legalization of abortion, demanding the president to fix the economic debt and the rights of LGBTQ+.

Not one less has had many obstacles. One is that Pope Francis has spoken against movement and abortions, which makes laws approve when most of the country is Catholic. It is also difficult to reach greater generations to understand the problem because sexism and sexist behavior is all they know. Another obstacle has been President Mauricio Marcí. He took 56.000 million dollars of the IMF, which caused a loss in social programs. In 2019, Budget Law also cut the funds for the National Women’s Institute. However, the greatest difficulty of all is the application of the laws that are approved (Centenera). 

Although not one less has managed to approve many major laws and take measures in the right direction, government officials do not enforce the laws that were created and approved. Many women receive restriction orders, but men do not follow them and the police do not punish them for breaking the restriction order. Although femicide continues to occur and the fight will be long and hard, not even one less refuses and will continue to fight until Argentina is a better and safer country for everyone.