History of femicide in china
Femicide in China mainly began when Mao Zedong was declared the People’s Republic of China in 1949. He wanted China to become a great nation and wanted lots of manpower to build a great army and economy. Mao condemned their to be any sort of birth control because he wanted China to multiply. He later realized that what he had done created a shortage of food for the country and in 1955 he launched a campaign to promote birth control. By 1979 they introduced the one child-policy that limit families to having just one child although some middle class households were allowed to have two children. They began a Birth Control Policy to assure that families would only have one child although they mainly wanted to know if the newborn would be a boy or girl. If they found out that the newborn would be a girl they would make sure the mother have an abortion or after their birth they would then take the baby away abandon them or kill them. They saw having a girl as a problem mainly because they believe girls are just good enough to take on the role as carers and homemakers. They are considered a drain to the families and would have no real reason to live because they soon would move away and live with their husbands. They would have nothing from their families to carry on well as for boys they would be able to carry on their fathers last name. They wanted boys mainly because it reassure them that their legacy will continue. They are also looked upon as the main income earners and they would have a greater income potential for their families and their country. Due to this one-child policy many newborn girls still to this day are being killed or abandon.
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History Of Femicide in el salvador
The causes that have led up to femicide in El Salvador, has a lot to do with machismo and gang violence. According to the article by Deborah Hastings, “El Salvador has the highest rate in the world, with an average of 12 murders for every 100,000 women.” A lot of these crimes that are committed to women are never even reported. It also states that in most countries in Central America suffered, “The abuse also is steeped in history, especially in Central America, where death squads and civil wars have left a legacy of corruption and intimidation.” El Salvador is a dangerous country by itself, but it is way more deadly for women.
Gang violence has a lot to do with femicide because women are seen as objects. (Hastings). Most of the crimes against women are never reported or never given any real thought to. Most women who killed because of femicide, the killer is usually someone they know. It could be a husband, lover, father, or even brother. Even the with the law passed in 2012 in El Salvador has been able to help stop femicide.
Gang violence has a lot to do with femicide because women are seen as objects. (Hastings). Most of the crimes against women are never reported or never given any real thought to. Most women who killed because of femicide, the killer is usually someone they know. It could be a husband, lover, father, or even brother. Even the with the law passed in 2012 in El Salvador has been able to help stop femicide.
The countries' response
China
The government of China does seem to be aware that its one-child policy is indirectly leading to femicide by causing prospective parents to abort more female fetuses than male ones, but its reaction to this fact is mixed depending on which representatives are asked. For the time being, the one-child policy is still in full effect, and is even occasionally being enforced with violence. According to information gathered by the New York Times, China is, “requiring mandatory health checks for women and forcing pregnant women who lacked approval to give birth to undergo abortions.” This shows an obvious approval of the policy on China’s part despite knowledge of the damage it is causing, as well as a blatant disregard for the rights of the women they are forcing to terminate their pregnancies.
However, World News Group recently reported that the Chinese government is planning to relax the one-child policy to a two-child policy within the next two years, citing the growing gender imbalance and the femicide it implies as one of their main reasons for the change. In 2005, China also enacted a law banning abortions after the 14th week of pregnancy—when the fetus’s gender first becomes detectable—making it effectively impossible to legally abort a baby purely based on its gender (New York Times). So the Chinese government is making efforts to stem the femicide caused by its one-child policy, said efforts just haven’t taken effect as strongly in some provinces as they have in others.
However, World News Group recently reported that the Chinese government is planning to relax the one-child policy to a two-child policy within the next two years, citing the growing gender imbalance and the femicide it implies as one of their main reasons for the change. In 2005, China also enacted a law banning abortions after the 14th week of pregnancy—when the fetus’s gender first becomes detectable—making it effectively impossible to legally abort a baby purely based on its gender (New York Times). So the Chinese government is making efforts to stem the femicide caused by its one-child policy, said efforts just haven’t taken effect as strongly in some provinces as they have in others.
el salvador
El Salvador’s reaction has, unfortunately, not been quite as successful. Accoring to UN Women, “In 2012, the Attorney General of El Salvador approved a national protocol created by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which is now guiding officials tasked with investigating the crime of femicide.” So like China, the government of El Salvador is making an attempt to stop the plague of femicide within its borders. However, perhaps because of the different nature of El Salvador’s rampant femicide—taking the form of chaotic street-violence as opposed to controlled, government-sanctioned abortion—El Salvador’s efforts have been a lot less visibly successful. As Larry Ladutke, a country specialist for El Salvador at Amnesty International said when interviewed by NY Daily News, “The most important factor is just impunity. Criminals know they can get away with murder.” According to the same article, 90% of femicide defendants in El Salvador aren’t convicted since the uber-masculine mindset that leads to femicide is so thoroughly ingrained into the public consciousness that everyone—including the judges and juries—have just come to accept it as a fact of life. So, sort of like what’s going on in China, but far more pronounced, the government of El Salvador is definitely making a valiant effort to curb the nation’s femicide, but it’s having serious problems enforcing the laws it enacts in order to do so.
international response
For a long time, this particular has not been seen by the international communities. Unfortunately not much international help is given to china about this topic. However, different international organizations are lending a helping hand for El Salvador and other parts of Central America. In 2007, Congress passed the measure known as H.RES.100. It is an effort by a large bipartisan group of representatives to try to end "femicide" in Central America. More recently, on March 8th of 2013, the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights at the Gender-related killings of women reminded the audience that, according to international law, “any act of violence perpetrated in the private or public sphere, whether by state or non-state actors, invokes the due diligence obligations of States to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish such acts and ensure compensation” and issued a statement saying that he will focus his remarks “on the obligations to ensure judicial accountability for perpetrators of gender-motivated killings”. The Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has been supporting the development of laws on violence against women in El Salvador. Over the years, many human rights organizations have had official missions, create research results, and support women’s organizations’ strife for justice as well as women politicians in collaboration with women’s rights organizations. In order to implement a system in which femicide is prevented and/or prosecuted, resources should be provided to help collect more data on the matter.
Femicide Now
China In China, the controversial situation of femicide, also known as gendercide is still on the rise. Despite multiple humanitarian organizations trying to stop this issue, it is a constant problem in China. According to feministpeacenetwork.org, “The backlash to China’s long-term one-child policy, and determination of parents that this one child be a boy, have already led to such wildly skewed sex ratios… could [cause males to] fail to find brides by the end of the next decade.” Infanticiding of daughters, and the favors to sons is causing the reduced women population in China. In 2010, the Chinese census revealed that men had outnumber the women by 34 million, due to sex selective abortion. (thefederalist.com) In China, the female population is viewed as a financial burden, due to dowries, where the bride gives money or property to their husband during marriage. Many females are disadvantaged in the work field, as men are valued more highly than females. In the Chinese society, there are different views upon femicide, where some support the use of femicide, as a way to increase the advantage of the male population, and others would rather kill their daughter to avoid her from suffering. Despite many human right activists looking to stop the spread of femicide, it is still a constant problem in China. The killing of women are viewed as not a large deal in China, where women are considered much inferior compared to men. Unlike women, men are able to extend the family name and keep the name to continue throughout the generations, where women are listed as property, and become listed under their husband.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlIG2maZyw4 |
El salvador In El Salvador, femicide is still the biggest issue the country has to face. With El Salvador having the highest femicide rate to this day, there are many men, including husbands, boyfriends, employers or gang members, who believe that it is okay to take the life of a woman simply because she is a woman. Men in El Salvador believe that they are superior and in charge and therefore do not value the life of woman. There are hundreds of womens and young girls bodies that are dragged up from the side of the street without a clue in the world as to why they all lay there lifeless and cold. The killing of women seems to be the “normal thing to do” and it is not a surprise when there is news that they have found another dead woman. This is all due to femicide.
Femicide is normalized in El Salvador and men who perform these horrific crimes often times go unpunished. Since the killing of women happens all the time, it is unlikely that the victims will receive a fair investigation. According to Corey Kane even though “El Salvador has made progress, with a drop from a 69.2 murder rate in 2011 to a 41.2 rate in 2012” being born a woman in El Salvador is a curse. Your chance at a long life is severely slimmed down based on the fact that men think they have the right to kill you for no reason. They feel that if you do not comply with what they want, do something they do not like or even try to stand up for yourself it is okay to kill you. |
Statistics and case studies
Statistics
· Last year, nearly 4,000 El Salvadoran women ended up in the hospital because of a domestic and or sexual abuse in the home.
· Until recently, El Salvador was known as the world's capital for femicide -- defined as the killing of a girl or woman by a man because of her gender.
· At least 2,250 femicides have been reported in El Salvador from 2010 to September 2014, according to the Organization of Salvadoran Women for Peace (ORMUSA), a local rights group.
· Femicide is emerging at a torrid rate in Latin America, and this worries many women living in areas with high crime rates.
· According to the Independent Research Project Survey of Arms Reports, femicides are significantly higher in countries and territories affected by high or very high overall homicide rates.
· Currently, El Salvador has the highest femicide rate, at 12 per 100,000 inhabitants. Following El Salvador are Jamaica (10.9), Guatemala (9.7), and South Africa (9.6). [8]
· Until recently, El Salvador was known as the world's capital for femicide -- defined as the killing of a girl or woman by a man because of her gender.
· At least 2,250 femicides have been reported in El Salvador from 2010 to September 2014, according to the Organization of Salvadoran Women for Peace (ORMUSA), a local rights group.
· Femicide is emerging at a torrid rate in Latin America, and this worries many women living in areas with high crime rates.
· According to the Independent Research Project Survey of Arms Reports, femicides are significantly higher in countries and territories affected by high or very high overall homicide rates.
· Currently, El Salvador has the highest femicide rate, at 12 per 100,000 inhabitants. Following El Salvador are Jamaica (10.9), Guatemala (9.7), and South Africa (9.6). [8]
Actual cases
Case #1: According to News Agency Inter Press Service, the most recent cases include the murder of 24-year-old Yuridia Herrera Laínez on March 28 in Tonacatepeque, on the north side of San Salvador. Her partner, Luis González, was arrested on charges of firing several bullets at her when she tried to break up with him.
Case #2: Eight days earlier, in the eastern city of San Miguel, 32-year-old Maria Carmen Centeno was killed with a machete by her boyfriend, who is at large.
Case #3: Suyapa del Carmen Villatoro, a 37-year-old Salvadoran-American who had come to El Salvador on vacation, is in the hospital struggling for her life after gunmen allegedly hired by her husband, José Elias Canesa, shot her on April 1. Prosecutors said Canesa, who is in preventive detention, confessed to ordering the hit against his wife. Her friend, 67-year-old Colombian-American Ana Cristina Ramos, was also killed in the shooting
Case #2: Eight days earlier, in the eastern city of San Miguel, 32-year-old Maria Carmen Centeno was killed with a machete by her boyfriend, who is at large.
Case #3: Suyapa del Carmen Villatoro, a 37-year-old Salvadoran-American who had come to El Salvador on vacation, is in the hospital struggling for her life after gunmen allegedly hired by her husband, José Elias Canesa, shot her on April 1. Prosecutors said Canesa, who is in preventive detention, confessed to ordering the hit against his wife. Her friend, 67-year-old Colombian-American Ana Cristina Ramos, was also killed in the shooting
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Violence against women at epidemic levels
http://luterano.blogspot.com/2012/07/violence-against-women-at-epidemic.html
Hastings, Deborah. “‘Femicide’ on the Rise in Central America.” NY Daily News. NY Daily News, 10 Jan. 2014. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.
Cheng, June. “China Announces New Two-Child Policy.” WORLD. World News Group, 24 Oct. 2014. Web. 01 Dec. 2014.
“Femicide in Latin America.” UN Women. UN Women, 4 Apr. 2014. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.
French, Howard W. “As Girls ‘Vanish,’ Chinese City Battles Tide of Abortions.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Feb. 2005. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.
Hastings, Deborah. “‘Femicide’ on the Rise in Central America.” NY Daily News. NY Daily News, 10 Jan. 2014. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.
Kahn, Joseph. “Harsh Birth Control Steps Fuel Violence in China.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 May 2007. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.
"H.Res.100 — 110th Congress (2007-2008)." H.Res.100. Congress.gov, 01 May 2007. Web. 30 Nov. 2014. < https://www.congress.gov/bill/110th-congress/house-resolution/100>.
Deputy High Commissioner. "Statement of the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights at the Gender-related Killings of Women." DisplayNews. United Nations Human Rights, 08 Mar. 2013. Web. 30 Nov. 2014. b http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=13122&LangID=E>.
Lu, Rachel. "The United States Has A Femicide Problem." The Federalist. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.
"The Horrendous Reality of Femicide in India and Other Countries." Feminist Peace Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.
Yugsi, Cristian. "Femicide Looms Over Latin America." Council on Hemispheric Affairs. 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2014. http://www.coha.org/femicide-looms-over-latin-america/>.