1. The Missing Women of Ciudad Juarez
By: Liz Yordy

2. About Ciudad Juarez Border town
Most violent city in the world
Drug trade, sex trafficking, satanic rituals, corrupt government officials, and narco-police
Epicenter of female femicide since 1993

3. What drew them there? Abundant jobs from the new american companies
Maquiladoras
Poor women had to help pay for their families

4. Contributing factors Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking
Maquila industry
NAFTA- North American Free Trade Agreement
Machismo and Marianismo Ideology

5. Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking
Juarez is a hot spot for Mexican drug cartels
Gangs are a permanent threat to these women, because they are poor and do not get institutional protection
This issue was seen globally because of the lack of police and government action

6. Maquila Industry
Foreign companies along the border that are known for cheap labor and exploitative conditions
Saw woman as temp workers
Increased the amount of women in the work force which threw off the balance of what men were used to

7. NAFTA Increase in maquiladora industry Increase in jobs for women
600% increase in female homicides since enacted in
Should be revised to have a human rights part

8. Machismo and Marianismo Ideology
Machismo: characterized by male power and aggression
Marianismo: characterized by subordinate and domestic gender roles
Refrain from paid labor
Those that seek employment challenge the idea of womanhood, which causes the men to retaliate.

9. Government inaction
Thought to be working with the drug cartels, and were being paid off in different ways
When pressured globally they rushed cases, and used questionable methods to get people to confess
100’s of cases and only 3 convictions, confessors said they were tortured until they agreed to say what they were told
Women started to take matters into their own hands

10. Activist groups Made up of housewives, grandmothers, and mothers
Marched multiple times
Symbolic pink crosses indicate where dead were found
Have demanded federal help from Vicente Fox
Issue also presented in media and through hip hop artists

11. Ms. Chavez Founded Casa Amiga in 1998
First and only rape crisis center in the city
Created due to the stories she heard from the women she met
Organized rallies and wrote about victims before their was national attention
Spurred the creation of a special commission to work on the murders

12. Batallones Femininos
Hip hop collective aimed at uniting women against violence
Uses their music to tell the stories of the women

13. Conclusion
The conditions in Juarez have not changed much, women still get on the busses the same and they are still not given very good police protection
Companies have said they would improve their security, but no measures have been taken yet
The activist groups are not letting the women be forgotten
The true reason behind the killings still remains a mystery though there are many speculations

14. Discussion Questions
Which of the four contributing factors do you think is the biggest instigator of these murders?
Do you think a reform of the mexican government is possible?