Introduction

Around the world, women are killed for simply being women; their gender and the expectations that society believes women should meet have led to the deaths of multiple women. Latin America has one of the highest percentages of femicides – the killing of women for being women. In 2022 alone, it is estimated around 4,050 women were victims of femicide in 26 out of 33 countries in Latin America (ECLAC). Because of that number, 14 of the 25 countries with the highest femicide rates in the world are Latin American countries (Galindo). The number is higher, but it is difficult to get an accurate percentage when the law makers do not classify femicide as an actual term and issue. Many also fail to acknowledge that machismo culture – an ideology that promotes male dominance that results in social, cultural, and political gender inequalities – is at fault. In this essay, I will use the readings from class to expand on how machismo is the root of femicide and go through the data on femicide in Latin America.

Theoretical Framework

Societal Expectations Placed on Women:

Throughout class, we read multiple readings from both sociological and literature-based sources. We were able to discuss the different perspectives specific passages might have taken. Many examined gender inequality and intersectionality through the eyes of the people in Latin America. For instance, the short story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid explores the relationship between a mother and her daughter. In this work, the mother gives advice to her daughter about how she should act now that the daughter is entering womanhood. The advice given by the mother varies from domestic chores women must take up to how the daughter must act around men. When our class examined this reading, we analyzed how the mother spoke to her daughter and how the mother expected her daughter to not question what she was told. We also discussed how Kincaid wrote the expectations women are to meet if they want to be viewed as righteous women. Kincaid presents the theme of machismo culture in Latin America and the Caribbean by using the mother-daughter relationship. While the reader may believe the mother is only calling the daughter names and shaming her, the mother believes that she must be aggressive with her daughter to prepare her for the real world. The mother’s harsh words, in her own way, are to help, guide, and protect her daughter. I will be using this reading to show how machismo culture and gender inequality play significant roles in the path that leads to femicide.  

Another reading from class that showed the impact of machismo was “Afro-Cuban Cyberfeminism” by Judith Sierra-Rivera. This article examines societal expectations about women is love, sex, and relationships. Throughout the reading, Rivera analyzes and references Alvarez Ramirez’s blog called Negra Cubana. Rivera uses this blog and includes her own perspective about feminism in Cuba as a Black Cuban woman. Rivera continuously refers to Ramirez’s blog and incorporates her own ideas about how society leaves out Black women in every narrative especially when it does not center around an individual who is white or/and a man. Rivera continues by examining the way society forces women to see sex and love as intertwined concepts when they are two separate ideas. The author showcases how the blogger Alvarez Ramirez believes polyamory would allow for women to be free of the societal expectations about love and sex. In doing so, Rivera backs up Ramirez’s argument that polyamory will help fight against patriarchy. In their view, it is important to separate the concepts of sex and love – one being about pleasure and the other about emotion. With polyamory, women can explore their newfound freedom. We discussed how the blog and the essay itself explore how sexuality and other identities like race can change the experience of certain groups of women. We analyzed how love and sex were perceived by women in our society, and how those perceptions are connected to the gender inequalities in Latin America and other regions. Since this reading uses examples of societal expectations, it will allow me to explain how women may view relationships and how such perceptions are connected to machismo culture.

The class continued to explore gender inequality in Latin America through Isabel Allende’s novel, The House of Spirits. Throughout the story, the reader is taken through Esteban Trueba and Clara del Valle’s relationship journey. In the story, Esteban repeatedly talks about how he loves his wife but continues to yell and throw things around her. He excuses his violent behavior by stating it is love. Esteban describes how others believe he should be hitting his wife to discipline her, or that he does not truly love her or is not a real man. Esteban used his violent actions to also get Clara to follow his orders, but Clara never listened to him even when he would get violent. After the birth of their children, Esteban only gets more frustrated by Clara, especially because of her relationship with his sister Férula, and he holds the children to the societal ideals of men and women. The class discussed how Esteban has strong misogynistic ideals that make the relationship between Clara and him difficult. We agreed that Esteban is influenced by society because he justifies his actions by how others describe how a man in love should act with his wife; otherwise, he is not truly a man. This ideal that men must mistreat their wives to show dominance or to demonstrate their love for them stems from machismo.

Similarly to Jamaica Kincaid’s work, Women with Big Eyes by Angeles Mastretta was another reading many of the class agreed described the expectations that were put on women and the difficulties of womanhood. In Women with Big Eyes, Mastretta gives the reader glimpses of the lives of various women. Each woman has a different story and issue that represents the way society views women. With every single perspective, a variety of topics are examined – love, domestic violence, sinning, abuse, and more. Mastretta presenting these different topics to the reader allowed the class to notice just how many social expectations women have on them simply for being women and the effects such expectations can have. The class, similarly to what happened while analyzing Kincaid’s reading, believed machismo culture is ingrained in many and that is what causes the women in this novel to act a certain way or go against it. Mastretta’s novel will allow me to discuss the machismo mentality that leads to the killing of women.

While the class read a lot about gender inequality through literary pieces, we also explored many sociological works. One of these sociological works was a chapter from The Sociological Imagination by C. Wright Mills. Mills argues that the only way to understand history and an individual’s life is by understanding them both together within a society. Using the sociological imagination allows us to comprehend how an individual can “become falsely conscious of their social positions” (Wills, page 2). With this reading, the class discussed how we ourselves can use the sociological imagination and if we have faced an individual issues that were “public issues.” Using this reading, I will be able to explain how machismo is a public issue that individuals especially women are affected by.

The Case

Expectations, Definitions, and Statistics Correlated to Femicide:

Since we are looking into how machismo leads to femicides, we must collect data on the relationship between both phenomena. But since machismo is just an ideology, the type of data we are exploring are surveys about people’s attitudes regarding violence against women through Oxfam International. Oxfam International surveyed young adults in different countries of Latin America and the Caribbean in 2018 regarding this topic and found that many young people find violence against women “normal”. When asked about “normal” behavior between male and female, many responded that jealous and possessive behavior is the norm. Male partners focusing on what their female partners wear, who they text, and who her friends are considered part of the “romantic love;” For instance, 6 out of 10 men answered that jealousy was normal (Oxfam International). Even more worrying, 7 out of 10 men believe that women are at fault if they are groped due to their clothing. Even though many of the men surveyed understand how serious of a problem violence against women is in their countries, 86% of women and men believe that their friends would not get involved if their friend hit their girlfriend (Oxfam International). While many would not intervene, a small percentage of 29% would report violence against women.  

When studying femicide, it is important to understand the phenomenon of domestic violence and how it is connected to femicides. Domestic violence is violent behavior/abuse inside a home usually including violent physical abuse towards a partner. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), defines physical violence as being slapped, shoved, kicked, dragged, choked, etc. PAHO not only defines physical violence but also defines sexual violence, emotional abuse, and controlling behavior, which can all be a part of the cycle of domestic violence. Sexual violence is forced or unwanted sexual acts. Emotional abuse is defined as insulting, belittling, and threatening of various kinds whereas controlling behavior can be getting jealous over simple interactions with others, limiting them, not trusting them, etc.  

PAHO surveyed women ages 15 to 49 from various countries in Latin America^[1] about whether they had faced any physical violence from their partners in the past 12 months or/and ever. For what is considered moderate acts (slapping, hair pulling, etc.), the lowest percentage of women that ever experienced that was 12.5% in 2005 in Haiti while the highest percentage was 37.9% in 2005 in Colombia (PAHO, page 22). For any type of severe acts (choking, beaten, etc.), the lowest percentage was 7.4% in 2005/2006 in Haiti while the highest percentage was 25.5% in 2007/2008 in Peru (PAHO, page 22). Alongside experiencing physical violence, women also faced sexual violence with current or formed intimate partners. Even though physical violence was found to be the biggest violence faced among the women surveyed, sexual violence still has percentages as high as 5.9% in 2005/2006 in Haiti (PAHO). Women also described facing both physical and sexual violence with former or current partners with numbers as high as 14.2% in 2003 in Bolivia (PAHO). Emotional abuse is also contributing to the mistreatment women face within intimate relationships; the highest rate being 47.8% in their lifetime and 21.2% in the past 12 months for women in 2006/2007 in Nicaragua (PAHO, page 66).  

Now that domestic violence against women statistics have been presented, we can look at the numbers that have been recorded of femicides in different countries of Latin America. ECLAC’s Gender Inequality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean provides data on the femicide rates in each country by absolute number and rate per 100,000 women for the year 2022. In absolute numbers on women dying due to femicide, Saint Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean had the lowest with one woman killed. In contrast, Brazil had the highest absolute number of women dying at the hands of men with 1,437 women (ECLAC). For the rates of femicide per 100,000 women, some countries, like Anguilla and Barbados in the Caribbean, are as low as zero women whereas Honduras has the highest rate at 6 per 100,000 women (ECLAC). 

Analysis

Societal Expectations and Overall Trends about Femicides:

As stated before, machismo culture is a social construct ingrained in Latin America and other regions that assert the idea that men must be as masculine as possible to truly be considered a man; men must be powerful, strong, courageous, and assertive to be considered “true men.” Since the concept of machismo cannot be statistically measured, we must refer back to the Oxfam International study about how young adults view violence against women. With the survey, we can see how men might act with their romantic partners since many of the young adults surveyed believe it is “normal” behavior to be possessive over your significant other (Oxfam International). Some of the actions that are normalized are deciding what their girlfriends can wear, what their girlfriends can post on social media, and who the woman is talking to. The behaviors collected by Oxfam help us realize how the idea of relationships and love between a man and a woman can be abusive. We know the standards women are meant to meet through Jamaica Kincaid’s work, “Girl.” The mother in the passage harshly advises the daughter in several ways: “this is how you behave in the presence of men who don’t know you very well” and “this is how you love a man” (Kincaid). Even though “Girl” does not specifically discuss relationships, it states the way women should act towards men. Women are forced to blindly follow those patriarchal expectations. If women do not, they can face physical repercussions for being “disrespectful.” 

When discussing assumed norms in a romantic relationship, Oxfam International found that 6 out of 10 men believing jealousy is normal. Judith Sierra-Rivera combats this idea in her essay “Afro-Cuban Cyberfeminism.” Throughout the essay, Rivera explains how the emphasis on romantic relationships for women hinders them as people and does not allow for them to truly grow. Rivera believes that once society allows women to separate love and sex, women will experience true freedom from society (Sierra-Rivera, page 331). While Kincaid helps understand what women are expected to be, Sierra-Rivera proposes the idea of how to fight against those societal ideals about love for women.

The data presented about domestic violence shows how machismo influences the rates of this type of violence. For instance, it is important to note that the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), not only addresses physical violence against women but also emotional abuse and controlling behavior. The emotional manipulation women face during an abusive relationship is a part of the cycle of violence that women can go through before it reaches the extreme level of femicide. When emotional or domestic abuse occur towards a woman in a relationship with a man, it tends to connect back to a culture centered around machismo. Since the machismo culture is about the man’s dominance and power over the women in his life, especially his partner, if men do not feel like they have enough control over women, they can start to have violent behavior in moderate ways. We see this pattern ingrained in our society through the readings from class, specifically The House of Spirits and Women with Big Eyes. In The House of Spirits, we see how Esteban continuously acts aggressively towards his wife but never hits to try and gain a sense of control over Clara; Esteban acts towards Clara how others believe he must act as a man since he feeds into the idea that then it would mean “he isn’t a real man” (Allende, page 118). Since Esteban is so focused on how society views his manliness, he goes out of his way to make sure Clara will listen. Similarly, the rate of almost 50% of women in Nicaragua being emotionally abused (PAHO) reflects this idea that men can belittle and dehumanize the women in their lives to have some sort of dominance over them – going back to the ideology of men being the superior one in the relationship. 

If women were to leave those spaces of abusive behavior, the people that are stuck in a sexist mindset tend to judge the woman for them leaving. For instance, when Aunt Chila left her abusive husband in Mastretta’s Women with Big Eyes, the people in her environment believed her to be a bad wife before they knew she was being abused by her husband. This goes to show that even if women do leave an abusive relationship, the machismo culture is embedded into society so deeply that most people automatically attack the women before knowing the whole story. Even with PAHO reporting almost 40% of women in Colombia facing moderate acts of physical abuse, many individuals in society still blame the women for not being complacent because of machismo. 

With the distinct types of abuse examined in this essay, we must understand that the fact that the rates of femicide are so high in certain countries of Latin America can only be understood by understanding how individuals are interacting with the society they live in. C. Wright Mills’ concept of the sociological imagination helps us understand that as a society, the history behind gender inequality influences many aspects of our life through cultural constructs like machismo, but we also must explore how an individual develops as a result of these ideas prevailing in their society. Machismo contributes to gender inequalities and continues to be a cycle due to the individuals following what they learned in their environment. When there is a certain social hierarchy based on gender that creates a certain environment for women, most women have no choice but to play into that ideology, which can be called Marianismo. Marianismo is a cultural phenomenon intricately linked to machismo, and it means women are seen as the caretakers, the ones who follow the rules, and the selfless ones who uphold the patriarchal values (Nuñez). Marianismo is constructed for women to best resemble Virgin Mary and uphold certain female gender roles. It perpetuates the idea that women are weak beings who need men to protect them and that men must be the dominant strong head of the household. Under the cycle of machismo and marianismo, women are continued to be viewed as inferior and the cycle of violence is still a regular activity that leads to femicide.  

One rebuttal that some people mention is why create the word femicide when homicide exists as a concept? The answer relates to the definition of each word. Homicide means the killing of someone else by another’s hands. Femicide, as previously discussed, means the killing of a woman due to the fact that she is a woman. When homicide is committed, it can be for hundreds of reasons. Femicide has to do with the hundreds of years of gender inequality women have faced. Classifying every murder of women at the hands of intimate partners, family members, and men in general, does not capture how ingrained the patriarchy is in our society. Without the correct labeling of the women’s deaths, it continues the harmful cycle of sexism, violence, inequalities, and more of women in Latin America and the Caribbean.  

Conclusion

Although femicide stems from a societal ideology, it must be met with policies and social movements must intervene in order to reduce its numbers. By studying the impact of machismo, I learned just how much our everyday life is plagued by stereotypical ideals based on gender. My desire to explore femicide in Latin America through machismo stems from knowing the violence women face, not just in that region but over the world, due to how our brains are trained to view gender. With the readings from class, I was able to analyze how intertwined societal expectations women are burdened with and collected data on female murders truly are through the perspective of femicide.

References