#UnDiaSinMujeres: Mexico’s female workers plan ‘a day without women’ in protest

On March 9, women across Mexico plan a complete strike from participation in the economy. They will not go to work, go shopping, eat at restaurants, order food or items online, or even use social networks. The idea is a strike that, activists hope, will highlight the value that women bring to a society in a country that has seen a rising tide of gender-based violence of late. 

Also known as #UnDiaSinNostras (A day without us), the strike was envisioned in response to the rise in ‘femicides’—gender-motivated incidents where women are murdered. Incidents like the murder of Ingrid Escamilla on February 9, a 25-year-old in Mexico city who was stabbed, skinned and disembowelled by her boyfriend, drew popular outrage. But, just days later, nine femicides took place on February 9 alone. A week later, the body of a 7-year-old girl was found inside a plastic bag in the capital city.

On average, ten women are murdered each day in Mexico, with a record 3,825 women killed in 2019. 2020 saw another spike—over 265 had taken place by the end of February alone.  Activist María Salguero, who has been tracking these femicides, created the national map of femicides which has compiled nearly 9,000 instances of this since 2010. 

The government’s response has been criticised as lacklustre. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (popularly known as Amlo), responded to Escamilla’s murder by saying he did not want it to overshadow a lottery that taking place that day (of his own presidential aircraft). Amlo has accused his political opponents of raking up the issue of femicide in a bid to target his presidency. His government has since published ‘Ten Commandments vs Violence against Women’ including a list of rules, such as ‘it is cowardice to hit a women.’ 

The move to call a women’s strike on March 9, a day after international women’s day, is the latest measure by activists in the country, as they battle a patriarchy that seems deeply ingrained. When gory photos of Escamilla’s mutilated body were shared by newspapers, activists tried to counter the spread of the image by sharing images of natural beauty with the hashtag #IngridEscamilla, in a bid to protect her legacy from being remembered only for the violence of her death. 

The idea for the strike reportedly came from Mexican actress Vanessa Bauche, who was herself inspired by the 2004 film A Day Without a Mexican (which envisaged what California would look like if all the Mexicans in the state disappeared).

The ‘day without women’ strike could have significant economic impacts if it gets the participation of all women. The newspaper El Universal estimated that up to 37 billion pesos ($1.9 billion) could be lost from the economy in a single day if women skipped work (including unpaid labour like domestic work).

Those who support the strike include the chief justice of the Supreme Court (who tweeted saying that all female members of the judiciary would be free to join the strike), Walmart (which announced that their 108,000 female employees could join the strike), Interior Minister Sánchez Cordero and even (briefly), Amlo’s wife. 

In a country of almost 120 million, Mexico’s 21 million registered women workers could end up leading the biggest women’s protest movement since #MeToo.