Women march in Mexico City to protest gender violence

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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Hundreds of women marched through Mexico City's streets Tuesday to protest violence against women in a country where gender violence remains pervasive.

Among the hundreds of marchers clad in purple or with green bandanas, some beat drums and others carried signs. One read: “Today I am the voice of those who are asking for help.”

“I am here for my grandmother, for my mother, for all of the women who aren’t here anymore, for all the women who report (violence) and aren’t supported,” said Alin Rocha, a 41-year-old teacher, who marched on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Gender violence and equality have received more attention since President Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first female leader, took office last year. But even Sheinbaum was groped by a drunken man as she walked in the capital’s historic center earlier this month.

On Tuesday, she gathered governors from Mexico’s 32 states to report on progress to make sexual harassment a crime in every state. “Changing the laws is not enough, but it is necessary,” she said.

Miriam González, a 41-year-old doctor, said that even though a woman had made it to the presidency, “nothing has changed.”

Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography said in 2021, 70% of Mexican women and girls older than 15 reported they had experienced some kind of violence – nearly half of it sexual in nature.