Scores of women across Mexico stayed away from their jobs Monday to call attention to the unchecked violence they face on a daily basis.
The strike, dubbed "A Day Without Us," left subways, offices, schools, and government agencies in Mexico City and elsewhere virtually empty. The walkout was an outgrowth of Sunday's massive protests in the Mexican capital to mark International Women's Day. Sunday's protests were marked by sporadic violence, as protesters threw homemade gasoline-filled bombs at the doors of the national palace.
The organizers used Sunday's protests and Monday's subsequent strike to focus the country's attention on the alarming rise of femicides, the deliberate murder of women and girls, made even more prominent due to Mexico's machismo, or male-dominated culture. Statistics show that an average of 10 Mexican women are killed every day.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador angered women when he complained last week that the protests were staged to undermine his government.
