Ya no mas (I've had enough!)
Description
"I m a Macho Man! I beat my woman! I'm very macho! If you want to tame a woman, beat her!" Lyrics from a Nicaraguan popular song. Violence against women affects the lives of millions of women worldwide, in all socio-economic classes. It is the leading cause of death and injury among women from fifteen to forty-five years of age, occurring in greater numbers than traffic accidents, cancer or war, according to U.N. statistics. Nicaragua has not escaped this pandemic. The pervasive culture of machismo and the general public's indifference to the problem in its male-dominated society led to the murders of more than fifty women at the hands of their husbands or partners last year. Half of these women had filed police reports on their assaulters before they were murdered. In this documentary, several women describe their husbands and partners attacks and their frustrating attempts to obtain justice from the Nicaraguan police, district attorneys and judges. The victims are routinely ignored by the police and bureaucrats responsible for arresting their attackers. The media makes fun of the women's suffering, using songs to encourage male chauvinism. The psychologist Ruth Marina Matamoros says the situation is so bad that violence against women has been declared a public health problem. To alleviate this a few all-women police precincts have been set up, staffed by specially-trained policewomen. The policewomen deplore that no shelters exist for the battered women. In the film, some of the women attend a meeting to learn how to break the cycle of violence. The film ends with women marching in protest, shouting "Not One More Woman Killed --!YA NO MAS!"
Runtime
38 min
Creator
Zurita de Higes, Félix
Subjects
Geography
Genre
Date of Publication
2010
Database
Alexander Street
Direct Link
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