EPIDEMIC FEMICIDE: The horrendous reality for women in Mexico

Violence against women, a social norm in Mexico, rapidly increases the female death rate in Mexico.

Six women are assassinated every day in Mexico. Only 24 percent of the 3,892 femicides (female homicides) in 2012 and 2013 were investigated by authorities, according to the National Citizen Femicide Observatory. Only 1.6 percent of the femicides investigated let to a sentencing.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "Femicides are a pandemic in Mexico," states Ana Guezmes, the local representative of United Nations Women, to Al Jazeera America.

According to Al Jazeera America, the word "feminicidio" entered vocabulary in the 1990s, when disappearances and murders of women rapidly increased at explosive rates. Activists insist the "distinction of femicide in the law is important, because the sexual nature distinguishes the killings from ordinary homicide."

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Mothers, daughters, sisters and friends are being brutally beaten everyday and then are asked what she did wrong.

Social norms drive the violence and allow it to be ignored and even accepted, according to Guezmes. "Femicides are the extreme end of a society where 63 percent of women have suffered abuse by male hands."

"Hate is what marks these crimes. The bodies show 20 or 30 blows," expressed Marie de la Luz Estrada, executive coordinator of the Observatory, to Al Jazeera America. "They slice off breasts and faces and throw the fragments in the garbage. In a macho society like Mexico, authorities are always questioning what the women did. What was she wearing? Was she sexually active? This helps the impunity and lack of action."

Jose Diego Suarez Padilla stands in front of two windows designed to look like the blue eyes of his daughter for Al Jazeera America.

22-year-old student, Rosa Diana had her faced bashed in until she was killed. Suarez Padilla found the man who did this to his daughter, the young man confessed and still he has not been sentenced.

Suarez Padilla is one of the few who fight for justice in femicides because many know the odds are slim when corruption impales much of the Mexico's justice system and blame is placed on the women.

"When the murders are investigated, incompetence and failure to follow due process often allow murderers to escape punishment," explained de La Luz. "The parents are scared to give photos and details to the police, because that can make them vulnerable to extortionists, who say, 'we have her,' when in fact they don't. Corrupt authorities often say, 'If you speak out, your case won't advance."

No femicides were prosecuted in 2014, according to the special prosecutor for violent crimes against women, Nelly Montealegre Diaz.

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According to Diaz, impunity and corruption are to blame. However, the main problem is the social acceptance of gender violence and is more difficult to overcome than a corrupt justice system. "Women are seen as objects," said Diaz to Al Jazeera America.

The National Citizen Femicide Observatory issues regular reports and provides lawyers to families looking to prosecute killers, but according to Guezmes, the government needs to put more effort toward prevention, and improve access to justice if any real change is to be seen in Mexico, one of the worlds worst countries for violence against women.

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