Paper Example: Indigenous Women in Mexico

The city of Ciudad Juarez town is an example of the positive and negative effects that accompany urbanization. The town is logically situated on the Mexican border in a valley surrounded by the mountainous terrain that has made it a central place for trading that is locally referred to as the maquiladoras. The population comprises mainly of the mestizos, who are mostly Roman Catholics.

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For the past three decades, the residents have been displaced from their land, and reduced livelihood opportunities have encouraged rural-urban migration among the indigenous communities. As a result, minority communities have diversified, along with religious, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds ("Case Study: Indigenous Women In Mexico ~ Life At The Margins: The Challenges Of Multiple Discrimination ~ Minority Stories"). The economic advancement that began over five decades in Ciudad Juarez encouraged slum areas to develop, simultaneously increasing poverty and crime. It should be noted that the strategic positioning of the town not only attracted the business owner but drug alliances and crime organizations.

The indigenous population of the town has supported younger generations and minority groups. The target has been the women in the attacks that were gender-biased, leading to femicide. Even though the number of femicide cases has reduced, cases of rape have increased drastically. Investigations by the police have yielded no fruits that have deepened impunity from the perpetrators.

Despite the awareness, indigenous women have been the target for kidnapping, murder, and rape cases. Ciudad Juarez town has been more dangerous to the indigenous women who move here in search of employment opportunities ("Case Study: Indigenous Women In Mexico ~ Life At The Margins: The Challenges Of Multiple Discrimination ~ Minority Stories"). Most of the employees in maquiladora are women and young girls who commute and use public transport in their daily operations. Many cases have been reported of women who have been murdered while walking on foot. Most of those murdered while going to work and gone unreported are Mexican minority groups.

It should be noted that not all indigenous people have been attacked because the Raramuri people have experienced a small number of deaths resulting from drug trafficking (("Case Study: Indigenous Women In Mexico ~ Life At The Margins: The Challenges Of Multiple Discrimination ~ Minority Stories"). As a result, the Raramuri people have increased in population by thirty percent in the past three decades as a result of environmental disasters and poverty. According to community activists, even in those days when criminal cases were high, the locals did not play any role; everyone feared violence. And this is because the community emphasized on developing morality and a close-knit life of the community.

Raramuri women make and sell handicrafts at the local markets and beg at the city center. The women have been discriminated against and faced instances that disrupted their daily way of life ("Case Study: Indigenous Women In Mexico ~ Life At The Margins: The Challenges Of Multiple Discrimination ~ Minority Stories"). The women have found a way to preserve their cultural traditions and linguistic presence, proving that they have the expertise to navigate the urban center despite the recent and past cases of violence.

The community is still faced with numerous challenges that have hindered their progress in life. Attaining high education standards as a community has been a hurdle to better employment opportunities for the locals. However, the experience of the Raramuri people is exceptional even though more effort needs to be concentrated towards ensuring that violence against indigenous women is addressed and put to an end. Therefore, the police and state officials need to make good their promise by ensuring that perpetrators are brought to justice. The authorities need to create room for the local rights groups to guide and influence behavior among women and men to ensure that no one tolerates violence.

Work Cited

"Case Study: Indigenous Women In Mexico ~ Life At The Margins: The Challenges Of Multiple Discrimination ~ Minority Stories". Stories.Minorityrights.Org, 2019, http://stories.minorityrights.org/lifeatthemargins/chapter/36/.