Feminicide in Latin America

• Thesis title in Czech: Feminicida v Latinské Americe
• Thesis title in English: Feminicide in Latin America
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2021/2022
• Thesis type: diploma thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Department of Political Science (23-KP)
• Supervisor: Mgr. Kateřina Březinová, Ph.D.
• Author: hidden - assigned by the advisor
• Date of registration: 11.07.2022
• Date of assignment: 12.07.2022

References

Literature:

Alméras, et al. Si no se cuenta, no cuenta. Naciones Unidas, CEPAL, 2012.
https://repositorio.cepal.org/bitstream/handle/11362/27859/S2012012_es.pdf?sequenc
e=1&isAllowed=y
Benítez Villa, Ruth Carolina, Tres casos emblemáticos y un análisis crítico del
discurso: ABC Color y Última Hora, December 2018, Universidad nacional de la
Plata, PhD dissertation, http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/7138
Carosio, Alba. “FEMINICIDIO: MORIR POR SER MUJERES | Semantic Scholar.”
Semantic Scholar, 2013,
www.semanticscholar.org/paper/FEMINICIDIO%3A-MORIR-POR-SER-
MUJERESCarosio/
11242b2888a924109bd76f8d4d66a5d8a56b1403.
Cuervo, M. M., & Martínez, J. F. (2013). Descripción y caracterización del Ciclo de
Violencia que surge en la relación de pareja. Revista Tesis Psicológica, 8 (1), 80-88.
https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/1390/139029198007.pdf
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Critical obstacles to
inclusive social development in Latin America and the Caribbean: background for a regional
agenda (LC/CDS.3/3), Santiago, 2019,
https://is.cuni.cz/studium/eng/predmety/index.php?id=eb9d3001f701ba30d0d64c4020a567cb&
tid=&do=download&did=223865&kod=JPM772
F.E.I.M. (2022, June 3). Ni Una Menos 2022: ¿Qué cambió desde la primera marcha?
Fundación para Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer. http://feim.org.ar/2022/06/03/ni-una-
menos-2022-que-cambio-desde-la-primera-marcha/
Gherardi, N. (2021, June 3). Ni Una Menos: 6 años después, en qué se avanzó y qué falta.
Chequeado. https://chequeado.com/el-explicador/ni-una-menos-6-anos-despues-en-que-se-

1

avanzo-y-que-falta/
González Myriam, Derecho a vivir libres de violencia. Situación de las mujeres en
Paraguay: 2011-2020, Centro de Documentación y estudios (CDE), 2021, Asunción
(Paraguay).
https://www.cde.org.py/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/CDE-Derecho-a-vivir-libres-de-
Violencia___WEB.pdf
Laurenzo Copello, Patricia . (2012) Apuntes sobre el feminicidio . Revista de derecho
penal y criminología, 3ª época (8), 2012, p. 119-143. ISSN: 1132-9955,
http://e-spacio.uned.es/fez/eserv/bibliuned:revistaDerechoPenalyCriminologia-2012-8
-5030/Documento.pdf
Toledo Vásquez, Patsilí. Feminicidio. United Nations, 2009.
Yugueros García, Antonio Jesús, LA VIOLENCIA CONTRA LAS MUJERES:
CONCEPTOS Y CAUSAS BARATARIA. Revista Castellano-Manchega de Ciencias
sociales, núm. 18, enero-diciembre, 2014, pp. 147-159, Asociación Castellano
Manchega de Sociología, Toledo, España,
https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=322132553010
Vera, M. G. El proyecto de ley para proteger a las mujeres contra toda forma de violencia: La
cuestión de género retaceada en el Poder Legislativo, Centro de Documentación y estudios
(CDE), https://www.cde.org.py/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/2016-VIOLENCIA-
CODEHUPY.pdf
United Nations Development Programme, Regional Human Development Report 2013-2014
CITIZEN SECURITY WITH A HUMAN FACE: Evidence and Proposals for Latin America,
https://is.cuni.cz/studium/eng/predmety/index.php?id=eb9d3001f701ba30d0d64c4020a567cb&
tid=&do=download&did=217337&kod=JPM772

Preliminary scope of work

The proposed thesis will have four main points of analysis: first of all, I will focus on violence
against women, what is the current situation in Latin America, the types of violence which
women may suffer and how the “cycle of violence” develops and how this lead to actual
violence. Secondly, I will discuss the most brutal act of violence in my opinion: feminicide. In
particular, I will focus on where the word “feminicide” came from and its difference with
“femicide”. Moreover, I will have a look on what it has been done in Latin America to fight
this crime, in terms of the law adopted at the international and national level in certain
countries.

After this general overview I will go more specific on two cases: the first one relates to the
movement “Ni una menos”, which developed in Argentina after the feminicide of Susana
Chavez and Chiara Paez. The second case will deal with the case of the feminicide of Sonia
Vera, which happened in Paraguay, exploring the impact that this case had in the country and
in terms of further law improvements.

Theoretical Framework
This research project will follow two main theoretical frameworks: on one hand, I reckoned
that the best approach for the purpose of this Master’s Thesis is the critical theory approach,
and more specifically, the critical feminist approach in the attempt to explain why gender
violence is happening in Latin America, highlighting how this is affected by the systems of
traditions the region has and the way the masculine and feminine roles are seen by the Latin
American society, in particular where women are positioned compared to men. This is meant
to explain whether gender imbalances exist in Latin America and how they can be reproduced
in the cycle of violence. However, along with this first approach, I will also apply the driving
force approach in the attempt to explain a particular case of gender violence: feminicide. In
other words, I will connect the theory to explain why and how feminicide starts in Latin
America, what are the motivations by which an individual decides to become a perpetrator and
commits a crime against a woman.
Moreover, utilizing the critical feminist approach, I will demonstrate the existence of a path
through gender equality through the analysis of two case studies. First, I will highlight Sonia
Vera’s feminicide case in Paraguay and the constitutional developments that this case brought
in the legal framework of the country. Secondly, I will show the way in which this path
through gender equality has already been initiated through the way in which the feminist
movement “Ni una menos” managed to raise women’s voice not just in Argentina but all over
the world. Moreover, I will try to demonstrate if there has been a response in terms of
institutional developments in Latin America thanks to the push that this movement brought.

For this reason, I will search for an answer to the following research questions:
1. How are the masculine and feminine roles represented during the cycle of violence? Is there
an imbalance in Latin America?
2. Why does an act of violence start and how does it develop?
3. How did Sonia Vera’s case shape the Paraguayan constitutional framework?
4. Did the Paraguayan government improve in the protection of women’s rights?
5. In which ways the “Ni una menos” movement has made women become more empowered
in Latin America? Will there be further developments?
6. Were there any institutional responses and developments as part of the creation of “Ni una
menos”?

Methodology
The method used in this thesis will be qualitative since every fact I am going to explain will
be a description of certain facts or events which will be discussed and connected to the topics
analyzed. Moreover, quotations from the authors of the texts and research I am going to study
will be included as well as some entire parts of thoughts and theories. Moreover, I will take
into account not just the occasion itself but I will also try to explain the reasons behind it and
the impact that a certain feminicide had in terms of the legislature and social views. Finally,
what I really would like to point out is that I built this thesis not to demonize a country,
meaning that it is not an analysis that takes feminicide as an excuse to show just the bad side
of a country. Instead, the methodology used wants to show what that country did to fight
gender violence against women, therefore it is a way to discuss the good side of the country.

Preliminary scope of work in English

Feminicide in Latin America

Suggested Thesis Structure
1. Introduction
- Origins and types of gender violence
- What is the current situation in Latin America?
- Methodology
- Theory

2. Literature Review

3. Types and cycles of violence against women
- The motives behind an act of violence to start
- The role of women during an act of violence: how they are seen

4. Sonia Vera’s feminicide in Paraguay: when a murder becomes a push to gender equality

5. “Ni una menos”: Argentina’s feminist movement against violence against women