The economic losses in the capital alone could hit $300 million, according to the Mexico City branch of Coparmex, an influential employers’ association.

“This is a way for us to say to the world that Mexican women have value, no matter our age, our place or how we look,” said Minerva Ovando Vilchis, 53, a manager of the civil registry office in Santa Maria del Monte, a suburb of Mexico City. “The authorities in charge of public security are not doing much to defend us.”

The strike is the latest step in a growing backlash in the hemisphere against abuse of women. Mexicans have joined the #MeToo campaign and embraced the Chilean protest dance “A Rapist in Your Way,” which has been performed by crowds of ordinary women in public plazas throughout Latin America.

“There’s a momentum, built on what movements have done in other parts of the world,” said Edna Jaime, director of the policy think tank Mexico Evalua. “And here, we have reached a worrying level of violence. You can’t …continued .
[Source: Washington Post]