Last Friday, I had the opportunity to attend one of the biggest (if not the biggest) protests of the year. Ni Una Menos is raising awareness on the number of femicides and the acts of violence committed against women. In Argentina, it is estimated that every 30 hours, a female is killed or harmed because of her gender, that is, as an act of patriarchal and domestic violence.

 Before last week, I didn’t even know that the term “femicide” existed. In the US, gender equality and feminism are social issues very much at the forefront of political campaigns and other platforms. However, this new topic doesn’t seem to have much traction at home, at least not in the way that it does here. The #NiUnaMenos march started last year and cumulated global attention with other major Latin and South American cities participating in their perspective protests.

 The energy from the march was almost unreal. There were at least 200,000 participants and a countless number of organizations. Women in purple wigs, percussion groups, and food vendors filled the street that I now call home. There were cries for action that called for the legalization of abortion -- a taboo subject in the US -- protests on the lack of federal protection for those hurt. There were pictures of the women murdered, and signs explaining their families grievances. I felt for the families affected and for the children who were left orphaned because of these crimes. 

  Protests here are a regular occurrence and I discovered that within the first few weeks of living here. People here voice injustices more frequently than any other place I’ve visited and I think that is part of what makes this country so great. I left the protest with a heavy heart but at the same time, with the hope that these people will get what’s just in the end.