Blog 2: The Women of Mexico's Drug War

The cartels and the "drug war" that have been ravaging Mexico's cities has been in the media for many reasons, but hardly ever is it reflective of women's involvement. In Julie Turkewitz's article "The Women of Mexico's Drug War" she does just that, delving into the world of drug related crime and women. In an interview Turkewitz argues that there is "a fine line between victim and perpetrator." 

She was the only reporter allowed to enter some of these women's prisons and speak to these women and she found out that it is not just men in this drug war "serving as its weary warriors, ferrying contraband and kidnapping kingpins," there are many women who have become involved as well.  " Between 2007 and 2011, the number of women incarcerated for federal crimes rose 400 percent." Upon finding this information out Turkewitz immersed herself in figuring out why this was true. Her consensus? Many women became involved because of the men, or lack thereof, in their lives. Many of these women lost their husbands, parents, or brothers to this drug war and they knew that it was nearly impossible to support themselves with just one job. Women like the school teacher she met in one of the prisons, who were single parents and struggling to get by would resort to running packages for the cartel, knowing that the packages were dangerous and could get them in trouble. 

Upon reading this article I began to question if this article actually fit my theme of women/women’s rights but I have decided that it does. This is because the article presented the question of whether these women are perpetrators or if they are victims of the drug war going on around them. It was not surprising to find out that women were involved, but to what extent they were, was surprising. Taking on their husband/boyfriend/sons jobs just so that they were able to provide for their families is a gender problem. The fact that a single parent cannot support her family even though she has two jobs is a gender issue, especially when there are many people who profit so much off of these drug wars that have torn the country, and families apart. Mexico is not the only country that sees situations like this, and that is why this is a global issue.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/01/the-women-of-mexicos-drug-war/272528/


Caroline Dawkins
2/5/2013
7:03