1,619 rapes per year in Mexico City is apparently not such a big deal for the head of the Woman’s Institute (Instituto de las Mujeres del Distrito Federal), the city government entity that promotes programs for women and supposedly defends their rights. Nothing in comparison, she says (yes, she) to the number of busines robberies there are per year in the Mexican capital. These words were pronounced before an assembly of representatives from the Equality and Gender Commission (Comisión de Equidad y Género).

According to Mexican daily La Jornada, when pressed by a politician from the PRD who emphasized the grave problem of women being raped on the city’s public transportation systems, the head of the Institute, Martha Lucía Micher Camarena, rectified her statement by saying “…even if there were only one (rape) it would warrant our work.” Media then got wind of the statement:

Questioned about the statement, Vice-President of the Equality and Gender Commission, PAN member Paula Soto, who was in the meeting, flatly responded: “¡eso dijo!” ["that's what she said!"]

Leticia Quezada, of the PRD, said that she considered the fact that there are more than 1000 rapes per year in the city to be worrysome, and that it would be serious if there were only one, she said, in relation to the comment by the head of the Institute: “Everyone has their opinion, and it should be respected.”

I would like to think that this is just a case of foot in the mouth, but kind of makes one worry who is actually defending women’s safety in Mexico City.

Via / La Jornada