The strike in the Metropolitan Autonomous University ‒UAM‒ is celebrating its 14th day. It began two days after March 8, when the students gathered to march together and began to discuss how to organize themselves in the face of cases of gender violence that occur at the university.
The straw that broke the camel's back was the report of a rape committed by a student who admitted the facts according to an official statement from the UAM. However, the incident is not an isolated one because, according to the students, gender violence at the University is a structural problem.
The young women, demonstrating that in addition to their actions, they engage in political-ideological discussions, subscribe to intersectional feminism that integrates issues of race, class and gender. From there, they discuss and make decisions.
"Silence should never be an option. We will not allow spaces where our dreams seek to materialize to continue to be misogynistic with impunity," said the students from the UAM Lerma unit.
Each of the units, headquarters of the university, chose two spokespersons for the press conference at school assemblies so that the entire student community was represented. At the table from which they address the media, a feminist flag was seen and 10 young people who decided to wear hoods to hide their identities.
Each of the media's questions was answered by all the units because, the young women point out, the conditions of each school are different and their particularities deserve to be treated in specific ways.
What does the women's strike at the UAM demand?
The rape case exposed the major problems faced by universities when it comes to issues related to women: re-victimization, intimidation against those who report, and even persecution of those who mobilize, to name just a few of the issues that young women face when they go to school.
That is why, in addition to the corresponding sanction for the young man who sexually abused his partner, the UAM women's strike demands measures to prevent gender violence, action protocols to guarantee that complaints are addressed and, in the case of the Cuajimalpa unit, the departure, either through resignation or dismissal, of Esther Morales Franco, academic secretary of the Division of Social Sciences and Humanities, for re-victimizing students who report violence.
After intense discussions at each school, each unit also specified its demands and problems, while each unit prepared a petition that included the various demands of the student community and the women who comprise it.
For example, they demand improvements in public transport, since, they say, most of the units are located in dangerous places in the metropolitan area, which is why they feel exposed to all kinds of violence.
They also demand that the street vending work that some students do to support their studies be respected.
The students from the Azcapotzalco, Lerma, Iztapalapa and Xochimilco units are clear that the strike began at the Cuajimalpa campus, where the sexually assaulted young woman belongs. In their speeches they refer to the students from this campus as "brave sisters."
But they are not the only ones to whom thanks are directed. Men have also received recognition, as the young women say that it has been good that they joined the strike and, above all, they recognize the female teachers who have organized themselves in a very supportive way to support them by sending them food supplies, participating in some guards, and even bringing them books so that they can continue their education.
The teachers, who were present at the press conference, decided not to participate or express their point of view, as they believe that it is the young women who should take the lead and lead the movement. But their eyes speak for themselves: they look at their students with enthusiasm and joy, they care for them and guide them in a supportive and respectful manner.
The young women thus bear the responsibility for a historic moment: the first time that the entire UAM has gone on strike due to women's demands.
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