Thousands of women rally for safety, rights in Latin America

Buenos Aires: Thousands of women across Latin America took to the streets Wednesday to demand an end to sexual harassment and violence, in a region where crime against women is rife and often steeped in traditional culture.

"March 8: If you stop a woman, you stop the world," said a banner over a rally in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, that attracted tens of thousands of protesters marking International Women`s Day.

The gathering extended 1.5 kilometers (a mile) along 18 de Julio Avenue, with demonstrators calling for an end to violence against women and equal rights.

"Sorry to bother, but we`re being killed," said one handwritten message on a cardboard placard.

Argentina has had a woman president yet "machismo" is prevalent in many areas of society.

Every 30 hours, a woman in Argentina is killed by her male partner or ex-partner.

"Enough already! We want each other ALIVE," read signs in purple lettering waved by the thousands who jammed the Plaza de Mayo in front of Argentina`s presidential palace.

Purple is the symbol of the movement against gender-based violence. Demonstrators largely were decked out in black to signify mourning.

Violence against women is part of long-held traditions in many of South America`s Andean nations, with mixed Spanish-indigenous cultures.

But it is also pervasive in countries such as Argentina and Uruguay where most people are of Italian descent.Even in better-off cities across the region, women who go to police stations bruised and battered to report domestic violence are told to go home and make up.

Grimmer still: half of the 25 countries with the largest number of women killed are in Latin America, according to UN Women, a body that supports gender equality and the empowerment of women.

In Mexico`s capital, thousands of women filled the vast Paseo de la Reforma.

"We don`t want flowers. We want rights!" they chanted, as well as, "Being a woman should not be a risk factor."

Mexican women say they are constantly beset by unwanted sexual talk on the streets, and often groped by strangers.

The region`s only current woman president, Chile`s Michele Bachelet, said on Twitter that "we renew our commitment to more rights, opportunities and an end to violence."In Brazil, President Michel Temer sparked a media firestorm on International Women`s Day, musing publicly that women are really good at food shopping, price tracking and budgeting.

After jaws dropped, the conservative, who is 76 and was accompanied by his wife Marcela, 33, backtracked and changed course.

Temer then said that if children grew up successfully, it was because they were raised right, at home.

"And certainly, that isn`t done by the man. It`s the woman," Temer added.

On Twitter, some could barely believe their leader.

"Somebody tell Temer that we are in the 21st century now," one quipped of the man who took the place of Brazil`s first woman president, Dilma Rousseff, when she was impeached.