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Abstract

Using archival documentation, digital platforms, and reports, this paper explores the diffusion of #NiUnaMenos [“Not One (woman) Less”] in Latin America, a social movement conceived first in Argentina to protest misogynist violence. To explain diffusion, this paper will explore the role of social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, in helping spread messages, strategies, and the goals of the movement with unprecedented speed (Tarrow 2005, Hanson and Piatti-Crocker 2020). Five years after the first protest, the COVID-19 pandemic had two contrasting effects on the #NiUnaMenos movement. On the one hand, when the virus began spreading around the world, it became clear that measures intended to contain it were exacerbating gender-based violence (also known as the “second pandemic”), which added new urgency to this pervasive problem. On the other hand, COVID-19 created new challenges for #NiUnaMenos activists and their massive street demonstrations, which were no longer safe and in many cases, banned or limited by governmental policy. Hence, some women’s groups became more creative by organizing virtual protests in an attempt to hold leaders accountable for their inaction, but with mixed effects (San Diego Tribune 2020, Telam 2020). Overall, and despite the recent pandemic, #NiUnaMenos has given women across Latin America a platform to demand greater gender equity and an end to misogynist violence.

Author Biography

Dr. Adriana Piatti-Crocker is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Global Studies Program at the University of Illinois, Springfield. Dr. Piatti-Crocker is a comparative politics scholar, who has published extensively on the diffusion of gender policy in Latin America and beyond. Email: acroc2@uis.edu.

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