28 years and a little more

Ten thousand two hundred and twenty days passed, 28 years of a long journey of successes and failures, learning from each other, making efforts to demand our rights, which is equivalent to collective impulses to dismantle patriarchy as a system of oppression of women, adolescents and girls in Santa Cruz.

By: Miriam Suárez Vargas

The Women's Center was founded on May 1, 1990. Those of us who participated at that time will never forget the multitudes of women who joined the May Day March, "International Workers' Day," to announce the opening of a Women's Center linked to other social movements that also demand the freedom to transform injustices into states of well-being with equal opportunities. Amidst mockery and ominous opinions laden with misogyny, we declared ourselves feminists.

This process of learning about diverse experiences sharpened our ears to hear and feel the pain of women who lived and continue to live the horror of male violence. We discovered ourselves to be diverse, with different personal experiences, but with a common denominator in our lives: the male and gender-based violence that loomed before our eyes, like a barrier preventing us from seeing the horizon and its colors. We learned sisterhood and found the guiding words that helped us communicate decisions and agreements to make visible and denounce the violence committed against our bodies. We learned that the decision to end violence is in our hands.

Since its creation, the Women's House has openly fought against systems of oppression and discrimination, and we will continue to do so. As long as there are women demanding their right to access justice, as well as the fulfillment of any other right, we will continue as far as our strength allows, and then other women will take up the mantle and continue the conquest of female emancipation.

When we think about the time that has passed, we only see brave women who crossed the border from the private to the public to discover themselves as citizens with the right to everything, without discrimination of any kind, heirs of great pioneers of the struggles for social justice; we embrace feminism as a thought and practice that demystifies machismo and the hegemony of power by men.

Over the years, we have welcomed more than one hundred thousand women to our offices, who with their trust have legitimized and continue to legitimize our commitment to move forward despite the financial and other obstacles we have experienced.

Congratulations, my friends! We'll give each other a huge hug, big enough for all our friends and fellow travelers. Thank you.