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Ten years of Ni Una Menos: How one tweet led to a global phenomenon [1]
['Martina Jaureguy']
Date: 2025-06-03 19:25:16+00:00
Ni una menos. Not one less. The phrase calling to end femicides has taken the form of chants, flyers, pins, stickers, graffiti, street posters, and hashtags. It can be heard and seen in every city in Argentina, but also all over the Americas and even Europe and Asia. Even personalities such as The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood have shown support for the cause.
The line was popularized ten years ago following a massive protest. On June 3, 2015, the first Ni una menos march saw around 200,000 people flood the streets of Buenos Aires — and thousands more in other cities — to demand an end to femicides after a grim series of murders of young women at the hands of men, often their partners.
Although the march became an annual tradition, things are shifting a bit in 2025. In order to join forces with other causes protesting different government decisions, the movement will march in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, June 4. The idea is to protest alongside pensioners as well as workers from the Garrahan children’s hospital, scientists, and teachers from public universities, among others. Protesters will gather outside of Congress at 4 p.m.
The history of Ni Una Menos
What started out as a march became a movement that transcended country borders. Two years before #MeToo went viral in the United States, many other countries in the region and beyond replicated the Ni una menos rally.
In Argentina, the cause brought in more coverage of femicides and gender-based violence and opened discussions in media outlets, Congress, schools, and the family dinner table. For many young women, the cause became their entrance door to feminism.
“There was a brutal change in the collective worldview,” said journalist Hinde Pomeraniec, who was part of the seminal group of women that organized the first march and gave a name to the movement.
The spark that birthed the movement was the brutal femicide of Chiara Páez, 14, which made national headlines on May 10, 2015. Manuel Mansilla, her 16-year-old boyfriend, beat her to death after learning she was pregnant and refused to have an abortion. She was found buried in the Mansilla family’s home garden.
The murder was seen as the last straw of a wave of brutal violence against women. On May 11, radio reporter Marcela Ojeda made a post on the social media platform Twitter (now X) calling for all women to speak out: “Are we not going to raise our voices? THEY ARE KILLING US.”
A group of women, including Pomeraniec, replied to Ojeda’s tweet with ideas of how to make the cause more visible. And it snowballed from there.
“There was a collective scream, but it was muffled. That scream exploded that day,” Pomeraniec told the Herald. “Those crimes of very young girls made people think, ‘this could be my own daughter.’ It made them take consciousness.”
An artistic performance during the 2024 Ni Una Menos march. Credit for this image and cover photo: Mariano Fuchila
Ojeda, Pomeraniec, and other journalists began discussing the possibility of a march. Pomeraniec had recently participated in an event protesting femicides that had been advertised under the name Ni Una Menos. The journalists and the event organizers teamed up to do the march together.
The name came during a brainstorming session in which Pomeraniec pointed to the event she had taken part of: “Why pick a new name? We already have one.”
The phrase Ni Una Menos is believed to have been originally coined by Mexican poet Susana Chávez, who was murdered by gang members in Ciudad Juárez in 2011.
The group of around 20 women started preparing a march to make their protest visible. They picked a date, asked for city permits and security, hired a stage service, and called three public figures to read the text they had worked on: actress Erica Rivas, actor Juan Minujin, and cartoonist Maitena.
According to a report based on media coverage of femicides by the Ahora Que Sí Nos Ven observatory, there have been 2,827 femicides in Argentina between June 3, 2015 and May 25, 2025. This means there has been a femicide victim every 31 hours. So far, in 2025 there have been 108 femicides. The lowest number over the past decade was 254 in 2022, and the highest was 327 in 2019.
Although the annual femicide number has stayed relatively constant for the past decade, the issue has gained attention and turned into an institutional concern. The Supreme Court has created an observatory that provides official numbers of femicides. Policies against gender-based violence have significantly increased, such as the economic and psychological assistance program for victims Acompañar, the Brisa law to assist children of femicide victims, or the Micaela law to train public officials in issues related to violence against women.
The Alberto Fernandez administration (2019-2023) created a Women, Gender, and Diversity Ministry focusing on these demands. It was eliminated by President Javier Milei, who also defunded several of its policies.
According to Pomeraniec, the Ni Una Menos demands crossed “many sectors that many felt it was time to take to the streets.”
“People from all social backgrounds, genders, and ideologies came out to the streets to say ‘No more femicides,’” she explained, adding that the protest helped overturn violent practices that were seen as natural.
“Today, kids grow up knowing it’s not normal nor okay for their fathers to beat up their moms or sisters.”
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[1] Url:
https://buenosairesherald.com/society/ten-years-of-ni-una-menos-how-one-tweet-led-to-a-global-phenomenon.
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