When the movement against femicide achieved a victory at the Inter-American Court a new chapter was written in the movement‟s story of law as social change. This paper discusses the contribution of the Campo Algodoneros decision to the movement in light of the continuing murders of women under brutal circumstances in Ciudad Juárez. It begins by applying Tom Stoddard‟s distinction between rule shifts and culture shifts to the Mexican government‟s response to femicide and argues that the legislation and policies introduced lacked the factors necessary for culture shifting and substantive change. It then uses Guinier and Torres‟ theory of power as having three dimensions to argue that the decision, specifically the finding that the murders of the three women were gender-based, challenged power in the third dimension, re-defining the metanarrative of this story and giving the movement against femicide a victory in the fight over words. It argues that the international rule shifting created by the decision, specifically the finding that the murders of the three women were gender-based, has the potential when used strategically by the movement to create a new space for discussion at the local level; a space that, over time, is potentially more receptive to a cultural shift necessary for reconfiguring power. How this promise translates is still unfolding. What is clear is that the victory in the fight over words has informed the continued fight for action.