By Rosa México. 9 June 2025
The 8th of March, International Women’s Day, is a day born out of the exhaustion and pain of thousands of working-class women who faced exploitation, the double burden of waged and domestic labour, lack of political rights, and systematic violence. Today some of the conditions that gave rise to this day not only persist, but are more cruel than ever.
Last year’s landslide victory of MORENA and the election of Claudia Scheinbaum – the first woman president in Mexico’s history – certainly reflected the radicalisation and progressive aspirations of millions of working class women. The significance of this victory cannot be downplayed. But while some significant reforms are being introduced we also see the contradictions of operating within the confines of capitalism and its inherently patriarchal state apparatus.
Mexico is a country where being a woman means living under the constant threat of violence. Every day, thousands of women are assaulted, murdered and threatened in the country. What’s more, when we go out to demand respect for our rights and our bodies, we face criminalisation and repression. This year’s International Women’s Day once again demonstrated the great strength of the feminist movement, but it also exposed the systematic violence of the state against our struggle.
The mobilisations during 8M were once again repressed with tear gas, beatings, unjustified arrests and harassment in several cities of the country. Instead of listening to our demands, the state responded with violence and stonewalling.
In Chihuahua, comrades were dragged away by the police; in Oaxaca they were gassed; in CDMX they not only gassed the demonstrators, but also turned off the street lights to force them to disperse. In San Luis Potosí there were no physical confrontations, but there was a threatening military presence. The compañeras were harassed while government buildings were guarded by soldiers. In Saltillo, police sprayed fire extinguisher powder in front of the Palace of Congress, tear gas was thrown into a play area where children were gathered, and a transgender compañera was assaulted by the authorities, who also used overtly transphobic discourse.
The case of Nicola, who was assaulted in Saltillo, highlights the reality that many transgender women face. Being a trans woman in Mexico means living exposed to hate crimes, impunity and job insecurity, violence that is replicated by the State and by the authorities. According to the National Observatory of Hate Crimes against LGBTIQ+ People, in the last three years more than 200 trans people have been murdered. Furthermore, most cases go unpunished and the authorities do not even attempt to investigate from a gender perspective.
Impunity for sexual violence
While the movement is repressed, the state continues to protect sexual abusers. The most recent case is that of politician Cuauhtémoc Blanco who, despite being accused of rape, was protected in the Chamber of Deputies, where they voted against removing his immunity to prevent him from answering for his accusations before the law and his victim.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened: Senator Félix Salgado Macedonio, who, despite the public accusations and the accusation of rape, has been able to live quietly, protected by his political influence.
These cases represent not only the way in which political structures protect aggressors, but also the hypocrisy of the state in condemning women for protesting or defending themselves, while rapist politicians are protected at all costs. How can we trust a state that refuses to punish the aggressors in its ranks?
Nor can we ignore the role of the female MPs who openly supported Cuauhtémoc, those who call themselves feminists but chose to protect a sex offender rather than believe the victim.
It is clear that the fact that a woman holds political office does not guarantee a real commitment to the feminist movement; a perspective born out of the struggles of oppressed women is needed to achieve real change. In the face of this reality, we need to question the system that exploits and violates us.
Machismo is one more tool of capitalism to control our bodies and our lives, that is why we need more than reforms, we need to transform the system from its deepest roots.
In addition to this situation, the recent tariff disputes and Donald Trump’s accusations of drug trafficking have led Claudia Sheinbaum’s government to give in on migration issues, for example, with the establishment of more elements of the National Guard on the southern border or mass detention in immigration stations.
In this situation, we cannot forget our fellow migrant women: they are the ones who suffer most from the escalation of border violence and militarisation. Many are detained in immigration detention centres, some even with their children (which is illegal), and in these spaces the violence that migrant women already face is intensified, as they are exposed to sexual abuse, physical and emotional violence, and extremely precarious conditions.
Women’s Bill of Rights and dual pensions
Last March, the president and the women’s secretary, Citlalli Hernández, presented the Cartilla de Derechos de las Mujeres, an initiative to inform women about their rights, including health, political participation and other key issues.
In addition, during the same month, the Pensión Mujeres Bienestar began – a pension programme aimed at women aged 60 to 64. This programme aims to support a sector historically plagued by inequality and precarity.
Although these initiatives represent a step forward in the recognition of women’s rights, the dissemination of this information does not guarantee the structural changes necessary to eradicate deep-rooted gender inequalities (we saw this days later with the rejection of the desafuero of Cuauhtémoc Blanco).
As for the women’s pension, while it is a support that can temporarily alleviate the situation of many women, it is necessary to ask whether such programmes transform the structures that perpetuate women’s economic and labour inequality. Although it is a significant step forward, they only represent a temporary band-aid on a capitalist system that perpetuates male violence.
Therefore, in addition to these measures, fundamental changes must be promoted to guarantee decent jobs, equitable salaries and fair pensions for all; maternity leave and childcare for the children of women workers; extended paternity leave, so that childcare does not fall on women alone, amongst other measures.
Furthermore, it is essential that these policies reach everyone, especially those in situations of greater vulnerability, as in many cases working women, women of African descent, migrant women, indigenous women or the LGBTIQ+ community are not taken into account.
The current situation in the country reflects a profound contradiction: while the official discourse is oriented towards women and gender equality, in practice the conditions that sustain oppression, violence and exploitation continue to be reproduced.
Although there have been advances, structural violence, state repression and the patriarchal pact – even in political spheres – are still present. The Mexican state is still indebted to working women, to migrant women who are raped at the border, to the searching mothers targeted for demanding justice, to the disappeared women and to the LGBTIQ+ community.
Let us fight, resist and organise to overcome the capitalist and patriarchal system that sustains violence, inequality and austerity.