Last month, the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, was approached from behind by a stranger who tried to kiss her as he grabbed her breasts in Mexico City’s historic downtown. The same week, Miss Universe Mexico, Fátima Bosch, was publicly humiliated by a Miss Universe executive, who called her “dumb” and threatened to disqualify her after she raised concerns about pageant management.
In both cases, Mexican women were outraged but not surprised. Indeed, the two episodes showcased what women in Mexico face on a daily basis: harassment and humiliation, no matter a woman’s status. Growing up in Mexico City, physical and verbal violence was commonplace. As young women, we are taught to dress modestly to avoid unwanted attention and to stare at the sidewalk whenever vulgar catcalls rain down upon us. Indeed, violence against women has so permeated Mexican society that since 2002, the Mexico City subway has operated segregated subway cars so that women during their rush hour commute do not suffer the type of assault Sheinbaum recently experienced, and not for the first time. “It is something that all women in our country experience,” Sheinbaum, 63, said. “If they do this to the president, what happens to all the other women in the country?”
The same day as the assault against the president, Bosch suffered another common form of humiliation and silencing that felt familiar to Mexican women in professional settings and increasingly, online.
Though Bosch was in Thailand at the time, the timing of the episode made it resonate widely in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America, where physical and verbal violence against women are a chronic cultural disease. Latin America and the Caribbean register some of the highest rates of femicide in the world. In 2023, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean reported at least 4,000 femicides — roughly 11 women every day. In Brazil, this year is projected to be the most violent ever, with two recent high-profile crimes leading to countrywide protests to demand action to reduce violence against women.
In Mexico, national surveys reveal that a staggeringly large share of women has suffered harassment and other forms of gender violence. In the State of Mexico, where the rate is the highest, it is an astonishing 80 percent. Even the lowest rate, in the state of Chiapas, is nearly 50 percent.
Mexico has made historic advances in legislation on women’s rights, including rules that vastly increased women’s political representation. Women now hold half of the seats in Mexico’s Congress, compared to less than 30 percent in the United States. Mexico has also created hotlines for reporting violence against women, specialized law enforcement units to investigate complaints, and new women’s shelters and legal aid. Civil society organizations have been relentless; women’s movements have forced national conversations in a society still shaped by machismo.
But impunity for violence against women in Mexico is absolute. Even as states have passed femicide laws, enforcement remains inconsistent at best. Laws matter, but they cannot substitute for functioning institutions. Sheinbaum not only filed a formal complaint, but also called for a national review of laws on sexual harassment. Even so, advocates have expressed skepticism about systemic change. Historically, cases of violence against women have moved through the judicial system at a glacier pace, delayed by flawed investigations, inattention from prosecutors, and judicial disinterest.
A recent reform that required the election of nearly all judges could make things worse by putting inexperienced lawyers on the bench. The president’s case is seen as a test of the new system, setting a standard for how these cases should be processed. But paradoxically, the ruling party that produced Mexico’s first woman president, Morena, is part of the problem. In 2018, its founder, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, ran for president promising to champion women’s issues. But in office, he took away childcare centers and clashed bitterly with feminist movements, ordering heavy security measures in response to International Women’s Day demonstrations at the national palace. As tensions deepened, Mexican women went on strike in 2020 to draw attention to gender-based violence, gender inequality, and women’s unrecognized role in Mexican society.
Sheinbaum, a former Mexico City mayor, is deeply loyal to her predecessor, who still wields significant power from his ranch in Chiapas. Even so, she is quietly correcting his mistakes, promising a “feminist” government and establishing a Ministry of Women. But the assault against the president was a reminder that Mexico needs more than symbolic steps. Without meaningful investments in training for police, prosecutors, and judges, bigger budgets for specialized units, and public campaigns to change cultural norms, no woman, not even the president, will be safe.
Mexico’s President, the Latest Victim of Violence Against Women
By Beatriz García Nice
Latin America & the Caribbean
Last month, the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, was approached from behind by a stranger who tried to kiss her as he grabbed her breasts in Mexico City’s historic downtown. The same week, Miss Universe Mexico, Fátima Bosch, was publicly humiliated by a Miss Universe executive, who called her “dumb” and threatened to disqualify her after she raised concerns about pageant management.
In both cases, Mexican women were outraged but not surprised. Indeed, the two episodes showcased what women in Mexico face on a daily basis: harassment and humiliation, no matter a woman’s status. Growing up in Mexico City, physical and verbal violence was commonplace. As young women, we are taught to dress modestly to avoid unwanted attention and to stare at the sidewalk whenever vulgar catcalls rain down upon us. Indeed, violence against women has so permeated Mexican society that since 2002, the Mexico City subway has operated segregated subway cars so that women during their rush hour commute do not suffer the type of assault Sheinbaum recently experienced, and not for the first time. “It is something that all women in our country experience,” Sheinbaum, 63, said. “If they do this to the president, what happens to all the other women in the country?”
The same day as the assault against the president, Bosch suffered another common form of humiliation and silencing that felt familiar to Mexican women in professional settings and increasingly, online.
Though Bosch was in Thailand at the time, the timing of the episode made it resonate widely in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America, where physical and verbal violence against women are a chronic cultural disease. Latin America and the Caribbean register some of the highest rates of femicide in the world. In 2023, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean reported at least 4,000 femicides — roughly 11 women every day. In Brazil, this year is projected to be the most violent ever, with two recent high-profile crimes leading to countrywide protests to demand action to reduce violence against women.
In Mexico, national surveys reveal that a staggeringly large share of women has suffered harassment and other forms of gender violence. In the State of Mexico, where the rate is the highest, it is an astonishing 80 percent. Even the lowest rate, in the state of Chiapas, is nearly 50 percent.
Mexico has made historic advances in legislation on women’s rights, including rules that vastly increased women’s political representation. Women now hold half of the seats in Mexico’s Congress, compared to less than 30 percent in the United States. Mexico has also created hotlines for reporting violence against women, specialized law enforcement units to investigate complaints, and new women’s shelters and legal aid. Civil society organizations have been relentless; women’s movements have forced national conversations in a society still shaped by machismo.
But impunity for violence against women in Mexico is absolute. Even as states have passed femicide laws, enforcement remains inconsistent at best. Laws matter, but they cannot substitute for functioning institutions. Sheinbaum not only filed a formal complaint, but also called for a national review of laws on sexual harassment. Even so, advocates have expressed skepticism about systemic change. Historically, cases of violence against women have moved through the judicial system at a glacier pace, delayed by flawed investigations, inattention from prosecutors, and judicial disinterest.
A recent reform that required the election of nearly all judges could make things worse by putting inexperienced lawyers on the bench. The president’s case is seen as a test of the new system, setting a standard for how these cases should be processed. But paradoxically, the ruling party that produced Mexico’s first woman president, Morena, is part of the problem. In 2018, its founder, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, ran for president promising to champion women’s issues. But in office, he took away childcare centers and clashed bitterly with feminist movements, ordering heavy security measures in response to International Women’s Day demonstrations at the national palace. As tensions deepened, Mexican women went on strike in 2020 to draw attention to gender-based violence, gender inequality, and women’s unrecognized role in Mexican society.
Sheinbaum, a former Mexico City mayor, is deeply loyal to her predecessor, who still wields significant power from his ranch in Chiapas. Even so, she is quietly correcting his mistakes, promising a “feminist” government and establishing a Ministry of Women. But the assault against the president was a reminder that Mexico needs more than symbolic steps. Without meaningful investments in training for police, prosecutors, and judges, bigger budgets for specialized units, and public campaigns to change cultural norms, no woman, not even the president, will be safe.
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