The government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will end without substantial progress on gender issues, according to feminist organizations, and as recognized by the president’s own administration.
In the document “Comprehensive national review of the Government of Mexico supporting the XVI Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean“The federal government acknowledges that it has failed to make progress in reducing gaps in substantive issues such as women’s work and violence.
The report on compliance with the Beijing Platform for Action will be presented next year at the conference of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) – which will be hosted by Mexico – in preparation for the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the approval of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing, 1995) in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In it, the federal government points out the need to continue strengthening inter-institutional coordination mechanisms to generate synergies between the three levels and the three branches of government, and thus provide comprehensive solutions to guarantee the well-being of women and girls.
In this regard, the National Feminist Front points out that since 2019 the Obrador administration has disavowed civil groups, although the report maintains that consultations were carried out with these organizations as well as with academia and that periodic dialogue mechanisms were strengthened.
In this sense, the López Obrador government recognizes that at the end of the six-year term it must incorporate their voices and perspectives in different spaces, to institutionally support the work they do as defenders and activists for the human rights of women and girls from various contexts and particularities in the country.
However, feminist groups maintain that the obligation of the Mexican State and its institutions to promote equality between women and men has remained on paper despite the international and national regulatory framework on women’s human rights that should govern public policies and the budget for equality.
As an example, they point out that the more than 24 Gender Violence Alerts against Women that have been decreed do not have sufficient budgets and there is also no evaluation and monitoring system that allows their impact and scope to be assessed.
They also claim that the budget earmarked in Annex 13, on Expenditures for equality between women and men – a feminist achievement – has lost its original objectives, while its resources have been used for assistance programs of economic transfers such as Pensions for the Well-being of older adults, which creates dependency and does not contribute to reducing gender inequalities.
On paper, the resources allocated to Annex 13 increased up to 10 times, but in reality they were used in recent years for other purposes, according to the organizations.
In 2018, the total resources were 47 thousand 918 million 431 thousand 176 pesos, and by 2024 it increased 10 times more for a total of 419 thousand 434 million 147 thousand 380 pesos.
But of the more than 100 programs included in the annex, the Pension Program for Senior Citizens represents 61.5 percent of the resources, while the Comprehensive Program to Prevent, Address, Punish and Eradicate Violence against Women (PIPASEV), awarded to the Ministry of the Interior (Segob), was only assigned 1,194 million pesos, which represents just 0.3 percent.
This means that there were no resources to reduce violence. The same occurs in the budget of the non-sectorized entities, where Inmujeres is located, which has been allocated an amount of 1,157 million pesos in 2024, 0.3 percent of the total.
Claudia Sheinbaum is recommended to work with civil society
In its conclusions on the areas of special concern of the Beijing Platform for Action, the Mexican State’s report states that inter-institutional coordination and the participation of civil society organizations and academia are key to having a comprehensive view of the current situation of gender equality in the country.
The coordinated participation of federal and state government entities and departments was vital to obtaining information that would allow for a timely response to each of the report’s questions.
It reports on the decisive role of the Follow-up Commission on the Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Commission), within the organization for the preparation of this report, as a good practice of mainstreaming the gender perspective that allowed to corroborate that inter-institutional coordination is essential for a federal government such as Mexico.
On the other hand, she asserts that the participation of civil society organizations in different spaces throughout the process of preparing the report contributed to identifying the challenges that the Mexican State must continue to work on.
The Mexican government, together with civil society organizations, conducted an assessment of the substantive progress that highlighted the difficulties of dismantling the structures of inequality and closing the persistent gaps that delay or hinder the development of women, adolescents and girls, especially those located in populations that face particular barriers based on their context.
The main difficulties encountered in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, which must be addressed by the Mexican State in the coming years, revolve around the persistent gaps and difficulties in the territorialization of public policies, actions and programs issued by the Federal Government, which still present access barriers for women and girls in vulnerable situations in the territories.
Therefore, it is necessary to continue actions at the local level from an intersectional and intercultural perspective to guarantee access to truly inclusive development that leaves no one behind or outside.
In this regard, it is necessary to continue and strengthen strong actions such as the comprehensive strategy for access by rural, indigenous and Afro-Mexican women to land, territory and recognition of their agrarian rights; the strategy of the Women Peace Builders Network (MUCPAZ) and the Ibero-American Network of Women Mediators.
It recognizes the need to consolidate a sustainable, co-responsible, universal and culturally relevant National Care System, as well as gender-sensitive budgets and earmarked spending for actions in favor of substantive equality, accompanied by monitoring and appropriate indicators for their follow-up.
It acknowledges that efforts to accelerate the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the 2030 Agenda, related to promoting greater participation of women in the workplace to enable full access to social security, should be redoubled; essential efforts should be continued in the areas of prevention, care, punishment and eradication of gender violence, strengthening the system of access to justice and cultural change; closing the digital gender gap and addressing gender stereotypes in the media.
It also reports that there was a lack of strengthening the right to health of women, adolescents and girls from an intercultural and intersectional perspective, promoting access to sexual and reproductive health, the prevention of early unions and teenage pregnancy, as well as continuing to carry out actions to strengthen the Mechanism for the Advancement of Women, at the federal, state and municipal levels.
Mexico’s commitments to the Beijing Platform for Action
Following up on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, Mexico’s commitment to acting from a State Feminist Foreign Policy stands out, which not only reinforces adherence to the highest human rights standards, but also involves incorporating the gender perspective in its international actions.
Its adoption is a catalyst for the national implementation of instruments such as the 2030 Agenda, the Regional Gender Agenda and new processes such as the Future Summit.
She considers it highly relevant that Mexico hosted the Third International Conference on Feminist Foreign Policies in 2024, whose main commitment was to address the Pact of the Future, and the XVI Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2025, which will focus on promoting a care society and gender equality.
With the presentation of this National Review, the Mexican State reaffirms its commitment to placing the gender equality agenda at the center of State policy and to continue working in favor of women, adolescents and girls in all their diversity, in order to achieve more just and sustainable societies that leave no one behind or anyone outside.