The Feminist diplomacy in Mexico : a policy that brings progress for the country’s women ?

April 2, 2022

Mathilde Morel

In September 2019, on the occasion of the 74th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly, The Mexican Chancellor Marcelo Ebrard announced the adoption of a feminist foreign policy by Mexico from 2020. According to the official website of the Mexican government, the implementation of this feminist policy by the State is based on five main pillars: a foreign policy including the gender perspective, an equal external relations secretariat, free of violence and safe for all, with present equality and finally, the promotion of intersectional feminism^[1]Mexican Government, « Mexico anuncia la adopción de su Política Exterior Feminista », presse release 15, 09/01/21. … Continue reading. 

This strategy, adopted for the period 2020-2024, is different from that operated by Sweden, France or even Canada^[2]High Council for Equality between Women and Men, « Feminist diplomacy – From a mobilizing slogan to a real dynamic of change ? », Repport n°2020-09-22 DIPLO-44, 04/11/20 … Continue reading.

The Mexican government chooses to articulate it around the notion of gender and to center it on visibility that is primarily structural and internal. The latter becomes the first country in the region to have such diplomatic ambition. This declaration appears to mark an important step in Mexican diplomacy’s consideration of women’s rights, in that it promotes the systematic application of a gender equality perspective in all foreign policy. Faced with the diversity of inequalities faced by Mexican women, should we see this as the initiation, by the government, of a profound change in societal mores ?

What feminist foreign policy initiatives in Mexico ?

Established in a regional context where feminist protests are growing significantly, Mexico’s policy prioritizes “issues that others do not consider priority, such as reproductive and sexual health and rights, as well as climate change^[3]Coralie Vos, “ Feminist foreign policies that sometimes lack coherence ”, 01/03/21. https://www.cncd.be/des-politiques-etrangeres-etrangeres-feministes-manquent-coherence. The government’s main actions were implemented in 2020, such as the “Spotlight” initiative launched in collaboration with the European Union and the United Nations. The initiative is implemented in five municipalities in three states : the State of Mexico, Chihuahua and Guerrero. In Mexico, the program will last four years and will be implemented by six United Nations agencies in close coordination with the federal government, state governments and civil society organizations^[4]Gouvernement mexicain, « Clausura de Taller de Trabajo de la Iniciativa Spotlight en el Estado de México », paper release No. 286, 23/08/2019. … Continue reading. This alliance seeks to secure public space in order to make it more inclusive and safe for women and girls. “Spotlight” is based on five priority areas : politics, with an improvement in the gender dimension in texts, and better accessibility to health, social, legal and police services for women. Significant results have been noted, such as the creation of strategic alliances with the University of Colegio de México and the OXFAM association to strengthen the women’s movement.

Another essential action of the new feminist foreign policy is the call for participation among various actors in Mexican society. As such, the Women’s Institute and the Citizen Security and Protection Secretariat are carrying out several prevention actions with Mexican public security police authorities in order to achieve better consideration of gender-based violence. At the same time, the Generation Equality Forum which was held in Paris from June 30 to July 2, 2021, co-chaired by Mexico and organized by UN Women, saw the raising of $40 billion in funding and more than 1,000 compromises in order to support a global acceleration plan for gender equality, including a coalition of actions dedicated to the fight against gender-based violence. But the strong symbolism associated with the government, which has declined numerous international participations and declarations since the 1990s in favor of the elimination of discrimination against women, remains relatively isolated from profound changes.

Foreign policy as a figurehead for feminism in Mexico

Historically, Mexico tends to make its foreign policy a figurehead for including the gender dimension. Already, when the first world conference on the status of women met in Mexico in 1975, it coincided with the International Women’s Year, celebrated to remind the international community that the problem of discrimination in respect for women persisted almost everywhere in the world. Mexico experienced many developments during the 1990s in terms of gender integration in public policies. The main change was the work of the feminist movement for reproductive health and rights. This movement managed to rely on international feminist organizations but above all to obtain political and financial support from major American philanthropic foundations such as USAID. However, even today, the country is faced with significant denunciations regarding women’s rights. Amnesty International denounces, in 2020, an increase in the number of cases of violence against women^[5]Amnesty International, « Human rights in Mexico in 2020 ». https://www.amnesty.fr/pays/mexique even though the “Spotlight” initiative was welcomed by the government^[6]Angélica Jocelyn Soto Espinosa, « “Spotlight”: una iniciativa opaca que intenta brillar en medio del incremento de la violencia contra mexicanas », Cimacnoticias, 05/08/2020. … Continue reading. Furthermore, the evolution of access to political functions is also striking in order to analyze this contrast between a semblance of internal improvement for women and external symbolism. The position of Chancellor, equivalent to that of the Minister of Justice, was occupied in 1998, 2003 and 2012 by women^[7]Rosario Green (1998-2000), Patricia Espinosa (2003-2006) et Claudia Ruiz Massieu (2012-2015).. In addition, two women occupy major positions in the political sphere: María del Socorro Flores Liera, judge at the head of the International Criminal Court and Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL), respectively since 2020 and 2008^[8]Paulina Axotla Flores, « Mujeres: la nueva política exterior mexicana », Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica, 20/05/21. https://revistafal.com/mujeres-la-nueva-politica-exterior-mexicana/. Read on … Continue reading.

However, the political alternation between the governance of the capital which passed into the hands of the right in 2000 and the governance of the country raises many difficulties. Already, the famous anthropologist Marta Lamas pointed out in 2000: “We have a president who said in 2000 that his government was going to have a gender perspective and who was a disaster in this area. He only has one female minister left, whereas there were three at the start. He created a totally conservative Instituto de las Mujeres that did not open any dialogue or advance gender issues. It is only rhetoric, discourses on gender without a gender perspective^[9] Mathieu Caulier, “Gender policies in the face of conflict”, Journal of anthropologists [online], 136-137 | 2014, posted June 12, 2016, read January 16, 2022. … Continue reading. In 2012, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women expressed concern about the numerous feminicides perpetrated in Mexico and the persistence of impunity^[10]United Nations, “The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women is concerned about the numerous feminicides perpetrated in Mexico and the persistence of impunity”, … Continue reading. Mexican society perpetuates significant contrasts between the progress seen externally and the internal difficulties for the emancipation of women.

The reminiscence of great challenges for the country’s internal politics

The implementation of this feminist foreign policy is directly obstructed by the difficult realities of Mexican society. It is clear that statistics from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography in Mexico show a record rate of 66% of women having already suffered gender-based violence at least once and there are still 11 feminicides per day^[11]INEGI, « Estadísticas a propósito del día de la eliminación de la violencia contra la mujer », 23/11/20. https://www.inegi.org.mx/contenidos/saladeprensa/aproposito/2020/Violencia2020_Nal.pdf. … Continue reading. Amnesty International’s recent report “The Trial of Justice^[12]Spotlight Initiative, Annual Narrative Progress Report Mexico/Latin America,31/12/20. https://www.amnesty.be/IMG/pdf/20210920_rapport_mexique_es.pdf Spotlight Initiative, once again points out the flaws in investigations into feminicides preceded by a disappearance. Led by the General Prosecutor’s Office of the State of Mexico, the investigations present serious flaws due to the inaction and negligence of the authorities, which result in the fact that evidence has been lost, that all leads have not been followed. not been explored, and that the gender dimension has not been correctly applied. This example illustrates the difficulties of respecting gender within judicial processes themselves, which a foreign policy cannot change.

Beyond the judicial field, there are numerous economic, social and educational challenges. Access to abortion is a major issue in the region and is very unequal within Mexican territory. The country, after having brought hope when access to abortion was legalized in its capital in 2007, still occupies first place among OECD countries in terms of teenage pregnancy rate, with 77 births per 1000 adolescent girls between 15 and 19 years old^[13]Bulletin National Autonomous University of Mexico, General Directorate of Social Communication, 03/09/21. https://www.dgcs.unam.mx/boletin/bdboletin/2021_729.html. Accessed 12/12/21. Particularly high rates of teenage pregnancy accentuate the need for national action for access to safe and free abortion in order to move towards better access to education for young Mexican women . Under the cover of a feminist foreign policy favoring better access for women to politics, they find themselves insidiously blocked by gender inequalities induced by the country’s federal policies. There is also no shortage of data regarding the prospects for development for young girls and women in Mexico, which are much lower than for men. At the end of 2020, of the 1,117 people working in the Mexican Foreign Service, only 31% were women, the majority of them found in the administrative technical service.

Despite the great disparity in political participation, Mexico has 21 female ambassadors and 21 women representing Mexican interests at consulates and international organizations. These data highlight the difficulties of access to politics, gender violence, and even feminicides which characterize Mexican society and which cannot be overcome by feminist foreign policy.

This feminist foreign policy highlighted with the internal panorama of the country, the challenges of reducing gender violence, political corruption and better access to reproductive and sexual rights for women are significant and considerably reduce the opening of the political field for Mexican women. This feminist foreign policy and its areas of work as set out by Chancellor Marcelo Ebrard bring hitherto ignored issues to the forefront. In particular, access to abortion and the rate of adolescent pregnancy are frequently denounced by the voices of NGOs and the United Nations. Mexico makes important commitments on the international scene and tries to respond to the various issues raised by the international community. It is nevertheless obvious that equal representation of women in the political field has still not been achieved and the project of an egalitarian nation free from gender-based violence still needs to be shaped in a tangible way.

To cite this production : Mathilde Morel, “The Feminist diplomacy in Mexico : a Policy that brings progress for the country’s women ?”, April 2, 2022, Institute of Gender in Geopolitics.

The comments contained in this article are those of the author alone.