At the heart of a nation rich in contrasts, the women of Mexico embody the struggle in a country torn apart by a silent war. This land is riven by overwhelming figures: 11 femicides a day, over 100,000 people missing, including 24,600 women since 2006, according to the official figures.
Impunity, injustice and violence plague the lives of many Mexican women, whose hostile environment has brought them to live a life of resilience. They are women, mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, friends and neighbours, many and united in the same cause, fighting for their rights, for a life with dignity and free of violence. They are present at every event, on the streets, singing feminist chants, braving the tear gas, with the pink femicide cross on their shoulders and photos of the missing persons who are still being searched for.
The year 2024 is a pivotal one for Mexico: for the first time in the country’s history, two women are competing in the presidential election, reflecting an unprecedented gain for women in the public and political arenas.
This report by photographer Mahé Elipe – based on her long-term project Sembrando Luchas (Sowing Struggles) – was inspired by the desire to capture the commitment of Mexican women in the struggle for justice, focusing on those that are having an impact and becoming a source of inspiration for other women. “The strength of Mexican women is undeniable. To understand it, all you have to do is to delve into their essence, nourished by love, empathy and the desire for justice,” she told Equal Times.
On 1 November 2020, as part of the Día de Muertos, or the Day of the Dead – a special day on which Mexicans celebrate their dead – and in spite of the pandemic, feminist collectives and mothers of femicide victims held the Fifth March of the Catrinas, a protest in memory of all the girls and women who have lost their lives to femicide.
The day began at the Benito Juárez Hemicycle in central Mexico City, where the microphone was opened to the public for those who wanted to share a message. The march ended at the Antimonumenta, or anti-monument, which was erected in 2019 in memory of femicide victims in the country. Actions centred on reclaiming urban and monumental heritage have become recurrent in Mexico.
María del Carmen Volante, mother of Guadalupe Pamela Gallardo Volante, who went missing in Mexico City in 2017. On Sunday 24 April 2022, together with hundreds of women, she demonstrated in the capital against the recent femicides and disappearances in the state of Nuevo León and the country as a whole.
According to the authorities, an average of almost 10 women are murdered in Mexico every day (3,427 in 2021). In April 2022, the murder of an 18-year-old law student, Debanhi Escobar, reopened the wounds of the thousands of mothers who are mourning or searching for their children. The families are often confronted with serious failings on the part of the justice system when it comes to investigating femicides and worrying disappearances.
In 2021, a large metal fence was erected around the National Palace, the seat of power in Mexico, to protect it from female demonstrators on 8 March. Seen by feminists as an act of provocation, they responded by using it to display the names of all the women who had been victims of violence that year. An ‘anti-monument’ (antimonumenta) used as an improvised canvas to make their movement visible.
In March 2021, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was the target of strong criticism for supporting the candidacy of a politician running for a governorship who had been accused of rape by several women.
On International Women’s Day in Mexico City in March 2021, the first disturbances broke out in the Zócalo, the main square in front of the National Palace. Attempts by demonstrators to tear down the barriers led to violent clashes with the police, who fired tear gas.
During the demonstrations, Mexican feminists did not hesitate to defend themselves, joining the Bloque Negro (Black Block, radical feminist separatist activists) in standing up to the police. On that day, the Secretariat for Citizen Security (SSC) in the Mexican capital recorded at least 81 women injured out of the 20,000 demonstrators present.
On the plaza of the Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City, homage was paid to Ingrid Escamilla on 9 February 2021. The 25-year-old had been stabbed and mutilated by her former partner a year earlier.
The femicide of Ingrid Escamilla in 2020 caused a huge outcry, particularly after the press published details and photos that violated her rights and bodily integrity and were perceived as a ‘double punishment’ and an ‘apology for macho violence’. A series of feminist actions led to a reform of the penal code: a general law for women’s access to a life free of violence, with jail sentences of four to ten years for public servants who divulge or disseminate images or elements of murder investigation files. Ingrid’s killer was sentenced to 70 years in prison, the maximum penalty. The sentence was upheld on appeal in October 2023.
Demonstrators at a rally to mark International Safe Abortion Day, 28 September 2023. In this very religious country, until recently, women risked being sent to prison for having an abortion.
On 7 September 2023, Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalised abortion at national level. This decision came two years after the Court unanimously ruled that the legislation in one of Mexico’s states criminalising abortion in the first term of pregnancy was ‘unconstitutional’, paving the way for the right to abortion throughout the country.
