Global collaborations, feminist foreign policies and internet activists
How Mexico combats gender-based violence.
Source: unsplasj
Several organisations and publications, including the United Nations (UN), have reported on how Covid-19 has disproportionately disadvantaged girls and women across the world. Women are affected economically, as they are more likely to hold insecure jobs or to work without pay as a result of economic cut-downs. While women and girls are better off when it comes to Covid-related deaths, relocalisation within the health sector generally affects men less. Finally, gender-based violence has increased severely as people are spending more time enclosed in their homes. Mexico, one of the countries in the world where gender-based violence and femicide (the murder of women and girls, motivated by their gender) is most prevalent, has seen several steps being taken to combat this, on both international and local level.
At the UN Women Generation Equality Forum in Mexico City in March, one of the initiatives that emerged was the Group of Friends for Gender Equality, joined by 20 countries and proposed by the Mexican government. The goal of the group is to “promote coordinated action in multilateral forums that accelerates gender equality and advocates for the human rights of women and girls, through the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and other international commitments”. Countries who have joined the group are spread across the world and found on all continents, the full list currently includes Panama, Chile, Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Spain, France, Germany, Ireland United Kingdom, Lebanon, South Africa, Japan and Korea, but more countries are encouraged to join.
The initiative is in line with Mexico’s new feminist foreign policy (FFP), which they adapted in 2020, being the first Latin American country to do so. More countries have started to follow suit, and having an FFP seems to be the new way forward towards combating gender-based inequality. In a press release regarding the launch of FFP, the Mexican government declared that the goal of the programme is to promote “human rights and gender equality across all sectors and all areas of Mexico's foreign policy.” The government has set out a number of guidelines, for example pledging to have the Ministry of Foreign Affairs consist of 50 per cent women by 2024. Hosting of the Gender Equality Forum, and the Group of Friends for Gender Equality initiative are examples of how the country is striving to be a global leader in feminism in the face of Covid-19, but Mexico also had a presence on the global feminist scene for some years before officially implementing the policy. For example, the country advocated for the inclusion of a gender-focused action plan at COP25 (the UN’s climate conference) in Madrid in 2019.
Before officially adapting its FFP, Mexico has also used its international feminist network to assess domestic issues. Together with the EU and UN, the country has launched the Spotlight Initiative, a collaboration and investment meant to combat femicide. In 2019, the year the initiative was launched, Mexico had the second-highest rates of femicide in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, only topped by Brazil. As noted, 2020 was a year when violence against women increased globally as a side effect of the pandemic. Despite this however, the total number of registered femicides in Mexico during the first six months of 2020 were at a similar level as the year before.
While major positive results from the implementation of the FFP are yet to come in Mexico, their presence on the international feminist stage can hopefully bring further attention to the domestic situation in the country, and support from fellow FFP countries. For example, in early 2020 Sweden - the first country to implement an FPP - donated almost $2 million to non-profit DKT International to support them in their efforts to lessen the effects of Covid-19 in Africa. They have also pledged to provide SEK 1 billion (approximately $118 million) in funding to initiatives working to enhance gender equality, by combating gender-based violence inter alia, which Mexican initiatives could take part of.
The question can be posed if global feminism is becoming a trend. Are countries getting involved because it makes them look good? In an opinion piece in the Mexican paper El Economista, the lawyer and activist Patricia Olamendi criticises her government for creating a distorted view of reality by presenting themselves as a global advocate for feminism, while seemingly not doing much for the situation for women within the country itself. Leading up to International Women’s Day this year, Palacio Nacional, the presidential office and residence was barricaded with a large metal fence. This was met with peaceful protests, as groups of women filled the fence with the names of femicide victims. The president stated that he was not afraid of the women, nor a misogynist. However, he also stated the belief that the Mexican feminist movement is manipulated.
The adaptation of a feminist foreign policy puts pressure on countries to live up to the promises they make, in the home country as well as globally. It brings attention and opportunities to hold governments accountable. In Mexico, the feminist movement is constantly growing, and in areas where governmental action may seem to be lacking, activists are stepping up. One of the more well established Mexican activist groups is the Luchadoras - the (female) fighters. They are a group of activists with a strong online presence whose main aim is to make the internet a safe space, free from gender-based violence. By doing this, they are pushing an agenda that sometimes seems to be forgotten when women's rights are discussed. Nowhere in the blueprint released after the Gender Equality Forum is cyber crime against women mentioned, even though UN Women reports on ICT-facilitated violence against women increasing as an effect of Covid-19.
While Mexico’s global initiatives and collaborations help push the world toward a gender-equal future, their new feminist foreign policy can also bring accountability and more attention to the many Mexican feminists that work to make life better for women in their everyday lives.
This is a solutions journalism article produced as during the 2021 SoJourn write-a-thon. Solutions journalism is investigative reporting on responses to social issues. Learn more about it here.