Gender based political violence against women in Mexico from a regional perspective

Abstract

Gender Based Political Violence Against Women (GBPVAW) is one main form of political discrimination. It violently affects women, obstructs social justice (economic redistribution, sociocultural recognition and political representation) for all and hinders parity democracy. In April 2020, the federal law of GBPVAW was approved in Mexico. From September 7th, 2020 until June 6th, 2021, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the biggest and most complex electoral process in Mexico took place, including 95 million registered voters with 21,368 elected positions in dispute and elections in almost half of the states that make up the republic. For the first time in history, gender parity was established by a strict quota system at municipal, state and federal levels. This exacerbated all forms of political violence, political violence against women and gender-based political violence against women. GBPVAW is one of the least researched emerging topics in the social sciences and is mostly absent in regional science debates. This article presents the results of an in-depth study, encompassing a research team of 26 academics, primarily developed and led by the presenting author. Results of a triangulated multidisciplinary research model with a transversal social justice and regional lens includes historical and juridical harmonization indicators, the creation of two quantitative regional indexes, qualitative indicators resulting from over 150 in-depth interviews of experts and female politicians, socio-digital media and a resilience study. Regarding the Mexican case study, the Reform Decree of April 13th, 2020 typifying GBPVAW is celebrated, providing the country with the second most advanced legislation worldwide. However, this research documented that there are still multiple areas of opportunity linked to affirmative action, substantive equality and transversal parity.