Mexico Gender Violence 2025: 8M Protests, Statistics, Gender Gap

Mass protests on International Women's Day across Mexico's major cities underscore the scale of gender-based violence and structural inequality affecting women across all spheres, from a 95% impunity rate in femicide cases and 2,798 women murdered in 2025, to a 34.2% gender pay gap and a 46% female labor participation rate that trails the OECD average by 21%. The demonstrations signal rising pressure on both the Sheinbaum administration and the private sector to address systemic failures in security, labor inclusion and care policy that collectively limit women's economic, social and legal rights.

Hundreds of thousands of women marched across Mexico's major cities on International Women's Day, protesting gender violence in a country where an average of 10 women are murdered every day and female labor participation remains 21% below the OECD average.

In Mexico City, demonstrators marched along Paseo de la Reforma toward the Zócalo, the capital's main square, where the National Palace was again surrounded by metal barriers. "Where are the walls that protect us?" said Araceli, a 26-year-old artist, in reference to the barricades. The image captured a recurring theme at the marches: the contrast between state protection of government buildings and the absence of protection for women in public and private spaces.

The protests came days after the bodies of two students from the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos (UAEM) were found in early March. Demonstrators also called for justice for Rubí Patricia Gómez-Tagle, a missing persons searcher from Sinaloa. "As a student, you cannot even go to university safely," said Maite, a 20-year-old law student at FES Acatlán. 

The marches mark the second International Women's Day under President Claudia Sheinbaum, the country's first female president, who was herself subjected to a public sexual assault in November when an unknown man approached her, attempted to kiss her and touched her chest.

A Persistent Femicide Crisis

Mexico recorded 2,798 murders of women in 2025, of which only 725,  less than 26%,  were opened as femicide investigations, according to the Ministry of the National Public Security System (SESNSP). Between 2018 and June 2025, 26,652 women were killed, with fewer than 25% of cases classified as femicides, per a report submitted to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). A 95% impunity rate in gender-based crimes was a central grievance among marchers.

Sheinbaum's administration reports a roughly 12% reduction in femicides between January 2025 and January 2026, and a more than 40% drop in intentional homicides in the first 16 months of her government. Feminist organizations have challenged those figures, accusing the government of waging a "war on statistics" and flagging gaps in gender-based crime investigationsm a criticism also directed at the previous administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. A study by México Evalúa found that lethal violence rose 68.2% between 2015 and 2025 when femicides, disappearances and other crimes against life are factored in.

Disappearances have emerged as an additional dimension of the crisis. They increased 213% between 2015 and 2025, according to México Evalúa, suggesting that part of the lethal violence may not be diminishing but becoming less visible. According to the National Registry of Missing Persons (RNPDNO), Mexico currently has more than 130,000 missing persons, 25% of them women.

According to the 2021 National Survey on the Dynamics of Household Relationships (ENDIREH), more than 50 million women, seven in ten aged 15 or older, have experienced at least one episode of violence in their lifetime, a figure 4% higher than in 2016. 

The most reported forms were psychological (51.6%), sexual (49.7%), physical (34.7%) and economic or patrimonial (27.4%). The share of women reporting violence has not followed a consistent upward trajectory. It measured 67% in 2006, fell to 63% in 2011 and climbed back to 66% in 2016, before arriving at its current level of seven in ten.

Labor Participation: Gains Without Equal Conditions

The economic consequences of gender inequality extend beyond violence. Female labor participation reached 46% in 2025, up from 38% in 2005 and from just 6% a century ago,  a 7.6-fold increase driven by industrialization, expanded access to education and economic crises that pulled women into the workforce, according to IMCO. Yet the rate remains far below the OECD average of 67%.

"Although it is an important advance, the participation gap with men is still distant," said Fernanda García, IMCO's Society director. "In other areas, such as politics, where there is intentionality with quotas and other affirmative measures, the result is completely different. In the labor market, nothing similar has happened,  there is no target for having more women in a given period, nor articulated care policies to achieve it."

Greater participation has not translated into equal conditions. The gender pay gap stood at 34.2% in 2024, with men earning an average of MX$36,047 (US$2,016.71) against women's MX$23,714 (US$1326.72), according to the National Survey on Household Income and Expenditure (ENIGH). While the gap has narrowed from 42.2% in 2016, it has remained above 30%. 

Tracking three decades of wage data, IMCO places the current gap at 13%, meaning women earn MX$13 less for every MX$100 earned by men. Women's informal employment rate closed 2025 at 55.8%, 1.4% above the male rate. Women currently hold just 3% of CEO positions in Mexico.

Education has been a driver of labor market entry but has not translated into equivalent participation or career advancement. In 1950, 12% of women had higher education and 13% participated in the labor market. By 2020, 53% of women held higher education, yet labor participation reached only 40%. "Advances in education have not translated into equivalent economic participation, and the conditions they face remain precarious," García said.

The Economic Cost of Exclusion

Domestic responsibilities remain the primary structural barrier to women's full participation. Women spent 30 hours per week on unpaid household and care work in 2024, compared to 12.2 hours for men, a ratio of roughly three to one that has changed only marginally since 2009, when women averaged 33 hours and men 11. Nine in ten women outside the labor force cite care duties as the main reason for not working. 

"When women are in a stage of maternity, they tend to leave the labor market or seek more flexible options, which are usually provided by the informal market. But that not only penalizes income, there is a lack of social security and legal certainty," García said.

The IMCO calculates that closing the participation gap with the OECD could add MX$6.9 trillion to Mexico's GDP over the next decade, roughly MX$630 billion per year. To reach that benchmark, Mexico would need to incorporate 18.6 million women into its economy by 2035. 

Without targeted measures, the country would take 56 years to reach participation levels OECD countries hold today. The OECD has estimated that increased female labor participation drove annual GDP per capita growth of 0.37% between 2000 and 2022, more than double the 0.14% contributed by men. 

Under IMCO's target scenario, the economic value of women's work would increase 35%, from MX$3 trillion to MX$4.1 trillion, and state GDPs could be 4.9% higher on average by 2035. Chiapas, where female participation falls below 40%, could see gains of up to 21%.

To accelerate inclusion, IMCO recommends that governments build an affordable National Care System guaranteeing rights for all workers, including those in informal employment, alongside mandatory paternity leave to redistribute care responsibilities. For the private sector, the institute calls for extended paid parental leave, childcare subsidies, flexible schedules and on-site childcare centers, a model set to expand under Mexico's new Early Education and Childcare Centers (CECI) format.

Progress over the past two decades has been documented across multiple indicators, but the pace remains slow. In 2023, the United Nations estimated that at the current rate, the world would need 300 more years to achieve gender equality.