Maricela Morales was confirmed as Attorney General, the highest position ever achieved by a female in Mexico. However, this triumph is bittersweet as Mexico witnesses high levels of gender-based killings of women, known as femicides. Some of these femicides have been of women’s rights defenders and activists.
The country’s continuing struggle with drug trafficking cartels has often pushed aside the issue of women’s rights. In the northern state of Chihuahua, there is much violence from the warring drug trafficking cartels. This violence includes the disappearance of over a hundred women in 2010. Chihuahua is notorious for its high numbers of unsolved femicides. In the last few years, rising levels of women activists have been murdered.
The violence against women in Mexico has also led to the appointment of females in higher positions in the police service. However, two of these women have been murdered while serving as police chiefs while others receive numerous death threats. Despite the gains made for the empowerment of women in Mexico, the high levels of gender-based violence and unaccountability are still pressing issues.
Compiled from: WURN, Mexican Women March for Rights, Mourn Slain Activists, (12 April 2011).