They are analyzing constitutional changes to gender equality in Mexico

Andrés Gallegos

The constitutional reform on substantive equality, gender perspective, violence against women and the wage gap, proposed by the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, and published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on November 15, 2024, is analyzed in the most recent edition of the Radar of Democracy and Justice (number 4), published by the Laboratory for the Rule of Law and Public Influence of ITESO.

Among the modifications to the articles of the Constitution, the reform established the duty of the State to protect women and the right to live a life free of violence (article 4); gender parity in the different positions of the federal, state and municipal public administration (article 41), and the obligation to have specialized prosecutors to investigate gender violence against women (article 116).

The presidential proposal also obliges the Congress of the Union to legislate to reduce the gender pay gap (article 123) and establishes the obligation of the country's public security agencies to act under the criterion of gender perspective (article 21).

A year and a half after its official publication, the substantive equality reform remains relevant for addressing the serious problems of violence that Mexican women continue to face. Every day, 10.6 femicides occur (Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System), and in 2025 alone, 80,525 women were victims of intentional injuries (a record high). Nearly 13,000 complaints of sexual harassment were also filed between January 2025 and January 2026.

Furthermore, some of the mandates approved at the end of 2024 have yet to be implemented. For example, in some states, the decree establishing specialized prosecutor's offices (Article 116) has not resulted in effective institutions or sufficient resources to address cases of violence against women, hence the high incidence of cases reflected in the cited figures.

"The facts demonstrate that these institutions are weakening," states Lorena Vázquez Correa, author of this edition of Radar and professor in the Department of Sociopolitical and Legal Studies at ITESO. "Women continue to be victims of violence in many ways, and the reform is sensitive to that reality."

According to data from the 2025 National Census of State and Federal Justice Administration by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), there are 104 agencies or prosecutors specializing in femicide in Mexico, a lower number than in 2024.

The constitutional changes regarding substantive equality faced strong legislative criticism. The primary criticism is the lack of penalties for non-compliance, which has resulted in gender parity in public office not being achieved in states like Chihuahua, whose cabinet consists of 15 men and only two women. In short, the reform's implementation depends solely on the political will of the actors involved, with no legal repercussions for failure to comply.

A second criticism of Sheinbaum's reform was that it removed gender parity in autonomous bodies such as the Bank of Mexico (Banxico) or the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), something that was included in the previous reform of June 2019 and that resulted in women now presiding over these institutions such as Victoria Rodríguez Ceja (first female governor of Banxico since its creation in 1925) or Guadalupe Taddei (National Electoral Institute).

Details of the approved constitutional changes, dissenting arguments, approved reservations, and access to the official documents of this reform can be found at https://ite.so/radar4 .