Mexico has one of the world's highest femicide rates, with as many as 3% of murder victims classified as femicides. In 2021, there were approximately 1,000 femicides, out of 34,000 total murder victims. Ciudad Juárez, in Chihuahua, has one of the highest rates of femicide in the country. As of 2023, Colima State has the highest femicide rate, with over 4 out of every 100,000 women murdered because of their gender. Morelos and Campeche had the subsequent highest femicide rates in 2023.

Mexico has one of the world's highest overall murder rates, and 90% of victims are men. An escalation of violence began in the early 1990s, and was followed by a wave of sexual violence and torture, abductions, and increasing rates of women being murdered because of their gender. While the number of women murdered in Mexico has grown substantially in recent years, the proportion of female victims of homicide has stayed constant over the last three decades. According to the INEGI (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía), the ratio of homicides targeting women were between 10% and 13% between 1990 and 2020.

Up to a third of female murder victims in Mexico are murdered by their current or ex-partners. This violence has been attributed to the backlash theory, which alleges that as a marginalized group gains more rights in society, there is a violent backlash from their oppressors. Notably, Indigenous women—who make up 15% of the population—are at a higher risk of gender-based violence, like femicide, due to economic marginalization and limited access to health and government protections. Additionally, more geographic isolation and gender inequality results in less effective intervention and victim support.

The response from the Mexican government has been minimal. Currently there is very little legislation protecting women. This lack of response further discourages individuals or groups from speaking out or challenging this phenomenon. There have been many small feminist movements that have attempted to bring attention to the level of violence Mexican women face. These movements primarily focus their efforts on demonstrations, sharing their own experiences, and creating works of art to express their frustrations.

Recently, transfeminists Sayak Valencia and Liliana Falcón, alongside existing local feminist movements like "Ni Una Menos", have sought to include transgender women as legitimate victims of femicide. They use the terms transfemicide or transfeminicide as particular forms of femicide targeting transgender people. Feminist theorist and philosopher Judith Butler notes that the rallying slogan "Ni Una Menos" is based on a diverse coalition of people against the killing of all feminized subjects, including cisgender women, trans women, and travestis.

Mexico officially began documenting femicide cases in 2012. In 2021, roughly 3% of murder victims (~1,000 out of 34,000 total) were classed as femicides. On average, ten girls and women and one hundred boys and men are killed each day in Mexico. It is estimated that three femicides occur daily. The country’s high murder rate continues to make international headlines, drawing attention to the Mexican authorities' lack in deterring crime and violence.

Timeline of Femicides in Mexico

2016

Paola Buenrostro

Paola Buenrostro, a trans sex worker, was killed in the Colonial Tabacalera neighborhood of Mexico City by one of her clients. The perpetrator was arrested and subsequently released by a judge, who cited a lack of evidence. In 2024, after years of lobbying from activists, Mexico City passed the "Paola Buenrostro Law", enshrining transfemicide as a crime punishable by a prison sentence of up to 70 years.

2020 In 2020, femicides increased significantly. During the first seven months of the year, reports indicated that approximately 2,000 femicides had occurred. Mexico is considered one of the countries with the highest number of femicides in Latin America and globally. Among the most dangerous regions is the State of Mexico—particularly the municipality of Ecatepec—where 84 murders were reported in the early months of the year.

Ingrid Escamilla One case that drew controversy in 2020 was that of Ingrid Escamilla, a Mexican woman who was murdered by her partner in her apartment. Police leaked images of the crime scene to the press, which were published in various newspapers. In response, demonstrations were held in the Zócalo de la Ciudad de México, especially on February 14. The case led to the proposal of the Ingrid law, which criminalizes sharing images, audios, or videos of corpses or body parts, of the circumstances of death, injuries or state of health. Higher penalties are invoked If the content relates to women, girls, or adolescents, or if the content is leaked by a public servant.

2021 Debanhi Escobar Debanhi Susana Escobar Bazaldúa, 18, disappeared after attending a party with friends in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico on April 9, 2021. Her body was found 13 days later in a nearby motel cistern. The case generated great social commotion due to irregularities in the investigation and the lack of answers from the authorities.

2022

Lidia Gabriela Lidia Gabriela Gomez, 35, was kidnapped by a cab driver in Mexico City, Mexico on November 19, 2022, and later found dead. The case generated outrage over the alleged complicity of the authorities, who failed to respond in time to the victim's distress calls.

2026 Claudia Tacoronte Claudia Tacoronte Aguilera, a 21-year-old Spanish exchange student from Gran Canaria, was fatally stabbed in Cuautla, Morelos on 12 September 2026.

Risk factors and roadblocks Violence against women, that is, violence specifically against women and girls by men and boys on the basis of the victim's gender, is the result of misogyny and sexist discrimination. In Mexico the misogynistic ideology is known as machismo. Feminist movements have been active in bringing attention to the problem of femicide, but the rates still continue to climb, especially among indigenous women. One hypothesis posited for the rate of growth in femicides is that as Mexican women gained more autonomy within patriarchal society, men who hold misogynist beliefs respond violently in an effort to maintain their own social power.

While femicide and gender based violence are issues that impact all women, some factors put certain groups of women at higher risk of violence. Low-income women and indigenous women in particular are more likely to be victims of femicide than their wealthier peers. For indigenous women, geography is a problem, as offices to report these instances are not located near indigenous communities. This leads to under-reporting, making it more challenging to quantify the level of violence against these women.

Other roadblocks to quantifying the violence Mexican women experience is a general misunderstanding of what femicide is. Many people view femicide as simply murder, rather than a targeted attack on the basis of gender. This conflation of femicide with other kinds of violence erases the gendered aspect and motivations specific to femicide.

Women at increased risk Out of all women groups, Indigenous women in Mexico are at a higher risk of being victims of gender-based violence, as well as an overlooked group in terms of seeking justice. Indigenous women, despite comprising 15% of Mexico's population are overlooked in the discussion of femicide because of the factors that place them at a higher risk. 80% of Indigenous peoples in Mexico live below the poverty line, in states like Chiapas and Oaxaca, the southernmost region of Mexico where most of the Indigenous populations live. The indigenous community in Mexico face a range of issues like discrimination and a lack of social and health provisions, but all issues specifically affect indigenous women the most. In this range of issues, indigenous women are also at a higher risk of facing sexual abuse as children and adolescents.

In Mexico, human trafficking is a byproduct of the cartels, and factors like a history of sexual violence and low socio-economic development increase the risk of being a trafficking victim. For indigenous women, they make up 70% of the human trafficking victims from Mexican cartels. Additionally, targeting the economic vulnerability of indigenous women have caused maquiladoras, clothing factories, to spread across Mexican cities. These maquiladoras pay low wages to the workers, and are often in cartel trafficking hot spots. This combination of economic vulnerability near cartels has resulted in an increased rate of indigenous women facing death, rape, trafficking, and other forms of gender violence. The government of Mexico has ultimately failed to create effective preventative measures and social structures that would deter gender based violence.

The Ingrid Escamilla case is an example of this, as mutilated pictures of the 25 year old's body were published in tabloids. Former President Manuel López Obrador stated in a conference he did not want to discuss feminicide because it would distract from the raffle the government was holding, ultimately placing profit over security concerns. Society has not failed to protest the government's lack of action, causing the National Autonomous University of Mexico to shut down from protests accusing staff members of harassment and sexual violence. This is only a continuance of the 137% increase of gender based violence in Mexico from the last five years, as when the former President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa (2006–2012) declared a war on drugs, a notable spike in femicides was noticed in the Chiapas, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Veracruz, and many more states.

Feminist movements The rise of violence in Mexico has also seen a public softening towards the concept of feminism, especially among those fighting for justice for femicide victims. Mexican women began to take to the streets to march in large demonstrations. These marches called for the acknowledgement of the gender based violence women face. Mexican feminists created the term "feminicidio" (femicide) to describe the way some women are murdered because they are women. They urged their community members to recognize this kind of violence deviates from other kinds of murder and see it as a different issue. The main participants in this movement are the loved ones of those who have been victims of femicide. Their loved ones use various forms of media to spread the stories of those who lost their lives in the violence. Their efforts birthed many organizations that act to keep women in Mexico safe from violence as well as informed about it.

Social media and the #MeToo movement transformed the movement through changing the culture of shame and fear that came with coming forward about sexual violence. Women naming their abusers publicly became normalized as a result.

Police response