Political violence against women

in the context of the 2018 electoral process

Abstract

This work presents a brief overview of the 2018 Electoral Process in Mexico, marked by its high incidence of violent events directed towards male and female primary candidates, candidates and collaborators, and their families throughout its entirety. Our overview is focused explicitly on incidents of violence directed towards women. To this end, we followed and reviewed all issues of newspaper La
Jornada published from April to June, just before the day of the Elections. This revision allowed us to put forward some tentative conclusions that speak to the complex and heterogeneous nature of the documented cases where party affiliation, the specific public office, the political scenario, and other potentially conflicting agents play a significant role. We also concluded that about one-third of all political violence cases were directed towards female candidates or their affiliates or family members. This situation resulted in a highly-tensed political climate in some municipalities due to threats and harassment, which
led to both male and female candidates abandoning their candidature, either by stepping down or, in some cases, through physical removal. The documented forms of political violence included withholding payment to cabildo officials, threats, abductions, physical attacks to their home or place of business, and assassination.