Mexican activists warn of setbacks ahead of women's rights march

By Sarah Morland and Natalia Siniawski

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - As women across Mexico prepare to take to the streets for International Women's Day on Saturday, activists warn of fragile advances and mounting challenges five months into the presidency of the Latin American nation's first female president.

Claudia Sheinbaum took office in October, and soon after passed a broad constitutional reform introducing mechanisms to fight the gender pay gap, increase political representation and boost criminal justice.

While Saturday's march comes as the United States threatens on-again, off-again tariffs that are expected to deal a significant blow to Mexico's economy, Sheinbaum's popularity has risen in the face of perceived bullying from her northern neighbor.

Wendy Figueroa, director at the National Shelter Network (RNR), which brings together 74 shelters for domestic abuse victims around the country, however warned that budget cuts were threatening the safety of women and children.

Despite a 17% annual increase in people seeking support from September through January this year - up to nearly 11,000 people - the RNR reported a 4% cut in state funding for 2025.

"We need to turn words into action," Figueroa told Reuters, adding it was still early in Sheinbaum term. "Cutting budgets for these services risks the safety and recovery of women who are victims of violence."

Over 500 women were killed in Mexico in the first month of 2025, according to government data, around half in manslaughter and the remainder due to murder or gender-based killings, known as femicides.

According to RNR, a fifth of abusive men forcing women into their shelters have criminal records.

Claudia Morales, projects director at Impunidad Cero, a rights group specializing in criminal justice, warned a planned judicial reform that would see judges elected by popular vote by in June also threatens to undo much recent progress.

She pointed to judges' knowledge of a "huge amount of protocols" for specialized femicide investigations that could be lost in the transition.

"We must remain vigilant so all this is not lost, and we must keep demanding these good principles are maintained," she said.

The United States' dismantling of its foreign aid agency, USAID, has also put on pause Con Justicia, a program that worked with many local prosecutors' offices to better investigate gender-based crimes, Morales added.

Saturday's march, which typically draws vast crowds in Mexico City, is set to end in the capital's main square a day before Sheinbaum holds a rally there to present her country's response to U.S. tariff policies.

(Reporting by Sarah Morland and Natalia Siniawski; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)