Breathe
By Sophia Huett
The early morning was cold and silent when Mariana put on her uniform. She knew her day would be long. What she did not imagine was that, in addition to facing danger on the streets, she would also have to guard against violence and harassment within her own institution. Like many other policewomen in Mexico, Mariana lived a constant struggle to enforce the law, while the very system that was supposed to protect her violated her.
During March, a month in which we reflect on gender equality and the eradication of violence, there is a reality that is rarely made visible: women police officers in Mexico face a double challenge. Not only must they combat violence in society, but they are also victims of discrimination, harassment and aggression within their own institutions and in their personal lives.
Women in the security forces live a constant contradiction: they are required to protect citizens and enforce the law, but the very system they represent leaves them unprotected. They face institutional violence, sexual harassment and labor inequality, making them victims of the very problems they seek to eradicate.
One of the scenarios where this violence is most visible is in the feminist protests of March 8 and other mobilizations. In these mobilizations, policewomen are placed on the front line of containment, turning them into a shield between the protesters and the State. There are numerous reports of physical and verbal aggressions against them, including insults, beatings and attacks with dangerous objects. At the same time, there have also been documented cases of abuse of force by the police against the demonstrators, a violence that in many cases is rooted in the same oppression they suffer within their institutions.
On one occasion, when I asked some officers the reason behind their violent response to a protest, they were blunt: they had been on duty for three consecutive shifts because their command, who was not even a police officer, thought that an extra paycheck would solve everything. They had no training in demonstration control and the instruction they received from their superior, even from a female mayor, was: "break the protesters' mothers". This is just a real example of how policewomen are forced to repress with violence without the proper tools for a correct intervention.
But violence against policewomen does not occur only on the streets. Within their own institutions, they face sexual harassment and harassment by colleagues and superiors, lack of recognition and limited opportunities for promotion due to gender bias. In addition, they suffer overwork with excessive shifts and lack adequate protocols for reporting abuse and violence within the corporation.
Many policewomen do not report for fear of reprisals, thus perpetuating impunity and the normalization of abuse in the security forces. However, the danger is not limited to the workplace.
According to a report by El Universal, between 2015 and 2022, at least 98 policewomen were victims of femicide or intentional homicide in Mexico. For its part, the organization Proyecto Azul Cobalto reported that in 2019 there were 19 cases of murdered policewomen, a figure that in 2023 rose to 42, which means an increase of 121%. This contrasts with the 20% decrease in police homicides in general during the same period.
In their homes, too, there are female police officers who are victims of domestic violence and, in the worst cases, femicide. Between 2015 and 2022, investigations were opened against 45 male police officers for committing femicide or violent intentional homicide against a woman; of these, 25 officers were specifically charged with femicide, according to El Universal.
Subscribe to read the full column ...
