Exclusion Denounced at Women’s Conference

ByMexico Solidarity

This article by L. Hernández O. and C. Gómez M. appeared in the August 14, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Although their participation was not scheduled for the 16th Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean (RCM), feminist demonstrations were present outside the meeting’s venue, the Tlatelolco University Cultural Center.

Even before the start of the first day of work, women’s groups, members of pro-sex work collectives, and advocates for life from pregnancy onward protested simultaneously in front of the building.

Before the start of the conference, organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), UN Women, and the Mexican government, a group of women expressed their disagreement with the “underfunding” of shelters for survivors of gender-based violence. Another group of sex workers, both women and transgender, defended their work on the streets of Mexico City with the slogan “The corner belongs to those who work it.”

Others carried a blanket with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, prayed for the lives of the unborn, and called for “praying for the end of abortion.”

The controversy also raged inside. During the positioning of the feminist forums held before the summit, Yndira Sandoval, a member of Las Constituyentes Mx and one of the conveners of the Alternative Feminist Forum, took the podium and began reading the abolitionist feminists’ agreement. Within seconds, the tension was evident. The microphone was muted, and the live broadcast was immediately interrupted.

Sandoval lamented the “censorship and exclusion” and expressed confidence that they would be allowed to speak at the upcoming CRM meetings. After acknowledging that she had indeed been granted accreditation, she recounted that she had asked the president of the CRM, Citlalli Hernández Mora, Secretary of Women’s Affairs, to present her sector’s position. “The secretary told me she was negotiating with ECLAC for a space for us,” but there was no response.

Hernández Mora clarified that they were not on yesterday’s program, so it was inappropriate for them to speak.