The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) and the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) are promoting activism to eliminate violence against women through the forum Inclusive Work Environments in the Environmental Sector for the Prevention of Gender-Based Violence.

Enna Paloma Ayala, Director General of Policies for Access to a Life Free of Violence, Ministry for Women, highlighted the importance of the General Law on Women’s Access to a Life Free of Violence, describing it as an innovative law that allows Mexico to define the types and modalities of violence, including violence in the workplace, which is rooted in hierarchical structures that exert power through typically male-dominated configurations.

Ayala underscored data from the National Survey on the Dynamics of Household Relationships (ENDIREH), which shows that between 2016 and 2021 workplace violence against women increased from 26.6% to 27.9%. In 34% of cases, the aggressors in the workplace are men, and in 21% of cases they are bosses or hierarchical superiors. Eighty percent of incidents occur within workplace facilities, and 53.3% of women over 18 in Mexico reported having been discriminated against for being women.

“Today is not just a commemoration; it is a call to rethink the way we work, coexist, and relate to one another within our institutions. Defending life means going beyond traditional environmental policy to place care at the center of our actions,” Pedro Álvarez, Commissioner, CONANP. 

SEMARNAT and CONANP acknowledge the challenges they face in achieving an inclusive work culture that fully respects women’s labor rights. For this reason, both institutions are implementing affirmative actions for the enforcement of the Protocol for the Prevention, Attention, and Sanction of Sexual Harassment and Assault, as well as designing measures linked to a workplace care policy to ensure substantive equality for women in safe environments.

The event emphasized that men’s involvement is essential for building an inclusive labor culture, as it is necessary to break the patriarchal pact, complicities, and invisible loyalties that perpetuate privileges and vertical hierarchies. Violence against women in the workplace requires strong and sustained policies aimed at changing practices, values, and stereotypes.

Global Context of Workplace Violence

Globally, 23% of employees have experienced violence or harassment at work, whether physical, psychological, or sexual, according to data from the International Labour Organization (ILO). The groups most likely to be affected include youth, migrant workers, and wage and salaried women and men. Moreover, young women were twice as likely as young men to face sexual violence and harassment, and migrant women were almost twice as likely as non-migrant women to report such incidents.

In this context, the ILO’s Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190) and Recommendation (No. 206) are the first international labor standards providing a common framework to prevent, remedy, and eliminate violence and harassment in the world of work, including gender-based violence and harassment.

The Convention includes, for the first time in international law, explicit recognition of the right of every person to a world of work free from violence and harassment, and establishes the obligation to respect, promote, and realize this right. More than 50 countries have ratified this agreement to date. Mexico joined the ILO convention in 2022.