Militarization and Violence Against Women in Mexico

Analyzing Space, Time and Capital

Bibliographic Data

ID24229186
AuthorsDaniela Philipson Garcia (0009-0004-7706-2266, Monash University), Jacqui True (0000-0002-5412-8929, Monash University)
Year2026
Publication date2026-07-18
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Politics International Studies in Gender State & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1072-4745 • E-ISSN: 1468-2893
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/sp/jxag039
OpenAlexW7169656775
LanguageEN
References cited29

How does militarization impact women’s experiences of violence in Mexico’s war on drugs? Utilising feminist political economy analysis, and based on extensive interviews with feminist civil society, grassroots activists, and security professionals, this paper identifies the mechanisms through which militarization compounds violence against women across three interrelated dimensions: space, time, and capital. We argue that militarization entrenches the division between the public and the private, reproducing gender stereotypes. Moreover, we find the state’s prioritization of military action devalues social reproduction and tacitly outsources time-intensive practices to women, leading to depletion. Militarization also produces gendered harms that especially marginalize rural and Indigenous women by diverting capital away from essential social infrastructure and facilitating resource extractivism that degrades the environment and displaces local communities.

displacement · feminist political economy · gender stereotypes · grassroots activism · Indigenous women · Mexico · Militarization · public and private spheres · Rural women · security professionals · social infrastructure · Social reproduction · violence against women · war on drugs · Conflict, Peace, and Violence in Colombia · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Gender, Violence, Rights in Latin America

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