Gender, the State and patriarchy: partner violence in Mexico (original) (raw)
Related papers
Resisting patriarchy within the State: Advocacy and family violence in Mexico
Women's Studies International Forum, 2010
all but three states in the Mexican Federation passed laws dealing specifically with family violence. These laws are more symbolic than substantive for protecting women's rights given their unbridgeable duality of objectives: one the one hand affirming the sanctity of the family, while on the other protecting family members from the threat of family violence. The patriarchal attitudes that permeate the State are reflected in the terms and objectives of family violence legislation. Although the formal aim of the legislation has been to protect women from partner violence, the subordination of its contents and implementation to the goal of preserving families has worked against protecting the victims of partner violence. This article adopts a poststructuralist feminist perspective on the State, conceptualizing it not as a unified entity, but in terms of the collaborations and conflicts of the multiple agencies, agents, and agendas which constitute it. Using Giddens' structuration theory, I examine patterns of resistance both to the patriarchal social structure and to the State that is reproducing it. Some State employees-most of whom are women-who work in agencies that provide direct assistance to victims of family violence and design prevention programs work around the familist agenda by reinterpreting and ignoring regulations, investing their own time and resources to protect victims of partner violence. This article explores the agency of these individuals and examines how they strategically challenge or derail the reproduction of patriarchal structures by the State, working from within it.
Violence Against Women, 2012
We employ two surveys to identify similarities and differences in the risk of abuse among poor urban Mexican-origin women in the United States and Mexico. While the two surveys reveal basic structural similarity in the predictors of partner violence, the rate of violence among Mexican women is far lower than among either foreign-born or nativeborn Mexican origin women in the United States. While these differences may reflect reality, we argue that survey data must be interpreted cautiously and with an understanding of the cultural, economic, and political context in which the information is collected as well as methodological differences between the surveys.
Research into intimate partner violence has shown that social isolation constitutes a risk factor, and the presence of social networks can be an important source of social support. This research note presents some results of an empirical study carried out in Mexico into women’s social relations, especially their family relations, and their role in the promotion of traditional gender norms. Findings indicate that some of the main conditions that are associated with the production of violence against women are either generated or reinforced within the realm of what can be regarded as women’s “strong ties.” Keywords: gender norms; Mexico; traditional values
Violence against Women in Mexico: Conceptualization and Program Application
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2006
Violence against women has been a problem in human cultures for centuries. This is still the case both in developed and in developing countries, but it is in developing countries where the problem is aggravated as the result of cultural norms that are tolerant of men exerting power over women and girls as a commonly accepted practice. This power is often put into practice through physical and psychological acts of violence. In Mexico, as in many other countries, there is a legal framework that protects women from such acts, yet in the case of Mexico it has not yet been translated into actual improvements in their lives. We present an overview of advances in legal remedies regarding violence towards females internationally and in Mexico. The fact that these advances per se do not lead to changes in social norms that tolerate violence against females is emphasized. Also presented is the experience of the Mexican Institute for Research on Family and Population (IMIFAP) with the design and implementation of programs that promote protective factors and changes in behaviors in such a way that violence is effectively prevented. These programs focus on the development of psychosocial skills and knowledge through participatory workshops that promote self reflection, and they are developed and evaluated before being then applied on a large scale in poverty-stricken communities. These workshops lead to more egalitarian relationships between genders. IMIFAP´s programs address not only violence but also other areas are integrated such that the enablement of psychosocial skills is applied in the broader sociocultural context, leading to healthier and economically more productive lives. These programs are derived from the Framework for Enabling Agentic Empowerment (FENAE), which enables choice and the development of agentic empowerment through integrating skills, knowledge, and the context in which people live.