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Not One Less - Women in Mexico Fight Femicide

October 8, 2025

Every year in Mexico, thousands of women are killed simply because they are women. Femicide rates in the country are among the highest in the world.

https://p.dw.com/p/4zvPE
Women's protest march against femicide in Mexico
Image: Cabala Films

Authorities often turn a blind eye, allowing perpetrators to go unpunished. But resistance is growing.

Mother Ana Osorio holds up a picture of her murdered daughter Lesvy Berlín.
Image: Cabala Films

Ara Osorio's daughter, Lesvy Berlín, was found dead at a university in Mexico City on May 3, 2017, with a telephone cord around her neck. The authorities initially investigated her death as a suicide, but it soon became clear that Lesvy had been strangled by a man. Ara Osorio and students at the university were determined to see justice done, pressuring the public prosecutor's office until it finally opened a murder investigation. 

A protest march by the “Ni una menos” movement denouncing the murder of Lesvy Berlín on May 3, 2017, and demanding justice.
Image: Cabala Films

Ara Osorio is part of the protest movement "Ni una menos”, or "Not one less.” The movement has seen women come together to demand justice for the thousands of killings that happen each year. Authorities say 3,427 women were killed in 2024. Only 829 of these killings were classified as femicides, which has been strongly criticized. 

Two profiles of other women murdered in Mexico because they were women.
Image: Cabala Films

Women are disproportionately targeted by patriarchal structures, caught up in drug-related gang violence, or killed by their partners. But women in Mexico are fighting back - with protest marches, art, and programs offering practical support.

Lawyer Flora Gutiérrez in a seminar room with women who have experienced violence.
Image: Cabala Films

One such program was started by Flora Gutiérrez, an indigenous lawyer from Oaxaca. She started an association that supports women who have been victims of violence. Initiatives like these provide hope that the cycle of violence and impunity may yet be broken.
 

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