Mexico’s Anti-Femicide Movement : Comparing Subnational Political Opportunity Structures in Chihuahua, Yucatán and Mexico City

This paper explores femicide and social movements impact on politics, a phenomenon where national, international and transnational politics overlap. The Mexican anti-femicide movement belongs to the global justice movement and struggle for women’s right to life. This study highlights the differences the movement faces even within a state, on the subnational level, through a comparative and theory developing case study. The variables of mobilization structure and political opportunity are examined in the three cases of the Mexican states Chihuahua, Yucatán and the Federal District. The study indicates the movement’s alliances and its connection between the local and international level in the post-2007 context. The hypothesis which connects the anti-femicide movement as part of the political opportunity on subnational level and varying rates of femicide is explored. The study concludes that the aspects of repression, threats of violence and impunity, aspect most prominent in Chihuahua, impact the anti-femicide movement and consequently femicide rates to some extent