By Laura Carlsen
It’s impossible to say how many of us there are. The International Women”s Day march in Mexico City isn”t a congregation, it”s a river, a river that begins to flow through the streets at dawn and continues until nightfall. The tributaries merge, separate, advance. Thousands continue to flow into the Zócalo while others are already leaving, having arrived hours ago.
Their numbers increase exponentially between the women who march, and those who cannot—due to fear, due to their double or triple work days, or because femicidal violence has already taken their lives. What is undeniable is that on March 8, 2025, a strong current of women flooded the nation”s capital.
The official number registered at 200,000 people marching in Mexico City alone. This is a new record– and Mexico is famous for having, year after year, one of the largest 8M mobilizations in the world. Add to that the demonstrations in cities throughout the country and you have a social and political phenomenon that, much as those in power would like to dismiss it, simply cannot be ignored .
This massive demonstration, with all its anger, indignation, and urgent demands, takes place in the context of a country that has its first female president, a woman politician who talks about issues of gender equality and the right to a life free of violence.
The march went from the roundabout known as the Glorieta de las Mujeres que Luchan to the Zócalo
What the mobilization shows is that this is not nearly enough.
These women, most of them under 25 from universities and even high schools, are demanding action from the state to guarantee a minimum framework of rights and security. That’s the state’s obligation to them and to society. But they’re not waiting for a solution from above.
One sign marks the distrust and disillusionment with government policy as a solution: “Even if it is painted purple, the state is not our ally.”
The women who march are denouncing an intolerable situation of machismo and violence that affects their daily lives, and the impunity that reproduces it. They protest because, despite the discourse, the government has failed them. They shout because they know they deserve to live without fear, trauma and pain.
In Mexico, there are more than 10 women murdered a day. The act of femicide is just the culmination of the continuum of femicidal violence that leaves thousands of women injured and traumatized for life. It has many expressions, for example, according to a recent study on sexual harassment in the workplace in Latin America, over half of the cases in the region occur in Mexico. The study also reveals that in 8 out of 10 cases the victims are women, the majority between 20 and 30 years old, while the harassers are around 50 and 60 years old. Only 11% of the aggressions reach the judicial authorities.
8M 2025 confirmed that the women’s movement against violence, discrimination and patriarchy is one of the few movements in Mexico today that maintains its autonomy from the State. Many women”s organizations are willing to enter into dialogue with governments, but not to allow their movement to be channeled into bureaucratic channels. Every March 8th they reaffirm their strength and independence in thousands of decentralized, self-organized demonstrations that bring in women activists in feminists, survivors of sexual violence and women who are just fed up with the bonds and abuses that patriarchy puts on their lives.
The children also marched
Signs of Change
The thousands of handwritten signs express the multitude of reasons for being in the streets.
They express the right not to see their dreams cut short, as has happened to so many other women in the country: “I want my mom to help me look for my graduation dress, NOT to help look for my body”, “If I’m next, take to the streets, shout my name and hug my mom” and simply “I want to live!”
They question romantic love and relationships with men who abuse them: “Your abuse was disguised as narcissistic love”, “I told you NO, bastard”, “I will not tolerate or keep quiet about violence just so my children can have a father”.
They honor intergenerational links: “I am a university student thanks to the struggle of my ancestors”, “I fight so that my daughter can grow up without fear”, “Mom, today I shout out what they made you keep quiet”, “I want every little girl to know that her voice can change the world”, “Thanks to those who marched and put down roots, today others of us can flourish”, “My son will know how to respect women”.
They carry with them the memory of the thousands of women murdered: “May my daughter”s death not be in vain”, “For those who went before, for those who will come, for those who will never return”, “It is for Zyanya that today we shout to the heavens”, “For those who left to study and did not return to graduate”, “For my women, for those who are no longer with us and for those who are silent”, “We are not all here”.
They challenge the structures of society that allow gender violence: “I am a rebellious teacher because I will never allow you to touch my students”, “So you’re tired of hearing it? We’re tired of living it”, “I want to be free, not brave”, “I protest because I will no longer allow violence towards me”, “No to family secrets – stop covering up for abusers”, “My body is not an object to satisfy others”, “Legal, safe and free abortion”, ”Paternity without responsibility is impunity”, “If you saw through our eyes, you would shout the same thing”, “Being emotional does not make me irrational”.
They celebrate their collective power: “Free, powerful and fearless”, we’re not hysterical, we´re historical”, “I deserve to live without fear”, “We are fire”, “To speak of pleasure is to speak of freedom”, “Feminism taught me that I can”t be seen if I keep quiet”, “Together we are stronger”, “We are not competition, together we are resistance”.
The central demand by far is to end the violence women in Mexico face, where 54 femicides have been recorded so far from January to date, according to the Mexican Government”s Report on Violence against Women. The states with the highest rate of femicides are Mexico State, Puebla, Morelos and Tamaulipas, which account for 37% of cases nationwide.
Marches in the north, south and center united under the cry of “Not one more.” In Coahuila and Durango, around seven thousand women crossed from Ciudad Lerdo to meet in the Plaza Mayor in Torreón, Coahuila; in Quintana Roo they marched to the Plaza de la Reforma in Cancún; the streets of Tijuana were also filled with banners and slogans against machismo, starting from the Las Tijeras monument and marching for 5 kilometers. Women marched and demonstrated in Mérida, Yucatán, in Tepic, Nayarit, Monterrey, Nuevo León, among others.
Where does this organized force that takes to the streets every March 8 come from? Year after year, it incubates in the small spaces of sisterhood, in schools, and in feminist collectives. And it arises from the great need to unite to protect each other, to dream and to build a future without patriarchy.
Visual chronicle of the International Women”s Day march in Mexico City
Photographs by Laura Carlsen, Grecia Hernández y Lucero San Vicente
