Cintia Bolio’s feminist & political cartoons: Illustrating experiences of gender inequality in Mexico through the years
The fight for gender equality in Mexico has been quite complex and diversified. It was not until 1953 that women gained the right to vote (Garza-Guerra, 2016); however, political rights didn’t necessarily equal civil and social rights. Legal advances and political institutionalizations have been assembled to fight for gender equality. In 2009, for example, after the disappearance and murder of three young girls ––better known as ‘Campo Algodonero’ (Gómez-Robledo Verduzco, 2010)–– the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a statement, that became the cornerstone for the Mexican state to typify femicides. Afterward, by April 2021, a new law ––‘Ley Olimpia’–– became a reality in 28 Mexican subnational states, which fully recognized and penalized digital violence, also known as cyberviolence ––which assaults women’s intimacy (Procuraduría General del Consumidor, 2021). Also, in July 2024, the Mexico City Congress agreed to typify trans femicides and penalize aggressors with 70 years of prison (CNN, 2021).
Certainly, all these situations were keystones in the fight for gender equality in Mexico. Nonetheless, the political will to address gender issues has never been and will never be spontaneous; the legal reforms have resulted from continuous and vigorous fights from below ––that is, from social movements, civil society, feminist organizations, international organizations, and so on. Despite that, there is a wide range of questionable issues persisting, such as initiatives arising from State feminism not necessarily compatible with social movement’s feminism; the hollows and inequalities of the justice system in Mexico; the political indifference towards intersectionalities; and the constant yet not understood heterogeneity of feminist movements.
Above all this, there are even now many pending issues unattended by the Mexican state. Is it a lack of interest, resources, understanding, or just the absence of a coherent public policy strategy? For instance, there is the case of seeking mothers searching all around the country for their loved ones, due to the state’s more than 100,000 unresolved disappearance files since 1964 (UN Women, 2015). On the other hand, we encounter the invisible yet increasing number of obstetric violence cases ––such as in Guerrero, Mexico –– which have been ‘collateral damage’ of a social public policy aimed at diminishing the population in poverty in low-income communities (AJ+ Español, 2018).
From this context, where generations of women have fought against a State reluctant to change, a male-dominated policymaking, and a society highly misogynistic, some feminist characters demonstrate there is still hope, not only to make visible to the State the variety of gender experiences, demands and fights, but also to educate the new generations, highlighting a society where gender equality is possible. This is the case of Cintia Bolio, a feminist and political Mexican cartoonist, who attended the ‘Unlearning Intolerance Symposium’ and represented Latin America for the inauguration of the international network “Cartooning for Peace” at the United Nations in 2006. This has enabled her to openly present her work and vision for gender equality in America, Europe, and Asia (Bolio, n.d.; Cartooning for Peace, 2024).
Subsequently, some of Cintia Bolio’s political cartoons will be analyzed to shed light on the experiences of gender inequality in Mexico through the years.
Selective political inclusion of women and gender issues
Whereas a democratic country ––such as Mexico–– is theoretically supposed to enable any citizen to vote and be voted (O'Donnell y Wolfson, 2000), the reality of women being voted is utterly different and diversified. While some are accepted, others are rejected. That is the case of Marichuy, the first indigenous woman yearning to become president in 2018, but unable to collect the required votes to formalize her candidacy (Santos Cid, 2024). Despite this, her aspiration for the presidency became symbolic and is recovered by Cintia Bolio’s illustration quoting what Marichuy stipulated: “It's not about the presidency. This fight is to set a precedent in the future in favor of the poorest” (See Image 1). Those words ––coming from an Indigenous woman ––stress the existence and agency of so many communities that the State and the government administrations have relegated.
The political system is structured in a way in which only selective people get to know how to dive in between institutions, mechanisms, and norms ––a remark that even Marichuy pointed out in an interview (Santos Cid, 2024). This highly reflects the concept “indio permitido” (permitted Indian) proposed by Charles Hale (2004), referring to how governments develop reforms that have pre-determined limits, including some Indigenous actors but excluding others, as well as granting them certain rights but not others. In other words, Indigenous actors have been subjected to political outputs (institutions, public policies, laws, rights), but ––in practice–– not necessarily enabled to aspire for the Mexican presidency. Moreover, it is important to allude to the double discrimination present in Marichuy’s case for being an Indigenous actor and a woman, which creates a completely particular experience unleashed by what Kimberly Crenshaw defines as intersectionality (TED, 2016).
Contrasting the previous experience, Claudia Sheinbaum became Mexico’s first female president in June 2024 (Castañeda-Navarrete, 2024). With almost 36 million Mexicans voting for her ––around 58.3% and 60.7% of the Mexican population (Magramo; Chowdhury; Meyer; et al., 2024)––, hope is raised over a possible forthcoming feminist approach to the national administration. Nonetheless, the reality appears to be far from there. While, in the first presidential debate, Sheinbaum claimed to have achieved zero impunity over femicides when serving as Head of Government of Mexico City from 2018 to 2023 (EXCELSIOR, 2024), apparently reaching a reduction of 40% of women assassinations, some actors questioned the feasibility of those statistics (Esquerra, 2024). While some public actors ––such as the public server in charge of the security department (El Financiero, 2024)–– confirmed those numbers, others alleged they were false, such as the opposing candidate, Xóchitl Gálvez (El Debate, 2024), and some journalist entries (Esquerra, 2024). As Cintia Bolio presents in her political cartoon (See Image 2), the fight for gender equality will always overlap any political organization, election or ideology––even during the presidential elections led by women candidates
Between shared and differentiated gender experiences
In Mexico and around the world, the experiences of care are usually shared by a great number of women. According to Viri Ríos (2021, p.219), whereas in Mexico the term “nini” is used in a derogatory manner towards teenagers who neither study nor work, the actual statistics of that concept encompass women, who work in house chores without any salary. Retrieving some statistics from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), Ríos points out that there are 6.7 million “ninis” in Mexico, from which two-thirds work 40 hours per week on domestic chores without any monetary compensation, 90% of them being women (2021, p.219). This situation is precisely illustrated in Cintia Bolio’s political cartoon (See Image 3), where the husband is portrayed handing an apron to his wife and saying: “What a hard day we had...Here; I'll be resting while you prepare a delicious dinner for us”, while the woman is seen to be burdened and overwhelmed by all the domestic chores and commands she already carries. The lack of value given to domestic work is undoubtedly triggered by structural and sociocultural factors, such as discrimination, classism and sexism (Fraga, Rodríguez, Pacheco, et al., 2020). Thus, any political intent to institutionalize a National Care System or monetary compensation to domestic workers, apart from a financing model and investment, must have strategies to make society aware of the importance of recognizing and giving value to women performing care and domestic chores.
Although there are, indeed, shared gender experiences such as the one mentioned above, there are also differentiated ones, whose recognition represents an important step towards the fight for gender equality. As Abbondanzieri highlights, it is crucial to have a decolonial feminist approach to disintegrate the homogenizing narratives of hegemonic feminisms, which create false universalistic assumptions about gender demands that do not consider the differences emerging from intersectionalities (2022, p.33). This could be demonstrated with another political cartoon of Cintia Bolio (See Image 4), which depicts a woman in the Beijing+20 United Nations Platform in 2015, expressing, “The 21st century will live up to its name when we achieve full equity”. However, on the right, an indigenous woman is portrayed saying: “For us, just arriving to the 20th century would be a gain”. It is a fact that Indigenous women are more prone to be politically and socially excluded ––such as stated by Gema Villalobos, a Mexican indigenous rights promoter. Nonetheless, it is also essential to recognize atypical cases that keep hope in the possibility of a more equal society. For example, Eufrosina Cruz ––a Mexican indigenous woman–– became municipal president and president of a subnational Congress; she was able to reform the Mexican Constitution to cease injustices against women, and one of her initiatives on gender discrimination ended up being adopted by the United Nations (Cruz, 2022).
What is to be done to achieve gender equality in Mexico?
Considering the previous context, it is important to bring into question what the key element in the fight for gender equality is. Without a doubt, education. Paulo Freire says in his book Grito Manso, “(...) there is no social practice more political than educational practice. Indeed, education can hide the reality of domination and alienation, or it can, on the contrary, denounce it, announce other paths, thus becoming an emancipatory tool” (2003, p.74) [Translated]. Education could be the means to create a different understanding of reality in the new generations, where they can be true agents in constructing their knowledge. This would lead to deconstructing narratives, understanding and empathizing with different gender experiences and intersectionalities, ceasing misogynistic stereotypes, and giving inclusion to more actors and excluded communities (such as indigenous groups). This could be illustrated in Cintia Bolio’s political cartoon (See Image 5), which presents a teacher feeling questioned when her student happily adds on the chalkboard the feminine pronouns the teacher missed. Precisely, as Paulo Freire also emphasizes: “(...) whoever teaches, learns by teaching and whoever learns, teaches by learning” (2003, p.40). Following this line of inquiry, whereas older generations ––in schools, homes, working spaces and public areas–– have the moral responsibility to provide a more horizontal and less authoritarian education, we ––as the new generations–– have the social duty to demand the recognition of more approaches, different ideologies, and innovative strategies to build a more inclusive society.
References:
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Image 1. Bolio, C. (2018). Marichuy: Nuestra Lucha es por la Vida. [Political cartoon]. Twitter. https://x.com/cintiabolio/status/963087509151461376
Image 2. Bolio, C. (2024). Presidenta 2024. [Political cartoon]. Sentido Común. https://sentidocomunmx.com/presidenta-2024/
Image 3. Bolio, C. (2021). El Chamuco (Edición 411). [Political cartoon]. El Chamuco. https://elchamuco.com.mx/2021/01/08/quehacer-o-no-quehacer-hablemos-de-la-brecha-salarial-y-laboral-de-genero-el-chamuco-edicion-411/
Image 4. Bolio, C. (2015). Rezagos y rezagos. [Political cartoon]. Puras Evas. https://purasevas.blogspot.com/2015/03/rezagos-y-rezagos.html
Image 5. Bolio, C. (2005). Una Sabe. [Political cartoon]. Obras de Arte Comentadas. https://www.facebook.com/obrasdeartecomentadas/posts/caricatura-por-cintia-bolio-2005bolio-es-monera-profesional-desde-1996-inici%C3%B3-su/1096083760874741/?locale=de_DE
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About the author:
Blanca Isabela Garza Garza is an undergraduate scholar studying International Relations and pursuing a double degree in Governance and Political Science at Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM), Mexico. She interned at Oxfam Mexico in the Fiscal Justice Department and was assigned the project Fiscal Route for a National Care System. Performing as a Research Assistant at her university for more than a year, she has contributed to research papers regarding democratic erosion in Latin American countries and the legitimacy of public servers. Meanwhile, she did her social service at the Center for Gender Equity and Inclusion at UDEM, helping design workshops regarding gender violence and legal frameworks for gender equity. As an International Baccalaureate (IB) scholar, she took a course on Global Politics, writing an essay on Cintia Bolio’s political cartoons to express gender inequality in Mexico.
