The Indigenous and Afro-Mexican Women's Houses in Northern Mexico in the Face of the Fourth Transformation and the Global Pandemic

Abstract

In this article, we reflect on the strategies, responses and limits faced by CAMIA (Casas de las Mujeres Indígenas y Afromexicanas del norte de México) in their struggle against gender violence and the defense of their rights, in the context of the Fourth Transformation and the global pandemic. I make visible that the indigenous women of this organization construct their gender agendas by situating their demands in their own cultural grammars, contemplating that their struggle against the violence that affects them (which increased with the pandemic) cannot be separated from the collective rights of the communities to which they belong. The CAMIA vernacularize gender rights discourses as an important tool for extracting greater concessions from the Mexican State, opening up debates on gender orders, access to justice and policies on equity and equality. This resemantization and dispute for the defense of their rights shows the advances of the current Mexican political situation, but at the same time, the strong tensions and disagreements between indigenous women's organizations and the central government.