In 2009, 93.7% of Mexico’s governors were men, as were 72.4% of federal deputies and 80.5% of senators.
Seventeen years later, the numbers are very different, as major progress has been made in increasing women’s representation in Mexican politics. Federal gender parity laws, including a 2019 constitutional reform dubbed paridad en todo (parity in everything), have supported the progress.
Today, Mexico has achieved virtual parity in women’s political representation, and the country — as everyone knows — has a female president for the first time.
In this week’s “Mexico in Numbers” article, we take a look at women’s representation in President Claudia Sheinbaum’s cabinet, at the head of state governments and in federal Congress. We also compare female political representation in Mexico to that in the United States.
Let’s get into the numbers!
50% of Sheinbaum’s cabinet members are women
Did you know that 11 of the 22 current members of Sheinbaum’s cabinet are women? Women currently serve in the roles of:
- Interior minister, generally considered the second most powerful position in the Mexican government.
- Welfare minister.
- Environment minister.
- Energy minister.
- Agriculture minister.
- Anti-corruption and good governance minister.
- Agrarian development and urban planning minister.
- Culture minister.
- Tourism minister.
- Science, humanities, technology and innovation minister.
- Legal counsel to the federal executive.
Sheinbaum has not yet appointed a new minister for women after Citlalli Hernández resigned last month, but there is little doubt that the appointee will be a woman. Thus, female representation in Sheinbaum’s cabinet will rise above 50%.
Cabinet-level female representation is much higher in Mexico than in the U.S. Of the 23 people in U.S. President Donald Trump’s cabinet, just five are women, meaning that female representation is 21.7%.
Did you know that 13 of Mexico’s 31 states currently have female governors?
That means that 42% of Mexico’s state governments are led by women. Mexico City is also governed by a woman, Mayor Clara Brugada.
Thus 44% of Mexico’s 32 federal entities have female political leaders.
Mexico’s newest female governor is Yeraldine Bonilla Valverde of Sinaloa, who was sworn in on an interim basis on May 2.
In the United States, 14 states currently have a female governor. Thus, 28% of U.S. states have women governors.
50% of Mexico’s senators are women
Of Mexico’s 128 federal senators, 64 are women. Most of the parties represented in Mexico’s Senate have an equal (or almost equal) number of female and male senators.
- Morena has 33 female senators out of a total of 67 (49.2% female representation).
- The National Action Party (PAN) has 11 female senators out of a total of 21 (52.4%).
- The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) has seven female senators out of a total of 13 (53.8%).
- The Ecological Green Party of Mexico (PVEM) has seven female senators out of a total of 14 (50%).
- The Labor Party (PT) has four female senators out of a total of six (66.7%).
- The Citizens Movement Party (MC) has two female senators out of total of six. MC has the lowest proportion of female senators at 33%.
Female representation in the U.S. Senate is just over half that of Mexico’s in percentage terms — 26%, as 26 of the 100 senators are women.
For the first time ever, over 50% of deputies are women
Since the representatives of Mexico’s 66th Congress took office in September 2024, Mexico has had more female deputies than male deputies. Of the 500 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, 251 were occupied by women in September 2024.
Due to changes in the make-up of the lower house since then, Mexico currently has 253 female deputies, according to the Chamber of Deputies website. Thus, 50.6% of Mexico’s federal deputies are currently women. Before the 66th Congress first convened, Mexico had never had a majority of female deputies.
Of the six political parties represented in the Chamber of Deputies, Morena has the highest female representation. Of the ruling party’s 253 deputies, 146, or 57.7%, are women.
Female representation among the deputies of the other parties is as follows:
- MC has 14 female deputies out of a total of 28 (50%).
- The PAN has 33 female deputies out of a total of 70 (47.1%).
- The PRI has 15 females deputies out of a total of 37 (40.5%).
- The PVEM has 25 female deputies out of a total of 62 (40.3%).
- The PT has 19 female deputies out of a total of 49 (38.8%).
Mexico also has one independent female deputy, Guadalupe Mendoza Arias, who became the country’s first independent woman deputy when she took office in September 2024.
The U.S. House of Representatives currently has 124 female representatives with full voting rights. Thus, 28.5% of the 435 U.S. representatives are women. Female representation in the U.S. House of Representatives is 22.1 points lower than female representation in Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies.
Mexico News Daily
