#PROIGUALDAD: Women in the Mexican Foreign Service

Equality between women and men in the Mexican Foreign Service (SEM) has its roots in the 1930s, when Dr. Palma Guillén de Nicoulau was named as Mexico’s ambassador to Colombia by President Lázaro Cárdenas in 1935.

Today, the gradual inclusion of women in the SEM has a new face; it is part of our actions to solidify equality between women and men, and this will be reflected in the history of our country.

The 2015-2018 Program for Equality between Women and Men, presented by Foreign Secretary Claudia Ruiz Massieu on International Women's Day, seeks to guide, integrate and facilitate institutional efforts to achieve substantive equality between both genders.

The program began with a request from the President, asking that all ministries and federal agencies work specifically so that Mexican women benefit from more services and opportunities and are not discriminated against; this effort is reflected in the inclusion of the gender perspective as one of the cross-cutting issues included in the 2013-2018 National Development Plan.

The Foreign Ministry has done the following:  

·       Signed international treaties that seek to defend Mexican migrant women

·       Taken steps to protect Mexican women abroad 

·       Implemented specific policies and actions to further the empowerment of the women who work in the Foreign Ministry

Below is an infographic on the inclusion of women in the Mexican Foreign Service.

More information on the 2015-2018 Program for Equality between Women and Men can be found here: