Women represent more than half of Mexico's population (52% according to the National Population Council - Conapo) but only one in every three seats in Congress, a quarter of the local chambers of deputies, one fifth of the federal judge and magistrate positions and only 7% of mayors. 

Winning the Presidency seems an even more distant feat: five women have tried, but none of them has won. The first female candidate to the Presidency was Rosario Ibarra de Piedra who contended twice, in 1982 and 1988 with the now extinct Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT). She only obtained 2% of the votes on both occasions. 

Other female candidates to the Presidency have been Cecilia Soto González, Marcela Lombardo Otero, Patricia Mercado Castro and Josefina Vázquez Mota. 

Ten years ago women occupied 24% of the seats in Mexico's Congress, compared to 37% in the current legislature, while their share in the Senate rose from 19% to 34% during the same period. 

This places Mexico as one of the 20 nations with greater participation of women in Parliament, according to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. 

However, the UN report revealed that Mexico ranks 49 among 190 countries for the percentage of women in the circle close to the President and ministerial positions. 

Currently there are four women in such positions in Mexico: Arely Gómez González, Attorney General; Rosario Robles, Minister of Social Development; Mercedes Juan López, Minister of Health, and Claudia Ruiz Massieu Salinas, Minister of Tourism. 

Weak presence in the states 

The participation of women in power is even more limited in the states. Between 2010 and 2013, the percentage of female state ministers went from 12 to 17%. Moreover, there is one woman for every three men in local congresses. 

Throughout history only six women have been governors in Mexico. The first one was Griselda Álvarez Ponce de León, who ruled Colima from 1979 to 1985, Beatriz Paredes Rangel, Tlaxcala (1987-1992); Dulce María Suari Riancho (1991-1994) and Ivonne Ortega Pacheco (2007-2012), both of them in Yucatán; Amalia García Medina, Zacatecas (2004-2010) and Rosario Robles Berlanga (1999-2000), who replaced Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas in Mexico City government when he ran for President for the third time.

Currently all states are ruled by men, while 27 of the 32 states have never been governed by a woman. 

In municipalities the spaces for women are even more restricted: only 7% of mayors are women, a situation that has remained virtually unchanged since 1995.

Finally, in Mexico's Supreme Court of Justice only two of the 11 ministers are women: Olga Sánchez Cordero and Margarita Luna Ramos.