Women at the border in the lead. From classrooms to councils, the leap Mexico and the U.S. can no longer delay
- Editorial
- Sep 5
- 3 min read
The political landscape of 2025 along the U.S.–Mexico border delivers a clear message: in Mexico, the 2024 presidential election capped a cycle of parity reforms that already permeates local structures; in the United States, municipalities continue to build a “pipeline” of women who move from community roles into government. The path is simultaneously educational, technological, and economic: leadership training, digital skills, and access to funding networks. The challenge now is to transform that momentum into effective municipal power on both sides of the Rio Grande.
The 2024 advances are tangible. In the U.S., women held 26.8% of mayoral seats in cities with more than 30,000 residents—a crucial base since local governments are the training ground for future members of Congress and governors—while women averaged 32% of municipal officials nationwide. Border states showed even stronger traction: Arizona reached 42.6% women in municipal posts, and California hovered near 40%. The Southwest also produced historic gains at the state level: New Mexico will inaugurate in 2025 the first majority-women Legislature in its history, reinforcing the “pipeline effect.”
Mexico’s numbers also reflect progress. By the end of the 2023–2024 cycle, the national percentage of female municipal mayors rose to 29.52%, compared to 28.9% in 2022. Parity has consolidated in several states—including Baja California and Tamaulipas, both border regions—where municipal governments manage cross-border supply chains and shared security agendas. Additionally, 59.4% of the presidencies of state electoral institutes are now held by women, strengthening the institutional scaffolding that supports municipalities.
Behind these numbers lies a growing training ecosystem. In the U.S., the Ready to Run® network at Rutgers, NALEO Educational Fund, Emerge (with a strong Arizona presence), and state-level organizations like Arizona List professionalize the leap into local campaigns: planning, fundraising, compliance, and digital storytelling. Texas adds university-based summits and programs specifically tailored for women in public service, which benefit city councils and mayoralties in cities along the Mexican border.
On the Mexican side, the Women’s Political Participation Observatory moved in 2024 under the jurisdiction of the Electoral Tribunal, with a sharper focus on parity and preventing political violence. Meanwhile, the National Women’s Institute (INMUJERES) reported tens of thousands of people trained in the first half of 2024 alone, a push now mirrored in state-level institutes across the border region. Nuevo León’s case—featuring a dedicated study on women in municipal government—shows how this professionalization takes root at the local level.
But the playing field remains uneven. Mexico’s 2024 election cycle recorded violence surpassing 2018 and 2021, with women candidates particularly targeted. At the same time, a wave of gender-based disinformation and digital abuse—including sexual “deepfakes”—has attempted to push women out of public life. In response, the 2025 training agenda must include mandatory modules on cybersecurity, strategic litigation, and rapid-response protocols on social networks, paired with partnerships with universities to create verification labs and digital forensics teams.
My outlook for 2025 is clear: the next leap won’t just be about numbers; it will be about governance quality. In border zones where logistics, nearshoring, and public security demand highly skilled municipal governments, investing in female leadership yields measurable returns: gender-sensitive budgets that increase social spending efficiency, more transparent public procurement to attract investment, and digital governance policies (open data, civic AI) that boost public trust. To achieve this, three strategic moves should start immediately: first, cross-border agreements between universities (UTEP, UTRGV, ASU) and state women’s institutes to design joint diplomas in municipal management, public finance, and government technologies; second, local matching funds to cover childcare and transportation for candidates and mayors, still a persistent bottleneck in both countries; third, binational indicators—drawing from CAWP and INMUJERES—not only to measure how many women win, but also how municipal results improve in water services, public safety, and economic development. If the border wants to become the civic leadership showcase of North America, 2025 must be the year classrooms, networks, and budgets align so that more women govern and transform.
Written by: Editorial
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