Gender, Power, and the Realities of Migration on Mexico’s Northern Border
Migration through Mexico’s northern border reveals deep intersections between gender, violence, and human rights. In a recent talk at Harvard, Dr. Roxana Rosas Fregoso, Associate Researcher at the Institute of Legal Research, Northwest Station of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), invited the audience to examine how gender shapes every dimension of migration—from motivations and routes to rights and vulnerabilities. The conversation was moderated by Professor Gabriela Soto Laveaga, Antonio Madero Professor for the Study of Mexico at Harvard University and Co-Chair of the DRCLAS Mexico Studies Program.
Drawing from feminist and intersectional theory, Dr. Rosas argued that traditional migration research has long been limited by androcentric assumptions that obscure women’s experiences. Applying a gender lens, she noted, exposes how systems of power rooted in gender, race, and class intersect to produce multiple and overlapping forms of inequality—a framework described by sociologist Patricia Hill Collins as the “Matrix of Oppression.”
Her research underscores the urgent need for gender-sensitive legal frameworks that recognize the specific risks migrant women face, including high rates of sexual and gender-based violence in transit. According to recent United Nations reports, women and girls are three times more likely to experience sexual assault on migration routes, a statistic that Dr. Rosas said demands stronger human rights protections and gender-responsive policy interventions.
Citing feminist scholar Donna Haraway, Dr. Rosas emphasized that objectivity in law and science is not neutral when it excludes gender. “Situated knowledge”—the understanding that research and policy are shaped by context and power dynamics—is essential to crafting inclusive migration policies that reflect real human experiences.
Her fieldwork in northern Mexico highlights the power of community-based responses, such as the work of traditional midwives in Tijuana who support migrant women with reproductive and emotional care. These grassroots initiatives, she explained, embody solidarity and resilience amid the structural inequities of migration systems.
Ultimately, Dr. Rosas argued that incorporating a gender perspective is not merely a theoretical exercise but a practical imperative. By connecting legal analysis to lived experience, she challenges institutions to confront the intersections of violence, policy, and gender head-on—an approach that resonates with DRCLAS’s mission to promote research and dialogue addressing urgent social and regional challenges across Latin America.