Margarita Guille Tamayo 

In 1995, Margarita Guille Tamayo of Mexico City began the first women’s shelter for abused women in Mexico. Today, the director of the National Network of Shelters in Mexico laments that domestic violence continues to rise in that country where six out of 10 women suffer some form of abuse inflicted by spouses or partners.
Her fight to stop and eliminate violence against women began when she was part of a radio program in the 1990s where women would call in and share their stories. While she listened, Margarita wanted to do more and started a magazine as a vehicle for debate and to empower women. She then began the first women’s shelter calling it a “rough beginning” because it wasn’t until 1996 that a law against domestic violence was created in the Federal District, the capital of the country. At the time, she says, women had few options, no real justice, no social support, no job training and no state presence around this issue.

In 1999, she created a network of shelters with the other four that existed in Mexico, but it took years of lobbying and political work to sensitize authorities. In 2000, her work started to show results and the First National Violence Program was created, followed in 2005 by the General Law on Women’s Access to a Life Free of Violence.

To date, 9,000 women and 27,000 children have been helped through the shelters. Margarita also established alliances with women leaders worldwide, leading to the founding of the Inter-American Shelter Network with participation of 17 countries. This model inspired the Global Network of Sheltersm born in 2009. That same year, she began a movement called “More Women in Decision Roles” to promote decision-making of women at home, work and in government.

Although the situation has changed for the better on behalf of abused women in Mexico, Margarita says realities such as drug, human and arms trafficking continue to challenge progress. She states: “The death rate, risk for women and femicide have increased, with 60 percent of femicides occurring in public and only 40 percent at home. It is almost as if Mexican women have to a pay a special tax just for being women.”