Mexico is a country with a great cultural diversity due to its historical plurality, ethnic groups, linguistic and cultural richness. However, the situation of black women lacks visibility, among other reasons, due to the lack of an ethnic-racial registration system. Only in some registries is the indigenous language noted as a category of identity. This prevents us from knowing specific information about their situation. Added to this is the daily institutional racism that also limits their access to rights and opportunities.
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Given the aforementioned panorama, it is necessary to recall that, in December 2014, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 68/237 and proclaimed the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024). Under the slogan "Recognition, Justice and Development", the Decade encourages States to eradicate social injustices inherited from history and to fight against racism, prejudice and racial discrimination still suffered by people of African descent.
In the article entitled "Guidelines for Afro-American intercultural communication", Rodolfo Martinez, reported that in March 2021, with the support of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Presidency of the Republic publicly presented the first follow-up committee of the Declaration of Principles for Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in the Media.
The declaration contains five statements that in general terms promote the inclusion, design and production of media content that disseminates the diversity of Mexico's cultural and linguistic expressions among public and private media. The proclamation seeks that the media apply the principles of the declaration in their communication practices and that the committee grants them the corresponding recognition for their adherence.
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The National Survey on Discrimination conducted by CONAPRED in 2018 reveals that a large part of the population in Mexico rejects the idea that there is an Afro-Mexican population in the country.
Based on these premises, we will approach how social representations behave in the current Mexican context where the Afro-descendant women population represents an ethnic minority. Afro-Mexican women, also called black, brown, coastal, mascogas, jarochas, or Afro-descendants, represent 51 percent of the Afro-descendant population (there are 704,929), according to the 2015 sampling exercise conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography.
This information represents a first intercensal approximation. Until that year, the number of Afro-descendant population in Mexico represented an unknown. In the 2020 census, the following question is included for the first time: "By your customs and traditions, do you consider yourself (NAME) Afro-American (a), Black (a) or Afro-descendant?". In this regard, an article published on March 2, 2020 in the newspaper El País stated the following affirmation:
"The inclusion of the question is a decisive step forward for the rights of ethnic-racial minorities and to begin to settle a historical debt of a country that has erased the black population from its official history and public life for more than two centuries."
Constitutional inclusion, the lifting of the census and placing the discussion on racism in public spaces, are battles in which black women have been actively participating for more than 20 years. This participation of Afro-Mexican women in supporting the actions of networks and movements that demand the visibility of black peoples cannot remain anonymous or omitted from newspaper articles. It is up to reporters to take sides in this genuine struggle and reflect it in all news genres.
In this regard, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination recommended to the Mexican government the adoption of a national plan against racism and discrimination, with the participation of the Afro-descendant population and indigenous groups, as well as other minority groups that continue to face racial discrimination.
Gender, identity, class, structural marginalization and the aftermath of the pandemic, together with racial discrimination, make up multiple dimensions of oppression that affect the lives and psychosocial development of black women, and there is already a Constitutional obligation for the State to comply with its institutional responsibility to implement priority care strategies for them. In the meantime, the omission translates into a continuous violation of their human rights.
In this sense, the media influence our culture and social change. They can contribute to eliminate gender prejudices and stereotypes, through continuous support for equal rights, duties and opportunities between women and men.
Therefore, it is of fundamental importance to observe, diagnose and demand a gender focus in the Mexican media and in every Latin American country. In this sense, the content we consume influences our culture and social change. Likewise, they can contribute to eliminate gender prejudices and stereotypes, through continuous support for equal rights, duties and opportunities between women and men.