The government of the state of Guanajuato has announced the creation of the Secretariat of Women, a transformation of the Institute of Guanajuato Women (IMUG) with the aim of strengthening actions to address and prevent gender violence. This institutional modification arises from the need to expand the powers of IMUG to address the various problems faced by women in the state more comprehensively, especially in the context of the Gender Violence Alert issued in 17 municipalities.
In this regard, the new Secretariat of Women assumes the responsibility of issuing administrative protection measures for women victims of violence, a crucial function to guarantee their safety. "The focus is on prevention, not just addressing when the harm is already done," said Libia García. One of the main challenges of the Secretariat will be to improve women's accessibility, especially in rural areas where the coverage of government services is limited.
The internal reorganization of the new agency is designed to tackle these difficulties and ensure that more women can access the available services and support. The Secretariat of Women will have powers to address the Gender Violence Alert in 17 municipalities, issue administrative protection measures, apply risk assessment tools, mainstream the gender perspective at all levels of government, generate more effective public policies for the prevention and eradication of violence against women, as well as provide greater closeness and support in cases of gender violence.
Additionally, an internal reengineering and diagnosis will be carried out to improve the structure and response capacity of the new Secretariat, strengthen the normative and response capacity in public policies for the benefit of women, and emphasize the participation of organized society and feminist movements. Furthermore, risk assessment tools will be implemented, such as questionnaires to evaluate the level of violence and the risk of femicide in cases of domestic violence.
The governor of Guanajuato, Libia García, has highlighted that the creation of this agency aims to go beyond addressing women in situations of violence, with the goal of preventing femicides and other types of structural violence that affect women and girls.
