The voice of women farmworkers in public policy: Abelina Ramírez takes part in the consultation on the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights

Drawing on her experience organizing and defending the rights of women workers in the San Quintín Valley, Abelina Ramírez brought the priorities of women farmworkers to the process that will define Mexican policy on business and human rights. 

Fifteen years after the adoption of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Mexico is moving closer to having a public policy in the form of a National Action Plan on the matter. The Ministry of Economy leads the process within the Government of Mexico and, as part of it, opened a public consultation in June 2026 to receive feedback from all parties with an interest in shaping this initiative. 

The consultation held on July 22 included the participation of Abelina Ramírez, a farmworker and member of the Movimiento de Mujeres Unidas en Defensa de las Jornaleras e Indígenas (MUDJI — Movement of United Women in Defense of Women Farmworkers and Indigenous Women) and a leading figure in the struggle for the rights of farmworkers in the San Quintín Valley, Baja California. Abelina served as secretary general of the Sindicato Nacional de Jornaleras y Jornaleros Agrícolas (SINDJA — National Union of Farmworkers) and, through MUDJI, promotes and accompanies organizing efforts and the defense of women farmworkers’ rights. 

In her intervention, Abelina raised the issues of greatest concern to women farmworkers in the San Quintín Valley: social security, labor inspection, general working conditions, and the need to strengthen training aimed at companies. 

Her participation is essential so that the drafting of this public policy takes into account not only the experience of farmworkers, but also their voice and their concrete proposals. It also contributes to recognizing rural workers as central actors in the process: not as victims, but as agents of change with the capacity to influence the formulation of the policies that will define the rules of work in the Mexican countryside. 

The value of this participation lies in something no technical document can replace: the possibility of bringing into an advocacy space with national reach the voice of a worker who has experienced firsthand the consequences of lacking the conditions needed to fully enjoy her labor rights. 

Since 2021, PERIPLO and its allied organizations have accompanied the leadership of women farmworkers so that their experience and their proposals reach directly the spaces where decisions are made.