Mexico bans hugs and kisses to curb gender violence

Rules, measures, and initiatives to curb sexism and gender violence can come in all shapes and sizes — and with wildly varying degrees of success. However, new directives from the Mexican government appear to take the cake. According to a new code of ethics published in the country’s official gazette earlier this month, civil servants in Mexico are now forbidden from greeting their coworkers with hugs or kisses in the hope of stamping out instances of misconduct that could lead to public harassment and lawsuits against employees.

Meanwhile, flirting and sexually suggestive jibes are also banned, in line with an increasing number of workplaces around the world.

According to the National Survey on Urban Public Safety (ENSU) in 2021, one in every four Mexican women reported having suffered at least one form of personal harassment or sexual violence. Therefore, while the problem clearly runs much deeper than government corridors, the structural change must come from somewhere.

While previous versions of Mexico’s civil service ethics code did not mention the word ‘harassment,’ the updated edition...