The "Day Without Us" strike was staged to highlight the more than 1,000 women and children murdered in Mexico last year.
Few women could be seen walking or driving through the center of the capital, waitresses abandoned cafes and restaurants to their male counterparts and female teachers and office workers, for the most part, stayed at home.
Elsewhere, women who had chosen to work wore a purple ribbon or garment, in solidarity with the nationwide campaign against gender violence
In Mexico City center, a woman cleaned the glass windows of a cafe bearing the sign in support of the strike that read: "We stand with those who make us giants."
The country's biggest daily newspapers featured purple-colored pages. Spaces normally allotted to pieces by women columnists were empty or filled with the phrase: "A day without them."
Women's movements in Mexico have gradually become more vocal in their demands for immediate action to reduce the number of femicides.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador dismissed the women's protests as "conservatism disguised as feminism" and accused his political opponents of trying to destabilize his government by using feminist organizations.
Apart from an end to violence against women, feminist groups are also campaigning for progress in reducing the gender wage gap and an end to workplace harassment.
