On June 2, Mexico elected its first female president or, in Spanish, president. Claudia Sheinbaum, President-elect of Mexico, has been praised worldwide for her shiny credentials. She holds a Ph.D. She holds a doctorate in environmental engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, co-authored the 2007 Nobel Prize-winning report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and was the first woman elected mayor of Mexico City. She will also become the country’s first president of Jewish origin. Besides, Sheinbaum didn’t just win. She won about 60% of the popular vote in a three-way election and led her party’s coalition to a historic victory, winning two-thirds of the seats in the lower house of Congress.
The electoral results, just two senatorial seats short of a qualified majorityposition Sheinbaum and his party, National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), to pass constitutional reforms without much resistance from the opposition. Thus, not only will Mexico experience its first president will come next October, but it will also have its most powerful president in recent history. During his presidency, Sheinbaum will have the opportunity to reshape the country with lasting effects. However, uncertainty is growing over whether these changes will be for better or worse.
Sheinbaum’s mentor and predecessor, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (known as AMLO), a controversial figure in Mexican politics, was accused of promote populismincorporating authoritarian tendenciesAnd undermine the country’s democratic institutions. Despite these accusations, AMLO will leave office with record approval ratings (66% in April 2024). Sheinbaum, who has benefited politically from her long-standing loyalty to AMLO, has pledged to follow his vision of “Mexico.”Fourth Transformation.»
As part of Mexico’s so-called “Fourth Transformation,” AMLO has pushed for harsh economic austerity measures, infrastructure development with irreversible environmental consequences, and economic and political empowerment of the military. . Additionally, AMLO has repeatedly sought to dismantle Mexico’s National Electoral Institute and National Transparency Institute, both considered cornerstones of Mexican democracy. Since the election, MORENA lawmakers said they will continue to seek constitutional reforms to disintegrate both the institutes and restructuring the Mexican judiciary by submitting Supreme Court justices to popular vote.
Elect the first from Mexico president was not spontaneous or accidental, but rather intentional. Despite its poor record on gender-based violence, Mexico is a notable example of a country that promotes affirmative action in favor of women, particularly in politics. In Mexico, women were not allowed to vote until 1953. Since then, the country has made significant progress in promoting women in politics. More than 60 years after Mexican women first voted, Mexico adopted statutory quotas of at least 50 percent, also known as gender parity, for federal and state congresses. In 2019, Mexico pushed the goals further by adopting a constitutional reform, known as “parity in all,” which mandated parity. “in the composition of all elected and appointed positions. »
Thus, in 2018, Mexico became one of the countries first and only country to achieve gender parity in both houses of Congress. Women also preside over both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court. They hold important positions of power, leading the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior. After the recent elections, women will occupy 13 governorates out of 32. Among them is Clara Brugada, new mayor of Mexico City (also of MORENA). Nevertheless, it is important to note that increasing the representation and participation of women in positions of power is a necessary but insufficient step towards gender justice. Having a female president will not necessarily result in more feminist policies or an automatic improvement in women’s lives. Additionally, applying a critical feminist perspective means debunking essentialist explanations laden with the underlying assumption that women are inherently “good.”
One sign that gender parity does not automatically translate into gender justice is the worsening gender-based violence crisis in Mexicoo. Despite significant representation in Congress and government in general, 10 women are killed and 7 disappear every day. Yet these statistics only highlight the extreme violence against women and girls and mask the daily forms of gender-based violence they experience. A survey conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography found that 70% of Mexican women have experienced some type of gender-based violence throughout their lives, including psychological, economic, physical and sexual violence.
During his tenure as mayor of Mexico City, Sheinbaum repeatedly claimed that his policies helped reduce femicide by 30 percent. However, a closer look at the data shows that there has been an increase in female homicides under “undetermined” circumstances, sparking speculation as to whether the real number of feminicides was obscured. An article from The Financier found that the number of feminicides had increased, not decreased, by 30%. Likewise, the number of missing men and women in Mexico City has increased. increase. However, Sheinbaum refused to acknowledge these facts and sought to downplay the number of disappearances during his tenure.
Another worrying security challenge is militarization. Despite his 2018 election promise to withdraw the military from traditionally civilian tasks, such as public security, AMLO has significantly expanded the military’s scope of action. economic and political power. Nonetheless, the facts show that militarization has failed to curb crime and insecurity since 2006, when then-President Felipe Calderón declared a “war on drugs” and deployed thousands of troops Across the country. On the contrary, studies show that homicides And human rights violations have increased as militarization increases.
Yet Sheinbaum followed in the footsteps of AMLO and Calderón. In 2022, in the wake of the pandemic, Sheinbaum deployed 6,000 National Guard soldiers in the Mexico City subway when residents complained of structural problems. Sheinbaum too promotion and punishment of police brutalityy to repress feminist demonstrations. As a result, Sheinbaum maintains particularly hostile and controversial relations with feminist groups and collectives in the capital.
As Mexico’s first president, Sheinbaum has already made history. However, his legacy will be defined by five specific issues: climate change, immigration, economic policy, political reform and security. If she decides to side with AMLO, who favors environmentally destructive policies, austerity measures, democracy-weakening reforms and militarization, the results will likely be disastrous. However, there is still hope that Sheinbaum decides to take matters into his own hands and implement a progressive policy agenda that prioritizes environmental, fiscal, and gender justice.
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