On June 2, Mexico elected its first female president. chairwoman. Mexican President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum has been praised worldwide for her shining credentials. She has her Ph.D. She graduated from the University of California Berkeley, where she majored in environmental engineering, for which she won a Nobel Prize, co-authored the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, and she was elected Mexico City’s first female mayor. She would also become the first president of the United States of Jewish descent. Plus, Sheinbaum didn’t just win hers. She won about 60% of the popular vote in her three-way election, two-thirds of the seats in her House of Representatives, and led her party’s coalition to a historic victory.
The election resulted in an overwhelming majority for just two seats in the Senate, allowing Sheinbaum and her party, Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional (MORENA), to pass constitutional reforms with little opposition from the opposition. Therefore, Mexico was the first chairwoman But it will also have the most powerful president in recent history. During her presidency, Sheinbaum will face the opportunity to reshape the country with long-term effects. But there is growing uncertainty about whether these changes will be for better or worse.
Sheinbaum’s mentor and predecessor, President Andres Manuel López Obrador (known as AMLO), was a controversial figure in Mexican politics and has been accused of promoting populism, embodying authoritarian tendencies and undermining the country’s democratic institutions. Despite these criticisms, AMLO is expected to leave office with his highest approval rating ever (66% as of April 2024). Sheinbaum, who has benefited politically from his long-standing loyalty to AMLO, has pledged to follow his vision for Mexico’s “fourth transformation.”
As part of Mexico’s so-called “Fourth Transformation,” AMLO promoted harsh economic austerity measures, infrastructure development with irreversible consequences for the environment, and the economic and political empowerment of the military. Moreover, AMLO has repeatedly sought to dismantle Mexico’s National Electoral Institute and the National Transparency Institute, both considered cornerstones of Mexican democracy. After the election, MORENA lawmakers said they would continue to pursue constitutional reforms to overhaul Mexico’s judiciary by disbanding the two institutes and subjecting Supreme Court justices to a popular vote.
Mexico’s first elected chairwoman It was not something natural or accidental, but something that was designed and designed. Despite its poor track record against gender-based violence, Mexico is a notable example of a country that promotes affirmative action against women, especially in politics. In Mexico, women were not allowed to vote until 1953. Since then, Mexico has made significant progress in advancing women into politics. More than 60 years after Mexican women first voted, Mexico has adopted a statutory gender quota of at least 50 percent, also known as gender parity, in its federal and state legislatures. In 2019, Mexico furthered its goals by adopting a constitutional reform known as “equality in all things,” mandating mandatory equality “in the composition of all elected and appointed offices.”
As a result, in 2018 Mexico became one of the first and only countries to achieve gender parity in both houses of Congress. Women also preside over Congress and the Supreme Court. They hold important positions such as leading the Ministry of Public Safety and Security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of the Interior. After recent elections, 13 of the 32 governors will be held by women. Among them is Mexico City’s next mayor, Clara Brugada (also from MORENA). Nonetheless, it is important to note that increasing women’s representation and participation in positions of power is a necessary but insufficient step toward gender justice. Having a female president does not necessarily mean that there will be more feminist policies or that women’s lives will automatically improve. Moreover, applying a critical feminist lens means debunking essentialist accounts full of the fundamental assumption that women are inherently “good.”
A sign that gender equality does not automatically translate into gender justice is the worsening gender-based violence crisis in Mexico. Despite significant representation in parliament and across government, 10 women die and 7 go missing every day. But these statistics only show the extreme violence against women and girls and hide the everyday forms of gender-based violence they experience. A survey by the National Statistics and Geography Institute found that 70% of Mexican women have experienced some form of gender-based violence in their lifetime, including psychological, economic, physical and sexual violence.
Sheinbaum repeatedly claimed that his policies helped reduce femicide by 30 percent during his time as mayor of Mexico City. However, a closer look at the data shows that female murders have increased in ‘unconfirmed’ circumstances, leading to speculation that the actual number of female murders may be unclear. 1 article: finance It turns out that the number of femicide cases has increased by 30%, not decreased. Likewise, the number of missing men and women in Mexico City has increased. However, Shane Baum refuses to acknowledge this fact and has worked to minimize the number of disappearances during his term.
Another issue related to security issues is militarization. AMLO significantly expanded the military’s economic and political influence during his 2018 campaign, despite promises to remove the military from traditional civilian tasks such as public safety. Nonetheless, there is evidence that militarization has failed to curb crime and unrest since 2006, when then-President Felipe Calderon declared a “war on drugs” and deployed thousands of soldiers across the country. On the contrary, research results show that murders and human rights violations have increased as militarization progresses.
But Sheinbaum followed in the footsteps of AMLO and Calderón. In 2022, in the wake of the pandemic, Sheinbaum deployed 6,000 National Guard troops to Mexico City’s subway as residents complained about structural problems. Sheinbaum also promoted and sanctioned police brutality to suppress feminist protests. As a result, Sheinbaum has had a hostile and contentious relationship with feminist organizations and groups, especially in the capital.
Mexico’s first chairwoman, Sheinbaum has already made history. But her 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, reforms that weaken democracy, and militarization, the consequences will be dire. But there’s still hope that Sheinbaum decides to take matters into her own hands and instead implement a progressive policy agenda that prioritizes environmental, fiscal and gender justice.
Additional Resources on E-International Relations
