Mexico, a country with a historically patriarchal social system, will likely elect a woman to office as president for the first time in the nation’s history when they hold elections next June. Though Mexico has typically been a multi-party system, including the Morena, the PAN (National Action Party), the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party), and the PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution), this past summer, the PAN, the PRI, and the PRD banded together to form one political alliance known as the Broad Front for Mexico.
Moreover, these two main political parties (the Broad Front for Mexico and Morena) have nominated Xóchitl Gálvez and Claudia Sheinbaum as their primary candidates, respectively. Gálvez currently serves as a senator in Mexican Congress and has previously worked as a computer engineer, businesswoman, and mayor. She also served as the head of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples and is a strong advocate given her Otomi indigenous roots. Sheinbaum has formerly served as the mayor of Mexico City and has made history before as the first woman and the first Jewish person to serve in that position.
With the exception of any third-party candidate being revealed between now and the election, the vote will be between Gálvez and Sheinbaum, making the people’s choice ultimately one to elect Mexico’s first woman president. While polls report that Sheinbaum is currently leading in favor of winning the race, as with most elections, it could still go either way. As I mentioned, Mexico has historically been a patriarchy characterized by “machismo” culture, or exaggerated, dominating masculinity. However, there may be a new trend of rising gender equality. Though “machismo” culture is not absent from Mexico today, the country ranks #5 in the world in terms of gender equality. This trend is present in the political sector, as evidenced by the current presidential candidates as well as the woman who serves as chief justice of the Mexican Supreme Court and the women who comprise almost half of the legislature. I’ll be watching for the results of this election and I’m looking forward to seeing more of the efforts the Mexican government makes to promote gender equality. I’m interested to see what happens when one of the candidates is in office and the progress they make, both in Mexico and internationally!
If you’d like to learn more about the election and the candidates, check out the article linked below. Let me know your thoughts!
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/07/1198084275/mexico-election-first-woman-president
Here’s an op-ed on this topic that describes doubts about the progress either candidate will make, I think it raises a good question of how either candidate would operationally “upset” the patriarchy.
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/9/13/mexico-will-elect-a-female-president-but-mexican-women-will-still-lose
Thank you–and we heard a journalist cast doubt on this as well. And I have not read The Faux Feminism of Hillary Rodham Clinton–worth checking out!