by Megan Janetski, Alba Aleman
A woman holds a sign that reads “I decide” in Spanish as she takes part in a demonstration calling for legal, free and safe abortion for all women to be allowed, marking International Safe Abortion Day in Mexico City, Sept. 28, 2022. Mexico's Supreme Court decriminalized abortion nationwide on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
Electing a female president would be a big step in a country where the proportion of women in office is rapidly increasing. Gender-based violence and Serious gender disparities.
Mexico still has a strong culture of machismo, or male dominance, which creates huge economic and social disparities in society. In its most extreme form, misogyny is expressed as: High murder rate for women,and, Acid attacks on women.
Both candidates Claudia Scheinbaum Opposition candidate Xochitl Gálvez has promised to tackle endemic gender-based violence and gender inequality if she wins.
The socially conservative country is seeing a historic number of women taking on leadership and political roles.
That's due in part to years of efforts by authorities to improve representation in politics, including a law requiring half of parties' parliamentary candidates to be women. Since 2018, Mexico's Congress has been 50/50 male-female, and the number of female governors has soared.
As she waited to vote in her first election, Evelyn Elizondo Valdez, 20, of Xalapa, Veracruz, was pleased to see two women on the ballot.
“Women have to make great sacrifices to run for office,” Elizondo said, “and even if women say no, Claudia (Sheinbaum) is still an extension of a man (President Andrés Manuel López Obrador), so I think (Xochitl (Gálvez)) should be president.”
In Mexico City, 59-year-old Guillermina Romero hugged Sheinbaum as she came to vote.
Romero said her husband comes from a sexist household and her mother was abused by her father, but she has seen Mexico change over time, and as she stood next to her daughter voting, she said that gives her hope.
Having a female president “means that Mexico has changed, and that they now take us into consideration,” she said.
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