'Still driven by machismo', Mexico likely to make history by electing its first female president

now we're still nine months away from the presidential election in Mexico but one outcome is already pretty clear the next head of state of the country is almost certainly going to be a woman because For the First Time Ever the country's two main political movements have put forward female candidates well let's get some more analysis and we can speak to Andrew Rudman who is director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center in DC thank you for joining us um first of all how significant is it do you think that the next president of Mexico is almost certainly going to be a woman well it is of course significant uh as you said because it will be the first time and and given that these are the two main parties it's extremely likely as you said that it will indeed be a woman and I think that's important but I think you know it is also important to keep in mind that the political parties are all run by men uh many of the decisions are made by men so I think this is a great step forward but we have to be careful that we not conclude that everything is fixed and perfect Mexico is still a a country driven by bismo and there will it will be a struggle I think for both candidates to um establish themselves or or to attract votes um but it is of course really a great moment for for Mexico Yeah you mentioned machismo and that is presumably one of the answers to my next question which is what's taken so long you know that that's a good question of course Mexico is not the only place that hasn't elected a woman President we haven't here in the United States either um Mexico during its political reforms in the late 90s and 2000s changed the rules and has increased the number the ratio of women who have to be put forward as candidates so Mexico actually has one of the highest rates of female participation or female elected officials in the world far higher than the United States so I suppose from that perspective it was a matter of time but I think it probably took a while for women to get into the political establishment and and work their way up as as as is true of both of these candidates who started out with lower level positions yeah and you mentioned earlier on that it's not going to be easy for either of them they don't it's not to be plain sailing tell us a bit more about who these two women are and which one you think perhaps stands a better chance than the other sure um so um Claudia shanbom who was chosen by the governing Moren party yesterday is a former mayor of Mexico City she is known as a protege of Andre Lopez oor or amlo she uh has a PHD environmental engineering so she's a technocrat by training and as I said was was go governed Mexico City her opponent soito galves has a comes from much more humble beginnings although she too was educated uh and became really a Tech Mobile Mogul and um has done very well in the in the um it space So you have two women who though they come from different backgrounds both are are technocrats in a way that current president Lopez oor is not so I think one thing that we may see is uh policies developed with more analysis and and more response uh someone put it recently when the tech when Tech issues are explained the new president is likely to understand them and be used to having those conversations so that may be different from president Lopez oor who has a much more political IAL or or maybe emotional approach to issues um as well as talking about women candidates uh and and the likelihood of a woman president there in Mexico I wanted to talk to you about a women's issue a women's rights issue and of course women's rights increasingly under discussion there in Mexico and in the last 24 hours or so uh abortion very much under discussion what what's the latest on that the Supreme Court of Mexico decriminalized abortion it uh had been a an issue decided by States and and several had had legalized it but now the court has decreed that to criminalize it is uh limit somebody's personal or human rights and so while it can still be illegal on paper in some states nobody can be prosecuted for having an abortion and and as I sit here in Washington you can't help but compare that to the conversation in the United States where we're moving toward uh more or efforts to have more Federal restriction and in Mexico you saw exactly the opposite yeah so obviously the United States going in a totally different direction to uh South America and just staying South of the Border uh south of the Mexican border I mean are you seeing a shift in Regional attitudes sort of more broadly or would you say Mexico is perhaps something of an exception to the rule with regards to its attitudes towards abortion and the fact that it could soon have a female president okay it looks like the line has frozen Andrew I don't think are you still there you are still there you are let me put that question to you again let me put that to you one more time you froze for a moment I was just going to ask you whether you thought Mexico was the exception to the rule uh or whether other countries in in South America were perhaps heading in the same direction perhaps on track to have a female president and also becoming more tolerant on this issue of abortion that we were just talking about know that that's a great question of course some countries in South America have had women presidents um but I you know Brazil Argentina come to mind immediately uh so I think you know in that sense maybe Mexico isn't setting a trend and and maybe there to be honest and and and if you forgive me this is a bit trite it'll when we're not asking whether it's a trend is when you'll see that it that it really is normal and and we don't think about uh is the person male or female um there also there are lots of conversation ations around the hemisphere on these questions of women's rights and abortion and lgbtq rights so I think what I don't know that I'd say Mexico is a trend Setter but Mexico demonstrates or is another example where these issues remain um really Salient political issues and countries are going to have pretty forceful heated debates I think going forward about how they want to address them okay well we're going to leave it there thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us Andrew Rudman dor of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center in DC thank you

Channel: FRANCE 24 English

Views: 4,269

Keywords: Americas, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Claudia Sheinbaum, Domestic Violence, FRANCE 24, FRANCE 24 guest, Feminicide, Mexico, Misogyny, Xóchitl Gálvez, politics, women's rights

Id: GYnrc9w9QSA

Length: 6min 34sec (394 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 08 2023