Claudia Sheinbaum, who will be Mexico’s first woman leader in the nation’s more than 200 years of independence, captured the presidency by promising continuity. The 61-year-old former Mexico City mayor and lifelong leftist ran a disciplined campaign capitalizing on her predecessor’s popularity before emerging victorious in Sunday’s vote, according to an official quick count. But with her victory now in hand, Mexicans will look to see how Sheinbaum, a very different personality from mentor and current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, will assert herself.
Quick Read
- Claudia Sheinbaum will become Mexico’s first woman president, securing victory by promising continuity.
- The 61-year-old former Mexico City mayor and lifelong leftist capitalized on the popularity of her predecessor, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
- Sheinbaum is viewed as less combative and more data-driven compared to López Obrador.
- With a background in science, Sheinbaum holds a Ph.D. in energy engineering.
- As mayor, she took a more proactive approach to COVID-19 compared to the federal government’s stance, emphasizing testing and safety measures.
- Sheinbaum’s immediate challenges include addressing Mexico’s high levels of violence, particularly cartel-related violence.
- She plans to expand the National Guard and continue targeting social ills that lead to cartel recruitment.
- Sheinbaum has promised a strong welfare state and supports clean energy initiatives.
- Observers expect Sheinbaum to be less confrontational than López Obrador in her interactions with other government branches and the media.
- Sheinbaum will also be the first person from a Jewish background to lead the predominantly Catholic country.
- Mexican women face significant gender-related issues, including femicide, gender violence, and a gender employment gap.
- Sheinbaum aims to replicate anti-gender violence measures she implemented as mayor.
- Teenage pregnancy and access to safe, legal abortion are critical issues needing attention.
- Sheinbaum did not address abortion rights during her campaign.
- Women in Mexico are significantly underrepresented in the workforce compared to men, with many holding informal jobs and earning less.
The Associated Press has the story:
Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s new President: A scientist, a leftist & Ex-Mexico City mayor
Newslooks- MEXICO CITY (AP) —
Claudia Sheinbaum, who will be Mexico’s first woman leader in the nation’s more than 200 years of independence, captured the presidency by promising continuity.
The 61-year-old former Mexico City mayor and lifelong leftist ran a disciplined campaign capitalizing on her predecessor’s popularity before emerging victorious in Sunday’s vote, according to an official quick count. But with her victory now in hand, Mexicans will look to see how Sheinbaum, a very different personality from mentor and current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, will assert herself.
While she hewed close to López Obrador politically and shares many of his ideas about the government’s role in addressing inequality, she is viewed as less combative and more data driven.
Sheinbaum’s background is in science. She has a Ph.D. in energy engineering. Her brother is a physicist. In a 2023 interview with The Associated Press, Sheinbaum said, “I believe in science.”
Observers say that grounding showed itself in Sheinbaum’s actions as mayor during the COVID-19 pandemic, when her city of some 9 million people took a different approach from what López Obrador espoused at the national level.
While the federal government was downplaying the importance of coronavirus testing, Mexico City expanded its testing regimen. Sheinbaum set limits on businesses’ hours and capacity when the virus was rapidly spreading, even though López Obrador wanted to avoid any measures that would hurt the economy. And she publicly wore protective masks and urged social distancing while the president was still lunging into crowds.
Mexico’s persistently high levels of violence will be one of her most immediate challenges after she takes office Oct. 1. On the campaign trail she said little more than that she would expand the quasi-military National Guard created by López Obrador and continue his strategy of targeting social ills that make so many young Mexicans easy targets for cartel recruitment.
“Let it be clear, it doesn’t mean an iron fist, wars or authoritarianism,” Sheinbaum said of her approach to tackling criminal gangs, during her final campaign event. “We will promote a strategy of addressing the causes and continue moving toward zero impunity.”
Sheinbaum has praised López Obrador profusely and said little that the president hasn’t said himself. She blamed neoliberal economic policies for condemning millions to poverty, promised a strong welfare state and praised Mexico’s large state-owned oil company, Pemex, while also promising to emphasize clean energy.
“For me, being from the left has to do with that, with guaranteeing the minimum rights to all residents,” Sheinbaum told the AP last year.
In contrast to López Obrador, who seemed to relish his highly public battles with other branches of the government and also the news media, Sheinbaum is expected by many observers to be less combative or at least more selective in picking her fights.
“It appears she’s going to go in a different direction,” said Ivonne Acuña Murillo, a political scientist at Iberoamerican University. “I don’t know how much.”
Sheinbaum will also be the first person from a Jewish background to lead the overwhelmingly Catholic country.
The first woman elected to lead Mexico faces pressing gender-related issues
The governing party candidate won Mexico’s presidential election on Sunday, a turning point in a mostly conservative nation that for more than two centuries has been exclusively ruled by men.
Elsewhere in Latin America, women have presided over Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Nicaragua, Honduras, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama, Haiti and Costa Rica.
Mexican women won the right to vote in 1953. No law prevented female candidates from holding office, but sexism and “macho” culture continue to permeate the country of 129 million people.
Prior to the current presidential race, during which Sheinbaum maintained a comfortable lead against opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez, only two women had officially sought Mexico’s presidency. Both failed.
In her bid to replace outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Sheinbaum struggled to construct an image of her own, leaving many wondering whether she can escape the shadow of her mentor.
Women currently lead some key Mexican institutions, such as the Senate, the Supreme Court and the National Electoral Institute. Mexico ranks third among Latin American nations with the most women in the national Cabinet — 44% — and has 10 female governors among its 32 states.
In some Indigenous villages, though, men still hold the power.
Among the issues that Mexican women face are femicide, or women killed because of their gender, a gender employment gap and inadequate policies guaranteeing sexual and reproductive rights. Sheinbaum, 61, will need to address these after she takes office on Oct. 1.
Here’s a look at the issues.
FEMICIDE AND GENDER VIOLENCE
Demonstrations on International Women’s Day on March 8 are painful reminders that many Mexican women disappear or are killed on a daily basis.
According to U.N. Women, up to 10 women are victims of femicide each day in Mexico. The number totaled 3,000 in 2023.
Thousands more have disappeared. In many cases, it is their mothers, feeling abandoned by the government, who have taken on the task of searching for them.
Most femicides go unpunished due to Mexico’s inefficient justice system, which frequently dismisses reported crimes or fails to properly investigate and prosecute them.
According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, more than 40% of Mexican women who are 15 years old or older say they have been victims of some sort of violence in their lives.
During her campaign, Sheinbaum said she would replicate measures against gender-based violence that were implemented when she was mayor of the capital. They include the creation of an anti-femicide prosecutor’s office and legislation that would force offenders to leave their homes.
“We transform, we are warriors who open paths for other women,” Sheinbaum said.
In spite of this, Sheinbaum has been criticized by feminists and activists arguing that her government lacked gender-related policies. Excessive use of force against women during demonstrations has been flagged as well.
SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Teenage pregnancy among Mexican women and girls has raised concern.
According to official figures from 2021, the latest available, there were 147,279 births among adolescents between 15 and 19 years old, and 3,019 among girls under 15.
Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that national laws prohibiting abortions are unconstitutional and violate women’s rights, but further state-by-state legal work is pending to remove all penalties.
Twelve of Mexico’s 32 states have decriminalized abortion, most of them in the past five years. A few more states allow abortion if the mother’s life is in danger, and it is legal nationwide if the pregnancy is the result of rape.
In most states where it has been decriminalized, advocates say they face persistent challenges in making abortion safe, accessible and government funded.
Sheinbaum did not address the topic during her campaign.
GENDER EMPLOYMENT GAP
According to official figures, 76% of Mexican men and only 47% of women are employed.
Among working women, 54% have informal jobs and they dedicate close to 43 hours per week to household chores. According to the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, this limits the time that women can devote to the labor market. Education and access to public transportation are determining factors as well.
Women usually earn less money than men. In Mexico City, the difference is 6%, while in other states the gap can reach up to 25%.
