Shattering glass ceiling, Claudia Sheinbaum takes office as Mexico’s first female president
Claudia Sheinbaum is Mexico’s new first female president. She was a climate scientist before she jumped into the political world.
Her inauguration breaks a glass ceiling of political machismo in a country with a long history of machismo. Women did not gain the right to vote for women until 1953.
Sheinbaum stated that women had been marginalized for a long period of time after taking her oath at a ceremony held in Mexico City. “As kids, we were taught a version where the heroes were men …. We now know that women can be presidents.
The crowd began chanting: “Presidenta!”
|
Sheinbaum is 62 years old and takes over at a time of turmoil in the world and Mexico. She will have to deal with the issues of violence, migration, and the huge expectations left behind by her predecessor Andres Manuel Obrador.
She wore the presidential sash, embossed with gold threads and embroidered with the Mexican Tricolor at the San Lazaro Palace, seat of the Mexican Congress.
Both Sheinbaum’s and Lopez Obrador’s cars were delayed by the well-wishers who lined the roads. Motorcycle news crews followed both cars as they passed buildings decorated with banners featuring Sheinbaum.
Sheinbaum backed a few scattered groups of protesters who gathered to protest Lopez Obrador’s controversial overhaul of judiciary. The groups were outnumbered by the celebrants.
Karina Gutierrez (42), an accountant, said: “I came here very early to experience the emotion that a woman would feel when receiving the Presidential sash. I never imagined I’d see it in my lifetime.” “I am really emotional. I want to cry. We finally have a female president in a country that has always been dominated by males. It’s an historic day.”
Sheinbaum’s elevation to Mexico’s top office comes at a time when women have made significant gains in the Mexican political system, in part thanks to a new law that mandates that political parties ensure that 50% of candidates are female in all federal, state, and municipal elections.
Currently, nearly a third and half of all governors, as well as the Supreme Court and central bank, are women.
Sheinbaum, speaking at her inauguration described her victory as a win for all women. “For those who fought and achieved their dreams, and for those who didn’t achieve it. For those who were forced to keep silent and shout alone. To the Indigenous women, domestic workers who left their villages to help us. To the great-grandmothers that did not learn to write because it was not something for girls. And to the mothers, who gave us our life first, then everything else. The sisters, aunts, and beautiful
She said, “I’m not alone.” “We all made it.”
Sheinbaum, who is a leftist and has promised to be pragmatic in solving Mexico’s problems, as well as to prioritize the working class in Mexico, was overwhelmingly elected in the national vote on June 2. Sheinbaum will become Mexico’s 66th President since the country gained independence from Spain in August 1821. Mexican law mandates that she serve only one six-year term.
Sheinbaum, the granddaughter of Eastern European immigrants, will be the first president of Jewish descent in a predominantly Roman Catholic country.
She is an ally of Lopez Obrador who, when he was Mexico City’s mayor in 2000, recruited her out of academia to become his secretary for the environment.
Sheinbaum was elected mayor of Tlalpan in the capital, and in 2018, the year Lopez Obrador became president, she was appointed mayor of Mexico City.
The ceremony of the transfer of power on Tuesday was attended by leaders from around the world, including the leftist governments of Brazil, Colombia and Chile. Jill Biden, the First Lady of the United States and California Governor Gavin Newsom attended. Gavin Newsom.
Sheinbaum ran for the National Regeneration Movement (also known as Morena), a party that was registered by Lopez Obrador only a decade earlier and has since become the dominant political force in the country.
The party has a supermajority de facto in the Mexican Congress, and holds governorships in all 32 Mexican states.
Sheinbaum pledged to continue the “transformation” of Mexican Society promised by her predecessor. Her predecessor had increased welfare payments for the elderly and students, increased military power and championed controversial constitutional reforms. One of them is a controversial plan to elect federal court judges, which has ignited national protests.
The rise of organized crime is perhaps the greatest challenge the new president faces. Organized crime has taken over vast areas of the country, from drug trafficking across borders to extortion and kidnapping.
Some observers are concerned that Lopez Obrador’s large spending on social programs, and massive infrastructure projects like a 1,000-mile railway through the Yucatan Jungle could put her government in a difficult financial situation. Mexico is a country that benefits from being close to the United States, and has many manufacturers who are geared towards exporting to its northern neighbor.
Sheinbaum also has to face the challenge of illegal immigration, as Mexico is now a major transit country for migrants heading to the U.S. from around the world.
Lopez Obrador, who is often critical of U.S. policies, worked closely with Washington, the Biden administration and the Trump administration in their efforts against illegal immigration, sending police and soldiers back to the U.S. Mexico border to turn away migrants. Sheinbaum will likely continue this cooperation during a U.S. presidential election year, when immigration is a major campaign issue.
Lopez Obrador is looming over her as she prepares to take office. The 70-year-old has promised to retire to his ranch in the southern state of Chiapas and avoid the political turmoil that has consumed him for his entire adult life. His approval rating is over 70%, with a majority of that coming from working-class and poor Mexicans. They have seen an increase in minimum wage and pensions as well as social welfare payments under his leadership. The country is divided over his sometimes polarizing style and pronouncements.
Sheinbaum, who is widely considered a pragmatic, lacks the populist instincts of her predecessor. She claims that her scientific background is going to help her handle issues like energy, which have been a point of contention in this country. Lopez Obrador’s focus has been on revitalizing the state-owned petroleum giant Pemex while investing very little in alternative sources of energy.
Sheinbaum told the Los Angeles Times in an interview last year that “being a scientist means always asking why, and always seeking solutions.” “And in politics something similar occurs.”
Sheinbaum, one of three siblings is a native.
No Comments