Classrooms are now tense encampments for student protestors at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), one of the most prestigious universities in Mexico. Marisa Belausteguigoitia, a full-time lecturer at UNAM whose research focuses on collective young feminist protestors, shared that close to 150,000 students are now seeking refuge in these makeshift barracks. As Belausteguigoitia described, “they are mainly protesting gender issues, protesting harassment, and also transsexual issues—anything that smells of sexuality or gender.” The students’ zeal has left them without classes for several months.
While these protests persist, the broader political landscape in Mexico is shifting: next year, the country will elect its first woman president. The emergence of two female presidential candidates—Claudia Sheinbaum and Xóchitl Gálvez—signifies a pivotal moment, reflecting a potential evolution of baseline attitudes towards gender norms. With the prospect of a woman assuming the highest office, there is hope that female leadership could be the catalyst needed to close Mexico’s gender gaps. The student occupations at UNAM are not isolated incidents; they are rooted in a long-standing tradition of advocacy for gender equality, an ideal that is far from the current reality in Mexico.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, there are ten femicides per day in Mexico—a rate that has doubled in the last five years. This violence has driven continued demonstrations. “The Day of Dead Women” protests, for example, occur each year after the nation’s traditional celebrations for the Day of the Dead. All across Mexico, protestors carry crosses with the names and pictures of femicide victims—ranging from central Mexico City to the southern, rural state of Chiapas, to share their grievances about violence against women.
Diana Medina is responsible for institutional strengthening at a Mexican feminist fund known as Fondo Semillas. She explained in an interview with The Politic that “Mexico is a very centralized country in Latin America, so most protests tend to happen in Mexico City. The fact that this is happening in other states shows how the gender movement is breaking historical ways of centering power.”
The 2018 election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, popularly known as AMLO, initially provided hope for political change to female voters, as his new cabinet consisted of nine women and 10 men, which is “the closest gender differential ever seen in a Mexican president’s cabinet.” Subsequently, though, his reinforcement of the state’s repressive institutions—such as the military—have left feminists disillusioned. Popular discontent with his presidency has led him to brand feminists as reactionaries.
In a leaked document from the Secretary of National Defense outlining “enemies of the state” who pose a threat to the International Felipe Ángeles Airport in Mexico City, López Obrador’s administration identified “feminist collectives” among terrorist groups and cartels. Concurrently, the Mexican War on Drugs has allowed narco-politics to govern the administration, fueling a 236% increase in gender violence over the past four years.
In recent years, Mexico’s gender protests have grown more intense. Protests have swelled from tens to hundreds of thousands of participants, and violence at demonstrations has increased. Some women have brought blowtorches, sledgehammers, and baseball bats to the National Palace, the presidential residence, ready for a confrontation with government forces.
This surge in gender activism has its origins in traditional notions of gender roles and machismo, a misogynist form of exaggerated masculinity that is still present in the feminist conversation today. Andrea Isita is the Digital Communications Coordinator of PSYDEH, a Mexican grassroots non-profit organization that invests in rural and Indigenous women. Her organization took a trip to a rural municipality, where PSYDEH’s efforts have offered women the opportunity to earn a second income.
Isita said that the strongest resistance to her efforts came from the men of the municipality: “the idea is that men are the breadwinners, and even if the breadwinners are not home, the women cannot leave because they have their families and homes to tend to. They are very traditional in that sense, so it is very complex.”
This pattern continued when, on another occasion, a PSYDEH volunteer visited a community to teach women about the benefits of Google Lens. The workshops were boycotted by all the men of the community. They declared that “the Internet was the worst for women because they would neglect their home duties and lose their morals as a result.” Other civil organizations have witnessed similar pushback. At Fondo Semillas, Medina remarked seeing an increase in requests for grant funding from groups that work to fight violence, particularly for survivors of femicides.
While civil organizations have shown determination and achieved considerable success in addressing gender-related issues, the Mexican government has been struggling to pull its weight. A 2023 report from the International Federation for Human Rights revealed that in the past 60 years, there have been no convictions for female disappearances and just one arrest warrant in Guerrero. Such governmental neglect is largely a product of the profound discrimination women face when bringing forward these claims, often facing blame for the crimes committed against them.
Despite the federal government’s general apathy and incompetence in combating gender-based violence, there have been vigorous efforts to promote female representation in government. Gender quotas were introduced in the early 2000s, and as of 2021 50% of lawmakers in Mexico’s lower house of Congress are women.
Indeed, the gendered shift in Mexican politics has been extraordinary. As Jesús Javier Silva-Herzog Márquez, a professor and researcher of politics and political theory at Tecnológico de Monterrey, noted, “the President of the Supreme Court is a woman, the President of the House of Representatives is a woman, the President of the Senate is a woman. This is a very fast change that we see in the government. This is a gender revolution in Mexican politics.”
Even though access to these offices is important, some are questioning the utility of established gender quotas. Georgina Flores is the Operations and Knowledge Management Coordinator of Aúna, a Mexican-based platform that promotes women in political leadership. Flores argues that Mexico needs to take a step further than just gender parity politics because even if women win political office, they are often overlooked or absorbed into the existing patriarchal hierarchy.
“Gender quotas can sometimes be seen as a barrier, wherein women run but once they are in office, they are not actually the people making the decision,” Flores said. “Most of the time, women do not have the backing from political parties or from big networks like men have.”
But presidential candidates Sheinbaum and Gálvez stand out. Large political networks and backing from Mexico’s largest political parties are underpinning these two womens’ competing bids for the presidency in the upcoming 2024 elections. The prospect of a female president is an unprecedented step towards genuine representation for women in the highest office of the country.
Sheinbaum, the favored candidate with an 18-point lead as of October 31st, comes from Mexico’s left-wing party, MORENA. She has the backing of the popular incumbent president López Obrador, an endorsement that has tremendously shaped her campaign. According to Flores, “Claudia basically started her campaign several years ago by being so close to AMLO [López Obrador]. He legitimizes her, and I think that has a lot of weight in who she is.” Sheinbaum’s biggest challenge thus far has been distinguishing herself as an independent candidate, as opposed to a puppet of López Obrador.
Sheinbaum is a Jewish-Mexican politician and academic who earned a bachelor’s degree in physics, a master’s degree in energy engineering, and a doctorate in environmental engineering from UNAM. She has long been active in politics, first serving as the Secretary of the Environment for Mexico City in 2000, then as the mayor of Tlalpan, and most recently as the mayor of Mexico City.
If elected, Sheinbaum has announced that she would continue to pursue many of López Obrador’s policy goals. Specifically, she claims she would avoid overhauling fiscal reforms, pursue social welfare policies, and uphold policies for Mexico’s national energy companies, PEMEX and CFE. In line with her expertise, she has called for investment in better recycling plants and public transportation. In regards to her stances on crime, Sheinbaum supports a stronger National Guard presence to make arrests and keep the military in airports in retaliation to the ongoing War on Drugs.
Sheinbaum’s record on gender issues has been uneven. During her tenure as mayor, she “was not light-handed in using police force against feminist protests,” said Mayte López, an author and Spanish professor at Yale University. Belausteguigoitia offered a similar account, arguing that Sheinbaum was “very strategic and calculated, making decisions to specifically put policewomen at the frontlines of the protests.”
Consequently, Sheinbaum was able to accuse protestors of deriding their own principles by attacking policewomen. After an abortion protest in September 2020, Sheinbaum claimed that she supported the cause but condemned the violence of the protestors and did not offer any justifications for the police force that she had released.
On the other side of the race is Gálvez, who is supported by a three-party coalition known as Frente Amplio por México. This coalition consists of the National Action Party (PAN), a right-wing party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), a center-right party, and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), a left-leaning party.
Though the support from a coalition of varying ideologies for Gálvez may seem surprising at first, Silva-Herzog Márquez explained the reasons underlying this tension. “AMLO [López Obrador] is basically a populist leader that has been able to assemble a very popular government. And this antagonistic idea of politics has pushed the old enemies, the PRI, PAN, and PRD to create this new coalition to fight the strong political movement that is MORENA,” said Silva-Herzog Márquez. Indeed, Flores added that this coalition represents a “desperate decision to be in alliance against MORENA,” but is not entirely novel, as the parties have run as a coalition in previous local elections.
Before entering politics, Gálvez received her degree in computer engineering from UNAM and founded two technology companies. Afterwards, she served as a general director for the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples under then-president Vicente Fox, was the mayor of borough Miguel Hidalgo, and served most recently as a senator in the Mexican Congress.
Unlike Sheinbaum, who shies away from speaking about her Jewish heritage, Gálvez’s Indigenous background is central to her political identity. However, some question Gálvez’s alliance with a conservative party like PAN. Isita draws a comparison to María de Jesús Patricio Martínez, also known as Marichuy, who was a previous Indigenous presidential candidate.
“There is a big difference between Marichuy and Xóchitl. They are both Indigenous-identifying, but they come from different worlds,” said Isita. “Marichuy has been a leader of her community and politically involved with the locals. On the other side, Xóchitl is wearing a costume: she came from a low-income family and has risen up, but she is perceived differently because she rubs elbows with the richest of the rich.”
In terms of policy, Gálvez’s platform emphasizes greater support for businesses and industries. She hopes to change the status quo by reforming PEMEX and promoting private investment in the energy sector. Though an advocate for some of López Obrador’s social welfare policies, Gálvez hopes to further expand government aid programs that create opportunities instead of short-term cash handouts. With reference to her stance on crime, she rebuffed López Obrador’s slogan of “hugs, not bullets” and declared that “there will be no hugs” for those contributing to the War on Drugs.
Her record on feminist policies has also been mixed. On the International Day of Indigenous Women, Gálvez demanded justice for Indigenous women who suffer heightened rates of femicides. But at the same time, she has been incongruous in her support of policies like abortion. Before the presidential race, she claimed that she fully supported access to abortions, but after being chosen to represent Frente Amplio, her stance shifted: “my position is that I lead a Broad Front where different positions fit, and I will be respectful of each one. As Frente Amplio, I am obliged to respect different visions,” she told El Financiero. Her inconsistency in standing by her statements obscures her policy platform and erodes trust in her intentions.
Though these candidates come from different sides of the aisle, they have a lot in common. They share support for similar social welfare policies and a scientific and technical perspective, which stands in “contrast to the politics of AMLO [López Obrador], where policies are very macho and impulsive,” said Silva-Herzog Márquez. He elaborated that these candidates are “team builders and don’t feel weakened by being surrounded by smart, experienced persons, which is something that is contrasting with the current President, a very impulsive, aggressive, polarizing figure.”
Both candidates have found themselves similarly reluctant to tread outside of their respective political party structures. Many of their proposals are continuations of existing policies created by past male presidents. However, their unique experiences as women may offer fresh insights. Currently, however, they both present a somewhat ambiguous stance on gender politics, making it difficult to gauge their beliefs.
Some have argued that the two candidates’ genders did not have a predominant role in the party’s selection. Silva-Herzog Márquez noted that Sheinbaum “was clearly the most popular politician in the official structure of MORENA and had the most visible political position in the country as a successful mayor of Mexico City.” To Xóchitl’s bid, he said that she “was the figure that reacted brilliantly to the provocations of the president. And at a time where the opposition didn’t have any strong political figures that could bridge the differences between these coalition parties, Xóchitl Gálvez was the person that would be an experienced politician, not clearly identified to be with one of the contenders, but somehow above all ideologies.”
Sheinbaum and Gálvez’s gender has created unique challenges and opportunities for their candidacies. Belausteguigoitia offered a distinct perspective with her use of philosopher Judith Butler’s performance framework, which posits that gender is an act of performance shaped by cultural scripts and societal norms. Belausteguigoitia argued that within the political arena here, “there are different protocols, scenes, and infinitely exploitable ways to play the woman card. And the moment is fantastic for playing those cards because the public has learned to expand what a woman is.” Her argument, emphasizing the value of what she terms a “productive fiction for politics,” suggests a potential strategic use of gender in campaigning.
In contrast to arguments based on biology or culture to justify women in positions of power, Belausteguigoitia asserted that “these two women can wisely and productively play the ‘woman card,’ the idea that women are empathetic, caring, are better administrators, and look more at the unevenness of society.” In short, Belausteguigoitia highlighted how the gender of these candidates will significantly shape their campaign strategies.
While leveraging their gender can offer tactical advantages for these two candidates, the intersection of politics and prevailing machismo norms may pose challenges to the candidates’ public image.
“When talking to the common man, there is all this bias from people just as educated as I am,” Isita said. “They will say stupid shit like ‘women are too sensitive’ and ‘they do not know anything.’ We are a long way from a fair race, and likeability is particularly complex for a woman in a political landscape.”
Silva-Herzog Márquez offered a similar perspective. “I think we still have a very strong misogynistic culture. If you turn on the TV, you might feel insulted with many stereotypes … the perspective of a woman is basically a housewife used as a sexy decoration of a TV program,” he said.
López’s assessment was more blunt: “there is a feeling that women are somehow disposable in a lot of parts of the country, which deeply worries me.”
The degree to which the candidates’ gender will shape their policies remains open to debate. As López stated, “the fact that they are women does not mean that they have a feminist agenda.” Medina echoed her claim, adding that the research she has seen demonstrates that women reaching high positions of power does not mean they are going to have a feminist perspective.
Andrik García, a junior in Yale College, was born and raised in northern Mexico. He stated, “Mexico has other problems that cannot be solved by just having a female candidate. Problems are institutional, and no one president regardless of their gender, or identity can necessarily solve all the problems.”
These implications take on a broader dimension when considering how the gender of a politician can affect Mexico’s international image. Silva-Herzog Márquez noted that López Obrador has been absent in the global arena, so a new president can present opportunities to step up on the world stage. Silva-Herzog Márquez further noted that “in Latin American terms, Mexico will not be the first to have a woman president, but I do think that that is something that is obviously here to stay… you are not seeing just these two figures alone in Mexican politics, you are seeing something today that I was not used to seeing as a young guy.”
Such novelty comes with fears for the future. Flores remarked that she’s afraid that these women will be absorbed into the machismo culture. “I fear that when women are elected for this big, unprecedented office, they have to act bigger or have stronger policies towards war in a way to compensate and overcorrect the use of violence,” she said. “Violence in Mexico is big enough as it is, and I would not want a woman to try to stand her ground in a violent way to prove herself.”
Silva-Herzog Márquez worried that after “allowing women to be within these walls of men, we will feel that we did good and that we are justified in closing the door again after doing our part,” echoing author Malcom Gladwell’s idea of moral licensing.
But there are also hopes. According to García, “it is always optimistic to look at Mexico and see massive progress in terms of finally electing a female president who can be an inspiration to the future generations of women.”
Medina and Isita both agreed that the feminist movement is the hottest movement on the agenda right now, and both expressed hope that this momentum can push the two candidates to pursue real feminist policies and challenge misogynistic norms.
This election marks a transformative moment in the intersection of gender and politics. Electing a female president brings gender to the forefront of political discourse in Mexico. Women in politics tend to experience heightened scrutiny, but this is also an opportunity for female leaders to sever the deep-rooted association between power and machismo.
Sheinbaum and Gálvez’s success is not merely an independent achievement, but the result of a collaborative effort to reshape Mexico’s political realm. In the words of Belausteguigoitia, “the way you occupy power as a woman is a collective thing. And if we hold onto the promise of womanhood, we have a future.”