MEXICO CITY — Mexico is famous for its macho culture. Women here didn’t win the right to vote for president until 1953 — three decades after their U.S. counterparts. As recently as nine years ago, there wasn’t a single female state governor.
Yet Mexico has just elected its first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, in what was essentially a race between two women engineers. With 88 percent of the ballots counted Monday, Sheinbaum had 59 percent of the vote; Xóchitl Gálvez, her closest rival, had 28 percent.
As the United States gears up for another two-man contest for the presidency — Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump — Mexico is eclipsing its northern neighbor on gender parity in government.
Today, women hold half the seats in Mexico’s legislature — roughly double the percentage in the U.S. Congress. Women lead Mexico’s Supreme Court and central bank. While the United States has a record 12 female governors, Mexico will soon have 13, including four who won election Sunday.
Read here the full article published by The Washington Post on 3 June 20224.
Image by The Washington Post
