乐鱼 体育

Electing a woman to public office, even the presidency, does not guarantee feminist policies. That鈥檚 one of the ideas behind the Mexican group A煤na, which recruits, coaches, and accompanies female candidates who are committed to gender equality, social justice, and environmental protection. It worked with 18 victorious candidates from various parties in Mexico鈥檚 June 2 elections, including the next mayor of Mexico City, Clara Brugada. 

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Q: A煤na made the choice to work with candidates running with different parties (left, center, and right). Why, and what does that choice reflect about Mexican politics?

A: Despite the polarization in Mexico, in order to make social and political transformations, we need consensuses across different political parties. And it鈥檚 not like the parties are immutable; positions on the issue of abortion have changed rapidly in just a few years, for example. There have also been shifts on gay marriage, gender rights, caretaking systems, and climate change. Additionally, within a single party it鈥檚 possible to see different generations take different positions, as is the case with the National Action Party (PAN) on abortion, where younger generations are more pro-choice than older ones.

Q: A煤na worked with Clara Brugada, who was elected head of the Mexico City government鈥揅laudia Sheinbaum鈥檚 position until she ran for president. Based on what you observed, what policies does she seem committed to enacting that were not present in the outgoing administration?

A: Policies around establishing public caretaking programs. Her proposals for care programs are very advanced, and she had some local experiences with the topic while she was the mayor of the Mexico City suburb Iztapalapa. These included community development centers called 鈥淯topias,鈥� where the municipality offered a wide range of services (domestic violence prevention and orientation, drug addiction counsel, children鈥檚 afterschool programs) and infrastructure (swimming pools, public laundry machines, museums). We鈥檙e optimistic about that agenda of public care and community development. There are others that I鈥檓 not sure about. One is security policy. She has historically focused on crime prevention and strengthening the social fabric rather than taking a punitivist approach. But she now faces pressure to go in the other direction, toward militarization, including from the federal national government and from her party. So you don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going to happen.

Q: Feminist groups have criticized Morena, Brugada and Sheinbaum鈥檚 party, for the militarization of security policy. What guidance do you give to the candidates running inside Morena who want to take a different approach?

A: We believe in the women themselves. First, we try to listen to them and understand their position, the pressures they suffer, and efforts to discipline them according to the party line and make them prove their loyalties. All of this leads many women to take certain positions that they might not take otherwise. It鈥檚 not only in Morena, it鈥檚 in other parties too. Our program offers training on policy alternatives before they campaign and become candidates. We link them up with experts and civil society organizations that can provide arguments and best practices. But we recognize that many women suffer different sources of pressure, even from us, that can compete with party loyalties. Sometimes we鈥檙e not very successful when we鈥檙e up against what parties can give or take away. Sometimes the women suffer when their loyalty is questioned. We are there more to support them, than to audit them. While we have a selection process with a questionnaire and a series of interviews, it鈥檚 before they become candidates. We try to understand how taking office and party allegiances change them.

Q. A煤na鈥檚 platform understands environmentalism to be part of feminism. Did you see voters respond positively in these elections to candidates who put forth environmental ideas? 

A. It is very hard to measure that. The fact that we don鈥檛 have a truly green party in Mexico is one of the big deficits of the country鈥檚 transition to democracy. In this election, we saw groups of people, above all young people, organize themselves to call on candidates for changes in climate policy, sustainability, and the energy transition. With our own candidates, many of them had little prior knowledge of the environmental agenda, and many of them became convinced of its importance. Obviously, water access and drought are very big issues right now in Mexico, so addressing that became a demand of voters.