Mexico’s new president unveils steps to boost women’s rights

Former Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink. 
Zizi Kodwa and Jehan Mackay appear at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday unveiled a package of proposals to boost gender equality, days after becoming the first woman to lead the Latin American nation.
“As Mexico’s first woman president, our obligation is to protect women,” Sheinbaum told a news conference accompanied by female members of her cabinet.
She said the proposed reforms, which will be submitted to a Congress dominated by her ruling party, included guarantees of wage equality, a life free of violence and financial support for women over 60.
The government plans to start distributing millions of booklets next year to women across the country informing them of their rights, including in Indigenous languages, she added.
“Unfortunately, sometimes a woman who experiences violence does not know that she is experiencing violence,” Sheinbaum said.
“Or a woman who earns less than a man when doing the same job does not know that her right is to receive the same salary.”
The changes would also incorporate the concept of “substantive equality” — which aims to remedy disadvantages faced by women rather than achieving gender neutrality — into the constitution.
It means that all Mexican laws would have to take into account “the particularities of women and their human rights,” Sheinbaum said.
Declaring “it’s time for women,” the former Mexico City mayor was sworn in Tuesday as leader of the world’s most populous Spanish-speaking country, which has had 65 male presidents since independence.
A scientist by training, Sheinbaum won a landslide victory in June elections with a vow to continue the left-wing reform agenda of her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a close ally.
Lopez Obrador left office this week after six years due to the country’s single-term limit, despite an approval rating of around 70 percent, largely thanks to his policies aimed at helping poorer Mexicans.