Josefina Vazquez Mota, a 51-year-old economist and former Mexican congresswoman, became the first female presidential candidate from any of México’s major parties when she won 55% of the vote in Sunday’s primary for the National Action Party (PAN), with 89% of polling stations counted. Although it’s just the primary, her victory marks a milestone for women in a country that didn’t grant them the right to vote until 1953. The first female governor did not take office until 1989, and only a handful of women have been elected to political office since. México’s presidential elections will be held on July 1. Vasquez-Mota sounded confident when she proclaimed, “I will be the first woman president of México in history.”
PAN scored a major triumph in 2000 when Vicente Fox won the presidency; a significant achievement because the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) had ruled México for 71 years. PAN also hopes México will follow Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and other Latin American countries that have elected female leaders in recent years.
It would be an interesting political coup if México elects a female president, considering the United States – which champions itself as the leader of the free world and progressive on women’s rights – really hasn’t come close. If you ponder the vice-presidential runs of Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Sarah Palin in 2008, it’s even more depressing.
