Mexico’s First Female and Jewish President

Scritto da in data Giugno 8, 2024

Leggi in italiano

by ToniAnn Izzo

In a historic milestone, Mexico has elected Claudia Sheinbaum as its first female president, a little over 70 years after women gained the right to vote in the country.

Not only is Sheinbaum the first woman to hold this office, but she is also the first Jewish president in Mexico’s 200-year history. Her victory represents a significant step forward for women in Mexico and worldwide.

Who is Claudia Sheinbaum?

 Sheinbaum was born in Mexico City on June 24, 1962, to a family of Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish descent as her ancestors fled the Holocaust by moving to Mexico.

She received her PhD in energy engineering from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where she studied physics, and also spent time doing research at the UC Berkeley campus in California.

She contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

In 2018, she was elected to the second-highest political position in Mexico, Mayor of Mexico City.

While mayor, she implemented several key initiatives, such as improving public transportation and addressing environmental issues, which showcase her policy-making skills that she will hopefully take with her into her role as president.

Not only is Sheinbaum the hand-picked successor for the position from the current president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, she won the race with nearly 60% of the votes over her opposing candidate in Mexico’s largest election in history.

Continuing on that note, she pitched herself as a sequel of the current president which makes people wonder if these next five years will truly produce as much change as she is promising or if she will remain in President Obradors shadow.

As a leftist activist of the Morena party, her government will focus on five major points: security, free and scientific education, socially oriented economy, water regulation, and the transition to renewable energy.

Challenges Ahead

This election has been the deadliest election in Mexican history, with 37 people being assassinated. Some of the biggest problems she will be facing in her term are migration, relations with the U.S., and rampant drug-related violence.

Her relationship with the U.S. is at the forefront of America’s concern, outside of trade, as the migrant crisis continues to grow larger in all major U.S. cities.

Future Expectations

We are expecting that Mexico will now put more emphasis on their climate change initiatives and that they will focus heavily on the impoverished as Sheinbaum claimed in her speech after the poll results came in.

The United States and Mexico are each other’s largest trading partners and both the U.S. and Mexico are looking forward to strengthening their relationship with one another.

This could change the border issues between the two countries as hundreds of thousands of migrants from everywhere use Mexico as a pathway to enter the U.S. daily.

As Mexico only allows for one-term presidents, that span a six-year time frame, Sheinbaum has a decent enough amount of time to follow through on her goals and set a precedent for the standard future presidents of Mexico should follow.

Her election is a monumental win for gender equality and cultural diversity in Mexico’s political landscape.

This win marks a time in history where barriers are being broken so future generations have more opportunity than that of the ones before them. The sky is truly the limit.

Toni Ann Izzo

I am a political science enthusiast from New York City with a passion for global politics.

I aim to spark interest in young people, who are the most impacted by today’s political decisions by  making complex issues understandable and engaging.

I bring a fresh perspective to political discussions to make politics fun and accessible for the next generation.

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