Not even an act as traditionally masculine as a military salute has escaped on this occasion the gestures of equality between the sexes that President Claudia Sheinbaum has offered since she took power on October 1. In three days, everything seems historic in Mexico: never before has it been known that the heads of the Armed Forces and the Navy have paid honors to the “supreme commander,” as the president herself calls herself. In their capacity as Government Secretaries, both Admiral Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles and General Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, gave speeches this Wednesday in favor of the presence of women in the troops and their progressive advancement to the highest positions in the the military hierarchy. The citizens, somewhere between perplexed and enthusiastic, have seen the uniformed officers insistently greet the presence of a woman in charge of the country. “My supreme commander: under your command, we will sail together,” Morales Ángeles declaimed. The ceremony, solemn and sunny, seemed to dwarf the new measures presented in the morning by Sheinbaum for the well-being of Mexican women.
Mexico has a large legal corpus in favor of the rights, freedoms and protection of women; Political and institutional parity is also a fact in recent years, but substantive equality clashes day after day with a cultural inertia incapable of moving the country away from profound, secular machismo. It is detected in medicine, justice, police tasks, education and of course in the military. However, female visibility seems to have advanced a century in the last three days. There has not been a single protocol act in the last hours where the presence of women surrounding the president was not the majority or exclusive: uniformed, indigenous, government secretaries. In the military salute, we wanted to enhance this gesture by bringing in 10 women who stood before Sheinbaum, from a brigadier general to a sailor.
The intentions in this regard have been highlighted in the speeches. Admiral Morales Ángeles, Secretary of the Navy (Semar) has committed from his civilian position to giving “greater impetus to the gender perspective for substantive equality”, in a Navy determined to consolidate today more than ever the increasingly “prominence of women” in the military ranks. Following his seafaring metaphors, he declared to Sheinbaum: “You take the helm of our ship, a fact that will remain in the history of the nation and that already lives in the hearts of Mexicans.” And even more: “This new leadership of the Armed Forces that you represent entails the force of equality, reason and democracy.” However, the day was preceded by the grim murder of several migrants in Chiapas for which the Army has been officially held responsible. Sheinbaum described what happened as “regrettable.” He later closed ranks with the military over the controversial transfer of the National Guard under the command of the Defense and has insistently denied those who criticize the “militarization” of the country, given the many civilian functions performed by the Army. Despite this, in that chapter he has promised continuity.
When it was Revilla Trejo’s turn to speak, appointed to head the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), he celebrated the “milestone in the national history” of being able to witness the inauguration of the first president who will guide the country’s destiny. ”. And he cited the name of several women with outstanding participation in the arms of the history of Mexico since the revolution of 1910, “such as Amelia Robles, who disguised herself as a man to be able to fight with the revolutionary troops; Adela Velarde, known as Adelita, who initially worked as a nurse in the revolutionary movement; Carmen Alanís, who took up arms in Casas Grandes and who participated in the taking of Ciudad Juárez; Rosa Bobadilla, who joined the Zapatista forces and stood out for her leadership in battle, and Dolores Jiménez, defender of women’s rights, just to name a few. Since then, women have been a fundamental part of the Armed Forces, making their way with effort, talent and perseverance.” The general has promised that opening paths for the current uniformed personnel will be “a priority” in his department.
Sheinbaum had started the day by presenting in the morning conference the first measures that he will take in favor of the rights, freedoms and protection of Mexican women, for which he has announced the modification of several constitutional articles aimed at safeguarding substantive equality, the creation of a booklet of rights and guidance on their achievement for women, the extension of gender prosecutors, police investigation and the administration of justice with a gender perspective, equal pay or financial aid for those between 60 and 64 years old, before collecting the retirement pension, 3,000 pesos every two months that will be granted gradually and that all women from indigenous villages of those ages will obtain from the beginning. “Will there also be equal salaries for female soccer players?” asked a reporter. And the president assured that yes.
The issue that has not yet been addressed in such an explicit way is the sexist violence that kills an average of 10 women a day in Mexico, one of the great blights of politics in Mexico. Reducing the number of femicides is the measure that seems most urgent and possibly the most complex, because it does not depend exclusively on public budgets. The prevention of this crime, its prosecution and punishment is something that will have to be addressed, among others, by the Women’s Secretariat, which is also aware of public accounts. Once the resources granted to this department, also a pioneering creation in the Republic, are known, citizens will have a more exact idea of how far the visibility gestures go and how much substantive policies can remedy them.
#Sheinbaum #surrounds #Army #feminist #gestures