Breathe
By Flor Aydeé Rodríguez Campos
This October 17 marked the 71st anniversary of women's suffrage in our country and this makes me think about several things, among them that 71 years is nothing. Surely our grandmothers or even our mothers are those women who voted for the first time, who bravely went to the polls, and I say bravely because I am sure they were judged for daring to decide on issues of Mexico's political life. Let us remember that gender roles, especially 71 years ago, inferred that women's place was at home taking care of their children, it was not at all normal for women to participate in public spaces. Nowadays we do not reflect on these kinds of things because we assume that the context and circumstances were the same as the ones we live in today because we hear all the time that "politics is still the same", but talking about women's participation in politics necessarily takes us back to the history of women's suffrage.
Today, when we have the first woman President of the Republic, beyond the personal or ideological approval of the citizens, it is a good moment to remember all that we women have gone through so that she could occupy this position. We do not forget that in 1953 the Constitution recognized us as citizens, that is to say, we obtained the right to vote and be elected to public office. We continue to honor those first efforts of women to conquer this right in the First Feminist Congress in Yucatan in 1916, when for the first time we Mexicans collectively united to raise our voices and demand the right to passive and active voting rights for women, therefore it is necessary to emphasize that we obtained this right by fighting, not by asking for it as a favor or giving thanks, It was many women who came before us who formed a movement known as the "Suffragette Movement" that originated in the United States at the end of the 1840s, and in the United Kingdom where women began to raise their voices to demand their participation in public life and were repressed, imprisoned and even lost their lives.
Suffragism becomes important because it is when women claimed our autonomy and we did it separately from other movements. Kate Sheppard, Emmeline Pankhurst, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Olympe de Gouges, Paulina Luisi, Clara Campoamor, Hermila Galindo, Laureana Wright, Elvira Carrillo Puerto, Refugio "Cuca" García and Amalia González Caballero are names we must not forget, they are the ones who fought so that today we can freely exercise this right.
The electoral process of July 2, 2024 is historic not only because a woman was elected President, but also because it was the largest electoral process with the largest number of female candidates in the history of Mexico, thanks to the reforms that have been carried out, such as the reform for parity, parity at all levels, the one that recognizes gender-based political violence and even the Law 3 of 3. The main challenge at present is the increase in gender-based political violence due to the greater participation of women in electoral processes, either within political parties, as pre-candidates, candidates and as officials when they are already in office.
My intention in sharing these reflections is to raise awareness about how much it has cost us women to be taken into account in the public and political life of our country and the world in general. Let us always keep in mind that voting is a way of honoring all those women who fought and did not see their cause materialize, but today we make a difference because we not only represent more than 50 percent of the population and the electoral roll, but we also represent 43 percent of voters (INE's 2021 federal elections citizen participation study), which means that women are the ones who currently define the political course of Mexico.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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