Breathe
By Sabina Berman
There is no possible calculation of the symbolic value of having a woman president in Mexico. It would be an affirmation of the capacity of the feminine in every skull and every family and every national school.
But a woman presiding over the country does not guarantee a feminist presidency. And from this, the argument of a male candidate may follow. I am not a woman, you may say, but I am more feminist than the available female candidates.
But what does it mean to be a feminist today?
It is not a simple answer. Feminism today has at least three layers and it is important to talk about each one in order to appreciate the depth of feminism that will undoubtedly be sold to us by the candidates in 2024.
Progressive feminism aims for women to have the same opportunities as men in the current patriarchal capitalist system and asserts that a woman can be like a man.
This is the individualistic, good-natured and superficial feminism that neoliberals love, and which will undoubtedly be touted by all candidates, and which is complemented by the promise to reduce crimes against women.
Not bad. It's not an exciting breakthrough either.
The next layer of feminism asserts that it is society that must change to become more feminine. The patriarchy must be dismantled in its structure and the State must become one that attends to what we women have been attending to for centuries and has been invisible.
Namely, the care of children, the care of the sick, the weak and the elderly, the feeding and care of the family and domestic work.
That is to say, a feminist president in the second degree, would want to turn the world upside down. That which was not visible and did not matter, he would put it in the foreground of visibility and responsibility of the State.
This is the structural feminism that already exists in several European countries and is emerging in other Latin American countries, where day-care centers, remuneration for domestic work, health care and other "feminine" services are already public policy.
To my understanding, this is the feminism that women want.
Third feminism is often called utopian from the outside. Those who live it from the inside know that it is not. It is indeed the feminism that holds the greatest promise for the human being and at the same time the one that can be accessed individually without the collaboration of anyone, neither the State nor other human beings.
This is the feminism that aims to completely dismantle patriarchy in the social and/or in bodies, to turn the world upside down - to put food, health, care first - and (this is the addition to the previous feminism) to reconnect human beings with Nature .
It is environmentalist or radical feminism.
We do not need laws made by Men (or Women), affirms this feminism, we need to align ourselves to the laws of Nature, the only real ones.
Here we are already out of the real political offer. There will not be a feminist candidate like this in Mexico in the next twenty years. Unfortunately.
In any case, it is worthwhile to open up the map of possible feminisms, so that women do not settle for the minuscule offer that some politician whose publicist has advised her to call herself a feminist and has handed her a card with only one sentence written on it.
Reduce violence against women. It goes without saying that this should be the first demand women make of all presidential candidates. Beyond that, there is much more. Much more.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of Opinion 51.
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