Sheinbaum promises gender parity throughout ‘government’

The elected president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, committed this Thursday to maintaining gender parity in senior positions in “the entire Government”, as well as in the reform to renew the Judicial Branch promoted by the ruling party.

“We must ensure that, at least throughout the Government, there continues to be parity in the highest positions,” declared Sheinbaum in a press conference after ratifying Zoé Robledo as head of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) in his next government.

Likewise, the next president, who will assume the presidency as of October 1, commented that she has given instructions to the heads of each agency “so that there is also parity downwards.” “Because sometimes there is parity in the secretariats and then below There are two undersecretaries and men are placed in both, for example,” criticized Sheinbaum.

The future president, who will be the first woman to occupy the presidency of the country, also indicated that parity is also proposed in the reform of the Judicial Branch, which she is promoting together with the outgoing president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

“It is something that the deputies and senators will have to determine, because they are proposing that there be nine (ministers), it is odd, in the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN),” said the former head of Government of Mexico City (2018-2023). ).

For this reason, Sheinbaum pointed out that there could be four men and five women, or vice versa, depending on the criteria that the legislators define in the reform document.

In that sense, he proposed the guidelines of the National Electoral Institute (INE) for defining candidates in the recent elections, in which there were nine state governments in dispute and four women won.

“(The INE) defined the criterion that there should be more women, for example, in the governorships it now decided that there would be more women candidates, as it was an odd number, than men who applied,” said Sheinbaum.

But he insisted that “the deputies would have to define it and then it could be something similar.”

Currently the SCJN is made up of 11 ministers, six men and five women, including President Norma Piña, the first woman to hold that position, but the judicial reform proposes reducing the number to nine and subjecting the position to popular election.

As for Sheinbaum’s legal and expanded cabinet, so far she has announced 10 women and 11 men who will accompany her in her Government, including Robledo.