Claudia Sheinbaum has a story to tell — and we need to listen

Simone de Beauvoir argued in her book The Second Sex that humanity is male and man defines woman not in herself but as relative to him she is not regarded as an autonomous being Seventy-five years later in Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo was elected by a huge margin to become the first woman and the first Jewish president of Mexico In her inaugural speech she famously proclaimed that for the first time we women have arrived to drive the destiny of our beautiful nation And I say we got here because I didn t get here by myself all women did Still the U S and international media are struggling to understand Sheinbaum in herself and as an autonomous human being beyond the shadows of the world s majority of powerful men Sheinbaum says she wants to represent Mexican women on their own terms and as drivers of a nation Still the U S and international media are struggling to understand Sheinbaum in herself and as an autonomous human being beyond the shadows of the world s the greater part powerful men In the U S Sheinbaum is generally represented in relation to President Donald Trump who to make matters more uncomfortable is known for his rampant misogyny and history of perpetrating sexual abuse against women How will she respond to his threatened percent tariffs on Mexican goods Will she allow him to send U S armed forces into Mexico to fight the Mexican drug cartels of which according to Trump she is so scared she can t think straight The answer from Sheinbaum has been a resounding no She also received ample U S news coverage when Trump called her tough and a lovely woman prompting various media outlets to scrutinize what exactly she had done to earn the President s praise On the other hand The Atlantic disclosed that Sheinbaum can truly surrender to Trump and that her secret is in fact her ongoing appeasement of the man And even though she was honored by an invitation to represent Mexico at the G Summit a clear testament to her skilled diplomacy Mexican right-wing commentators merely concluded that Trump stood her up when he left the G early presumably to deliberate the U S entering Israel s war against Iran Related Hope in the face of Kamala Harris loss Men failed America but women will not give up so easily Meanwhile on both sides of the U S -Mexico edge Sheinbaum is sometimes depicted in terms of her relationship to former Mexican President Andr s Manuel L pez Obrador AMLO A popular slogan during her presidential campaign was Es Ella la de AMLO or She is AMLO s candidate Sheinbaum s right-wing critics have called her AMLO s shadow and pawn and her measured analytical mannerisms are contrasted unflatteringly to AMLO s folksy charisma Additionally as the first Jewish president of Mexico an identity that I have argued elsewhere has gotten Sheinbaum targeted at the intersection of sexism and antisemitism she is also defined in relation to powerful men Since winning last year s polling she has continued to face sexist and antisemitic attacks both in protests and online with specific activists and social media trolls claiming that Benjamin Netanyahu controls her political agenda This despite the fact that Sheinbaum formally recognized Nayda Rasheed as the Palestinian ambassador to Mexico and stated that Mexico condemns the aggression being endured by the Palestinian people Of lesson Sheinbaum s connections to these men are defining features of her presidency they most of certainly do deserve serious analysis Trump s presidency challenges both Mexico s sovereignty and the well-being of individual Mexicans on both sides of the frontier Furthermore Sheinbaum herself has committed to continuing the so-called fourth transformation of her predecessor AMLO she frequently calls her own presidency that transformation s second floor But if we only define Sheinbaum in relation to these male leaders we forget that a Mexican woman is indeed driving the destiny of Mexico Want more sharp takes on politics Sign up for our free newsletter Standing Room Only written by Amanda Marcotte now also a weekly show on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts So how can we have better conversations about Sheinbaum especially in the United States where analyses of women in politics generally devolve into unbridled misogyny One approach favored by a multitude of Mexican pundits is to train our focus on Sheinbaum s rational scientific approach to community guidelines which stems from her extensive academic work as an applied physicist and force engineer as well as her tenure as Mexico City s head of authorities This has led specific right-wing critics to call Sheinbaum boring much like former German Chancellor Angela Merkel another boring female-scientist-turned political-leader who was aptly described in a New Yorker profiled as the quiet German making every effort to appear uninteresting The drawback is that unlike Merkel whose uninteresting persona became one of her recognized superpowers Sheinbaum s own sober politics are contrasted detrimentally to AMLO s feisty wit I propose that instead we employ a version of the Bechdel Test asking whether two named female characters in a movie ever discuss anything other than a man Rather than constantly assessing Sheinbaum s politics as reactions to moves made by men why not examine how her own policies and ideas are being engaged by other Mexican women Mexican Jews and Muslims and participants in various Mexican social movements We need your help to stay independent Subscribe at present to help Salon s progressive journalism We could explore for instance why Mexican feminists have had varied reactions to Sheinbaum s ballot While multiple are supportive various worry that she is insufficiently committed to supporting feminist efforts to halt femicides Selected even claim her agenda truly lacks a distinctive feminist perspective Similarly we might explore what Sheinbaum s presidency signifies for non-Christian communities in Mexico the numbers of which are on the rise Ilan Stavans a leading scholar of Jewish heritage and identity in Mexico and Latin America wrote in the New York Times that Sheinbaum s presidential candidacy as a Jewish woman has redrawn the role of minority groups in Mexico arguing that it will bring about a positive and definitive change These are a few of the big fascinating questions we should be exploring about Mexico s president They certainly make for a more intriguing narrative arc by helping us define Sheinbaum in Beauvoir s words in herself They also encourage critical analysis of why Mexico unlike the U S was willing and able to elect a woman and a person of Jewish ancestry to its highest political office Sheinbaum is indeed leading one of our largest part key partners on the international stage and if we fail to tell that story it s our loss Read more about this topic I feel like I ve lost my country Americans who oppose Trump are now looking for the exits Trump s plan to wage war with cartels will backfire experts say Chaos financial sector Trump s new tariffs signal dark days for America The post Claudia Sheinbaum has a story to tell and we need to listen appeared first on Salon com