In municipalities, greater lag in gender parity

Fabiola Martinez, Eduardo Murillo and Cesar Arellano

Newspaper La Jornada
Thursday March 9, 2023, p. 10

The greatest gap in parity in the public sphere is found in the municipalities, because of 2,471 in the country, only 525 are governed by women, warned the National Electoral Institute (INE) at the commemorative act of International Women’s Day.

Councillors, specialists and activists agreed that the local level is far from the constitutional mandate of parity. The highest incidence of gender-based political violence is also concentrated at that level of government, since of 277 aggressors, 72 percent are from the municipal sphere. Both factors inhibit women’s participation under equal conditions.

The president of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), Norma Lucía Piña Hernández, also recognized the historical debt of the Judicial Power of the Federation (PJF) with women and promised to give permanent attention to those who are in situations vulnerable and seeking justice.

In the PJF we have to remain silent and listen to the women who march, who shout in the streets, who give voice to those who are silent and remind us of those who spoke for the first time. The only voices that should be heard today are theirssaid the minister.

Meanwhile, the counselor Norma de la Cruz, president of the INE’s Gender Equality and Non-Discrimination Commission, assured that in 2023 the gap in representation of women at the municipal level in Mexico is abysmal.

Award

Meanwhile, General Luis Cresencio Sandoval González, Secretary of National Defense, led the ceremony in which he awarded decorations to 40 women belonging to the Army, the Air Force and the National Guard, who stood out for their professionalism and dedication in activities in benefit of the armed forces.

She recalled that the members of the Mexican Army have a high degree of training, such as Sergeant Cecilia Canto Galicia, the first woman to perform a military free fall jump in the Plaza de la Constitución during the 2019 military civic parade. And Lieutenant Dulce Roxana Escudero Granados, who in October 2022 became the first woman to successfully complete the special forces officer course..