La Jornada: Gabriela Rodríguez*
Translated by Amy Johnston
While you are reading this column (written on the afternoon of Thursday 17th), Nestora Salgado is probably already free. Will it happen? If it does, what a great way to celebrate International Women’s Day! [Nestora Salgado was freed this morning, Friday, March 18] It is clear to me that if she is freed, it is thanks to the exceptional work of her lawyers and to the crucial international intervention of the Mexican government on her behalf.
As we know, in Mexico justice is an abstract which has nothing to do with daily experience. The authorities were found liable based on the conclusions of the United Nations’ Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. They surmised that the detention and lack of freedom of the Coordinator of Community Police Force of Olinalá, Guerrero, was illegal and arbitrary and that the judicial process was unfair. It appeared that Ms. Salgado would have been persecuted due to her battle for the rights of the indigenous population and this is a pattern that has been observed in recent years (La Jornada, 3/2/16). The Mexican judicial system treated her as a criminal. It was merciless in accusing her of 50 kidnappings. As a member of the local authority, she defended her people from politicians infiltrated by organized crime and trafficking in women.
Nestora has expressed when she is a free woman she will devote herself to freeing political prisoners who, like her, were unfairly incarcerated. I think that having women like Nestora in positions of power is what we need to strengthen our incipient democracy. Given that the sovereignty of a people is impossible while there are no authorities who fight against impunity, while the majority of the population remains excluded from the prerogative to live in dignity and while women, that is to say, half of the population making up communities and social groups, are persecuted and cannot participate in the decisions about their social environment.
Gender equality is a very politically correct issue, but it does not exist. Public spaces of power are monopolized by the male sex. The difference in figures is immense: Heads of State and Government are filled by men in 90% of countries throughout the world; 83% of ministries and secretariats are led by men and 78% of the seats in congress are occupied by men. There are big regional differences: the highest percentage of women in parliament is 41.1% in Nordic countries, in the rest of Europe and in America it drops to 25%, in Asia and Africa female participation does not even reach 18%. It is documented that in the countries with gender quota systems, the distribution of power between men and women is much improved. In the arena of economics, there are fewer women in powerful positions: with women only making up 16% of governing boards in European businesses.
However, in Mexico, although more women than men exercise the right to vote (55.7), 7% still ask permission to do so. Senator Martha Tagle rightly highlighted that no woman has occupied the office of President, nor have they presided over the nation’s Supreme Court of Justice, and in the legislative field, on only one occasion has a woman taken on presidency of the leadership committee of Congress. Over the course of 55 years and to date, only 10 women have been able to sit on the Supreme Court. Thanks to the principle of electoral parity, we now have 37% of women in the Chamber of Deputies and 33% in the Senate (in the previous administration the proportion was 28% and 17%, respectively). One quarter of legislative committees are also directed by women. In executive offices the situation is serious where only 7 women have been governors. In the cabinet of Enrique Peña Nieto, 88% of cabinet secretariats are led by men. Only Andrés Manuel López Obrador appointed more women than men in the secretariats of the City of Mexico. It was the only cabinet composed of more women than men in our history. The situation is worse in the states: 93% of municipal presidencies [mayors] are currently held by men.
When many women like Nestora Salgado take on positions of power, our country will be different. Since a woman’s body in the post does not guarantee us equality, what is needed, are women who do not reproduce the methods of control of the current political class, but women who redistribute the social opportunities and the means to good living and who can build political equality with honest committed men.
There will not be a change of direction while the women are persecuted and are not participating in the decisions regarding their social environment and while there are no authorities who fight against impunity. Gender equality involves bringing the principles of equality to their logical conclusion, because by recognizing the sexist character of inequality, their political character is also revealed.
Spanish Original
*Gabriela Rodríguez Ramírez has an undergraduate degree in psychology from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and Master in Social Anthropology from the National School of Anthropology and History (ENAH). Her work focuses on educational planning and the study of sexuality and adolescents. She is the founder and managing Director of Afluentes, SC, an organization focused on research and production of sex education materials . She has been a columnist for La Jornada for 10 years. Twitter: @Gabrielarodr108
*Gabriela Rodríguez Ramírez has an undergraduate degree in psychology from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and Master in Social Anthropology from the National School of Anthropology and History (ENAH). Her work focuses on educational planning and the study of sexuality and adolescents. She is the founder and managing Director of Afluentes, SC, an organization focused on research and production of sex education materials . She has been a columnist for La Jornada for 10 years. Twitter: @Gabrielarodr108