By: Kingsley Wong

On June 2, 2024, Claudia Sheinbaum made news by becoming Mexico’s first female president. She is also the first Jewish person to hold the position of president in this mostly Catholic country. Her accomplishment is all the more amazing in light of the fact that women in Mexico did not have the right to vote until 1953, 71 years ago.

“For the first time in 200 years of the republic, I will become the first female president of Mexico,” Sheinbaum declared to supporters. “And as I have said on other occasions, I do not arrive alone. We all arrived, with our heroines who gave us our homeland, with our ancestors, our mothers, our daughters, and granddaughters.”

Sheinbaum is 61 years old, and she led Mexico City’s administration. She is not trained as a politician, though. Sheinbaum holds a PhD in energy engineering and works as a climate scientist. She has devoted her career to advocating for the switch from fossil fuels to clean energy sources.

On October 1, 2024, Sheinbaum will begin her presidential term. She will also confront numerous obstacles. She is planning to speak about the increase in violence in Mexico. She intends to put surveillance cameras across the country and increase the number of police personnel in order to address this problem.

Even though Sheinbaum has a difficult task ahead of her, she has already had a big influence. Becoming the first female president of Mexico has demonstrated to women and girls around the world that achieving gender equality on the international scene is attainable.

Many people have comments and strong opinions about how Sheinbaum got elected. A Mexican resident, Edelmira Montiel stated how, “I never imagined that one day I would vote for a woman.” “Before, we couldn’t even vote, and when you could, it was for the person your husband told you to vote for. Thank God that has changed and I get to live it.” This shows that even girls can change the world, and every government should not only be patriarchy.