Like Mexico, America should elect a female president: Navarrette

Americans could learn a thing or two from their southern neighbor by electing a female president on Nov. 5. — Image credit: Getty Images

When Claudia Sheinbaum took office as Mexico’s first female president in over 200 years of independence, she inherited a country facing serious challenges. The 61-year-old environmental engineer and climate scientist is tasked with addressing rampant cartel violence, a massive budget deficit, and regions devastated by hurricanes. In a nation where women didn’t gain the right to vote until 1953, her landslide victory marks the first time a woman has won a general election in the United States, Mexico, or Canada.

Watch the video above as Straight Arrow News contributor Ruben Navarrette suggests that Americans could learn from their southern neighbor by electing a female president.

Be the first to know when Ruben Navarrette publishes a new opinion! Download the Straight Arrow News app and enable push notifications today!

The following is an excerpt from the above video:

This business about how Mexican men lord over their women is a fairy tale. Anyone who thinks that Mexican women are submissive has never actually met one. Say, maybe it’s about time we stop stereotyping Mexico and start tackling the systemic sexism and male chauvinism that exists north of the border here in the United States. It’s a man’s world, especially when a woman is running for president. That’s the ultimate glass ceiling, and we make it more difficult than it has to be to shatter it.

Men have it easy. Women, not so much. If a woman is too strong, she’s told to be more feminine. If she’s too feminine, she’s told that she’s not strong enough. She has to be smart, but not know it all. She has to be assertive, but not overbearing. She has to be likable, but also extremely qualified and substantive. I get tired just thinking about the obstacle course that women have to navigate just to run for president.

Well, on Nov. 5, Americans have a shot at redemption. A majority of voters might just decide that the best man for the job is a woman and elect Kamala Harris, the first female president of the United States. This will be the latest of several chances that Americans have had to make this kind of history in the last half century.

Since Representative Shirley Chisholm, Democrat from New York, ran for president in 1972, a string of female candidates have tried their luck in getting to the White House. All of them faced obstacles, and many of those obstacles were, shall we say, man-made.

You sometimes it seems like Mexico’s number one export is bad news. You have drug cartels running wild, terrorizing average citizens. You have a dreamer drain, where all the daring and hardworking Mexicans live. In another country, the United States, you have a stagnant economy despite abundant natural resources. So it was a nice change of pace to recently witness my ancestral homeland, the country that produced my grandfather and my wife make history by electing and swearing in its first president. Claudia scheinbaum is a 61 year old environmental engineer and PhD climate scientist who carries the banner of the populous Marana party, a former mayor of Mexico City who speaks English fluently, scheinbaum is also the first Jewish person to lead this overwhelmingly Catholic country at a time when anti semitism is surging around the globe, Mexico is sending a powerful message to the contrary, but it’s a mixed message. One of the things that helped put scheinbaum in the presidency is her alliance with the outgoing populous Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, better known as AMLO, many observers expect that shine bomb will follow amlo’s lead on many of the tougher issues, like how to handle powerful cartels and criminal syndicates. Amlo’s approach had been hugs, not bullets, a program that offered government aid and social programs with the intent of uplifting the working class so as to make cartels less attractive. Scheinbaum wants to continue down that dubious path. Still making history is no small thing. Mexico beat the United States to the punch when it came to electing the country’s first female president. So much for machismo. I never put much stock into that nonsense to begin with, like Cinco de Mayo, the fake Mexican holiday, which was created by us beer companies to sell more kegs north of the border. This business about how Mexican men lord over their women is a fairy tale. Anyone who thinks that Mexican women are submissive has never actually met one. Say maybe it’s about time we stop stereotyping Mexico and start tackling the systemic sexism and male chauvinism that exists north of the border here in the United States, it’s a man’s world, especially when a woman is running for president. That’s the ultimate glass ceiling, and we make it more difficult than it has to be to shatter it. Men have it easy. Women, not so much. If a woman is too strong, she’s told to be more feminine. If she’s too feminine, she’s told that she’s not strong enough. She has to be smart, but not know it all. She has to be assertive, but not overbearing. She has to be likable, but also extremely qualified and substantive. I get tired just thinking about the obstacle course that women have to navigate just to run for president. Well, on November 5, Americans have a shot at redemption. A majority of voters might just decide that the best man for the job is a woman and elect Kamala Harris, the first female president of the United States. This will be the latest of several chances that Americans have had to make this kind of history in the last half century since representative Shirley Chisholm, Democrat from New York, ran for president in 1972 a string of female candidates have tried their luck in getting to the White House. All of them faced obstacles, and many of those obstacles were, shall we say, man made. Meanwhile, South of the border, Mexico seems to have figured out a better and fairer and more inclusive way to elect its leaders. Here’s one area where Americans could learn a thing or two from our neighbors. I I’m.