Good morning, Broadsheet readers! The Texas Supreme Court strengthens abortion ban with limits on exceptions, Female Founders Fund’s Anu Duggal marks a decade of investing in women’s health, and Mexico elects its first female president. Have a mindful Monday.
– Results are in. Mexico’s voters went to the polls yesterday, where they elected the country’s first female president. Candidate Claudia Sheinbaum is projected to win in a landslide with between 58.3% and 60.7% of the vote. The result, experts say, speaks to the power of Mexico’s ruling Morena party, which will have a major congressional majority as Sheinbaum succeeds her mentor, outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
But for months, it’s been clear that Mexico was poised to elect a female leader. Sheinbaum and Xóchitl Gálvez, both 61, were the only two serious candidates in the race. Sheinbaum was the frontrunner, a climate scientist and the former mayor of Mexico City. Gálvez, a former senator and businesswoman, led a coalition of opposition parties.
“I am also grateful because, for the first time in 200 years of the republic, I will become the first woman president of Mexico,” Sheinbaum said in her victory speech. She’s also the first Jewish leader of the largely Catholic country, which was not a major point of discussion during the campaign.
Gerardo Vieyra—NurPhoto/Getty Images
Women have led several countries throughout Latin America, but Mexico has until now been governed by men; women got the right to vote in 1953. The New York Times has a fascinating analysis into how Mexico got here—and did so before the U.S. The answer is that the country didn’t just wait for voters to slowly, naturally enact progress. A strong “macho” culture has slowly been eroded in politics by a series of reforms that helped elect women to political office. Over several decades, Mexico adopted laws that encouraged representation for women in politics. Then, in 2019, the country made gender parity in all three branches of government a constitutional requirement. Feminist activists pushed for those changes—alongside decades of activism against gender-based violence and femicide.
So Mexico’s election results are a strong argument that waiting for progress to just happen, well, doesn’t work. Indeed, the election of a female president “could not have happened if it had not been for parity” the leader of a group that trains women for office in Mexico told the Times. Half of Mexico’s legislature is female, compared to 30% of the U.S. Congress, the Times points out.
Gender-based quotas for public officeholders are not uncommon globally, although the U.S. has never gotten close to enacting any. The American electoral college makes electing a female leader trickier, too.
Mexico continues to struggle with gender-based violence and femicide; Three thousand women were killed in cases considered femicide in 2023, according to UN Women. As mayor of Mexico City, Sheinbaum instituted reforms including an anti-femicide prosecutor’s office that she’s said she aims to replicate nationally. Meanwhile, Mexico has mainly decriminalized abortion over the past two years (though challenges in accessibility remain) while the U.S. trends in the opposite direction; the issue was not a major topic throughout the presidential campaign.
Voters were cautiously optimistic a female president would take a stronger stance on these life-and-death issues. As Gálvez said before the election: “This is not the time for men.”
Emma Hinchliffe
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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
– Remembering Marian. The Obamas are mourning Michelle’s mother, Marian Robinson, who has died at 86. Robinson moved from Chicago into the White House with the Obamas in 2009, where she helped raise Sasha and Malia. NPR
– Ban strengthened. The Texas Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s decision on Friday that shielded doctors from criminal consequences if they terminated a pregnancy they judged to be a danger to the pregnant person. The lawsuit was filed by 22 women seeking to clarify when abortions are permitted in the state, which only allows exceptions when a pregnancy “poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function.” Axios
– League overlooked. Nike posted on X on Thursday that basketball fans were up against a “week without hoops.” The problem? There were 16 WNBA games on the schedule. The brand deleted the post after WNBA fans reminded Nike of the major omission. Front Office Sports
– Wealth and wellness. Anu Duggal, a founding partner of the Female Founders Fund, described the need for a continued stream of investments into women-led women’s health startups in a new guest essay for Fortune.
– Betting on Trump. Billionaire Miriam Adelson reportedly plans to donate millions to a pro-Trump Super PAC. Adelson and her late husband, casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson, donated $90 million to Trump during the 2020 presidential race. Bloomberg
– New rules. Former U.S. women’s soccer coach Jill Ellis praised new FIFA rules last week that provide a minimum of 14 weeks paid maternity leave for female players and coaches. The new rules will also allow women in the league to collect their full pay if they miss matches or training due to menstrual problems. Reuters
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Bessemer Venture Partners promoted Lindsey Li to vice president. Sally Buzbee is stepping down as editor-in-chief of the Washington Post.
ON MY RADAR
For women climbers, dangers go beyond avalanches and storms New York Times
What AI thinks a beautiful woman looks like Washington Post
Melinda French Gates’ unconditional donations bring doubt, then delight Bloomberg
PARTING WORDS
“I never wanted it to be about making a lot of money and that’s it.”
— Selena Gomez on prioritizing mental health through her brand Rare Beauty
