Women This Week: Mexico to Elect First Woman President

Claudia Sheinbaum Makes History 

This week, Claudia Sheinbaum became the first female president of Mexico. Sheinbaum, who is of Jewish heritage, is a former mayor of Mexico City and an environmental scientist. She is a member of the ruling Morena party—which garnered 58 percent of the vote—and a mentee of the outgoing president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. “For the first time in 200 years of the republic, I will become the first female president of Mexico,” she said. “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 our granddaughters.” Sheinbaum’s win comes at a time when election violence continues to threaten candidates, politicians, and public servants. Dozens of candidates have been killed since last June, including a woman mayor in western Mexico, and even more have been threatened by local criminal groups.  

Texas Supreme Court Rejects Abortion Lawsuit 

The Texas Supreme Court has ruled to vacate a lawsuit that challenged the state’s abortion ban as being too vague about what qualifies as an exception to the ban. Texas bans abortions at roughly six weeks unless the pregnancy threatens the mother’s life or health in a way that would result in “substantial impairment of a major bodily function.” The lawsuit was brought by two doctors and twenty women who were denied abortions after being told their pregnancies were no longer viable but did not yet meet the “medical emergency” criteria for abortion access under state law. “I gave birth to my daughter, and I watched my daughter suffocate,” one plaintiff shared. “It’s just not something that anyone should have to see.” Experts believe this ruling may shed light on next month’s anticipated U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding how close to death or serious physical impairment a woman must be before being allowed to terminate her pregnancy.  

Argentine Women’s Soccer Players Walk Out Over Humiliating Conditions 

Last week, four members of Argentina’s national women’s soccer team quit over low pay and poor training conditions. Goalkeeper Laurina Oliveiros, defenders Julieta Cruz and Eliana Stábile, and midfielder Lorena Benítez expressed frustration over poor treatment—including no financial compensation for some local games and inadequate food. “Do I leave my children, my family, my club, my job, to go to a place where they don’t value us as athletes, where they can’t give us the basics?” Benítez said. “We have been carrying a lot of things throughout all these years of representing our country, many colleagues have left for the same reasons, for feeling sadness and not joy every time it is time to be there.”