Women and Politics

Abstract

W ithout a doubt, the success ful organization of the most recent federal elections was a definitive step toward the consolidation of democracy in Mex ico, particularly with regard to the public’s trust in elections. And, I am entirely convinced that its success is due in great part to women’s committed political efforts.1 On July 2, great numbers of women participated in the most diverse ways: as polling booth officials, party representatives at polling booths, electoral observers, electoral officials and coun cilors in all levels of electoral councils and, of course, as candidates and voters (we might note, however, that we did take one step backward in that no woman ran for president in this race). This could lead us to believe —erro neously— that, in addition to other de m ocratic objectives reached, im portant advances had been made with regard to gender equality in political participation. This would be even more the case if we take into consideration the November 22, 1996 electoral reform which stipulated that: