Mexican politics to visit campus
By Ines Santos
April 11, 2007 9:47 p.m.
Four influential Mexican women plan to come to UCLA today to lecture on and discuss current themes and struggles as well as women’s achievements in Mexican politics.
The women will speak in an event titled “Women in Mexican Politics,” a function sponsored by the Latin American Institute and organized by the UCLA Program on Mexico, which researches Mexican internal and global affairs as well as the U.S.-Mexico relationship. It will be moderated by Carole Browner, a professor of anthropology and psychiatry at UCLA.
“It’s a really exciting moment in Mexican politics because women are playing a bigger role. In ancient Mexico, women were seen as full players and were as important socially, politically and economically as men ““ the Spaniards brought antiquated ideas about women,” she said.
Alfonso Galindo, the UCLA representative in Mexico, said the speakers are all women with significant political experience, though they are in different stages of their careers.
“(The speaker panel) has a wide range that covers all experiences, all ages and all ideologies,” he said.
History Professor James Wilkie, the chairman of the UCLA Program on Mexico, described the debate as an important forum in which Mexican politicians can meet.
“It is very important to have this neutral space for different members of the political sphere to get together, and it’s very rare that women have this opportunity abroad where they can get outside of the propaganda cycle of daily press,” he said.
Though the debate focuses on Mexican politics, Wilkie said the event can have important lessons for Americans as well.
“It illustrates the fact that Mexico has many more women in positions of power than the U.S. does. It’s great that our students can see this,” he said.
Some of the general themes, in addition to the situation of women in Mexican politics, include current topics such as multiple reforms that are either in progress or that Wilkie said are necessary for Mexico’s development.
These proposals, which all influence the country’s politics and the work of these women, include reforms to the police, judiciary and banking systems and address the issues of kidnappings, drug trafficking and water shortage within the country.
“Fortunately, we have these articulate, bright people facing this task. It will be interesting to see how these women will take up all these different aspects and make sense of what needs to be done,” Wilkie said.
Another theme is the proposed legislation to legalize abortion, which is illegal in Mexico and most countries in Latin America and highly contested by some political parties.
The UCLA Program on Mexico organizes activities to educate the L.A. community on the realities of Mexican politics.
“(We want) to make people in Los Angeles aware of the reality of our southern neighbor, (and) that includes, but is beyond, immigration,” Galindo said.
This is the first of three major events planned for this year. A visit from three Mexican governors from different Mexican states is scheduled for May 21.
Later in the year, a conference is scheduled that will evaluate the first year of Felipe Caldéron’s presidency.
