In front of everyone, Claudia Sheinbaum / Elena Poniatowska

As a journalist and writer, I think that the fact that Claudia Sheinbaum will lead our country in the next six years strengthens our faith in ourselves and encourages our desire to improve. As a result of their triumph, many aspiring university students will insist on their career, many shop assistants, many athletes, nurses, and office secretaries will feel that they can achieve unexpected recognition. That’s why Sheinbaum’s statement is so important: I don’t arrive alone, we all arrivethe most encouraging motto of recent years.

By launching those words from the public square, he strengthened our vocation for study and our personal desire to improve. In addition to exalting us, his appointment unites us, because at his side we feel that we too can improve ourselves and stand out in our efforts. His insistence on I don’t arrive alone, we all arrive It hits the nail on the head of our insecurities and the image we have of ourselves.

Several women experienced Claudia Sheinbaum’s triumph as a staff. “Undoubtedly,” says feminist Marta Lamas, “the arrival of Claudia Sheinbaum to the Presidency is a historical and symbolic fact, but what seems most significant to me is that it is precisely Claudia who comes to power, because she has a project for the women. Your slogan, I don’t arrive alone, we all arriveassures us that she has experienced the conflicts that Mexicans who reconcile work and family have. Claudia knows what it’s like to have a sick child at home and not be able to get to work or stay up late to finish her thesis.

“Claudia plans to launch her National Care System project with agricultural laborers and maquila workers. I am certain that this project will be the lever to achieve structural change in our society. The issue of public space, private space, the issue of caring for the elderly or those with disabilities, and the case of sick people who are tied up at home so that they do not get lost has always worried our society. Claudia points to a very important structural change. Therefore, beyond the symbolic and historical fact, it seems to me that his mandate is going to change the lives of women in our country.

“I also think that we should not mystify or believe that because she is a woman she will stop making mistakes. No, no, Claudia is a human being. In countries where a President makes a mistake, it is often said: ‘Ah, women don’t know how to govern!’ We must have a balanced view, in the sense of recognizing that what is important and significant about the moment we are now living in is that Sheinbaum comes to power, because he has already shown that he knows how to govern.

“I am worried about expectations in situations that matter a lot to us women, because they are not going to change anytime soon; For example, the issue of femicides, which will not be resolved in his six years of government, because it is a structural violence of the microcapitalism that we now experience; He will be able to lay the foundations for a different policy, and perhaps in three six-year terms we will manage, thanks to his management, to end femicides in Mexico City.

Claudia does not have a magic wand with which she can end the barbarity and horror that are femicides and violence against women, because we must also end the violence of men. I would say: let’s be happy that Claudia Sheinbaum is arriving, but at the same time let’s also give her the opportunity to lay the foundations for the changes we want, and let’s not have any illusions that because she is a woman she will be able to change everything.

The documentary filmmaker Soco Aguilar is enthusiastic: I like her very much. I think it’s wonderful that she became President because women are always subject to the decisions made by men. I hope with all my heart that Claudia, so prepared, achieves this independence of action and decision for us..

I am Carolina Aranda, I am 27 years old. I finished my bachelor’s degree in literature at the University of the Americas, Puebla. On October 1st I woke up and felt different because Claudia is my president. The first thing I thought of was all the witches burned at the stake in the 14th century; I thought about the women of the Mexican Revolution, like Jesusa Palancares; in the women who searched for their missing children, like Rosario Ibarra de Piedra, and in others who still have a child disappear whose absence becomes a daily suffering.

“I am María Martínez; I have two children, Alejandro and Nayeli; I am 55 years old and I am a domestic worker. Having that job helped me a lot to support my two children; My son Alejandro Ramírez is 18 years old, he finished his transportation engineering degree at the Polytechnic… I am proud to have been able to help him by employing me in the housework. I am glad that a woman leads the country, because I feel that we are improving, that there is more equality. Now I see that more women study.”

“I am Yunuhen González and I am a folklore dancer. As a Mexican, I am excited that we are a benchmark by having the first female president. Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, to name a few nations, have already achieved it, and although in Mexico women have taken responsibility for highly relevant public positions, the Presidency seemed unattainable. I remember that the first time I went to vote, Patricia Mercado was the only woman running for the Presidency of Mexico; Josefina Vázquez Mota followed and now Claudia Sheinbaum wins, much to my pleasure. In these 2024 elections, it seems to me that the role of women in politics was strong enough to establish two options; stop being a ‘female representation’ in their respective parties to become protagonists of the great electoral contest. Now, with Claudia Sheinbaum in the Presidency, there is hope, because her victory is an example to follow for thousands of women and girls who dream of going as far as possible. When the President says: ‘I’m not here alone, we’re all here,’ her message is formidable, because thousands of mothers, students, day laborers, artisans trust that she will do a great job as the first President of Mexico.”

María Consuelo Mejía, who was director of Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir shares with us: “For the first time in its 200 years as a Republic, Mexico has a President, Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, physicist, environmental and energy engineer; In her words, a humanist scientist with deep love for her country and her people.

“In Mexico, machismo continues to be a dominant attitude in relationships between women and men, as well as misogyny that is expressed in the very high levels of violence against women, adolescents and girls. In this sexist and misogynistic country, Claudia won with 35 million votes, more than López Obrador obtained in 2018, and with a distance of 30 points from his closest contender. A truly historic victory.

“Claudia Sheinbaum champions a project for a progressive and inclusive nation, which she has called ‘Mexican humanism’, in which, like her predecessor, she puts the most unprotected classes at the center: for the good of all, she said in these days, first the indigenous women, first the poor.

Without a doubt, to implement her policies, she will face obstacles and will have to resolve them with the support of an excellent government team and the 35 million people who voted for her. Issues such as the consequences of climate change, drug trafficking, generalized violence, the political balance necessary to strengthen democracy, water scarcity and the possible victory of Trump will have to be addressed as a priority. Our first President does not have it easy!

At 92 years old (71 in journalism), the emotion of seeing Claudia Sheinbaum become President is immense. In my childhood and youth I knew about queens for a day and princesses who lost their shoe, like Cinderella, and were rescued by a man, but I never imagined that a woman would rescue an entire town; I never thought that Mexico would be governed by a university student, a social activist, the daughter of the scientist Annie Pardo, next to whom I sat at the inauguration on October 1st and I couldn’t tell her how proud I felt to be there with her and to share the triumph of Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.