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There is a video showing a man harassing Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and her response is for everyone.
“If they do this to the president, what happens to all the other women in the country?” This is what Claudia Sheinbaum, president of Mexico , said after a man harassed her during a public event. The incident was filmed and the video released: you can clearly see what happened.
Sheinbaum was in Mexico City. In the video, she is seen speaking to a group of supporters on a street near the National Palace. Then the man approaches and touches her inappropriately before the president’s staff notices and intervenes.
The Attack
The man tried to kiss the president on the neck and touch her body from behind. She pushed his hands away and then turned to face him. At that point, a staff member stepped between them. The man was later arrested by Mexican police , and the president held a public address at a press conference where she discussed the incident. She said she didn’t immediately realize what was happening and that she only realized what had happened through the video, which leaves no room for ambiguity. She also said she intends to press charges.
“My opinion is: if I don’t file a complaint, what will happen to other Mexican women?” she declared. “If they do this to the president, what will happen to all the women in our country?” “I decided to file a complaint because it’s an experience I’ve had as a woman, and that we women are going through in our country ,” she added. “I’ve had it before, when I wasn’t president, when I was a student.” “We need to draw a line,” she declared.
Harassment of women in politics
In Mexico, as several feminist groups have highlighted in their comments on the incident, there is a serious problem of gender-based violence. An estimated 98% of femicides in the country go unpunished, and according to a 2021 survey, 70% of Mexican women over the age of 15 reported at least one incident of violence. In the case of the presidents, a problem emerges that goes beyond the Mexican context and concerns hatred and misogynism toward women, who are most exposed, especially if they hold political office.
A 2018 study by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, “Sexism, Harassment and Violence against Women in European Parliaments,” found that 85.2% of female parliamentarians interviewed had experienced psychological violence during their term of office, 46.9% had received death threats or threats of rape or assault , 58.2% had been the target of sexist online attacks on social media, 67.9% had been the target of comments related to their physical appearance or based on gender stereotypes, 24.7% had experienced sexual violence, and 14.8% had experienced physical violence. Cases of harassment or violence are more frequent among younger women or those active in the fight against gender inequality. “Women in politics are constantly exposed to violence and the threat of violence in the performance of their representative functions,” the report states. The incident involving Claudia Sheinbaum thus demonstrates one of the myriad forms that gender-based violence takes, endangering women’s political voices and the very foundation of democracy: “It constitutes a violation of fundamental human rights, including the obligation to ensure that women can participate fully, freely, and safely in political processes.”