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 Editorials | December 2007 
Calderon Fights Culture of Machismo in Mexico
 San Antonio Express-News
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 |  | As a citizen, as a husband, as a father, as a president, I am worried and indignant over the mistreatment millions of Mexican women still receive.
- President Felipe Calderón |  | |
Bold and defiant, Mexican President Felipe Calderón has done an admirable job taking on the drug lords who have been plaguing his country for decades.
If his efforts have failed to result in unqualified success, it is only because the criminals have infected every part of society, including law enforcement officials sworn to combat the narcotics traffickers.
Now, less than a year after taking office, Calderón is taking on another culture deeply ingrained in Mexican society — the culture of machismo.
The president recently signed legislation aimed at punishing the trafficking and enslavement of women and children, the Associated Press reported.
The new law bolsters other anti-discrimination bills passed last year, but Calderón knows that such measures merely punish behavior; they do not change it.
Delivering comments in an appropriate setting — an event commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women — Calderón said millions of women suffer from workplace discrimination, along with physical and psychological abuse, due to the "culture of machismo" in Mexico.
"As a citizen, as a husband, as a father, as a president, I am worried and indignant over the mistreatment millions of Mexican women still receive," he said.
One man, even one with the power and authority wielded by the president, cannot change a culture, but it is good to see the problem discussed so openly and forthrightly at the highest levels of government.
It may take years to give women the equal treatment they deserve in Mexico, but this is a good start.
If today's daughters and granddaughters witness the burial of machismo in the years to come, the only fitting eulogy will be "good riddance." |
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