Mexico City, Mexico - Earlier this month, Josefina Vázquez Mota became Mexico’s first female presidential candidate backed by a major party. Her nomination has been called both a step forward for Mexico and a shrewd move by the conservative National Action Party.

In the fall, when she was still a "pre-candidate," I heard Vázquez Mota speak. In a wide-ranging conversation that covered education (she used to be Mexico's education secretary,) the drug wars, and other topics, she also told a group of journalists and policymakers about wise words Argentine President Cristina Kirchner once shared with her.

Speaking about how to be a female politician in Latin America, Kirchner told Vázquez Mota, "One should govern without your mustache on," or (loosely translated) don't try to be a man.

It seems that Vázquez Mota has taken that advice to heart. The New York Times noted last week that she is using her gender to her advantage, "not as a feminist but as a comforting maternal figure rooted in traditional values."

Along those same lines, National Public Radio (NPR) recently asked whether she can fight the country’s culture of machismo. NPR reports:

On the campaign trail, Vázquez Mota embraces that she's a woman and mother, though she avoids marketing herself as a candidate specifically for women. Earlier this month, her rival Pena Nieto said he didn't know the price of tortillas because he was not "the woman of the house." Vázquez Mota's response? She has raised children and kept the fridge stocked, she says — all while running the federal social services agency.