MEXICO CITY, Nov 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday launched a nationwide drive against sexual harassment and abuse, after shocking video of a man groping her brought the widespread issue into stark focus.
The country’s first woman leader presented a plan to ensure prison sentences for sexual abuse across Mexico and to encourage women to report incidents to police.
On Tuesday, the 63-year-old doctor of engineering was accosted as she walked through Mexico City.
A seemingly drunken man put his arm around her shoulder, touched her hip and chest, and attempted to kiss her neck, before a member of the president’s security detail pulled him away.
The incident, captured on video by multiple people nearby, made global headlines and focused attention on the dangers and harassment suffered by many Mexican women.
Sheinbaum said she did not initially realize the extent of what was happening, but had pressed charges against the man so that other Mexican women “do not feel alone.”
He was later arrested and accused of assaulting two other women on the same day.
She also ordered a review of the widely diverging laws on sexual harassment and abuse across Mexico’s 32 states.
The UN says around 70 percent of Mexican girls and women aged 15 and over will experience at least one incident of sexual harassment in their lives.
“I don’t wear dresses on the street for that very reason,” said Yunue Valera, a 23-year-old dental student.
“I think every woman here in Mexico has experienced something like this at some point,” she said.
“I haven’t met anyone who hasn’t suffered some kind of harassment on the underground, in the street, on public transport, walking home, going to the shops, anywhere. I think it’s something that’s very normalized here.”
While many cheered Sheinbaum’s moves, she was forced to address widespread skepticism about whether the Mexican authorities would take complaints seriously.
“There must be institutions and a government that supports” victims, she said.
She called for an “efficient and quick” reporting system “that truly allows justice to be served,” but gave no details.
Nineteen-year-old street food vendor Adriana Abelino said the current system was stacked against women.
“Filing a complaint, they don’t listen to you anymore, to be honest. They don’t listen to you, so what’s the point of filing a complaint if they’re not going to listen to you?”
Sexual harassment in public spaces is so widespread in Mexico that women-only metro cars have been introduced in the capital.
Citlalli Hernandez, Secretary for Women, said more than 25,000 complaints of sexual harassment have been filed so far this year.
The scale of the problem is believed to be far greater, however. — NNN-AGENCIES