LyrArc Article Gist
Women made large gains in the 2018 Mexico elections. WOmen won 49.2% of Mexico's 128 member Senate for a 50% increase. WOmen also won 47.8% of the lower house of Congress. In Mexico City, a city of 8.9 million people, the first female mayor was elected. In a country with macho politics this is a stunning change. A UN study shows only Belgium has a larger representation in the upper legislative chamber, and only Rwanda, Bolivia and Cuba have ahigher representation in the lower house of parliament.

Not all the momentum for women comes from the election of Lopez Obrador. In 2014 the constitution of Mexico was changed requiring poltical parties to have male and female candidates in equal numbers at the federal, state and local levels. In fact of the more than 83,000 candidates seeking office nationwide, 50.4% were women. More than 89 million people registered to vote and female voters were 51.9% of the total. Mr. Lopez Obrador's encouragement added to the fervour for women to vote and women to fight for political office. It also helped Claudia Sheinbaum , a 56 year ol environmental engineer win the election for Mayor of Mexico City by a landslide. Sheinbaum was environmental chief under Mr. Obrador when he was Mayor 2000-2005. Her platform was to improve drinking water supplies and transportation services, expand free child care. 

Some of Mr. Obrador's supporters say the agenda for reducing inequality by tackkling corruption, reducing government waste, increasing social spending on the poor helped rally women as candidates and voters. Obrador's conviction that women have a greater capacity for hard work also played a part. Sheinbaum was encouraged to run for office in 2015 and won as governor of Tlalpan, one of Mexico City's 16 boroughs. After the 2006 election loss of Obrador for the presidency she had returned to research work at the National Autonomous University.

The entry of women is also seen as a way to bring new approaches to tackle the problems of inequality and corruption after the male dominated established parties from the Calderon-Pena era failed to address these problems.