It took the public groping of the Mexican president for the government to announce a new plan to confront the issue of women abuse
Last weekend, as I wrote my column, I wanted to rail against the public groping of Mexico’s first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, after a random Mr Nobody tried to kiss her neck, then ran his hands across her breasts on the streets of Mexico City.
I wanted to rage because I know what it’s like. It’s happened to me too, even once while standing next to Himself on a busy train platform. It’s happened to just about every woman I know.
But if it can happen to the president while she’s doing her job – she’s made accessibility and being out on the streets with the people part of her strategy – then what hope is there?
If the leader of Mexico’s biggest opposition party can then brazenly suggest it was a staged stunt, what hope is there?
If the president of the US can boast about grabbing women by their vulvas and still get elected, then what hope is there?
And there my anger hit a wall, for what else was there to say?
But this week, the Mexican government – which already had a secretary for women working to combat such endemic abuse – announced a new plan to confront the issue, including a public awareness campaign in workplaces, schools and on public transport; ensuring sexual abuse is treated as a serious offence subject to prison sentences across all states; further training of officials dealing with assaults; and encouraging women and girls to report sexual harassment.
I presume it also encourages men to stop sexually harassing women…
It’s a start.
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However, if it takes something happening on camera to the foremost citizen in the land to bring such focus, perhaps there’s a takeaway: let the politicians face what the people face.
No more blue-light cavalcades, no more private planes, no more cocoons. Let politicians contend with daily traffic jams, helplines where “you are caller number 107”, and staring exhausted into an empty cupboard after a long day, wondering what they’re going to feed their family.
Give them water outages, electricity blackouts and grocery shopping. Let them fight to get their deposit refunded and queue for eight hours for a new ID.
Let them earn minimum wage. Let them sleep rough like their poorest citizens, even for just a week of every year.
And let a random man grope a male politician just once and watch the world burn.
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