Electing a woman to public office, even the presidency, does not guarantee feminist policies. That’s one of the ideas behind the Mexican group Aúna, which recruits, coaches, and accompanies female candidates who are committed to gender equality, social justice, and environmental protection. It worked with 18 victorious candidates from various parties in Mexico’s June 2 elections, including the next mayor of Mexico City, Clara Brugada. 

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Q: Aúna made the choice to work with candidates running with different parties (left, center, and right). Why, and what does that choice reflect about Mexican politics?

A: Despite the polarization in Mexico, in order to make social and political transformations, we need consensuses across different political parties. And it’s not like the parties are immutable; positions on the issue of abortion have changed rapidly in just a few years, for example. There have also been shifts on gay marriage, gender rights, caretaking systems, and climate change. Additionally, within a single party it’s possible to see different generations take different positions, as is the case with the National Action Party (PAN) on abortion, where younger generations are more pro-choice than older ones.

Q: Aúna worked with Clara Brugada, who was elected head of the Mexico City government–Claudia Sheinbaum’s position until she ran for president. Based on what you observed, what policies does she seem committed to enacting that were not present in the outgoing administration?

A: Policies around establishing public caretaking programs. Her proposals for care programs are very advanced, and she had some local experiences with the topic while she was the mayor of the Mexico City suburb Iztapalapa. These included community development centers called “Utopias,” where the municipality offered a wide range of services (domestic violence prevention and orientation, drug addiction counsel, children’s afterschool programs) and infrastructure (swimming pools, public laundry machines, museums). We’re optimistic about that agenda of public care and community development. There are others that I’m not sure about. One is security policy. She has historically focused on crime prevention and strengthening the social fabric rather than taking a punitivist approach. But she now faces pressure to go in the other direction, toward militarization, including from the federal national government and from her party. So you don’t know what’s going to happen.

Q: Feminist groups have criticized Morena, Brugada and Sheinbaum’s party, for the militarization of security policy. What guidance do you give to the candidates running inside Morena who want to take a different approach?

A: We believe in the women themselves. First, we try to listen to them and understand their position, the pressures they suffer, and efforts to discipline them according to the party line and make them prove their loyalties. All of this leads many women to take certain positions that they might not take otherwise. It’s not only in Morena, it’s in other parties too. Our program offers training on policy alternatives before they campaign and become candidates. We link them up with experts and civil society organizations that can provide arguments and best practices. But we recognize that many women suffer different sources of pressure, even from us, that can compete with party loyalties. Sometimes we’re not very successful when we’re up against what parties can give or take away. Sometimes the women suffer when their loyalty is questioned. We are there more to support them, than to audit them. While we have a selection process with a questionnaire and a series of interviews, it’s before they become candidates. We try to understand how taking office and party allegiances change them.

Q. Aúna’s platform understands environmentalism to be part of feminism. Did you see voters respond positively in these elections to candidates who put forth environmental ideas? 

A. It is very hard to measure that. The fact that we don’t have a truly green party in Mexico is one of the big deficits of the country’s transition to democracy. In this election, we saw groups of people, above all young people, organize themselves to call on candidates for changes in climate policy, sustainability, and the energy transition. With our own candidates, many of them had little prior knowledge of the environmental agenda, and many of them became convinced of its importance. Obviously, water access and drought are very big issues right now in Mexico, so addressing that became a demand of voters.