12. Claudia Sheinbaum: Mexico's First Female President and Environmental Pioneer

Celebrating Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo: A Pioneering Woman of 2024

In this episode of 'SheChangedHistory,' Vicky speaks from her mom's spare bedroom, sharing an inspiring story despite her co-host Simon's absence due to illness. Vicky highlights Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, Mexico's first female president and former climate scientist, as a remarkable woman of 2024. The episode delves into Claudia's upbringing influenced by political activism, her academic achievements, and her significant contributions to environmental and political reform in Mexico. Vicky underscores Claudia's importance as a leader who integrates science with politics, advocating for policies that address climate change and social justice. The episode aims to celebrate women's achievements and their vital roles in shaping history.

Sources are:

https://www.ft.com/womenof2024

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claudia-Sheinbaum

https://www.thenation.com/article/world/claudia-sheinbaum-mexico-city-president/ Arturo Cano

https://www.latimes.com/delos/story/2023-10-02/tlatelolco-massacre-matanza-55th-anniversary

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexican-president-aims-forge-legacy-trap-opposition-with-unlikely-reforms-2024-02-12/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_of_the_Democratic_Revolution

https://www.forbes.com/profile/claudia-sheinbaum/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/20/who-is-javier-milei-argentina-new-president-far-right-what-does-he-stand-for

00:00 Introduction and Setup
00:32 Women of 2024: Concept and Inspiration
01:34 Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo: Early Life and Influences
06:02 Political Activism and Early Career
08:31 Rise to Prominence and Major Achievements
13:14 Presidency and Global Challenges
16:28 Conclusion and Future Outlook

Transcript

0:08

Testing T2, hi guys, this is Vicky from SheChangedHistory. This is my mum's spare bedroom. It's beautiful. I've got my little podcast set up here. Simon was meant to be joining me and he's come down with the norovirus on Christmas Eve. Can you believe it? So yes, obviously he's not up for recording today. What we were going to do with our final episode of the year, because this will come out on News Eve is like women of 2024. So who changed history in 2024? And we both picked someone. Like a little rundown on women that we thought were amazing in 2024. Um, I'm still going to give you my story because we can't leave you hanging. You guys have been so supportive and amazing for all of us since we launched back in November. And yeah, so today will probably sound a little bit different. You've got my Dorset tones in your ears. We still might do Simon's at some point. but we thought we couldn't pass up this opportunity to celebrate women who have achieved so much in 2024. And yeah, we want to thank you as well. This idea originally came from a Financial Times article called, let me just get the name, Women of 2024. of the women on that article was Claudia Shinebaum Pardo. And Yeah, let's get into it. So what if the future of politics was shaped not by career politicians, but by scientists and activists? Meet Claudia Champa, Mexican's first female president and former scientist who shattered glass ceilings while tackling some of the world's toughest challenges, from growing up amid protests and political upheaval, to reshaping Mexico City, and now leading a nation. Her story is a fascinating mix of intellect, grit, and unwavering vision. Get ready to discover how a young girl, inspired by activism, grew into a leader confronting global trade wars and climate crises head on. Yes, so I hope you're ready. We've got some sources today. One is a financial Times article, There's a Britannica article The nation. com article by Arturo Cannon. That was really good. So, let's dive into it. Claudia Jean Barne was born on June the 24th, 1962, in Mexico City, Mexico. She's actually the second daughter of Ani Pardo Kemo, who is a biologist and professor, emeritus at National Autonomous University of Mexico. U N A M. Her dad was a guy called, uh, Carlos Scheinbaum and he is also a chemical engineer. So you can see already there's lots of scientist background, but actually, Claudia is quoted as saying, Quote, in my house, politics was discussed at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. unquote. So you can see there that it wasn't just science, it was definitely, political discussions were taking place, and influencing her when she was a little girl. Another really important thing that influenced Claudia as she was growing up, was for several months in 1968, thousands of young Mexicans, marched the streets shouting demands the reason the students were rallying was because they were standing peacefully, it's really important to note, peacefully against the Mexican government. so Mexico has only had one rule of party politically up till that point. So this party, Institutional Revolutionary Party has been in control since 1929, and ended up enforcing a lot of suppression, both economically and politically, so in 1968, Mexico is also due to hold the Summer Olympics. So quite a big thing for the city, and some would argue they're not focusing on their current citizens, they're focusing on their outward image to the world. Part of the government worrying about that external image of the world was, ten days before the Olympics. The government, who was currently run by Eustavos Diaz Ordez, brought, the peaceful movement to a halt, with a huge massacre in Tata local, which killed more than 300 students and arrested thousands more. These numbers are debated, but, it's It doesn't take away from the fact that it was such a big, event in the city and such a big loss, to the population. What ended up happening is that because Claudia's parents were so politically involved, they actually ended up, visiting the prisoners. So she's quote of saying, quote, we brought the prisoners something to eat, unquote. They regularly visited the prisons. And one of the prisoners. That Claudia's parents visited a lot was a guy called Roul Alavers Garren, who is a really important figure in Claudia's story. He ended up becoming her political mentor later down the line because one thing he did in prison was he ended up setting up a magazine, like, newspaper in the prison. And when he was out of prison he actually gave birth to a movement in which, Claudia ended up, that was like her first experience of active socialism herself, was with the movement that Garion formed. straight out of prison called the Student Committee of Worker Peasant Solidarity. So she brought him things to eat and then ended up joining his movements. Another little word on Alvarez Garin was that he was one of the main leaders of the youth movement and he was also a friend of Claudia's mother, Claudia's mother herself had been victim as part of this movement. She actually had been fired from her role at the National Polytechnic Institute. The reason she was fired was for supporting students. In 1978, when Claudia was just 16 years old, she supported a hunger strike in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City. So at this point, she's already, you know, standing forward. She's really taking on what her parents had shown her when growing up. Scheinbaum attributes her sense of discipline to her mother, claudia says, quote, she, my mother always used to say to us, sure, you're going to do other things, but school is school. unquote. So they clearly valued education and like justice as a family, and they really did get involved. Claudia enrolled in the same university where her mother worked at UNAM and she studied physics. She also studied air pollution in Mexico City and traveled to indigenous communities in Micucan to work on a project involving wood burning stoves that would consume less wood and be less harmful to women's health. for Claudia's master and doctorate degrees, she studied energy engineering and conducted her doctoral research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which is in Berkeley in California, USA. Claudia's dissertation actually compared trends in energy consumption. comparing Mexico with other industrialized countries. So you can see here that this is something she's really interested in, this idea of energy consumption, climate, exposure, women's health. So it all kind of makes sense when you listen to her political movements later on. Claudia was politically active as a student and a professor in the 1980s and 90s, particularly with a party called the Revolutionary Democratic Party, which is a state level, socio democratic political party in Mexico. It was founded in the 80s, so as Claudia was growing up, many on the left who had never previously participated in elections joined in this, um, this wave for the revolutionary democratic party and Claudia ended up actually, While she was studying and did a hosting meetings for this party in her house The guy who led the movement was a guy called a Cardenas and she actually held rallies for him so after this wave of success, which Claudia had a hand in With Cardenas, getting into power. In 2000, she was actually appointed Claudia as Mexico City's Environmental Health Minister. and she was appointed this by Andres Manuel Lopez Abrador. I'm absolutely bolstering those names, I'm so sorry if I'm offending anyone. In her role as environmental minister, she oversaw the introduction of the city's bus system, which is called the Metrobus, and the construction of a second story beltway road that encircles Mexico's urban zone. So she was very much these really big projects that really impact people's way of living. Lopez Abrador, Lost his bid to become Mexico's president in the 2006 election that they had. So, Claudia actually then returned to university, UNAM, She was part of the climate change mitigation section of the IPCC's fourth and fifth assessment reports, and continued her scientific research there. That team, IPCC, was actually awarded a Nobel Peace Prize following the fourth assessment's publication in 2007. So she's excelling amazingly in this area and really contributing to the world's, understanding of climate change. Then in 2015, Claudia was actually elected mayor of the Talpan district of Mexico City. In this role, she stressed the importance of water rights and fair usage. She does have some criticism, which is right for anyone in power. When she was doing these big projects, there was criticism of the amount of accidents occurring with these big infrastructure projects. projects that she oversaw One disaster was the earthquake in Taupan in 2017, which hit a magnitude of 7. 1 and there were several deaths that happened during that time. So from 2018 to 2023, Claudia served as mayor of Mexico City. One of her accomplishments was introducing a new cable bus system. So again, these things that are really big, really impacting people's lives, and this improved citywide commuting. Lopez Abrador, the person who gave her the role, as energy minister in the first place, won the presidency in the 2018 election. So López became president and Claudia became mayor of Mexico City. he writes that he wanted Claudia to coordinate his campaign and then join his cabinet as secretary of the interior, but that she actually preferred to pursue the role in Mexico City as mayor because Well, because she cared, I think. I think it's that simple. She really wanted to make a difference in the cities where she grew up and where she saw that turmoil when she was four, five, six, seven years old. when she was elected mayor, she actually received 50 percent of the vote to become mayor in a field of seven candidates, which is insane. If you think of our Labour election that we've had in the UK recently, I think they barely got a third of all votes and they managed to win. So the fact that it was 50 percent of the vote in a field of seven candidates is just wild. And it just shows how much support she's had. while she was Her government expanded rainwater collection, they reformed waste management, they actually began a reforestation program, so you can see all that energy and climate research coming into play. Like I said, she introduced this cable bus system, she ended up repairing the subway system as well because it was in absolute disrepair, and she put a huge amount of investment behind the infrastructure, which is something the government, uh, She grew up with, just didn't do at all. In the background, she does have a lot of, criticism around the deadly accidents, on the subway that she repaired, so the people are, you know, rightfully calling her out on things. In February 2024, with the end of López Abrador's presidency approaching, Aberdoura actually presents a package of constitutional and legal reforms The reason he's put this out, was because, Claudia was very much behind these proposals and it was very much aligned with her way of thinking and how she would rule and There is an argument that Lopres Abridoros was basically setting up Claudia for succession. The package includes many positive things, so things like generous pensions, above inflation, minimum wage hikes, election of judges by popular vote, so all these things are very popular and he was kind of giving her a really solid platform to be elected president. As Julian Tett in Financial Times says, when Claudia Scheinbaum Pardo assumed the role of president of Mexico in October 2024, she made history in many ways. Not only is she the country's first female president, but she is also the first former climate scientist to hold that post. Faces another historical moment with Donald Trump about to become the 47th president of the United States. She conferenced an American leader who has threatened to slap a 25 percent trade tariff on the southern neighbor unquote. So, It's important to note that Claudia had an absolute landslide victory becoming the first female president of Mexico in 2024, but she does have Donald Trump looming very closely behind her, and she's also got, Argentina's president of just over a year, Javier Mele, and he's also very, what's the way of describing this, he's much closer aligned to Trump than Claudia's, position. He's described by one article as a wild haired economist, a mix of Boris Johnson and the killer doll Chucky. So she's got it, she's got a tough job ahead of her, but I think with her absolute motoric rise. to amazing heights already, and she's not afraid to do the big things, like do the big projects, like we struggle in England even to get a railway in place, like HS2 has just been an abomination on all fronts, but actually she's making really good headway, on her home ground, so why can't she do that when up against different countries? In terms of her, legacy, Shinebomb's ascent represents women in politics and the broader environmental movement. She's such a beacon of light in those fields and she's managed to balance scientific insights with political strategy to take on modern challenges, which I think is so refreshing, because we've had a mammoth year of elections in 2024. So many countries have gone through these elections and to have someone with this insight is very, it's fab, it's refreshing. As you can see from Sharpen's journey, it reflects persistence, science based policymaking, which is, oh, the dream, and inclusive leadership. Her story shows how she can inspire future leaders and what it means for Mexico's role on the main stage. I have really high hopes for her role on the main stage. I think, you know, watch this space. It's been such an amazing rise to power so far, with so much good behind it, and the stats don't lie. There's a reason she got 50 percent of the vote. There's a reason people are behind her. And there's a reason people want this kind of leader. Now and she's quite young as well. She's much younger than Trump and I'm sure she can absolutely rally because she's done so much good for Mexico already So I'm sure that she can rally the troops on that as well So is why Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo is one of the women I think we should take note of in 2024 because she did a change history. Hopefully that's tickled your taste buds and hopefully, that shows how this podcast is relevant whether you're making a history today or a thousand years ago. And there's just so much that women contribute for our society that we don't know about. And that is the purpose of the podcast. So thank you so much for listening. Hopefully that gives you a little bit of escapism if you're with one of those families that sometimes you just need a break. And thank you so much for all your support and listening to us both. I'm sure Simon will be back with us in 2025. And yeah, thank you so much. We can't wait to do more of these stories and share more with you. So have a lovely, wonderful Christmas and New Year, and we'll see you in 2025.