Mexico’s “first lady” Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller presented her new book, “Silent Feminism,” in front of a supportive crowd in the Zócalo on Tuesday, a crowd that included her husband, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
During the presentation, Gutiérrez declared, “As I entered the public eye, due to circumstances outside of my own doing, I will leave the scene silently,” insisting she’ll “live the rest of my life with characteristic prudence.”
Journalist Pedro Miguel described the book, whose full title is “Feminismo silencioso: Reflexiones desde el yo, el nosotros, el aquí y el ahora” (“Silent feminism: Reflections about the I, the us, the here and now”), as “vexing and haunting.”
Miguel said the book seeks to resolve tensions that arose around Gutiérrez’s political and social status and her determination to not take advantage of her family connections or her husband’s office.
“She found herself in a situation of protagonism [i.e., unwanted limelight] that she did not seek,” Miguel said.
“Silent feminism is yours and mine,” Gutiérrez writes in the book. “We don’t need to have a larger discussion to know that we deserve equality, solidarity and opportunity.”
Gutiérrez’s book analyzes fundamental notions of feminism while also redefining three critical concepts of the term silent feminism: silence as a form of expression, the theory of transference (from psychoanalysis) and the notion of resistance.
Gutiérrez is a journalist and academic with a PhD in literary theory. Her published works have primarily focused on historical and philosophical themes.
The position of “first lady” is not formally recognized in the Mexican political system; presidential wives have typically been limited to serving as the titular head of the National System for Integral Family Development (DIF), a government-funded family welfare institution.
Gutiérrez broke with tradition, declining to serve as DIF president and electing to avoid the public spotlight. She has been outspoken about unwarranted and critical media attention she and her son have received while her husband has been in office.
However, she’s occasionally gotten peripherally involved in political life, making news in 2021 after she posted a presumed warning on Facebook to Campeche Governor Layla Sansores about having appointed a new Cabinet member whose social media account in 2020 had made a post calling Gutiérrez and President López Obrador “imbeciles.”
Gutiérrez did offer some political advice during the presentation.
With President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum in attendance, along with designated members of her Cabinet and members of López Obrador’s Cabinet, Gutiérrez urged those listening to “never forget where you come from, and pay heed to the public.”
With reports from Forbes México, Proceso and Infobae
The “First Lady” is an Americanism.
Canada and European countries don’t call the female spouses of the elected leaders “First Lady”, why would Mexico.