The new federal government unveiled its logo on Friday only to be forced to defend it from the get-go against claims of sexism.

The logo features the images of five national heroes – independence leaders Miguel Hidalgo and José María Morelos and former presidents Benito Juárez, Francisco Madero and Lázaro Cárdenas – above the legend “Government of Mexico” and an insignia featuring the coat of arms.

Criticism has focused on the absence of a female figure in the logo.

Carlos Bravo Regidor, a political analyst and associate professor at CIDE, a public research center in Mexico City, said on Twitter that the logo represents a “very old, traditional and orthodox vision of our history” that is reduced to “men and politicians.”

Federal deputy with the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), Verónica Juárez, tweeted “it would seem that history was only built by men,” adding “today the López Obrador government begins its exclusion of women.”

Presidential spokesman Jesús Ramírez, who presented the new logo, said that he had personally selected the design and that it had been approved by Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

He said the logo reflects the “personality and identity of the new government” and “projects the idea of the fourth transformation,” a term used by López Obrador to describe the profound change he says he will bring to Mexico.

The first three “transformations” were independence from Spain, the 19th-century liberal reform known as La Reforma and the Mexican Revolution.

The national heroes featured in the new logo are representative of those transformations, Ramírez said.

With regard to the allegations of sexism, he said the logos’ “symbols have no gender,” explaining that they were chosen because they are the historical figures of Mexico with whom people most identify.

“. . . We accept the criticism but that’s the way it was decided,” Ramírez said. “This government recognizes the struggle of women and that’s why it’s the first government with [gender] parity.”

Ramírez also rejected any suggestion that the maroon color used in the logo’s background is associated with the ruling Morena party’s colors.

“. . . There are several colors [in the logo] . . . there is no color associated with Morena . . .” he said, adding that anyone who wants to file a complaint on the issue with the National Electoral Institute (INE) has the right to do so.

Source: Milenio (sp)