Minister backtracks: misogyny in cabinet was only ‘a perception’

Interior Minister Olga Sánchez has backtracked on remarks she made last week about misogyny in the federal security cabinet, saying Monday that it was only her “perception” that she has been discriminated against.

Sánchez, the first woman to serve as federal interior minister and a former Supreme Court judge, said last Tuesday that there was “considerable” misogyny in the security cabinet, which is convened by President López Obrador every morning.

“Many of the challenges were to demonstrate that women are as capable [as men] or more so. Even today there are very considerable misogyny issues,” she said.

“There have been times … when sometimes my opinion — and I don’t mean the president, on the contrary, the president has always given me my place — but among the members, my opinion was not taken into account at times, even if I was right and even if I was contributing something important.”

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Sánchez said that her “hypersensitivity” about issues related to the “patriarchal structure” caused her to perceive that there was misogyny in the security cabinet.

She added that what she perceived as “an issue of misogyny” was “probably” not perceived as such by many of the participants in the security cabinet meetings.

Sánchez also said that she is very happy in the cabinet and with López Obrador, who has been criticized for failing to give women’s issues, including gender violence, the attention they deserve.

The interior minister told yesterday’s press conference that the government is focusing on combating violence against women in municipalities with a high incidence of gender crimes.

“I believe that we’ll be able to achieve not just the containment [of gender violence] but a reduction,” she said.

Data presented last week by Security Minister Alfonso Durazo showed that femicides increased slightly in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period last year but Sánchez rejected any suggestion that 2020 will be the worst year on record for the crime.

However, she acknowledged that the statistics – there were 724 femicides between January and September – are concerning and also recognized that domestic violence against women has increased as people spend more time at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

López Obrador provoked controversy in May when amid the national lockdown he claimed that 90% of calls made by women to denounce domestic violence and seek help are false.

The president was heavily criticized for his claim, especially by feminist groups, which said it provided more evidence of his minimization of the gender violence problem.

Source: La Razón (sp)