Mexico president says 'culture of machismo' still strong

ASSOCIATED PRESS

1:13 p.m. November 26, 2007

MEXICO CITY – President Felipe Calderón said Monday said that despite the passage of anti-discrimination laws, millions of women suffer from workplace bias and physical and psychological abuse due to an enduring “culture of machismo” in Mexico.

“As a citizen, as a husband, as a father, as president, I am worried and indignant over the mistreatment millions of Mexican women still receive,” Calderón said during an event on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Last year alone, the president said, more than 30 million Mexican women suffered some type of violence, while more than 80 percent of women who were murdered were killed in their own homes.

Earlier this year, Mexico enacted a law obligating federal and local authorities to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women. Yet only a handful of states have formally adopted it, Calderón said.

At fault? A culture still dominated by “the false premise of subordination, submission and even inferiority of women with respect to men,” he said. “This is a cultural obstacle that we have to reverse."