Achievements of women and feminism in 2022

It’s simple: without us the future is worse than our present. In 2022, a particularly complex year due to war, inflation and the persistence of the coronavirus, a black woman became vice president of Colombia, progress was made in the regulation against gender violence through digital media in Latin America and, finally, social security was offered to domestic workers in Mexico.

Women conquer new spaces and tear down new ceilings and barriers in the construction of an egalitarian and plural society. Every year I recount the achievements of women and feminism for the reduction of inequalities and violence.

These are the conquests of 2022.

1. Regulation of digital violence in Latin America

The Olympian Law and the Bethlehem Lawnamed after two women victims of digital violence, were born in Mexico and Argentina, respectively, and are aimed at naming, recognizing, making visible and punishing digital crimes such as the leaking of multimedia content without the consent of the person, harassment on social networks , identity theft and any other that threatens the privacyintegrity or privacy of a person.

Violence against women and girls is present in multiple aspects and situations of daily life, now, with the incessant expansion of digital platforms and social networks, the internet is also a space in which violence is reproduced and normalized.

For several years, many women, activists, and groups sought what is now a reality in Mexico and is about to be in Argentina, and lays the foundations for the rest of the countries in the region: regulating digital violence.

2. Rights for domestic workers

In 2022, a fundamental step began to be taken in the fight for women’s rights: the obligation to grant social security to domestic workers. This implies registering them with the IMSS (Mexican Social Security Institute), contributing to employer contributions, and thus guaranteeing their access to health institutions, vacations, bonuses, etc.

In Mexico 9 out of 10 domestic workers They are women, mostly racialized, migrants or from homes with socioeconomic vulnerabilities. Guaranteeing labor law, at the legislative level, is a fundamental step for this group of workers to do so in conditions of dignity.

3. Seeking mothers and their struggle

Cecilia Flores is a mother who has spent more than seven years in search for their missing and leads the group of searching mothers from Sonora, one of the states in Mexico where organized crime has penetrated ferociously and has left hundreds of families searching.

In October 2015 in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, 21-year-old Alejandro Guadalupe —Cecilia’s son— was disappeared by an armed group. After waiting for no response from the authorities, Cecilia began the search on her behalf and became the face of activism for families looking for their victims. missing.

Their struggle is incessant, with their collective they have located more than 400 bodies in clandestine graves and 139 people have been found alive.

In Mexico there are more than 100,000 missing persons. Families, and especially mothers, never tire of searching. This work and activism have been fundamental in the small steps that the authorities take in terms of searches.

4. Francia Márquez, Vice President of Colombia

France Elena Márquez became the first black vice president to reach that position. And although she is a lawyer from the University of Cali, she was a domestic worker and a mine worker. She is also an activist for the rights of Afro-descendant and indigenous communities in Colombia.

The representation not only of women, but of Afro-descendant, indigenous, poor or socially vulnerable communities is essential. Francia Márquez somehow crosses all perspectives. Being part of historically discriminated, marginalized or excluded social groups is one of the keys to making public policy aimed at reducing this violence.

5. Women referees of a World Cup

Three women made their debut as main referees in the matches of the World Cup in Qatar. the french Stephanie Frappart next to the brazilian Neuza Back and the Mexican Karen Díaz Medina directed different soccer matches in a World Cup for the first time in history. Bethlehem Law

Soccer is a sport that has historically been directed and led by men, in fact, just a few years ago women began to play as professionals in the leagues, few brands dare to sponsor them and the salaries they receive are significantly lower than those of their male peers.

The participation of these three women is not only a watershed for inclusion in the industry of footballbut it implies the normalization of women as professionals in said sector.

6. Women in STEM areas of study

The exact sciences, technology and research were exclusive to men for a long time. It’s over. Women are entering the areas STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics for its acronym in English) and producing great achievements.

In 2022, Katya Echazarreta she became the first Mexican to travel to space with NASA and the youngest woman to do so. She is an electrical engineer and was chosen by the organization Space For Humanity out of 7,000 applicants for a small 10-minute flight into space. She now collaborates with the Mexican Space Agency, because she assures that she wants to return to space and she wants to do it with Mexico.

Carolyn Bertozzi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2022, an award that has been given to just eight women in history. She received this award for her work on the “Chemistry of the Click” in which she developed a way to combine and build molecules that may help create better medical treatments such as breast cancer. This award was obtained by her together with her collaborators Barry Sharpless and Morten Melda.

Rachel Mata, researcher and emeritus professor at UNAM’s Faculty of Chemistry, won the L’Oréal-UNESCO-AMC 2022 Award for Women in Science, in the category of Consolidated Trajectories. This award recognizes those whose contributions to science contribute to solving contemporary challenges in the world. In Mexico, Rachel Mata is a pioneer in bioprospecting studies of fungal organisms and the chemical characterization of biodynamic medicinal molecules.

Two other women who made important contributions to science and who were honored in 2022 were Carla Eugenia Giacomelli y Guillermina friend received the L’Oréal-UNESCO National Award for Women in Science in Argentina. The winners developed the project “Bioresponsive materials: how to repair tissues with genes”, which proposes the design of hybrid biomaterials through the integration of different components to stimulate bone regeneration.

Recognizing women as social, political, economic, scientific, artistic and sports leaders is essential to eradicate gender violence, which prevents girls and women around the world from living a life free of violence.

ana.garcia@eleconomista.mx