Mexico’s first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has broken silence after a street groping incident.
According to Al Jazeera, Sheinbaum announced that she has filed a complaint “for the harassment episode” she experienced in Mexico City while talking to citizens when a visibly drunk man groped her.
The man who was later arrested by the police tried to kiss Sheinbaum on the neck and embrace her from behind.
During her daily press conference on Wednesday, November 05, she announced that she will press charges against the man and called for making sexual harassment a punishable crime in all 32 states.
The president also revealed that the incident happened when she and her team had decided to walk from the National Palace to the Education Ministry to save time.
The 63-year-old shared her daily press conference video on X on Wednesday, November 5, in which she talked about the incident and wrote, “I filed a complaint for the harassment episode that I experienced yesterday in Mexico City. It must be clear that, beyond being president, this is something that many women experience in the country and in the world.”
“No one can violate our body and personal space. We will review the legislation so that this crime is punishable in all 32 states,” she added.
During the conference, Sheinbaum told media that she thought that if this happened to the president, what would the other women in the country be experiencing, and if she did not file a complaint, “what becomes of other Mexican women?”
She also urged states across Mexico to revise their laws and make the process of filing assault or reporting harassment easier for women.
Notably, Mexico’s 32 states and Mexico City have different criminal laws, and not all of the states consider sexual harassment a crime.
As per the UN, around 70% of Mexican women aged 15 and over experience at least one incident of sexual harassment in their lives.
