海角大神

Mexico's National Action Party (PAN) was targeting women like Lizbeth Villanueva and Columba Ontiberos when it nominated Josefina Vazquez Mota for president.

Ms. Villanueva and Ms. Ontiberos consider themselves modern. Unlike their mothers' generation, when women had a half-dozen kids on average and were confined to the home, Villanueva had two and then promptly had her tubes tied. Her reasons: she wants to continue to work as a computer instructor, invest hours and money in her children's education, and have the remaining time for her marriage and for herself.

鈥淢ore children means more housework, more washing, more food to make,鈥� she says, chatting on a park bench on a recent morning in Mexico City with Ontiberos, who has one child and also plans to stop at two.

But the PAN鈥檚 strategic move 鈥� becoming the first major party to nominate a female candidate for president 鈥� hasn鈥檛 worked out as planned.听 Mexico has hit a milestone with Ms. Vazquez Mota鈥檚 nomination, but she has been unable to disassociate herself from the public鈥檚 discontent with her party鈥檚 12 years in power, especially on security.听 And even if some women are drawn to her, for many others, she hasn鈥檛 come off as modern enough.

Vazquez Mota chose one simple word as her campaign slogan: 鈥淒ifferent.鈥� She is presenting herself as a leader in machista Mexico who intimately understands how to navigate work and mothering, and a woman who would be more honest and sensitive to the needs of working families. In a country where fertility rates have dropped precipitously, the education gap between sexes has narrowed, and women are increasingly entering the workforce, many say it鈥檚 time Mexico had a female in the top office. But, boxed in by party ideology and her own beliefs, she has been unable to capture a significant 鈥渇emale鈥� vote to tip the race in the PAN鈥檚 favor.

鈥淪he [has] tried to promote herself as different because she is a woman but she does not embody any of the feminist discourses,鈥� says Fernando Dworak, a political analyst in Mexico City. 鈥淪he says she is different, but she can't say how she is different.鈥�

Rising through the ranks听

Having worked as a motivational speaker and author, Vazquez Mota, a mother of three who married her first boyfriend, entered politics in 2000 as a national legislator for the PAN. Shortly thereafter, former president Vicente Fox named her to head the Social Development Ministry. From there she moved up the ranks of the party, serving on President Felipe Calder贸n's campaign and then as his education secretary. She was not Mr. Calder贸n's favored candidate, but she beat out two other influential men to become the party's pick. 听

Today, however, winning the presidency is an uphill battle. The business-friendly candidate is currently in last place among the top three parties, and she has suffered a series of campaign gaffes, including logistical errors that meant her opening campaign speech was given to a nearly empty auditorium.

Probably her biggest handicap is the party itself. The PAN won the presidency with Mr. Fox in 2000, taking the top spot from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) for the first time in 71 years and ushering in a new democratic chapter. But after 12 years, Mexicans are disillusioned with policies that have not generated enough jobs and are profoundly wearied by the country's deadly drug war, which has left 50,000 dead under the current administration.

First presidenta

"I will be Mexico's first presidenta," Vazquez Mota said after winning the party's primary in February.

The words capture a sense of optimism about the rise of women in leadership across the region, where females have held presidencies from Chile to Argentina to Brazil.

But unlike Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff or former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, who have stood for women's equality, Vazquez Mota has cast herself as a traditional woman who happens to be a politician, and so far, analysts say the message has not resonated. This isn鈥檛 the only reason Vazquez Mota is lagging in the race, but it has cost her potential votes among women who crave a female head of state in Mexico as in other Latin America countries.

鈥淎 woman candidate who talked about women's rights would have my vote just for being a woman,鈥� says Ontiberos. 鈥淪he is not offering anything different than the policies of her party.鈥�

Vazquez Mota hails from the nation's most conservative party, and shares its stances and conservatism, says Magda Hinojosa, an expert on women in politics in Latin America at Arizona State University. 鈥淚t's a difficult line to toe, drawing attention to yourself because you are a woman without taking a stance for women.鈥�

Vazquez Mota has certainly underlined the machista culture that still runs through politics here. In one of PRI candidate Enrique Pe帽a Nieto's gaffes early on in the campaign, he was unable to say how much a kilo of corn tortillas, a staple in Mexico, cost. When called out, he retorted that he was not the 鈥渓ady of the house,鈥� which the Vazquez Mota campaign immediately denounced.

But even though she once argued for female independence in the book that catapulted her into the national spotlight, provocatively titled 鈥淕od Please Make Me a Widow,鈥� in large part she has avoided making gender part of the campaign, using it only to emphasize her domestic credentials as a working mother.

鈥淏ut we don't need a mother,鈥� says Ivonne Acu帽a, a specialist in gender and politics at the Iberamerican University in Mexico City. 鈥淚n presenting the image of her being a mother, she is falling back into tradition.鈥�

One of her television spots has shown her saying she may wear skirts but would govern wearing pants, something Ms. Acu帽a considers a retro comment that sends the wrong message that politics is still a men's club.

Symbolic step

Women only earned the right to vote in Mexico in 1953, but they are well-represented in Congress 鈥� far ahead of the US 鈥� thanks to quota laws that mandate certain levels of participation of women in politics. Mexico saw its first female governor in 1979, and only a handful have won the top state job since.

And Mexico continues to lag behind others in the region in terms of gender equality, according to the World Economic Forum鈥檚 2011 Global Gender Gap Report. Mexico places 89^th 鈥� one of the lowest rankings in Latin America 鈥� scoring higher only than El Salvador, Belize, Suriname, and Guatemala. Its ranking is dragged down by economic issues such as labor force participation and wage equality.

It is these stubborn gender disparities that have drawn some to Vazquez Mota. Mari Gutierrez, for example, who works in a storefront in the city of San Cristobal de las Casas, in Chiapas state, says Vazquez Mota has her vote. 鈥淲omen rob less than men, or not at all. I trust a woman more than a man,鈥� she says.

A Mitofsky in Mexico City shows more women than men say they will vote for Vazquez Mota. However, the largest percentage of female votes is going to Pe帽a Nieto, according to Mitofsky.

Acu帽a says that Vazquez Mota is not behind because of her gender. It is perhaps not a comfort for the candidate but definitely a positive point for the country. Even if she finishes far behind in the race, it's been an important chapter for Mexico. 鈥淪ymbolically this was very important, it sends the message that other women can reach that high too,鈥� Acu帽a says.

鈥淭he fact that we have a female candidate,鈥� agrees Villanueva, 鈥渟hows how far we have come.鈥�