Please post a response to the two reading you were given in class today.
1. Mexico's Presidential Elections- Respond to connections you see in the reading between current or past events in the U.S. and/or other countries.
2. Mexico's Women- compare and contrast the role of women in Mexico with that of women in the U.S. and/or other countries.
When reading about Mexico's 2006 presidential election, it is staggering how much relation there is between that election and the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Calderon, like Obama, won the election based on funneling massive amounts of money into his campaign; Calderon's political fundings and contributions towards media were four times that of either of his opponents, Roberto Madrazo and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. It is now clearly evident that the candidates who want to win, no matter what country they are running in, have to divert heavy amounts of campaign funding towards media air time.
ReplyDeleteThe article on Mexico's women shows that, much like the U.S. and other industrialized nations, women have an exponetially greater role in politics than ever before. Many of Mexico's top industry executives, political party leaders, and government figureheads are women; in Mexico City alone, 33% of the members of the city assembly are women. But at the same time, women are still seen as somewhat inferior to men when it comes to the perks of political office: most women executives are just now beginning to reap the benefits of their high positions within corporations and the government. Until traditional stereotypes and degredation are removed, women will never be able garner the same respect and authority that their male counterparts have always had.
Urnne
Much like Obama, Vicente Fox took the election in 2000 from the PRI. Obama had the same "change" slogan in 2008 during the presidential campaign and election. Right now many voters are doubting Obama's ability due to the lack of "change" that is happening, and Fox's six year term did not bring about the change that he promised. Mexico and the U.S. are both on the more liberal track right now with PAN's Calderon in the lead, and the democrats' Obama in office.
ReplyDeleteWomen still have less pay and lower ranking jobs in the U.S. and in Mexico, but are slowly and surely getting better jobs in the job market. Women are also getting jobs in politics in Mexico as they are in the U.S. They are becoming famous through sports, acting, and business too. Sadly, in Mexico the few women that do get the elite jobs are still given "soft-tissue" tasks to do, while in the U.S. women are given harder tasks to work on like the men. The presidency and justice departments are closed to Mexican women and American women can run for any position in office.
the comment above is Mary's!
ReplyDeleteIn the article "Mexico's Presidential elections", the focus is obviously on the presidential elections held in Mexico. With the PRI being in power for 72 years, and then all of a sudden NOT being in power, a big change has swooped over Mexico. With Vincente Fox's slogan "Change!", he was elected president in 2000. I have a problem with presidents being elected into office by how much money they put into their campaign, much like in Calderon's case.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the article "Mexico's Women." It might be because I am a woman, or simply that I thought it was well written. I think the author did a great job portraying the "uprising" of women in Mexico today. I liked how the author also threw in female athletes, actresses, singers, etc., to show how women are rising in Mexico. The statistics of "In Mexico City, 33% of the seats in the city's assembly were won by women," prove that this is in fact true in politics as well.
Caroline Bowers
I agree with with Caroline in the fact the person with the most money should not always when. Despite the obvious comparison of the "change" slogan it seems the outcomes of the elections are identical as far as the overwelming money differences with the candidates.It also seems to be a trend of the big spenders to not do alot of the change they promise.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say that women in the U.S. although not given the opportunities to live to their full potential are alot better off than women in Mexico. Although huge gains are being made I would venture to say that Mexico still has traditional views on women. It is nice to see women moving up as far as athletic and political positions as it is in America.
Caleb B.
I feel like we've already beaten the article on presidential elections to death. The only other connection I can draw upon is Fox's congressional deadlock and Obama's. The article states, "[Fox's] administration has proved a bit of a disappointment, due largely to a congressional deadlock between the three major parties which has blocked much of the promised change." This sounds depressingly similar to the Obama administration.
ReplyDeleteWhile the women of Mexico do not have the same opportunities as those in the United States, they have many more than the women of Iran, on whom I wrote my Iranian research paper. It seems as though Mexico is only opening up positions for women in order to create the appearance of changing domestic roles and possessing the ideals of a modern nation-state. In reality, the article explains that, "men earn more than women" in "ten out of the 11 main employment sectors." Not only in business however is this facade transparent, women in government "still get only the "soft-issue" ministries, such as tourism and culture." In the US, we have women like Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State under Obama and Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State under G.W. Bush. Women in the US government play active roles, unlike those Mexico. Many consider the role of women in Iran almost resembling a cult of domesticity. They often have no political voice whatsoever, yet some political factions exist to promote gender equality. Whether or not these lobby groups are effective remains to be seen by the world outside of Iran. Granted, Mexico has taken great strides to promote gender equality, it seems as though there is no real meaning behind it other than to gain a more positive, moral appearance in international affairs.
-Julia S.
I agree with Aaron, about how when reading this article you can find so many similarities between the U.S. 2008 election and the 2006 election in Mexico. With candidates using similar campaign slogans, funding amounts, and media time, these two countries seem to almost mirror each other in their elections strategies. I also agree with Caroline, that the person who puts the most money in to their campaign should not always win.
ReplyDeleteIn the article "Mexico's Women", you can see that both in the U.S. and in Mexico, women have become open to a whole new world of oppotuinites over time, than they were previously offered. Although in Mexico the few women who are achieve higher jobs are given easier tasks and not taken as seriously as the women in the U.S. who are given equally hard tasks to complete, just the same as the men. It looks as though Mexican women are soon to be on the same track as the women in the U.S. and both contries will continue to progress forward with time.
Summer Debnam
My beliefs follow in similar footsteps as in which the Presidential between the United States and Mexico previous elections are quite the same even upon to the extent of the slogan "Change!" to the shrieking liberalism among the campaigns. As all historians will explain "people ,ust learn from their past" and this is just the case each one of these countries needs to do in order to become a world power and a fully developed nation.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the world, the role of women is specific to both country and culture. In comparison all women in Mexico and the United States are deprived of equality and do not share the same importance as do men. On the other hand, women in the United States are much higher on the scale of being individualistic as in example of single mothers with multiple children raising them through their schooling years. In Mexcio women are still tied down to their grass-root system, as a majority of the women are homemakers and do not take the high road of individuality.
Overall these two articles of Mexico were extremely informative of the recent and present conflicts that are on-going in our neighboring country.
-Grey M.
I agree with Aaron that Felipe Calderon's winning election was one basically on the grounds of campaigning and advertisement. I found the fact that he spent nearly four times as much money than any other candidate rather repulsive, however, since I do not believe that one would need to spend that much on a campaign to let its people know his running platform
ReplyDeleteI believe that Mexico, while still behind in job growth for women in countries such as U.S., is greatly increasing the percentage of high ranking and executive opportunities for women. While 20 years ago, one would imagine that the vast majority of congress was controlled by males, I find it astonishing that now over 1/5 is females. Although most do not hold major responsiblities such as finance or national security, and instead work on areas such as tourism, it is still a great improvement, and a sure sign that the country could someday hold a job as large as presidency, such as in other Latin countries like Argentina or Brasil
Francisco d.
I agree with Grey that the United States and Mexico's previous presidential elections were the same in that the slogan was "Change!". I also agree with some previous comments that the candidate with the most money shouldn't win based on just that aspect.
ReplyDeleteI believe that women today are still not held to the highest standards that they could be, but women in the United States have much more freedom to express themselves and be individuals than women in Mexico. Women in Mexico have the main role of "being in the kitchen" and cannot express themselves as women in the United States can.
Taylor H.
As Julia already said, we really have beaten this article dead. The relationship between the elections in Mexico and the U.S are obvious from the same slogan being used and that the one who spends the most in advertising and campaigning, won in both. While this is not right at all, it is how the world is today. It is a matter of appealing to the people and promising many things that are usually not realistic.That is what gains the votes. Those are the major relationships between the two countries elections.
ReplyDeleteThe role of women has greatly changed over the years. In both Mexico and the U.S, women are becoming more and more improtant in the political and business world. While women are still deprived of complete equality, it is definatly moving towards that. This may not be happening as fast in Mexico as in the U.S but it is happening finally. Women are now CEOs and working in politics on the same playing field as men. While some people do not agree that men and women should be seen as equal, I do and I it is only fair that we have the same opportunities.
-Molly L.
Fox's presidency was obviously not a great one. When he was inn office, much was said and talked about but their was less action and more speaking. Going back to what we said in class, we sort of see that with President B. Obama. Although, we must take in consideration that he had a great serving on his plate. Fix this, let's do a little of that and so on. But isn't every leader's job supposed to be that way? To be honest, Fox should have been more thoughtful of his job and should have spent less time on worrying about towels. Calderon on the other hand, is striving as we speak. We can see that he is trying more than Fox. Altough MX's image is not so hot, he is taking steps on what is best for the Mexican people. He has done a great job on the media attention and such speculation that is being said. Kudos to Calderon for controlling his country and trying.
ReplyDelete-------------------------------
In Mexico we can obviously see that women participation is growing, being more noticeable and becoming more popular. We see this in Mexican Athletes, Actresses and even officials in the Mexican Government. Like in the reading, we read about Fox's wife being such a role model to society along with the others mentioned. This is spreading. I guess we can compare this to what the US went threw with women's suffrage and their voices being heard. In Mexico, it is beginning to grow and we can easily tell that it will be expanding soon. Very Soon.
-Lorenzo Pedro
I agree with Aaron also when comparing the election in Mexico to our recent election. Obama and Calderon both used a considerably larger amount of money compared to the other canidates that ran against them. Both of their slogans were to bring "chage" to their respective countries. I thought that the elections both were a unfair, because in both of the countries, the canidate who could raise them most money won the election.
ReplyDeleteWomen in Mexico and the United States are similar for a couple of reasons. First, they both have come to play a more prominent role in the politics and economy in their countries. Women are beggining to gain more prestigous jobs, and become a greater factor in the government. They are also similar, becuase while womens roles in both countries have changed, in neither country do women have the same role, or hold many of posistions that men do.
-Jake Willcox
With the 2006 election Calderon and the 2008 elections with Obama the similarities are evident. In agreement with Aaron and Jake. With the amount of money both pumped into their campaigns. But I also think it was Fox who ran on the slogan "change" and nothing was changed because Fox could not pass anything through the congress for he was a minority. Sounds familiar I think so.
ReplyDeleteThe role of women in Mexico in the last decade has great changed and for the better. Women now hold a lot more power in Mexico in business and in politics. Like women in the U.S. women in Mexico fought for equality yet even now in those positions women are still "below" women in both countries.
Bradley Benson
Both of these reading of Mexican politics can easily be related back to US circumstances. In the Mexican election reading the Change! slogan and the overspending of campaigning money can be directly related to Obama as well the controversy that is surfaced in every political election.
ReplyDeleteConcerning the women's rights in Mexico I see a lot of similarities because women are still dogged on today and don't make as much money as men overall, but the existence of perseverance in both countries and the surfacing changes are good. As in the US, women are beginning to join politics like in the reading of Mexico. All in all, we are very much like Mexico in our progress and continual ways to go about politics.
Giorgia G.
ReplyDeleteAs Bradley and nearly everyone else has pointed out, there is a direct correlation between the amount of money raised and the results of an election, but while it may seem unfair, that is generally the way politics work...it is a corrupt system, even (especially) in Mexico. The best part of the Mexican election is that the PRI have now lost power, and the distribution of power is better for the country as a whole.
ReplyDelete-
Obviously one of the most influential women in Mexico is the president's wife, Marta Fox. The simple arrangement of charities by Marta Fox allows for women to make a greater name for themselves in the Mexican society, which is very important in the progressive era that we live in. From athletes like Ana Guevera to painters like Frida Kahlo, women are proving themselves prominent and extremely capable members of a healthy functional society.
Luke M
The biggest relationship of president elections between Mexico and the US is obviously the campaign slogan "change", and we all know how this slogan turns out and how easy it is to appeal the lower class through this.
ReplyDeleteWomens importance in todays business and political world has been exponentially increasing during the last decade in both countries. At this point women hold some of the highest positions in the fields of business, but still have yet to achieve the trust and respect required to hold a high office in government. Thoough the statuses of women have shown a great in crease, i think there is a limit to how far they will go within the government.
Kasey H.
Just like the 2008 election in the U.S., the Mexican election of 2000 was eerily similar. Like Vicente Fox's slogan was "change" President Barack Obama's was the same. What they both stood for was big change within the countries government. What they both got were a struggle to pass anything through the congress. Vicente Fox was part of the minority party so therefore his "change" could never get passed through congress. We are also waiting for the "change" from Obama. But like Vicente Fox, with butting heads in congress it is tough to pass anything through, like budget reform.
ReplyDeleteWomen in every country have different statuses compared to one another. In the U.S. since womens suffrage in 1920 the woman has made great leaps forward. Many jobs were now open to them and they could advance much further. This in the past ten to fifteen years can be seen in Mexico. Women in Mexico City hold thirty three percent of the seats on the city's assembly. Much like Mia Hamm was to the U.S., Mexico's Ana Guevera is setting new standards for the female athletes. It no longer is just male athletes advertising but female athletes as well. After all is said and done women still have room for more equality within the battle of the sexes.
Kevin S.
I feel as though the recent presedential elections in both Mexico and the US share very common traits. Fox promised chnage, which he failed to deliver on, Obama promised change, and so far, minimal changes have actually taken place. Calderon spent several times as much money on media than his opponents, and Obama also spent several times for money on his campaign than his opponents. I agree with those that have stated that the amount of money you ave should not gurantee any individual a political position.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Caleb in that the views of women in mexico are more than likley more traditional. However it is apprent that women are quickly gaining status throughout the numerous aspects of society in mexico. in the US i believe that women have gained a bit more status in our society. Be that as it may, it has been proiven that women do get paid less and can face more challenges in attempts to advance themselves within the society. In both mexico and the US the outlook for women is positive, but their status is still evolving.
Ben
I am not going to state the obvious relation in the presedential election in both Mexico and the US, but what I will state is the other factor that lead Obama to win, and which Calderon didnt have the pleasure in having. That is the minority popularity of the populus. Obama had, whether people will admit it or not, the popularity of being a black/minority president. Which greatly helped him in the success of his campaign. Calderon had to actually run a platform that would actually benefit people. All Obama had to do was say what the people wanted to hear and the minority, who if combined becomes the majority, would vote for him.
ReplyDelete-
WOMEN, let them do their thing.
-CLO
While reading "Mexico's Presidential Elections" I realized how the USA has many things im common with Mexico in politics. First, I read how the current president's slogan that won him the election was "Change!", and how that 'change' has yet to occurr due to the major 'congressional deadlock between the three political parties which has blocked most of the promised change'. Sound familiar??? This article also discusses the history between the PRI and the PAN, the two main opposing political parties. The main thing that seemed to differ from election here in the US and the election in Mexico, was that down in Mexico there was a very active third party, the PRD. Unless Ralph Nader becomes an actual threat sometime soon, I would only consider the Democrats and Republicans to be the two main parties.
ReplyDelete"Mexico's Women" was especially interesting to me when it mentions women like Ana Guevera, Salma Hayek, and Marta Fox, women who are making a name for them sleves in the seemingly man-dominated country of Mexico. The begining of the reading seems to play up that Mexico is becoming more sexually equall, but at the end of the article it states that "Mexico's macho culture is in no danger of disappearing." This sentence seems to contradict the entire article about Mexican women on the rise. Earlier in the article, the president of the Mexican Association of Women, Leticia Narvaez, claims that the role of women in business has "improved a lot over the last 15 years". But apparently (according to the last paragraph) Mexico will always be more male-dominant.
-MK
In the reading of "Mexico's Presidential Elections", I was able to find various correlations to the United State's elections and political parties. The first being the mirror replication of the PAN and Vicente Fox's "CHANGE!" slogan that he has promised and the deadlock between congress that is also seen by the Obama administration's slogan and the hold we see on the government at this time. Next, I read of the mention of "lukewarm support from both gubernatorial and congressional candidates". American's often think of Mexico's government to be corrupt and not as constructed as ours, but yearly, citizens read of politicians switching to opposing sides, or even not voting in Congress the way they had promised voters. I also noted the effect the media has over the campaigns and the heavy role it plays, and finally, the active role Fox's son have. It reminded me of political families in the US like the
ReplyDeleteThe article "Mexico's Women", mostly talked of the achievements that Mexican women have accomplished, this I feel is a representation as to how women are looked at in Mexico. Women are not seen as lesser to men, but at the same time they must EARN the respect, or the power, like Marta Fox and Esther Gordillo. These women have worked hard to establish charity, or achieve a position of authority. In contrast to that, women in the United States are seen as a novelty or should be shown respect to because of the work they do, rather than be respected for the work they have accomplished. In America, while this is completely dependent on the region, it is expected that women are to cook, clean and take care of children. Thankfully, in both US and Mexico these ideals of women are changing and a movement to women in the work place and authority in the work place is on the rise.
-Caroline H.
Sorry I'm late on this one! I tried to post earlier but then I couldn't find it but anyways...
ReplyDeleteMexico's Presidential Elections- In this article I found it rather interesting. The only part I didn't like was how the people react like we do...IN a way! When Fox was in office it read how he tried to change main issues in Mexico which were basically on crime and the economy. Although Mr. Fox tried his hardest it seems that change didn't work on his end since congress was so badly divided he couldn't persuade much of his legislation to pass. It seems to me President's do try. But when they don't succeed people want them out of office right away!! It's not fair at all. Or atleast I don't think. Expecially if the president comes into office at the wrong time!
Mexico's Women- NEED EQUALITY!! I Must say this article did tick me off a little but no matter where you go women are still considered as the weakling. It's Just like racism today. Although many years have passed Caucasians are still at the top!! However, I wil say that no matter what some sexist may want to think, women are on the verge of change and thanks to WWI women are on the rise of becoming possibly even better than men. :)
- Chelsey Adams