I never take for granted the things many of my peers/friends do: my right to equal opportunities in the workplace, my protections under the law, my right to control my body and to say no. One of the reasons I am so aware of how fragile these rights are is the years I lived in Mexico.
Women in Mexico still live with so little, it’s hard to put into words. I had friends who tried to go to the engineering college who were hazed out. I know of companies that have policies against hiring women for managerial positions, where women have to take a pregnancy test to even be hired as secretaries. And a woman’s protection from her husband or father had been nonexistant, until today.
Recently, the Mexican president passed a law that takes the first steps into pulling the country into a more equal treatment of half its population. It’s about time, but it’s still not enough.
Resources:
- México promulga ley para proteger a mujeres, reported by the Houston Chronicle (article is in Spanish)
