The outcome of the Mexican presidential elections this weekend may depend on women’s vote, but little from the candidates’ supposedly woman-oriented dialogue will advance women’s rights. The candidates, Vicente Fox Quesada of the National Action Party (PAN) and Francisco Labastida Ochoa of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), have focused on the women’s vote to gain key ballots in what polls show is an even tie between the two. This new focus on women by Fox and Labastida is deceiving since both are fierce opponents of abortion and gay and lesbian rights. More than 52 percent of the Mexican voters are women. As a result, Labastida and Fox have paid careful attention to their dress and language, and have used female members of their families to vouch for their character. Their campaign strategy is geared to appeal to so-called feminine stereotypes rather than to articulate substantive women’s issues in this Sunday’s election.
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