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Women Investing in Women This evening Semillas holds an event to acknowledge women. That brings to mind women’s inherent superiority. History - time and again - is made up of inventions, occurrences and revolutionary ideas. History- in essence- is the story of actual people, individuals. Women like Maribel Villalobos with her indigenous women’s organization; Nadxieelii Carranco with her sexual rights network; Julia Quiñonez with her Women Workers at the Border Committee (Comite Fronterizo de Obreras); Guadalupe Lopez with her community premises for lesbians; Diana Damian with her work on gender oriented health services; Felipa Poot and Juana Chan with their handicraft project; Karina Torres with her Human Rights Centre “Mirabal”. Right beside them, many women from a new generation follow in their foot steps and pledge to be out of the ordinary. Women like our daughters who are-plain and simply- better than I was at their age: more interesting, self-confident, with higher schooling levels, more creative and somehow less fearful. My daughter says that she surely wants to get married and have children but when she earns her post doctorate degree. All women present here tonight can take pride- just a tiny little bit- and say that this is the type of Mexico we have helped create. A more open and free country. Where women have born witness and learned that they are as capable to perform as the men who surround them. A place where women know that their options are not limited to finding a job as a secretary, being a mom or a nun. Where women understand that their life can be guided by talent and not by gender. Where women can bring to bear what Virginia Wolf wished: “to live in a room of your own”. All the above is not just good and well because it fulfills a millenary claim for justice. It gives new life to the challenge to be generous with all women who have not been lucky enough to join us tonight. In order to see this happening, we need the commitment of the daughters of plurality, democratization, tolerance and progress with all the ones who cannot enjoy the outcome yet. Women like many absent tonight but who embody a volume of the same book. Millions of women who can only survive in Mexico. There are women whose lives remain unchanged while ours have. All are slaves to tradition, or starvation, or discrimination or violence because the country is not making any progress, as it should be. Economic growth is not enough. Time elapses and the poor stay poor. In Mexico it is still quite difficult to rise from one social class to the next. The gap dividing haves and have-nots grows bigger and gradually becomes unsurmountable. A study by the Interamerican Development Bank shows that the daughter of a working class family only has a 10 percent chance to become a professional. To be born poor means, in most cases, to die in poverty. Or carry hardship everyday on your shoulders as many women surviving a divided country, a system that is not working for them do. We could not call ourselves feminists if we overlook their fate. We could not call ourselves human beings if we remain unconcerned about their burden. You, us, highly educated women, wealthy, influential, we cannot turn a blind eye to the shadow cast over the ones who endure a choked off country. A country providing no education to its people. An oil-rich country without citizenry. A country of employees instead of entrepreneurs. Victim of the disaster caused by depleting is richness and not sharing it with the population.
A social, cultural and political system based on cronyism, not merit. Influence peddling and not excellence. Where family names nullify a degree. Where positions are granted as loyalty awards and not on the basis of professionalism. Where doors open for submissive individuals and not necessarily nonconformists. Bribery prevails from generation to generation, from family to family, from hand to hand. A pat on the back, a wink. Marriages that fortify business and social class partnerships. Family businesses inherited from father to junior and then to his offspring. Local big bosses supported by loyal unions. State monopolies sold to a crony and he becomes the richest man in the world. These are the walls -educational, cultural, social, corporate- built to permanently keep all outsiders out, hindering any attempt for mobility and stifling any chance of moving up or entering for the poor, the unsophisticated, innovative entrepreneurs, competition, of those with no access to credit. Women. All who would take advantage of an opportunity if they could have the chance to face a real one and otherwise decide to cross the border. Millions of Mexicans holding multiple jobs, all survivors concerned about a system that does not work for them. Therefore, frustration permeates to the streets. Boosting despair among the dispossessed. Plowing a fertile field for any promissory seed offering fast track initiatives, an “alternative project” to save the country. Enticing an exodus and thus exporting talent. Making Mexico a country of women since one out of every five men between 26 to 35 years of age lives in the United States. Mexico is a stable country. True. Mexico has been free from another economic crisis. True. Mexico has the program Oportunidades. True. But not enough to consolidate our middle class and guarantee social mobility. To generate springboards that would take people from owning a tortilla store to software development. To raise - eight more years - the minimum education level of the poorest 20 percent of the population. To change a statistical figure that would make you eat your heart out. Mexicans between 25 to 34 years holding higher education degrees equals five percent. Previous generations - 30 years older - equal two percent. Other countries have done more and performed a better job. In South Korea, the rate accounts for 26 percent. 30 years back, 8.25 years ago South Korea’s economy was four times poorer than Mexico’s; this year it is way richer. There is something wrong. Something is not working. It has to do with a quite profound, historic, and structural question. Our country is betting on its resources and compromising its inhabitants. Oil extraction over investing in people. Such a model triggers wealth concentration. Aggravates disparity. Results in a poorly educated population left without economic resources. Giving room to patronage. Lack of citizenry and apathetic generations after generations. Now then, such inertia is everybody’s task, not restricted to men. Good governance is based on good citizenry and this gathering is an invitation. Every six years, Mexico sets on the lookout for a Champion, an “El Cid.” Every six years Mexico looks for a politician able to rescue and deliver. Once again Mexicans shout: “Do not let us down.” And later, surprisingly it turns out to be that way. It is time to acknowledge that there are no saviors. There are no redeemers. There are only citizens- male and female- sharing an obligation: to tell ourselves that Mexico changes at a very slow pace due to a generalized complicity. All of those who premise on “that is the way it goes in Mexico”. Premise on inevitability. Premise on conformability. Octavio Paz said: “And if we do not turn out to be stoical and impassible-like Juarez or Cuauhtemoc- at least we try to be submissive, patient, enduring. Submissiveness is one of our greatest virtues. What really moves us is not a shining victory but our steadfastness in the face of adversity.” There it is: conformability and corruption happen provided everybody shares. We show patience with a country that only provides to its people eigth years of basic education. Passiveness in the eyes of what our women go through. We share the conviction that Mexico will not change. Conformist citizens beget mediocre politicians: that is the problem. Citizens holding on to low expectations create a mirror image government. In Mexico it is easier to play around with existing rules and customs than to demande new ones. Gracious conformability turns out to be more profitable than permanently being filled with indignation. It is more acceptable to tolerate great omissions and bargain small shows of obedience. Such an accommodating attitude allows the country to treat most of its women like this. Conformability is a quite comfortable cover for those not willing to move a finger beneath it. A luxury for those who rent a car but never feel the sense of ownership. For a long time now Mexico has been a country rented by is people. It has been owned by religious leaders, tribal tlatoanis, settlers, liberals, conservatives, dictators, the PRI, imperialistic presidents, intelligentsia, political parties and elites. Never owned by its people. Reason why just a very few own it. Dust it. Vacuum it. Wash it. Wax it. Think of it as its own. In the words of Larry Summers, former Harvard University President, no one has ever washed a rental car. That is the reason we are here today: to understand that this is our car and its passengers too – and more importantly, that women are in the back seat. All who see the country as theirs do not live in neglect. All of us who have lived abroad know what it feels to be heartsick. What it feels to walk in every step little pieces of nostalgia and great memories. What it feels to miss the scents, the flavors, the hubbub, and the light. What it feels to love a country so much that you feel an urgent need to come back and save it from itself. What it feels to spend your life thinking - everyday - that voters can and must oversee elected officials’ actions. Semillas Solutions are within our reach ready to be implemented and Semillas’ women are teaching us how. So much to do. So much to change. So many corners to pile up optimism. Optimism based on will against the pessimistic side of intelligence. Optimism derived from the intangible, the unreachable but deeply powerful feeling: love towards your Motherland. Journalist Julio Scherer Garcia once asked former president Ernesto Zedillo to describe his love for Mexico. He suggested art, geography, and history. Its mountains, valleys, volcanoes, heroes and sunny afternoons. I wish to ask you to do the same and learn that in front of every reason to turn a blind eye are all the reasons to open your eyes. In front of every reason to lose hope are all the reasons to take it back. In front of every reason not to participate are all imperatives to do so. Diego Rivera’s mural paintings. Sanborns restaurant enchiladas. Michoacan’s butterflies. Alfonso Cuaron’s films. Lydia Cacho’s courage. Ranchero style fried eggs and chicken chilaquiles. Carmen Aristegui’s smile. Ana Guevara’s medals. Oaxaca’s black mole curry. Elena Poniatowska’s books. Marta Lamas’ dedication. “Pastor” style tacos with hot sauce and cilantro. Carlos Monsivais humor. Seaside at Punta Mita. Eugenia Leon’s music. Efrain Huerta’s poetry. Espacio Escultorico out-door museum at dusk. Any downtown square any Sunday. The way Mexicans kiss each other and greet by saying “good afternoon” while entering an elevator. Noisy loud parties on a Saturday afternoon. Luis Barrgan’s house. Friends who always have time to drink tequila. Colorful piñata peaks. Manuel Parra’s houses. Bougainvillea, Calla lilies and century plants. Guanabana fruit sorbet. Puebla´s tiles. Graciela Iturbide´s photography. Chili-covered fresh mangoes on a wooden stick. Long meals and luscious palm trees. Jesus Silva Herzog Marquez’s writing. Semillas’ Women Investing in Women. Every one has his/her own list of favorite things. His/her own piece of country hung next to your heart. A rich, colorful, voluptuous, fragrant long list. A list to fight against a deep rooted logic based on the expression “at least” we have social peace; “at least” extreme poverty have been slightly reduced; at least former president Fox’s family only stole from the country a red Jeep and a Hummer. Today, such “at least” shared logic equals defending mediocrity. Equals an apology for the status quo that benefits a handful and harms many. Mexico will only become a better country if its dwellers stop thinking in relative terms and start demanding absolute terms. When they become prophets equipped with a vision of what could be. When they take up what Martin Luther King called “moral courage”. When they shout that the bonus granted at the end of every administration to state workers, rapacious unions, a stagnated education system, constant unemployment, hurtful inequality and marginalization of millions of women are realities that not a single Mexican is willing to accept. If no one raises the bar, the country will keep on living crushed by it. If women do not raise their voices against other women being victimized, that equals complicity. If no one demands change, things will never change. If Mexicans never move out from the labyrinth of conformability it will be quite difficult to improve the fate of women. Therefore I would ask- each and every one of you- that before leaving you make a statement of faith just as Rosario Castellanos put it. To develop your own personal philosophy to watch, move around, live change, participate. Not to be a witness. I have my own, deeply rooted in a dogged hope and unshakable conviction to improve Mexico. I believe that we need to make Mexico a country of female citizens. A place populated by women advocates aware of their rights. Willing to endeavor into small actions to trigger major change. Willing to sacrifice one’s personal comfort zone to have others enjoy a small share of it. I believe that being middle class in a country of forty million poor means to hold a privileged position. And to be privileged conveys an obligation to give something back in exchange. That is the reason why I ask you to see yourselves, women, as philanthropists. To see yourselves as champions of a joint project: to save Mexico from itself. To be part of the process towards transformation. May altruistic actions discover the revolutionary power of commitment showed by Mexican Women, united not by class or political affiliation but by the essentials of human nature. You-believe it or not- can make a difference paving the way for those to come behind you. Exposing the gap between rich and poor, between justice and injustice, between saying you are a supportive women and actually proving it. Speaking up. Denouncing. Participating. Donating. Not long ago, in a women’s fund fundraising event, Abigail Disney- grandchild of the Disney Empire founder- challenged the attendants to donate until it hurt. I challenge you to do the same. To be volcanoes and by that contribute to reconfiguring the map with new peaks and summits. To cross what Carlos Pellicer called “the moving line of our well-built loneliness.” To jump from isolated words like an archipelago to the land of action. Train yourself to pay back. If we change slightly Pellicer’s words. Our Motherland needs more women to watch the sunset with but not with sorrowful eyes. There is so much and it is in the hands of a few. People forget that this is a country for all of us. That our Motherland should be our joy not our self-inflicted shame. It is hard to be good. We have to become our own heroines. I believe it is possible. But it will only happen when the faith of some becomes the conviction of many. When small talk translates into transformational participation. When belief in change materializes in everyday actions to make it happen. When you pull out your checkbook and make a commitment with Semillas and the women of Mexico. Why should you bet on the 5 “C’s” of philanthropy for women: Change, Connection, Collaboration, Commitment, and Celebration? Because in my favorite movie The English Patient, Katherine whispers “we truly are a country, not the limits drawn on maps, not the names of powerful men.” Mexico is not the country of Felipe Calderon or Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador or Emilio Azcarraga or Carlos Slim or Manlio Fabio Beltrones or Emilio Gamboa or Mario Marin or Ulises Ruiz. It is not the country of the political parties PRD or PRI and its supporters. It is not the country of representatives and governors or bureaucrats or union leaders. It the country of the women that Semillas strongly tries to empower. It is our country. It is ours. In 2007 and forevermore.
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In November, Semillas held its annual Women Investing in Women recognition event. The keynote speech was given by Denise Dresser, prominent Mexican political analyst.
For long stretches of time we have fostered and tolerated an opulent-ghettoed-establishment, afraid of the poor. And-truth be told- they have not been willing to educate them since they are unwilling to cross the gap from which enormous of benefits are derived. There are not enough spurs to make it happen. There you go: drivers, workers, schoolteachers, house workers and gardeners on miserable wages. People who go to school on shifts and eventually become dropouts because they do not see the value of education. Elementary school, high school, college dropouts left with no tools to become high-performing, productive and empowered citizens of Mexico and the world.