Feisty Female Friday: Claudia Sheinbaum

The FFF this week is Claudia Sheinbaum.

Claudia, a Mexican politician and environmental engineer, is the President of Mexico, the first woman and first Jewish person to be elected to the post. She spent her childhood in Mexico City, attended college there and in the US, studying physics and energy engineering.

She was politically active as a student and helped found the RDP. Claudia was appointed Mexico City’s environmental minister and elected mayor of the Tlalpan district. Now as president, she has enacted a series of programs to strengthen energy initiatives, minimum wage requirements, crime fighting, jobs creation, education, the environment, renewable energy initiatives, and many infrastructure reforms. As a feminist, she promotes reproductive rights, autonomy for women, and champions LGBT rights.

Claudia has won the World Mayor Prize, Grand Master and Collar of the Order of the Aztec Eagle, BBC Top 100 Women, and the Climate, Forbes and Time and the Jesus Silva Herzog Awards, and the Sustainability Medal. She recently sent Mexican teams to the US to assist in firefighting duties and flood rescue operations. Her team’s scientific research and policy advocacy on matters of energy efficiency, sustainability, and the environment earned them the Nobel Prize for Peace. Claudia has authored over 100 articles and books on energy, the environment, and sustainable development.

She is married, the mother of two children, grandmother, and scientist who lives in Mexico City. Claudia considers herself a religious woman, loves hiking, nature, and is an avid reader.