women’s rights defenders “on alert” after the election of President Javier Milei

The ultraliberal Javier Milei, slayer of abortion, was elected president of Argentina on the night of Sunday to Monday. Women’s rights groups are worried about his coming to power.

On some walls in Buenos Aires, we can read this graffiti: “Milei hates women”. The one who was elected president of Argentina on the night of Sunday November 19 to Monday November 20 despises everything that concerns women, from discrimination to the right to abortion. Javier Milei’s positions on essential social issues such as women’s rights, his rejection of minorities and the denial of global warming worry the economist’s detractors. Milei’s imminent inauguration is a leap into the void for Argentina.

Its posture towards women’s rights irritates in a country that is a pioneer in the feminist struggle in South America. The future president denies, for example, salary inequalities between men and women: “If women really earned less than men, companies would be full of women because what bosses want is to make money”.

This funny logic is Milei’s. For Enrique, a left-wing activist, the future president is the equivalent of a caveman. “Milei hates the collectives of women who have emancipated themselves in recent years and their social struggles. He claims machismo and wants to give it power”he believes.

“We are returning to a patriarchal society and by voting for him, I see that Argentines have no memory”

Enrique, left-wing activist

at franceinfo

But can the new president really unravel all these rights? “I believe that there is an intention to return to what has been achieved, says Josefina, sociologist and feminist activist. But I also believe that there will be a lot of resistance, not only in the streets but also in the health field in the case of abortion. It’s the same with sex education in schools. But Argentina has a long track record on these issues, we will be on alert”.

Milei therefore does not have carte blanche on these questions. Faced with persistent inequalities, the feminization of poverty and violence against women, Argentines will be more vigilant than ever.