Throughout the pandemic, women have played a groundbreaking role in research and response. Professor Sarah Gilbert led the development of Oxford-Astrazeneca’s vaccine against COVID-19 and Dr. Ozlem Tureci, co-founder of BioNTech in Germany, was a developer of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine against COVID-19. Both spoke at a World Health Organization event on Monday about the importance of women in the pandemic and the need to improve their representation in leadership.
And, as women everywhere observe International Women’s Day, across Latin America, the messages are more pointed with demonstrations against gender-based violence. Outside Mexico’s presidential palace on Monday, activists painted on steel barricades the names of hundreds of women who have been killed. Host Marco Werman speaks with Alejandra López Martínez, a political scientist and a professor at Anáhuac University in Mexico City.