First lady Jill Biden was out front representing the United States in Mexico on Monday, ahead of meetings between President Joe Biden and the country’s president set to begin later in the evening.
Biden spoke with Mexican women in the fields of art, education and business at an event at the U.S. ambassador’s house, and then met with kids taking part in the National Football League’s Tochito, a flag football league for both girls and boys.
Later, she was scheduled to participate in a reading and cultural event hosted by Mexico’s first lady, Dr. Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller, whom Biden most recently hosted at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., this summer.
The first lady often has a parallel mission to her spouse, President Joe Biden, on overseas trips: building a relationship with her counterparts and fostering friendship outside of official, diplomatic meetings between the countries’ presidents.
Dr. Biden touched down in Mexico City separately from the president on Sunday afternoon, where she was greeted by Mexican first lady Müller. On board her official plane was Secretary of State Antony Blinken, climate envoy John Kerry and other top U.S. officials traveling for the North American Leaders Summit this week.
Biden first visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe alongside Müller, who had given Biden a necklace of the Virgin of Guadalupe when they met in May, according to a White House official. At the church, the first lady offered a candle and basket of flowers, bowing her head, and she later signed the visitors book, according to photos from the basilica.
On Monday, Dr. Biden spoke to a room of Mexican women about economic empowerment – a few days after the U.S. released its first strategy on Global Women’s Economic Security, estimating that closing the gender gap around the world could amount to an additional $5.3 trillion in global GDP.
“For many women around the world, simply raising their voice is a struggle,” Biden said. “But when women get the opportunities that they deserve, there is no limit to what we can do, right?”
“When we earn money, we invest it in our families, and we create more economic growth,” she added, addressing many women who have been part of programs sponsored by the U.S. government, according to the first lady’s office.
Dr. Biden, noting she was a football fan herself, then observed kids doing flag football drills as part of the Tochito program, which aims to promote gender equality.
“Yesterday, I was watching the [Philadelphia] Eagles beat the [New York] Giants,” she teased.
“This is really empowering young girls, and it's teaching all children the values of respect and integrity,” Biden said, standing a nine-year-old girl named Sofia, who plays as a running back. “Sports is the international language.”
Diana Flores, the quarterback of the Mexican women’s national flag football team that won the first-ever World Games gold medal this year, thanked Dr. Biden for her work on boosting women.
“This sport … has helped me grow as a person, as an athlete and make many of my dreams reality,” Flores said in Spanish. “Thank you for empowering the woman.”