Revolutionary Mexican Women Essay -- Essays Papers

Revolutionary Mexican Women The picture of pre-revolutionary Mexican women was of a woman who had to lived her life constantly in the male shadow. These women were consumed by family life, marriage, and the Catholic Church, and lived silently behind their dominant male counterparts (Soto 31-32). In 1884 (prior to the revolution) the government passed the Mexican Civil Code. It dramatically restricted women's rights at home and at work (Bush and Mumme 351). Soto states that the code "sustains an almost incredible inequality between the conditions of husband and wife, restricts in an exaggerated and arbitrary manner those rights due the woman, and†¦erases and nullifies her personality" (qtd. Bush and Mumme 351). The code was just one of the many inequalities women and other ethnic, economic, political, or religious minorities suffered under the regime of Porfirio Diaz (Bush and Mumme 351). When the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920 arose to fight against the discrimination that Diaz incorporated into his regime, women began to find a place for themselves. It gave them the chance to control their own fate and live more public lives successfully (Soto 31-32). Mexican women were essential to the revolution in a number of ways. They were involved in politics, were strong advocates for the causes they believed in, and participated in life on the battlefields. The female political figures were probably the most important and influential women in the Mexican Revolution. They were prominent political activists, thinkers, writers, figures, role models, and were fearless in their pursuit of their goals, often resulting in jail terms. Both upper and lower class women managed to get high in the ranks of politics despite the ... ...of the female spirit. They took on core positions that were not traditional and excelled in many predominantly male-dominated roles. Mexican women were revolutionary in the way they stretched the boundaries of gender roles and reversed many stereotypes. Sources: Arrizon, Alicia. "Soldaderas and the Staging of the Mexican Revolution." The Drama Review. 42.1 (1998). 90-113. Bush, Diane Mitsch and Stephen P. Muume. "Gender and the Mexican Revolution." Women and Revolution in Africa, Asia, and the New World. Columbia: University of South Carolina, 1994. 343-365. Macias, Anna. "Women and the Mexican Revolution 1910-1920." Americas (Acad. of Am. Franciscan Hist.) 1980. 37(1): 53-82. Soto, Shirlene. Emergence of Modern Mexican Woman: Her Participatrion in Revolution and Struggle for Equality, 1910-1940. Denver, CO: Ardern Press, Inc., 1990. 31-66.