Gender Roles in Latin American and the United States

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During the Mexican Revolution women played an important role structuring their society and elevating their status. In both Latin America and the United States, women’s roles within society changed drastically from 1850 through the 1920’s. Women from both countries strove for the same rights and privileges that were given to men. During this time both countries were facing chaotic political and social transformations.
While some women’s movements were more progressive than other, the majority of women in this time period were not focused on achieving absolute equality with men. They strove to improve their standard of living, receive a higher level of education, participate in society and, in some cases, to rise up to the political level of the men around them. Despite the excessive amount of social and political upheaval within Latin America, women in Mexico were more successful at achieving their objectives than women in the United States of America.
It is important to know what was happening in both Mexico and the United States during, and leading up to, this time as well as how they interacted with one another. It is impossible to understand the struggles of women from this time without taking into consideration the context of what each nation was going through independent of one another and then making an informed comparison. During the 1850’s the United States was expanding its borders into Mexican territory.
The United States, as far as the government was concerned, cared little for the well-being of the Mexican people and saw them as an inferior race. While both countries viewed women as weak, incapable and sought to keep them in their rightful place under the patriarchy. This thought process that was prevalent in the U...

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... their government, even though they were powerless to do anything to change it. While reading and comparing the letters of women during this time, the Mexican women seem to have a more elevated view of their role and are less likely to profusely rely and ingratiate the men around them.
Educational opportunities are vastly significant in the evolution of women’s roles in society. By the 1950’s upper class women had access to higher levels of education; however, educational opportunities for middle class women were limited and virtually nonexistent for those in the lower classes. These opportunities, regarded by the upper class members of society as an adornment to the beauty of a woman, became another method of objectifying women. Despite this, her views reflect the changing expectations of women. In her publication Advice to Young Ladies Madame Bachellery states “

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