The Mexican Feminist Congresses The year is 1916, the location is Merida, Yucatan. At this time, Salvador Alvarado was governor of Yucatan and believed that “women’s emancipation an integral part of Mexico’s overall revolutionary goals of elevating oppressed peoples” (76). Alvarado was a socialist that had some radical ideals. He and constitutional leader Venustiano Carranza believed women should be educated, they wanted to educate women only to become teachers. They portrayed to help women but this help only pigeon holed them. The machismo mentality at this time could be seen by a particular news article written by Agustin Rivera y Sanroman.. In his article he answered the question “What should women be taught?” He saw women’s education …show more content…
She did not speak about the social injustices, she talked about solutions to the inequalities women experienced living in Yucatan (46 Pacrez). She was more focused on civil code reforms and property rights, she wanted things she can get approved by the governor. She took baby steps when asking for reform, she did not directly ask for women’s suffrage. Her main goal was to get women educated and have them working in the professions of medicine, law, and engineering instead of becoming teachers. Another reason why this congress was different was the fact that they focused on “la mujer mexicana” meaning they focused on Mexican women and not universal motherhood (76). For this reason the congress was a big deal because the Mexican Constitutional convention was coming up later in the year. Feminist hoped to take the opportunity to bring up the issue of women’s rights to the forefront of public debate. Alvarado with his own personal agenda was also helping to push women’s suffrage to the forefront of the Constitutional convention so that women can help him win presidency in the next …show more content…
The Second congress was held in November of the same year. This congress was also before the Constitutional convention. The turn out for the second congress was half the number of participants that attended the first congress. The topics did not change from the first congress. The women were still debating primary school education, marriage, rights of divorced parents and their children, and women suffrage and office-holding (77). Zavala did not attend this time nor did Galindo show up again. But Galindo again made her presence heard by sending in a twenty five page essay defending her first speech and also writing resolutions for the second congress to agree on. Galindo was defending her stance on women sex education, she even quoted European philosophers Bebel and Kant where she got the idea that women are equally sexual beings as men. It is not a belief that she came up
Tutino, John. "Power, Class, and Family: Men and Women in the Mexican Elite, 1750-1810." The Americas, No. 3 (1983): 359-381. http://www.jstor.org/stable/981230 (accessed December 1, 2013).
Derby Lauren, The Dictator's Seduction: Gender and State Spectacle during the Trujillo Regime, Callaloo 23.3. Summer 2000, pp. 1112-1146.
As Randall explained of her experiences in Cuba, 'the Cuban Revolution proclaimed women’s equality and seemed to have made enormous strides in its direction. The Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) had been established at the beginning of the revolution in order to organize women around the new social goals and make their needs known to Party leadership. It quickly became a mass organization with a membership of ninety seven percent of all women over the age of fourteen. It mobilized women very effectively to an array of necessary tasks' (Lewis 1977).
Aztec women embarked on several defining moments of labor, gender, class, symbolism, and political power in the Aztec Mexico history and culture. The roles of the Aztec women were unjustly marginalized. Their contributions to the work activities, economy, government and the influence of growth and development were grossly deceptive in the Ethnohistoric documents. Moreover, the variations of Aztec women cooking and weaving revolutionized gender.
The laws of the nation were degrading to the freedom and rights of the women in the land. The makers of the laws were all men who believed that women had no place in the
To say that many countries in Latin-American and in Europe are machistas is not a surprise for anyone. People who have born in Spain or in Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela grew in a society with fewer rights for women than men. The word machismo means "arrogant attitude of men towards women". This occurs in every single moment in our lives from our born to our death. But, at this moment I want to analyze the machismo in three areas: family, school and work.
...he Ladies LULAC Chapter Number Nine. Ester Machua was a feminist who made it her life’s work to promote and protect both women’s rights, as well as equal treatment of Mexican Americans. This branch gave women the opportunity to meet and discuss their concerns. Just two years after Machua has been appointed a position in LULAC she dissolved her branch of the group because she was not impressed by the lack of support from the men of LULAC. A year later she started the group again and gained more support from the men. She then traveled to different state In 1938 Machua was the officially named the hostess for the LULAC National Convention. This was an important point for Machua because she had put herself in “a position she used effectively to expand the number of women’s auxiliaries”(Meier). Currently the branch coordinates education and employment programs for women
“Poverty and exploitation of women in Latin America can never be alleviated because they are rooted in machismo,” meaning that because of the way society was run in Latin American, women can’t advance from the ancient state of mind that they belong in the private sphere and should stay there, because only men are good enough to be out in the public sphere. The reason why society was run in this manner, was because of the machismo feeling engraved in the minds of men and, in some cases, women in society. Alicia, Carolina, and Nancy don’t really have any other choice, than try to survive on their own by doing acts that are not “approved” by the society they live in. Even now, because of their actions, we could even disagree with the way they decided to approach their situation, because even now a day, we could think that selling one’s body or being involved in “off the book”
Huerta directed and publicized the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC) national boycotts. She was also able to successfully do the negotiating and lobbying for the UFWOC in Sacramento and Washington, DC. Furthermore, Vargas explains that Huerta’s activism helped “bring about a 70 percent increase in wages for farmworkers, health care benefits, disability insurance, and pension plans” (313) Maylei Blackwell, an associate professor asserts that during the Chicano Movement women’s marginalization occurred when women were not seen as real political subjects, but as auxiliary members (65). In addition, Blackwell explains that women were relegated supporting roles, and had their ideas dismissed during meeting, marginalizing them in the political and decision-making process
A revolution occurs when a need for drastic change is necessary to alter ones way of living. The change they are fighting for would end up to be a positive impact once victory prevails, but of course with every battle there are disagreements and violent quarrels. Revolution may seem to be a negative connotation, but there are always two sides to every story. Just like many other countries around the world a Latin American country called Mexico went through a revolution of their own. Although the Mexican Revolution was mainly fought for the distribution of land, it opened a gateway for the women. One of their main issues during the Mexican revolution dealt with women and their struggled determination for equality. Having many roles in society with restrictions placed upon them, an urge for mobilization, and a wonderfully strong woman role model named Hermila Galindo, it gave them all a reason for the extra push they needed for the change they wanted for the future. Being able to finally put their voice in action the women of Mexico fought proudly for what they believed was right.
Marianismo and machismo are the traditional gender roles in Latin America. Marianismo is the aspect of female gender roles while machismo is the aspect of male gender roles. The key belief of machismo is that men hold supremacy over women. For the most part these gender roles conform to traditional understanding of sexuality, masculinity, and femininity. There is only one key contradiction I found when it came to traditional understandings of sexuality, masculinity and femininity. Some people may confuse the meanings of gender, sex, and sexuality. Gender is what a person chooses to define themselves as: masculine or feminine. Sex is biological: male or female. Sexuality is then defined as the expression of sexual interest. These three words connect to one another.
Sixty- nine years after the Declaration of Independence, one group of women gathered together and formed the Seneca Falls Convention. Prior and subsequent to the convention, women were not allowed to vote because they were not considered equal to men. During the convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton delivered the “Declaration of Sentiments.” It intentionally resembles the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal…” (Stanton, 466). She replaced the “men” with “men and women” to represent that women and men should be treated equally. Stanton and the other women in the convention tried to fight for voting rights. Dismally, when the Equal Rights Amendment was introduced to the Congress, the act failed to be passed. Even though women voiced their opinions out and urged for justice, they could not get 2/3 of the states to agree to pass the amendment. Women wanted to tackle on the voting inequalities, but was resulted with more inequalities because people failed to listen to them. One reason why women did not achieve their goals was because the image of the traditional roles of women was difficult to break through. During this time period, many people believed that women should remain as traditional housewives.
Women throughout the suffrage act were faced with many challenges that eventually led into the leading roles of women in the world today. Suffrage leaders adopted new arguments to gain new support. Rather than insisting on the justice of women’s suffrage, or emphasizing equal rights, they spoke of the special moral and material instincts women could bring to the table. Because of these women taking leaps and boundaries, they are now a large part of America’s government, and how our country operates.
Stanton did not reveal much in her memoirs, so the author had to work hard to bring this information to the surface. The convention changed the course of history by starting by protecting women’s rights and enhancing overall gender equality. The book is a reflection of women’s activity in the name of their freedom and rights and equality for fifty years. The book is significant both to the present and to the past, as long as there are many issues in the society related to the women’s rights, and to the time studied in the class. 2.
Under this topic, I will focus on the origins of Latina feminist movement when it was formed and the factors that led to its formation. I will also analyze the objectives of these feminist movements, their grievances and the strategies they adopted to achieve their objectives and air their grievances to the society and the state. It will also be necessary for me to