Women In The Mexican Revolution

After the people of Mexico freed themselves from Spanish control, they faced difficulties trying to officially establish themselves as a country. Despite their independence, Mexico had to also live with the aftermath of Spanish colonialism. Part of the aftermath included socio-political issues amongst the Mexican people. In an effort to establish themselves as a nation, they first had to free themselves from a Spanish ideology, for Mexico truly was not free after their independence. The socio-political predicaments contribute to the evolution of modern day Mexico.

My Thesis is, the Mexican Revolution was important because the people were getting fed up and something needed to be done about the corruption and the possibility of a free-market. This kind of “opportunity” would help the rich but the poor would only have a larger gap into the steps of economical and political society. People were unsatisfied with the Diaz Regime and it had now effected much larger groups. Liberals and radicals wanting democracy, owners of land not wanting foreign control, and people suffering for regulated pay and healthy working environments. Several landowners lost their land to landowner takeovers.

During the Mexican Revolution, Mexico as a nation torn in many directions, people gave up simple farming lives to take up arms against causes that many of them did not fully understand. Gender roles during the period in Mexico were exceptionally degrading towards women. Having little more rights than slaves and treated as trophies or property more than human beings, women role in society was nothing near that of a man’s. In The Underdogs, Mariano Anzuela highlights the issue of gender roles by continuously illustrating the punitive role of women and their mistreatment. Augmenting Anzuelas work with citations from Oscar Lewis and Stephanie Smith will paint a picture of the degrading gender roles for women during the Mexican Revolution. Highlighted points brought up by Azuela are how men speak with and treat women, women’s place in society, and general disregard for women’s feelings.

Before World War II, the Mexican American community had a very rich history in the United States; also they were suffering racial, economic and educational segregation. They still were foreigners in a land that once belonged to them. The women had a very specific part in this community´s development.

Author Mariano Azuela's novel of the Mexican revolution, The Underdogs, conveys a fictional representation of the revolution and the effects it had on the Mexican men and women who lived during that time. The revolutionary rebels were composed of different men grouped together to form small militias against the Federalists, in turn sending them on journeys to various towns, for long periods of time. Intense fighting claimed the lives of many, leaving women and children behind to fend for themselves. Towns were devastated forcing their entire populations to seek refuge elsewhere. The revolution destroyed families across Mexico, leaving mothers grieving for their abducted daughters, wives for their absent husbands, and soldiers for their

The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela is arguably the most important novel of the Mexican Revolution because of how it profoundly captures the atmosphere and intricacies of the occasion. Although the immediate subject of the novel is Demetrio Macias - a peasant supporter of the Mexican Revolution -, one of its extensive themes is the ambivalence surrounding the revolution in reality as seen from a broader perspective. Although often poetically revered as a ‘beautiful’ revolution, scenes throughout the novel paint the lack of overall benevolence even among the protagonist revolutionaries during the tumultuous days of the revolution. This paper will analyze certain brash characteristics of the venerated revolution as represented by Azuela’s

When considering the American Revolution most histories fail to recognize both sides of the fight for liberty. Men were certainly the central figures; however could they have succeeded without the periphery support of women? In her book, Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America, Linda K. Kerber explores the contribution of women to the war and demonstrates the rising of “Republican Motherhood” during and following the war. Through this ideology, women merged their traditional roles with their new sense of civic duty. In the beginning chapters, Kerber examines women’s engagement in the war effort, explores the emerging idea of female patriotism and states the proper loyalties of married women during the time.

By the time the Mexican Revolution began, women were ready to be recognized fully for their talents and abilities. While many women chose to stay behind the scenes and care for the soldiers on the sidelines, like Camila in The Underdogs, there were equally as many women who chose to actively participate in the revolution. Women such as War Paint chose to become fighters, while others followed less dangerous paths (although many were equally as radical). Despite the fact that Camila and War Paint are both accurate representations of the women who chose the same paths during the revolution, there are still many different roles that women played during this time that Azuela does not acknowledge.

The story illustrates the overlapping influences of women’s status and roles in Mexican culture, and the social institutions of family, religion, economics, education, and politics. In addition, issues of physical and mental/emotional health, social deviance and crime, and social and personal identity are

Not only did these women find a place in society other than by the stove, they won the appreciation and respect of men and women around them. Two of the most extraordinary of these women were Dolores Jimenez y Muro, who was an important political writer, and Hermila Galindo, who was a political speaker and advocate for Carranza’s campaign and regime. Dolores Jimenez y Muro's importance is evident in how she was able to have her voice heard and listened to by high-ranking revolutionary officials. Hermila Galindo's prominence is shown by her distinguished political career and feminist movements.

In The Underdogs written by Mariano Azuela, we are introduced to a character that strongly symbolizes the fuel of the Mexican Revolution. Heroes like Demetrio Macias brought the Serrano’s hope of giving them what they felt they truly deserved. Although Demetrio Macias, the general (colonel) of a rebel army is hunting down the army of Pancho Villa, he seems to have the same ideals as the enemy. In addition to Demetrio Macias, we meet women like Camilla and War Paint who represent the different roles that women played during the Mexican Revolution.

The call for feminism marks the beginning of an extensive journey with the quest to inspire women and to advocate women right in a male governed the world. Gloria Anzaldúa and Maxine Kingston both scrutinize feminism in the framework of “Borderland: La Frontera: The New Mestiza” and “The Women Warrior” encouraging women to occupy a strong position in the post-colonial male led civilization. The author both traces the journey of women struggle to achieve rewarding role within the structure shaped by men. The alliance of different voice from disregarded women gestures a strong theme that inspires Maxine Hong Kingston and Gloria Anzaldua to write enthusiastically within the feminist topic to dispute the patriarchal society.

Many nations across time and the world have experienced a revolution. From the American revolution to the French revolution, history has proven conflict can engage a nation at any moment. Tanter explains that two possible scenarios, changes in the economic development and the level of education are likely to cause revolutions (Tanter 264). A revolution can be composed of a group of individuals who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in exchange for change in the existing

Along with educational issues women also faced domestic violence. Minerva, Dede, Maria Theresa, and Patria ended this suffering along with gaining freedom for everybody. Although Alvarez did not include the domestic violence view in the story she did show how women were not treated the same. When Minerva when to the university to study law, upon graduate Trujillo did not award her the license to practice. (Alvarez,138) Along with her being a women doing a man’s job Trujillo allowed his personal feelings dictate that decision and it added more to her rage against his way of ruling government. “...If they kill me, I shall reach my arms out of the grave and I shall be stronger.” and stronger she was. (Mirabal, 2006)

Before the Revolutionary years, mainly during the Batista era, Cuban women were put at a disadvantage due to the traditional views held by other members of the patriarchal society. Women were constantly viewed as inferior to men; many believed that women should be at home, keeping themselves busy with domestic work, such as cooking, cleaning, and raising the children, while men should be out working and earning money in order to survive. In 1953, about thirteen per cent of the workforce were women (Gomperts, 20). Women were not allowed to participate in politics; these included voting or working in government jobs (Gomperts, 20) Medical care and education were limited to the women throughout the country (Gomperts, 21).