1920's: Women In The Zapatista Movement

Women in the Zapatista Movement In the 1920’s the Zapatista Movement expanded drastically due to how the government was treating people in Mexico. During the first revolution the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), passed on January 1, 1994, this affected the indigenous people of Chiapas, Mexico instead of helping them. The government took away their farm lands in which these indigenous people would grow crops to live off of and sell. The agreement gave power to other countries to provide profit for themselves. That same day that the NAFTA was passed the Zapatistas were formed and ready to fight for their own rights. There goal was to create a significantly greater amount of privileges for the indigenous people living in Mexico.

They were often forced into marriages that were arranged for them at an early age. Many had up to ten or more children. Women could not leave their house without the permission of their own husband or father’s. Men usually had more power than a women did. On March 1993 the Zapatista National Liberation Army put “Major Susana” to be responsible of the women in the Zapatista Movement. “Susana didn't hesitate; she continued her declaration...We want to have the children we want and care for...We want the right to study and even to be truck drivers…” (Poniatowska, 55). After the Revolutionary law was passed women were able to take positions that men usually would take within the movement. This challenged the traditional roles and stereotypes for indigenous women. It was the start of a new and strong revolution. Women were going to be able to do things they never thought they were going to do. Women learned that if they wanted to do a particular thing that they had to speak up like the men would. Even though it was a challenge, women had to join together as one to help each other be heard by the

Women in Mexico that were sexually abused or mistreated physically were seen as like it was there fault for what happened to them but in reality it was the man’s fault. This is one reason why the women wanted to join the Zapatista Movement. “They took arms, worked with the sick, and trained other soldiers” (Katzenberger, 38). Some men believed that women could not do what a man can do. They thought that women were meant to stay home, cook, and clean. In this revolution women provided a voice to fight for equality instead of inequality. They demonstrated true strength in standing up for themselves and proving that they can do everything that a man can do. The main reason on why women joined the Zapatista Movement is because they would rather die fighting for their own rights than to live in fear of starving themselves to death. The Zapatista Movement made women have freedom by doing things that they thought they were never going to do because men were always in