The fight for women's rights has been driven by courageous women who broke with gender stereotypes and stood up to their time's macho society. They formed the foundations of women's fight that, even today, continue.
In the framework of Human Rights Day, we remember the Mexican women who fought for our rights and took the first steps towards gender equality.
Hermila Galindo
Hermila Galindo de Topete was a teacher, feminist, Mexican politician, and journalist. In 1915 she founded and directed the weekly magazine "Modern Woman," which promoted secular education, sexual education, and equality between men and women.
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Her presentation "The woman of the future" in the First Feminist Congress of Yucatan caused a stir among Mexican feminists of the time for raising the general equality between men and women, including sexual and political rights. Unsatisfied by the nullified recognition of women's political rights, Hermila dared to challenge the electoral law in 1918, presenting herself as a candidate to the Congress of the Union for the 5th. Electoral District of the Capital. Despite obtaining the majority of votes, her position was rejected by the Electoral College.
Elvia Carrillo Puerto
Elvia Carrillo was born in Yucatán in 1881. She was a social fighter who, in 1919, founded the feminist league "Rita Cetina Gutierrez" to promote the discussion on the female vote.
She stood up to her State laws. In 1922, she disputed that the Constitution did not expressly prohibit her from being elected as the Governor of Mérida. After her triumph in defying electoral regulations, other women managed to have positions of popular representation.
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Maria del Refugio García Martinez
Teacher, feminist, suffragette, and Mexican activist in favor of women's rights María García Martinez was born in 1889 in Michoacán. She fought to include women as citizens in the Magna Carta by joining forces with other women from the United Front for Women's Rights.
She was also a Congressional representative for the district of Michoacán. Although a wide margin elected her, she could not assume that position under the pretext that the Constitution needed to be modified. As a response, she started a hunger strike in front of the president's house at Lázaro Cárdenas.
Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz
Sor Juana was one of the extraordinary figures of Spanish-American literature of the seventeenth century. She lived in a time when women had no access to education or independence. She defied her time's gender mandates and cultivated a great love for letters and knowledge, demonstrating the importance of education for women.
Rosario Castellanos
The writer Rosario Castellanos is considered one of the pioneers in Mexican feminism. Her work professes her dissatisfaction with machismo and the rebellion of a woman who believed in a world with dignity and women's rights.
They and many other women downgraded to the shadow of history fight for women's rights in Mexico. They were discontent with the patriarchy and acted for a better future for women in our country.
Traducción: Valentina K. Yanes