Role and Participation of Women in the Mexican Revolution - Essay Example

The Mexican revolution is characterised by the effective participation of women. Before the Mexican revolution, the condition of women was equal to that of servants because they were isolated and controlled by men. The main characteristic of women life was concentrated around the family, marriage and religious controls. They were never considered to be capable of participating in any political or social matters. However, this situation has changed after the revolution. Thus, it transpires that the Mexican Revolution has transformed the position of women in the country and helped in empowering them as take an active part in political as well as social lives.

The Mexican revolution (1910-1920) has played a vital role in the transformation of women’s role in the traditional Mexican society. Women’s participation in the revolution had changed the traditional concepts about them. They had actively participated in several phases in the revolution, which ultimately redefined their role in the traditional family. They started to come out of their home and travel to distant places. They also supported the revolution by taking care of the injured soldiers.

Thus, they came out of the four walls of their homes and actively took part in the revolution. This made it possible for the first time to make women an active part of social activity. It was an unmatched experience in the lives of a large section of female population. During the revolution, some women even worked as spies, or worked for printing manifestos. Some of them went to the extent of manufacturing or running guns, while others remained directly involved in the revolution. Such an open participation in the revolution revealed that women were in no terms inferior than men.

“As with any mass movement, a few individual women rose through the ranks to positions of command. Zapatista Colonel Rosa Bobadilla and journalist and activist Juana Gutierrez de Mendoza, who participated in drafting Zapata’s Ayala Plan, are cases in point” (Monk par. 14). The spirit of the revolution received an extra boost with the entrance of the women into it. Many women writers got encouraged due to the revolution and supported it through their writings. Elena Poniatowska is one such writer.

She noted in her book ‘Massacre in Mexico’ that “Women were responsible for much of the movement’s fighting spirit. I remember lots of the girl comrades from the med school at UNAM, and so on” (Poniatowska 91). Two famous Feminist Congresses were conducted during the revolution period. The role of women revolutionist thus remains significant in Mexican history. Their contribution to the Mexican revolution is highlighted in the works of many writers. Cassola’s photographs “reveal the Mexican people in late nineteenth and His collections also include the only photographs of the woman soldaderas” (Martinez 148).

The participation of women in the revolution paved way to the future developments of the women community as a whole in the country. “Referring to the iconographic symbolic role of women, Sian ”women often appear to weigh more than their full weight in revolutionary circumstances” (Linhard 58). The participation of women in the revolution had given opportunity for them to face the society and thereby think for their own development. It was after the Mexican revol