Women and the Mexican Revolution

Hello all, and welcome once again. Today we will delve into the history of the Mexican Revolution and the participation of people in it. We’ll be talking about women’s roles in the Revolution, so strap in and enjoy the ride.

The Mexican Revolution started in November 18^th, 1910 when Francisco I. Madero, the political opponent of the current president, Porfirio Diaz, called for the Plan de San Luis Potosi while in exile in the United States. Under the Plan de San Luis Potosi, the oppressed agrarian people would rise up and rebel against Diaz’s regime, which exploited the lower classes in favor of the richer aristocratic classes. This plan worked and after some time, Diaz was exiled from Mexico and Madero became president. One would think that this would end the Revolution, but this was just the beginning. Madero had promised vague agricultural reforms, and the people were demanding they be heard. Madero refused to give the working class the social reforms they wanted. Because of this several of his supporters, including Emiliano Zapata and Pascual Orozco, left him to try and support the poor working class. As a result, Victoriano Huerta, a general, caused a coup d’état in 1913 where Madero, as President of Mexico, and the vice president were essentially held hostage by Huerta and his men, then executed.

This is where the Revolution becomes more chaotic. Different people fight for different reasons, and different geographical locations help determine the reasons for fighting. In the north of Mexico, a leader of the forces there known as Francisco “Pancho” Villa fights for land and reform, to fix Mexico and have all people have equal access to land and education, for the hacienda system to end. In central Mexico, primarily the state of Morelia, Emiliano Zapata was the leader in that area and he fought for land, with one of his major motto's was “Tierra y Libertad” meaning “Land and Liberty” where agricultural and land reforms were his main focuses, as I mentioned above. For the various political leaders, they either wanted political power or, if they wanted reforms, political reform to allow more people to vote.

Keeping in mind that the Revolution took place 1910-1920 and because of this time period, women were traditionally not meant to be involved in the Revolution, but at the same time, because of the fighting it was difficult to keep women home when what was considered home moved along with the battles. What I mean by this is that many women, especially lower class and working class women, were camp followers and would do the traditional woman roles, such as cooking, cleaning, and caring for children. Oh yeah, and the most important thing a woman (at the time) could do; have sex. This doesn’t mean that women were completely useless because they weren’t. Traditionally these women were called adelitas, named after a popular corrido, a traditional folk song that tells a story, that talks about a soldier’s girl named Adelita, who performed the tasks I just listed. More recently they became called soldaderas. Now, I know what some of you that don’t know the history behind these women may think “Oh the women are called soldaderas because they’re female soldiers.” And to those of you that are thinking this I say, “Good thinking, but wrong.” Soldaderas were called that because often times, when their husbands or other male relatives died or were busy fighting, the women would pick up the man’s salary called a soldada. This is why women became known as soldaderas.

A stereotypical picture of an Adelita or soldadera

Now I’m sure some of you are thinking, “Wait, so women didn’t fight in the Revolution?” Of course women did fight as soldiers, though once again, it depended on the social class and geographical location. Villa definitely had some women fight, and so did some other revolutionaries, though women still remained the minority in the fighting. Some factions fighting preferred not to use women at all, because they were "weak" or would be too much of a distraction to the men. Women still played a very crucial role, as I previously stated, and as a result of having previously been in dangerous situations during the Revolution. Being in those situations helped push women into wanting equal rights as men, considering that there were women fighting alongside with men in this Revolution to change and reform society. This led to helping create the feminist and woman’s rights movements in Mexico, which in 1953 women earned the right to vote. An important thing to note is that not all women fought, but many did; however within the soldaderas there was infighting and many other conflicts. There have been stories told of how some soldaderas would “accidentally” kill other soldaderas, along with innocent bystanders. This doesn’t lessen the role that the women played; however, as some soldaderas killed their companions, others fought valiantly for their cause. There were also many cases of women not fighting, but being spies or smugglers for the Revolutionaries, bringing them food, supplies, weapons, and other necessities for the fights.

A potentially staged photograph of soldaderas 

One important thing to note is that because this revolution took place in the 1910's, we have actual photographs of the fights, the participants, and others. While normally having photographs is a good thing, in this case not so much because it is difficult to tell what may have been staged for propaganda and what was an authentic action. For example below is an example of a potentially staged photograph. If these women were in fact aiming at an enemy, so many women wouldn't be needed, the women sitting below on the ground wouldn't be in a proper position to aim or fire properly, and some women only appear to be holding their rifles. This doesn't diminish from the true acts of heroism that many women did by fighting, smuggling goods, or spying but rather these potentially staged photographs add to the myth that all soldaderas were female soldiers and that they all fought, when in reality many did, but many more were still simple housewives in a time of war.
                       

This is where I’ll end this blog post, but don’t worry my dear readers, I’ll tackle the Mexican Revolution once more. Until then dear readers, remember that any dreams or goals you have will never be beyond your reach if you try hard enough. Never give up because someone says that you aren’t worth it. Always remember that with determination and perseverance you can succeed. And above all, remember that everyone on this world has a different life than yours, and that different opinions and perspectives are what makes everyone unique. Acknowledge your differences and respect them just as you want your differences to be respected.