Historical Feminism in Mexico Sample Clauses

Historical Feminism in Mexico. After obtaining equal political rights in 1958, a second feminist wave also started in Mexico. The writer Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxx (1925-1974) was one of the first Mexican intellectuals to actively support the feminist cause. Her poetry and literary work were explicitly feminist, but the discourse she gave on the 15th of February 1971 at the Museo Nacional de Antropología on International Women’s Day, was particularly important as it was one of the first times that, the subordination of Mexican women was publicly denounced at a national level (Xxxxxxxxxxx, 1995: 22). Mexican feminism emerged in the context of the social movements of 1968. It was influenced by events in other parts of the world, such as the French protests in May 1968, the Cuban revolution, the hippie movement, the feminist movement in the U.S.A., etcetera, but also by the Mexican social movement. Nevertheless, so-called historical feminism only had a limited group of participants, defined by their social, cultural, and political position. It mostly consisted of middle class women from university milieus and left-wing democrats, who seem to have had very little connections with other social movements of that period (Xxxxxxxx, 2001; Lamas, 1994; Xxx, 1987 & 2000; Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxx, 2009: 58-60). Different types of organizations were founded in the 1970s32. Feminists became aware that the problems they were facing were not only personal, but reflected a social state of being, and thus political action was needed. But, internal conflicts and leadership problems prevented the organizations from moving on. According to Xxxxx Xxxxx, one of the main problems of the Mexican feminist movement of the 1970s was that the participants themselves, mostly educated urban middle-class women, did not need the movement to improve their situation: their involvement was rather a matter of conviction and not necessity (Lamas, 1994: 147). Furthermore, the goals of historical feminism were limited; they mainly fought for voluntary motherhood and the right to abort, and for the condemnation of violence against women (Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxx, 2009: 74). 32 On these organizations, see for example: XXXXXXXX (2009: 61-64), XXXXXXXX (2001: 85-168), and XXX (1987: 75- 138).