Women in the Indigenous Peoples' Movements of Mexico: New Paths for Transforming Power

Published as part of the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID)'s Building Feminist Movements and Organisations (BFEMO) initiative, this 15-page paper explores the presence of Mexican indigenous women within the organising and mass struggles of their peoples. According to author Marusia López Cruz, "[t]he alarming conditions of marginalization imposed on indigenous peoples by the State, the cultural practices of some indigenous peoples that hamper the full exercise of women's rights, and the opportunities and contributions offered to women by their ethnic heritage, are key aspects of the personal and collective struggles undertaken by indigenous women in Mexico. Understanding these aspects is fundamental in describing the construction, agenda, and strategies of the women within the indigenous movement in Mexico..."

To that end, the initial segments of the document provide a snapshot of the context in which an indigenous movement began to emerge in the 1970s. One key process, Marusia López Cruz argues, was the dialogue between the Zapatistas and the federal government, resulting in the San Andrés Accords (1996), in which a minimal agenda was defined to achieve autonomy and respect for indigenous rights and culture. "In this framework, indigenous women began to seek out spaces for coming together and expressing their own demands. This allowed for more active participation in their own communities and in the national indigenous movement, with a higher degree of leadership, and a distinct voice." According to Marusia López Cruz, "[t]he inclusion in the San Andrés Accords of various matters specifically related to the rights of women was of tremendous importance....Zapatista women were not the only ones who participated in formulating the demands; indigenous women comrades from other parts of the country also participated, as did feminists who were invited to the dialogue tables....The transformative nature of this initiative was evident in the assembly constituting the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) in 1996, when indigenous women participants took on the task of forming a special women's commission, through which they could participate with a voice of their own in all the spaces of indigenous organization."

Marusia López Cruz goes on to detail the process of formation of this, the National Coordinating Committee of Indigenous Women (Coordinadora Nacional de Mujeres Indígenas, CNMI), also describing its membership and organisational structure. For various reasons outlined here, CNMI's agenda has shifted since its inception; the current agenda can best be described by dividing it into four major issues: defence of the fundamental demands of the national indigenous movement; the need for State policies that respond to its demands; political participation; and the transformation of the traditional practices and customs that limit its development and place its integrity at risk. "In synthesis, the agenda of the Coordinating Committee is characterized by its denunciation of the economic oppression and racism that marks the insertion of the Indian peoples into the national project, at the same time that it struggles within its organizations and communities to change those elements that exclude and oppress women."

Next, Marusia López Cruz discusses CNMI's main strategies, which are the strengthening of indigenous women's organisations and the inclusion of their demands regarding public policy priorities and the agendas of social movements. To carry out these strategies, members develop training processes and promote participation in Latin American indigenous women's initiatives. Marusia López Cruz notes that CNMI's alliance with feminists - particularly academic women, certain civil organisations, and United Nations (UN) agencies - has been critical in the training workshops. She stresses that "it is the leadership, presence, and alliances built with different social movements that has largely allowed for interlocution with local and federal governments."

Three strategies that are not yet being implemented, but that in Marusia López Cruz's eyes are an example of the movement's maturity, are: indigenous women's candidacies in elections for public office; the creation of a law office for legal defence in cases of the violation of their rights; and the linking of the struggle for intellectual property with the fomentation of projects for commercialising handicrafts.

Amongst CNMI's impact and achievements to date is the fact that participating women "have been able to empower themselves in different spheres of life. In their families they can now negotiate new arrangements with regards to raising and caring for their children, because their increasing involvement in organizations and in political life requires reducing their excessive work load in the home and family. Many of these women have begun to exert more leadership in positions of community authority and in mixed organizations in the national indigenous movement....In the international sphere, the leadership and presence of indigenous women has increased considerably....Thanks to a diverse, consolidated network of alliances, the Coordinating Committee is frequently called upon to participate in the initiatives of a variety of social movements..." Next, Marusia López Cruz examines the contributions of the indigenous women's movement to the feminist movement. To cite only one example included here, CNMI leaders have, she argues, not only "translated" the strengths of the feminist movement into indigenous languages and world views, but also returned to their communities following their terms in order to take action - i.e., by strengthening women's local participation and organisation (thereby "taking on a struggle in the context of their own reality that could hardly be led by mestiza feminists").

Although various challenges complicate CNMI's work as it celebrates its tenth anniversary (e.g., overcoming adverse conditions for indigenous women's leadership), Marusia López Cruz concludes that "[t]he voice of the indigenous women of Mexico resounds more intensely day by day and there's no doubt that these women have become key political actors in reconstructing the nation."