MEXICO: A Woman’s World

Mexicans believe in tradition, and no tradition is stronger than the annual Independence Day reading of the Grito de Dolores, Mexico’s declaration of independence, inside the church in Guanajuato state where the revolution against

Spain began in 1810. By rule, the President himself reads the declaration, or entrusts it to a high-ranking Cabinet minister. Three weeks ago, when Independence Day came around once more. President Adolfo Lopez Mateos shattered tradition. For the first time in history, he had the Grito read by a woman: Amalia de Castillo Ledon, Mexico’s leading feminist and the Under Secretary of Education for Cultural Affairs.

Only a few years ago, such honor and position would have been unthinkable for a Mexican woman. Until well into the 20th century, a woman’s place was in the home—except during wartime, when she was expected to fight like a man. She could not get a passport on her own, could not buy, sell or manage property without the consent of her husband or father. She could not legally leave home until she was 30 (unless married), could not vote or practice law or medicine. As late as 1925, Archbishop José Mora y del Rio objected to feminine wage earning as a “North American custom.”

The first upper-class woman to break the archbishop’s position was his own distant relative, Dolores del Rio, Mexico’s ageless beauty, who made her first film in 1925. Since then the gradual path of feminine emancipation has paralleled Mexico’s growing industrial boom. As new jobs were created, parents began giving daughters the education necessary to fill them. In 1953, President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines gave women the vote. The women have taken it from there.

Today nine women are serving in Congress, three as federal judges. Twelve of the government’s 60 assistant prosecutors are women. The chief of the Federal Board of Conciliation and Arbitration, Maria Cristina Salmoran de Tamayo, 36, has about 150 men working under her—including her own husband. A woman, Maria Lavalle Urbina, runs the federal prison and parole board; Francisca Dolores Valdes de Lanz Duret is president and manager of Mexico City’s good grey daily, El Universal. In Mexico City alone there are more than 225 women lawyers; across the nation there are over 1,000 chemists. At the National University, women studying to be veterinarians outnumber men; the dental school is 30% female, the department of economics 25%.

The tone for this new woman’s world is well expressed by President Lopez Mateos. Says he: “A woman is a citizen who works for Mexico. We must not treat her differently from a man, except to honor her more.”