Democracy for Whom? Women's Grassroots Political Activism in the 1990s, Mexico City and Chiapas

In this chapter, the author examines how women's grassroots organizing in Mexico City and Chiapas has contributed to the possibility of a more democratic political culture in Mexico. The term "democracy" is used here to denote widespread citizen participation. The chapter challenges the primary theoretical dichotomy used by many social scientists to classify women's organizing. The year 1980 stands out in the history of Mexico's urban movements because it marks the seminal event of approximately twenty-one organizations and 700 delegates attending the first national congress of urban movements in Monterrey. For women who are combatants in the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), making a commitment to the armed struggle entails many changes in lifestyle. In the state of Chiapas, many of the issues underlying the Revolutionary Law of Women have been taken up in a statewide coalition. The coupling of demands for democratization with a call for economic justice poses a clear challenge to the neoliberal model implemented in Mexico.