ABSTRACT
Because Mexican women had participated valiantly in the 1810 War for Independence and the subsequent wars for reform, they were not expressively excluded from voting and holding office by the 1857 Constitution. Unfortunately, subsequent election laws did restrict suffrage to males. Suffrage and feminist activities in Mexico in the 1880s were advocated primarily by socialists who spoke in favor of women’s rights. As early as 1878 La Internacional published a 12-point program in which number 7 called for the emancipation, rehabilitation and education of women. In the 1880s and 1890s during the Porfirio Díaz regime Mexican women were admitted to institutions of higher learning and by the end of last century, Mexico had women professionals in law, medicine, pharmacy, and the teaching professions. The social and economic upheavals which deposed the Diaz regime and produced the 1910 revolution gave Mexican feminists yet another arena for action. Revolutionary supporters established women’s organizations like the Hijas de Cuauhtemoc and newspapers like Vesper which helped the cause and raised women’s consciousness about their own status. Juana Belen Gutiérrez de Mendoza was an outstanding feminist and journalist of the period.
