ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a case study of progress and lingering challenges associated with the Mexican national government’s nervousness as it relates to indigenous women. The intersection of indigenous status and gender is particularly relevant in Mexico given the long history of discrimination against indigenous peoples dating back to the country’s colonization and the concurrent deeply embedded culture of machismo. Indigenous women face a multitude of structural inequities in Mexico which extend beyond the summative effect of these two group identities. This chapter focuses on the Mexican government’s recent efforts to confront both issues simultaneously as an example of a noteworthy and important step in the right direction. It highlights a mix of organizations, programs, and policies which collectively comprise the Mexico national government’s efforts to confront long-standing nervousness resulting in and stemming from deep inequities for indigenous women. Despite the documented progress, the chapter highlights three remaining barriers: (1) instances where collective indigenous rights and individual women’s rights are in conflict; (2) the absence of a process of dialogue that would allow naming, blaming, and claiming; and (3) the Mexican government’s inconsistent acknowledgment of and apology for its past and ongoing contribution to indigenous women’s inequitable status.
