ABSTRACT
From 1910 to 1920 Mexico descended into the first social revolution of the twentieth century. Revolutionary factions including displaced peasants, urban workers, miners, merchants, and landowners unified to overthrow Mexico’s aging dictator, Porfirio Diaz. Women have traditionally been represented in historical narratives not as agents of change or decision makers but as the pawns of men’s actions in a tumultuous and violent world. This chapter places women squarely within the process of Mexico’s revolution by presenting them not as exceptional but as everyday social actors contending with a violent period in Mexico’s history. By constructing women’s participation during times of great upheaval as unique or unusual, scholars can fall into the trap of exceptionalizing a few active women, while the majority are assumed to be passive observers and sufferers. The chapter examines women’s agency, whether as camp followers, soldiers, or the feminist-activists who helped reshape Mexico during this momentous civil war.
