Women's Rights in Mexican Politics in the Second half of the 20th Century

Abstract

During the last decades, various groups and movements have emerged in charge of defending women's rights, which since the mid-nineteenth century has been in constant struggle, seeking the elimination of the effects of "patriarchy", as well as gender equality, as far as prerogatives are concerned. In the specific case of Mexico,  the fight for women's rights began at the beginning of the last century; however, it seems that the main political and normative results of this constant struggle, they would begin to be reflected during the decade of the 50's, period of time in which the right to vote for women was recognized for the first time.

The main objective of this research is to collect and analyze information about what have been the main achievements that have emerged as a result of the feminist struggle, between 1950 and 1990, within Mexican territory. To carry out the above, a documentary research was carried out, through the study of different sources of information (primary and secondary) related to the subject, for later chronological organization.

In the present work some events are analyzed and described, of the history of Mexico in the 20th century, such as: the recognition of the right to vote for women;  the establishment of gender equality at the constitutional level; the formation of the women's coalition in 1976; the emergence of NGO´s that are responsible for ensuring the rights of women;  and the creation of government agencies such as the Secretary for Women in some states.