March 2015
Category Archives: March 2015
Editor’s Letter
By Jane Bauer
“We’ve begun to raise daughters more like sons… but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters.”
― Gloria Steinem
I am a woman, a mother, a daughter, I have been a wife (twice) and I am privileged. I have had access to a very high standard of education, I was taught that I own my body, I was given financial and emotional support to move forward in this world and this is true of many of the women I know. However, it is also true that most of the women I know, who have been as privileged as me, have been sexually violated, passed over for promotions in the workplace and in situations where we have allowed our voices to be heard, we have been told to ‘calm down’, we have been called difficult, bitchy, bossy or domineering. What also amazes me is the silence and shame that follows. The way we grin and bear it or just roll our eyes, as though this is the norm. If a woman as brazen as me, says nothing when a man says something overtly sexual and inappropriate, when my first instinct is to not offend him…what hope is there for the women who haven’t been given the privileges I have? Continue reading Editor’s Letter
Female Potters of San Marcos Tlapazola, Oaxaca
By Alvin Starkman, M.A., J.D.
María is one of several women of the Zapotec ethnolinguistic group encountered every Sunday at the Tlacolula market, sitting on the pavement selling terra cotta pottery. The alfareras, as they’re known, hail from San Marcos Tlapazola, a village of about 2,500 residents, tucked away at the foothills of the Sierra Madre del Sur. They sell their red clay ceramics primarily in Tlacolula, in Oaxaca’s central valleys a 40 minute drive from the state capital. Their barro rojo can also be purchased in other marketplaces and craft stores throughout the state – comals and vessels used for cooking over either open flame or propane fueled stovetops; an assortment of pitchers and vases in addition to serving plates and related dinnerware; as well as purely decorative folk art including humanesque figures and masks. Continue reading Female Potters of San Marcos Tlapazola, Oaxaca
Las Reinas de Mexico City: Top Mexican Women Writers
By Carole Reedy
Starting in the 17th century, women in Mexico have been commenting on politics, history, society, and culture via their writing in newspapers, books, and magazines. Sadly, until recently, many haven’t been honored with the status conferred on their male counterparts. Continue reading Las Reinas de Mexico City: Top Mexican Women Writers
Update for Blues on the Beach
By Brooke Gazer
For the past five years “Un Nuevo Amanecer” has been able to continue helping disabled children in the region of Huatulco by raising funds through an event called “Blues on the Beach”, featuring David Rotundo’s blues band and organized by Dan Thompson. This year’s events exceeded expectations with 580 people attending in January and 650 in February. The donations from these two evenings will cover all the expenses for the foundation for six months. The parents and staff at UNA work very hard to make these events successful and appreciate the support that they receive from the community at large. It is obvious by their support that the community enjoys this event so it is a “Win Win” for everyone!
Peddling for Power
By Leigh Morrow
“Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.” Susan B. Anthony
On Sundays in Mexico City, Laura Bustos Endoqui wakes just before dawn. She grabs a quick breakfast and slides a water bottle into her backpack. She buckles on her helmet and in the early morning light, opens her shed which houses her bicycle cart. The cart, designed by her father, can carry up to three bicycles safely, and that’s important when she is peddling through traffic. Continue reading Peddling for Power
Art As Liberation: The Mexican Women of Surrealism
By Carole Reedy
There is irony embedded in a discussion of the women artists of the surrealism era, since at surrealism’s core lies the idea of women as objects of desire and mystery, and the worship of them as stereotypes and sexist norms. Even in the 1920s, surrealism expressed an archaic view of women. In addition, male surrealists lacked respect for female artists, and the women had to work hard to refute it. Continue reading Art As Liberation: The Mexican Women of Surrealism
Women in Oaxaca with Same Gender Partners
By Marcia Chaiken and Jan Chaiken
The status of women with same-gender partners has shifted dramatically in the U.S. in the past twenty years, including legal, social and economic changes. But what about in Mexico and specifically in the state of Oaxaca? Continue reading Women in Oaxaca with Same Gender Partners
Violence against Women in Mexico
By Deborah Van Hoewyk
No one really cares
Rosa Diana Suárez Torres, a business administration student in her early twenties, spent the afternoon of New Year’s Eve in 2010 with her friends. Her boyfriend, Gilberto Campos García, called her to find out what she had been doing without him. She agreed to meet him in a park to discuss it. When her body was found, her face had been smashed purple and she had been stabbed 65 times. Gilberto fled. Authorities lost the evidence. Earlier complaints to authorities of Atizapán de Zaragoza, in the state of Mexico, had been dismissed. Only because Rosa Diana’s father José Diego Suárez Padilla unceasingly pursued the authorities, was Gilberto ever found and brought in. He would not admit to the crime of femicide, so he was not prosecuted. He was never questioned about earlier instances of abuse. Continue reading Violence against Women in Mexico
Women and Education in Mexico
By Julie Etra
Women’s role in education in Mexico, as elsewhere in the world, has been a slow and difficult process, as students and as educators.
Until the 1930’s, during the Presidency of Porfirio Díaz, education for women was frowned upon and criticized, even by some women of the middle class, who considered that challenging the traditional economic dependency on men was synonymous with ‘feminism’. Continue reading Women and Education in Mexico
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