Women in Mexico 68

Women played an important role in the Social Movement of Mexico 68. During this time, IPN and UNAM’s students supported some socialist ideas. Also, the Olympic Games were going to take place in Mexico that year. The government wanted to give a good impression to the world and socialism was unacceptable to the powerful countries at that time. This pushed the government to repress the students in order to avoid these ideas to spread into any more people, getting the situation out of control. Before the repression, there were already some student’s groups that gave women the opportunity to participate actively in this social movement. Because of this, feminist ideas started to sprout and grow stronger. During this time, the government officials tended to focus on men in the movement, discounting the significance of the role that woman played at that time. As a result of this prejudice, men became the target of the government during the crackdown of October 2 1968, leaving women behind. This gave female members the opportunity to keep the movement ongoing, shaping its direction in the ensuing years.

One of the most important feminist groups was “Las Panchas Pomposas” [cite book| last=Carey|first=Elaine|title=Plaza of Sacrifices: gender, power and terror in 1968 Mexico| publisher= Editorial Dialogos| date=2005|location=USA]

References