Women in the EZLN

In Chiapas during the second half of the twentieth century, indigenous women were married at a very young age, usually around thirteen or fourteen.

Once married, the women fulfilled their primary roles of child-rearing, cooking, and housekeeping, though they also participated in other labor such as agriculture.

In addition, indigenous women of Chiapas lacked access to formal education, and they typically did not learn Spanish like many men.

In the 1950s, the Mexican government encouraged migration from the highlands to the Lacandon Jungle area of eastern Chiapas, the locus of the EZLN, because of demands for land reform.

[6] Some of the street vendors sold handmade crafts to tourists in the cities, and these women organized into artisan collectives.

[6] The EZLN made its first appearance on the national and international scene with the seizing of San Cristóbal de las Casas as well as six other towns in Chiapas on 1 January 1994, which coincided with Mexico entering into the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Major Ana Maria, a woman, led the capture of San Cristóbal de las Casas.

[8] Initially, the majority of the women insurgents were in the less-organized local militias, but later decided to join the actual EZLN.

It is an important site of gender struggle that explicitly recognizes the vital issues of cultural identity, nationalism, and decolonization.

In EZLN, we do not fight for our own interests but struggle against every situation that exists in Mexico; against all the injustice, all the marginalization, all the poverty, and all the exploitation that Mexican women suffer.

These ideals are internalized by many workers and imported back into the communities.”[15] This capitalistic infiltration harmed Gender role, they were becoming more and more restrictive and polarized with the ever-growing imposition of external factors on indigenous communities.

The Women's Revolutionary Law was released along with the rest of the Zapatista demands aimed at the government during their public uprising on New Years Day of 1994.

“For the first time in the history of Latin American guerrilla movements, women members were analyzing and presenting the “personal” in politically explicit terms.

Then, the women went on to discuss how the Zapatista movement changed their lives such as decreasing domestic violence, more freedom in regards to marriage and children, and more rights in general.

[7] In 2018, the Zapatistas hosted a feminist festival, which was described as "not only an opportunity to create educational or professional networks, but also a space to consider one’s health and well-being as a woman in the fight for justice.

There were activities ranging from workshops, discussion panels and movie screenings to theater performances, art exhibitions and sports events, including basketball and soccer matches.

[10] In February 1994 following the initial uprising, Ramona attended peace talks and served as a negotiator with the Mexican government.

During the Zapatista uprising in San Cristobal de Las Casas, she commanded a battalion of 1,000 men and led them in the seizing of the Municipal Palace.