Soldaderas in the Mexican Revolution: Women's Roles and Rights

Pre-Revolutionary Constraints on Mexican Women

The traditional depiction of Mexican women was very restrictive. The pre-revolutionary view held that a woman "had lived her life constantly in the male shadow" (Soto, 31–32). Mexican bravado and chauvinism forced women into the background of a patriarchal society rooted in Spanish government and culture. These women were consumed by family life, marriage, and the Catholic Church. They lived silently behind the scenes of their dominant male counterparts, as though they were merely an extension of those men's individual presence. Legal, social, and cultural constraints were placed upon women to prevent them from gaining full acceptance and equal rights in society. The concept of gender equality was more foreign in this culture than in much of the rest of Central America. However, this trend did not continue indefinitely, as women in today's Mexican society enjoy far greater freedoms and rights than in previous generations. Understanding how this evolution toward greater gender equality occurred requires examining the cataclysmic events within Mexican history.

It has been more than a decade since the Revolutionaries' uprising of 1994, and historical references now draw connections between that event and the earlier Mexican Revolution. Yet few historians note the roles of women in either of these conflicts. Women within Mexican society are repeatedly cast aside and their contributions ignored. Nevertheless, they played an extensive and vital role in both movements. It can be said that neither of these monumental struggles would have occurred without the support of Mexican women. Even by the standards of the later Revolutionaries movement, women gained substantially more rights and recognition in the modern populist movement than in previous eras. Their impact on Mexican society and the reinforcement of their presence became most pronounced in the early part of the twentieth century.

Mexican women began to assert their presence within mainstream Mexican authority and hierarchy as a result of their contributions during the Mexican Revolution. This monumental event became the catalyst that propelled the feminist cause. When the Mexican Revolution of 1910 to 1920 erupted as a response to discrimination under the Díaz government, women began to find a place for themselves. The need for their presence as supporting figures in the revolutionary effort allowed them to gain momentum for their feminist agenda. The conflict gave them the chance to control their own fate and live more public lives successfully (Soto, 31–32). The analysis that follows focuses on the major roles of Soldaderas during the Mexican Revolution and how their contributions factored into an expansion of their influence and the creation of a new identity within Mexican society. The bravery and contributions of the Soldaderas—who provided essential assistance even under the worst conditions—created an opportunity to assert their presence and gain greater social freedoms.

Prior to the Mexican Revolution, a myriad of barriers restricted the social freedom and rights of women in Mexican society, effectively limiting their independence and their ability to assert personal identities. Women lived their lives in pre-defined roles, always in the shadows of their husbands and other male figures. An ongoing culture of patriarchy and machismo had dominated Mexican society for well over three hundred years. Any attempts made by women before the Mexican Revolution to step outside the traditional subservient roles of wife and mother were considered both unusual and rebellious, and were met with social stigma and often outright ostracism by mainstream society.

The barriers against women were not only social and cultural in nature; explicit legal restrictions existed as well. In 1884, the government passed the Mexican Civil Code, a legal doctrine that provided a roadmap of civil rights for the Mexican people. Although a landmark document from the perspective of Mexican legal theory, it dramatically restricted women's rights at home and at work (Bush, 351). These codes enshrined dramatic inequality in the relationship between men and women. Soto explains that the Mexican Civil Code "sustains an almost incredible inequality between the conditions of husband and wife, restricts in an exaggerated and arbitrary manner those rights due the woman, and erases and nullifies her personality" (Bush, 351).

The Mexican Civil Code was initiated under the regime of Porfirio Díaz, and it represented only a fraction of the many inequalities that women—as well as other ethnic, economic, and political dissidents and minorities—had to endure. Díaz was a fundamental force in the suppression of women, a policy that became entrenched government practice in the late 1800s. He was a committed chauvinist who believed that women should occupy an established and submissive position within Mexican society (Bush, 353–354). His regime enforced this vision through legal doctrines and social intimidation to keep women in their "cultural chains." It could therefore be said that the role of women within the Mexican Revolution was not a passive one born of a natural disposition toward helping the populist cause, but rather a very personal repudiation of Díaz himself. Díaz was the symbol of the old regime and of female suppression; by combating his forces, Mexican women were asserting their own individual responses to gender inequality.

The Scope of Female Participation in the Revolution

Female participation during the Mexican Revolution is most often noted for the Soldaderas—the class of female soldiers who fought alongside men. However, the full panorama of female participation extended far beyond these soldiers. In the years leading up to the Mexican Revolution, feminist organizations were springing up throughout the urban centers of Mexico, and the vocational and educational training of women played an important role in shaping their contributions during the conflict.

The role of women during this particular war was unique in its influence on their future status, because they took on more than a merely "supportive role." Not only did women serve as nurses and aides to male soldiers, they were active combatants. However, their most enduring contribution—and arguably the greatest force behind the feminist movement—may have been the distinct intellectual perspective they offered on the Revolution. The intellectual activism of many women laid the groundwork for the recognition of greater gender equality following the war, and provided a vocal and political supplement to the actual war efforts made by women in the field. This level of activism influenced the growth of feminism in the 1920s and 1930s by instilling a sense of worth and personal presence in young Mexican women. Many women who participated in the Mexican Revolution played multiple roles simultaneously. Although intellectualism contributed significantly to the expansion of gender equality in the war's aftermath, the bulk of women's place within Mexican society was earned by the Soldaderas.

The Soldaderas: Camp Followers and Their Hardships

The Soldadera was the most typical role that women in the revolutionary effort played. These Soldaderas are distinct from the concept of "women soldiers" who actually took a combative position in the war. The typical role of the Soldadera was still traditional in a Mexican sense: she played the accepted gender-based role of caregiver. These women were a vital part of sustaining the Mexican Revolutionary armies. They generally traveled with the armies to forage for food, cook meals, nurse the wounded, wash clothes, and perform other services not provided by the military itself (Soto, 44). Although some of these women occasionally fought in battle, they are generally not considered part of the "women soldier" class. Andrés Fuentes draws a clear distinction between these two categories, arguing that those women who served as a vital support system for combatants were distinct from those who actually participated in the fighting (Resendez, 527).

The women who served as providers and caretakers for the Mexican Revolutionary armies joined the cause for a variety of reasons. Many joined because of their husbands' involvement, taking on the role of caregiver and provider. When a Soldadera's husband died in battle, she often continued in her role for another soldier (Macias, 72). Other, younger women joined as idealists and cared for everyone. There were also less noble reasons: some women had no choice but to become Soldaderas when soldiers raped and kidnapped them from their homes and villages. One 1913 edition of the Mexican Herald reported that entire villages were left without women because soldiers had carried them off (Salas, 59). Other women joined because they hoped to alter their social status and earn wages for their domestic and military services; women who were not wives or relatives of soldiers were often paid a salary. In general, however, the Soldaderas remained anonymous. They lacked any real decision-making power within the movement, and were never formally recognized by commanders or by the men whose survival they ensured.

These women endured extreme hardships in fulfilling their roles. They often lived under near-starvation conditions, since most food had to be given to those ready for battle. They would toil for hours foraging, digging roots, and using every available method to obtain food for the fighting men, while themselves enduring malnutrition and miserable living conditions. Many times they even endured childbearing in inhospitable circumstances (Soto, 44). As nurses, they healed the wounded and exposed themselves to dangerous diseases. Primary records reveal that anywhere from ten to twenty percent of Soldaderas contracted serious illnesses or died from providing care for the wounded and ill (Macias, 121). Ultimately, "no army of the revolution fought without women, but each organized female participation in a distinct manner" (Resendez, 527). The Soldaderas endured harsh conditions to carry out their roles for the betterment of the Mexican populist movement.

Conclusion: The Lasting Legacy of the Soldaderas

The history of the Soldaderas is often incomplete and scattered. Primary sources as well as secondary accounts are rare within the extensive literature covering the Mexican Revolution. Influential women who were integral to the changes occurring both on the battlefield and within the intellectual movement are generally overlooked by the majority of historians. Yet they had a profound impact upon the country as a whole. Current papers written to include the contributions of women during the Mexican Revolution are most likely incomplete, and even the accounts above are theorized from the few records that were kept regarding women and their activities.

Yet even as these women toiled through abysmal situations for their country—unrecognized for their contributions in life and in death, ignored for their achievements—they helped provide the momentum toward greater gender equality for future generations. The actions of the Soldaderas not only helped the Mexican Revolution succeed but also provided the groundwork for the future. Without the efforts of the Soldaderas, the current trajectory of Mexico toward greater gender equality would not have been possible. The intellectualism of the feminist movement both before and after the conflict provided the fundamental shifts necessary for the success of the feminist movements of the 1920s and 1930s. Therefore, even as historians may have forgotten many of the contributions of the Soldaderas, those contributions continue to endure. The impact of their actions will be forever remembered, embedded in the culture of Mexico itself.