Historical Context. THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT Every society treats gender and gender differences in a culturally specific way. Moreover, social relations and structures everywhere evolve over time, creating new variations. It is striking, though, that men have always had a leading position in the majority of cultures, while women have been to a lesser or greater degree subordinated. It was not until the 19th century that groups of women openly and systematically started defying the existing social gender division, and resisting oppression. To better understand the present position of women in Mexican society, and in particular of indigenous women, it is important to look at certain historical evolutions, and to place current research in the context of feminism, including indigenous feminism. The history of feminism can be divided in different phases. Usually, the concept of ‘waves’ is used to indicate the different periods, however, it is important to realize that this term should be used with caution. Different types of activism existed and still exist simultaneously, and others overlap (▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, 2000: 210). The division in waves is therefore only used to indicate general trends. As there are specialized studies discussing feminist history in detail, the goal here is not to give a complete overview, but rather to point to certain trends that are relevant for this work. A brief overview will be given of the history of the feminist movement in the West, looking at general evolutions in Europe, in particular the United Kingdom, and in the United States of America, both precursors regarding women’s rights. In Mexico, feminism developed almost in parallel with the movement in Europe and the U.S.A., but showed certain particularities worth explaining to understand the current situation of women in Mexico. In colonial times, some individual actions of female resistance can be noted in Mexico. In the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century, there was a first wave of feminist initiatives of Mexican women who openly started striving for the improvement of their rights. In her work Contra viento y marea: el movimiento feminista en México hasta 1940 (2002), ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇ writes extensively about the first period of the feminist struggle, starting around the time of the Mexican Independence. It shows the long tradition of Mexican feminism, but also that feminism has often been used for political purposes rather than for the real improvement of the position of women. ▇▇▇▇▇▇’ very complete study is one of the few on that period, therefore the following overview will be based primarily on this reference work. The first feminist wave was followed by a second, and a third wave. The overview of second and third wave feminism presented here is primarily based on the work Cuatro vertientes del feminismo en México. Diversidad de rutas y ▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, by ▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇ (2009). More studies on this period are available, but the work by ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ has been one of the most exhaustive studies recently published on the subject. In her work she divides Mexican feminism in four main currents: historical feminism (ca. 1960-1980), popular feminism (ca. 1980-1988), civil feminism (starting ca. 1980), and indigenous feminism (starting ca. 1990). These different currents were always the result of a specific political climate with its specific social changes. ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ points out that there are also many smaller currents, such as lesbian feminism, academic feminism, feminism that originated in political parties, Catholic Church, mass media, public administration, business world, etcetera. Unfortunately, the great diversity of currents had a negative effect on the feminist movement; instead of forming a united front, many groups were excluded. Other publications about the evolution of Mexican feminism are for example, Feminismo en México, ayer y hoy, by ▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇, ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, and ▇▇▇ ▇▇▇ (2000); Feminismo en México. Revisión histórico-crítica del siglo que termina, by ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ (2002); Cartografías del feminismo mexicano 1970-2000, by ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇, ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇, and ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇ (2007); and Voces a las mujeres: antología del pensamiento feminista mexicano 1873-1953, by ▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇ (2011). These are all compilations of articles on a wide variety of topics by various Mexican scholars22. A. First Wave: A Feminism of Equal Rights
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