Las hijas de la Malinche: Women's organizing and state formation in postrevolutionary Mexico, 1934--1940

This dissertation explores the relationship between the postrevolutionary regime and women's organizing during the presidency of Lazaro Cardenas (1934--1940), examining the complex process of state formation in Mexico and the contradictory relationship of women to state building more generally. On the one hand, the Cardenista project offered women the organizing infrastructure and a common idiom of mobilization that in many ways facilitated women's efforts. On the other, Cardenismo increasingly sought to circumscribe women's mobilizations and channel them into state-sanctioned projects. While women aggressively pursued political and economic rights that would allow them greater social and economic autonomy, they also relied heavily on the paternalism and protectionist intervention of the state to further their more immediate interests.;The activities of Communist women played a crucial role during the course of co-optation, as the Mexican Communist Party's (PCM) moved from dissent during the early 1930s to cooperation and accommodation during the Popular Front. As the postrevolutionary regime emphasized unity and social peace, women's groups, mobilized by institutions ranging from the PCM to the Catholic Church, became increasingly vocal and organized, rendering them ideal targets for the Cardenista project of state incorporation.;Women activists, long excluded from formal politics, generally viewed the regime's overtures as and opportunity for women finally to gain entrance to the world of deal-brokering and decision-making. The first three chapters explore the national picture of women's organizing and state consolidation during the 1930s, with particular attention to state- and PCM-sponsored efforts. The fourth chapter narrates women's bid for suffrage and its effect on other women's mobilizations.;The final three chapters consist of three case studies of women's organizing in different regional contexts. The first, Michoacan, examines Cardenas' home state, where he tested many of his state-building strategies during his tenure as governor. The second looks the Comarca Lagunera, where a widespread strike in 1936 resulted in significant land reform. The third considers Yucatan, the site of early feminist organizing in the 1910s and '20s and Mexico's first avowedly socialist government.