First Feminist Congress of Yucatán

Following Independence from Spain, the social and political atmosphere in Yucatán was characterized by enterprise and change. Yucatecan elites who controlled the estancias and haciendas sought to modernize the region into “an economically active and culturally progressive region” by mechanizing agricultural production. Historian Anna Macías argues that elite Yucatecan women began to figure into the spirit of enterprise by 1846, upon establishment of the first public primary school for girls in Mérida.[4]

In 1870 a group of Yucatecan women founded La Siempreviva, a feminist organization, in Mérida. The organization was led by prominent Mexican feminist Rita Cetina Gutiérrez. The organization raised funds for the establishment of a school for girls, La Siempreviva School, which opened on May 3, 1870. Notable alumni include Consuelo Zavala y Castillo and Dominga Canto y Pastrana, who helped in organizing the First Feminist Congress of Yucatán in 1916.

By 1910 Yucatán boasted impressive developments in education. The literacy rate was at 59%, one of the highest in the country. Women played a substantial role in education. 1,132 teachers, of whom 635 were women, taught 34, 968 male and 27, 058 female students.[5]

Historian Anna Macías argues that progress and modernity was achieved at the expense of forced labor of Indigenous Mayans on henequen plantations. Macías notes that, "From 1830 onward, the self-sufficient Maya villages, protected by the Crown before independence, lost ground against the encroaching plantations, 36 and compliant state legislatures passed debt peonage laws that forcibly attached the Maya population to the estates created after independence. By 1910, out of a population of 339,613 there were 76,896 agricultural workers and some 99,058 domestic servants in Yucatán.”[6]

The Mexican Revolution began in 1910, preceding the First Feminist Congress. It continued through the year that it was held. Historians Alejandre Ramírez and Torres Alonso consider the Revolution a "democratic opening" whereby a new social contract was being negotiated between the Mexican and society.[7] Many generals and politicians vied for control of the seat of national power in Mexico City. One of them was Governor of Coahuila Venustiano Carranza, who created a state militia with broad support from Northern Mexico known as the Constitutionalist Army. By 1915, Carranza became de facto President of Mexico. The government of Venustiano Carranza was interested in the contributions of women but was opposed to the idea of women's suffrage.[8]

On February 27, 1915, Carranza named Salvador Alvarado Governor and military commander of Yucatán. The former Governor Toribio V. De los Santos fomented a rebel movement against Alvarado, which he defeated. Alvarado entered Mérida on March 19, 1915.[9]

Governor Salvador Alvarado (middle left) addressing a crowd in 1917.

In office, Alvarado promoted socialist and feminist causes. Before taking the governorship, he acquired an extensive education. In particular, he had knowledge of feminist thought promulgated within nineteenth century European socialist circles.[10] In his book The Reconstruction of Mexico, Volume 1, Alvarado shows an affinity and appreciation for state sponsored socialism. He cites State Socialism by W.E. Walling and H.W. Laidler as an influential work.[11] Alvarado also engaged with nationalist rhetoric common at the time:

State socialism: in it lies the formula that gives us the willpower to achieve progress, showing us the examples of young nations that have progressed because they have accepted it with good will and with the most fervent enthusiasm. State socialism: in it lies the formula that we invoke, providing the practical means for its application, in order to group the great Mexican family into one sole project of national aggrandizement: the conquest of our economic independence, as the base of all our liberties; those which tie us to one another, and those which unite us with the rest of the world’s nations.[12]

Additionally, he advocated for women's education and their distancing from the influence of the Catholic Church.

In preparation for the Congress, Governor Alvarado held pedagogical congresses ahead of the event. Many delegates of these also attended the Congress.

To help organize the Congress, Alvarado turned to Consuelo Zavala y Castillo, whom he picked to lead the organizing committee. Dominga Canto served as the Vice President of the committee, and the rest of the members were composed of secretaries, a treasurer, committee members, and publicity agents.[14] It held a dozen meetings from November 13, 1915, to January 9, 1916. The committee agreed to: 1) suspend classes so that delegates, mostly teachers, could attend, 2) grant delegates train passes and travel allowances of ten pesos daily, 3) house delegates in the schools in which classes were suspended.[15] Finally, the organizing committee named special committees, composed of five women each, to draw up resolutions on the four themes as delineated in the convocatoria.[14]

The Congress was publicized extensively. The newspaper La Voz de la Revolución acted as a main vehicle through which publicity occurred. Director of the newspaper at the time, Antonio Ancona Albertos had extensive ties to the Alvarado government, eventually becoming interim governor himself. Soto argues that the newspaper became the "semi-official organ of the Constitutionalists, and Alvarado's proclamations and speeches were given full coverage within its pages."[16] Two weeks before the congress, Zavala y Castillo participated in an interview with the newspaper in which she expressed her optimism about the Congress, saying, "Oh yes! I am a grand feminist! ... I believe that modern woman has the right to struggle."[17]

620 participants, of whom 617 were women, convened at the José Peón Contreras Theater in downtown Mérida on the morning of January 13 through 16 to discuss the issues raised by Governor Alvarado. The Congress began with introductory remarks by Alvarado, the playing of a waltz, and the recitation of poetry. After this, election of the president of the Congress occurred. Adolfina Valencia de Ávila won with 340 votes, denying Consuelo Zavala the position.[18] Afterwards the Congress opened for remarks from the delegates.

Soon after, the Congress reached a flashpoint when César González, an education official under President Carranza, read a speech by prominent Mexico-City based feminist Hermila Galindo, who was not in attendance. Galindo's speech "The Woman of the Future" touched on topics such as abortion, sexuality, and prostitution.

Needless to say, there exists an overwhelming need for revision of the civil and penal codes, increasing the punishment in cases of seduction and abandonment. When a woman, mesmerized, surrenders herself to her lover, compelled by the ineluctable sexual instinct, the man stands before society as a kind of daredevil: a charming copy of Don Juan Tenorio. The impunity of his crime renders him cynical, and he relates his deed in the mighty tone a Revolutionary Chief would use to tell of taking a town. But the wretched woman who has done no more than comply with one of the demands of her instinct, not denied to dhe lowest of females, is flung into society's scorn: her future cut off, she is tossed into the abyss of despair, misery, madness, or suicide. How often the local news informs us of the wretch who resorted to crime, killing her to hide her "fault"! The crime statistics are replete with infanticide and induced abortions, not counting those which remain hidden: a proof the great grief of public censure in the soul of the poor woman who has erred!

Such topics were considered uncommon in public discussion at the time.[10] Responding to Galindo's speech, the delegates divided themselves into three ideological factions.

During the Congress, three ideological factions emerged: 1) the Catholic conservative position, 2) the radical position, and 3) the moderate position.[19] According to Shirlene Ann Soto, the Catholic conservative delegates were concerned with maintaining women in the traditional roles of wife and mother. The teacher Francisca García Ortíz represents this faction, whose speech is emphasized the education of both men and women. The radical position advocated for the total equality of the sexes, as well as universal suffrage. Finally, the moderate position advocated for women's education and approached suffrage more cautiously.