Content area
Full Text
In the 1950s Mexico underwent a powerful process of modernization. Rapid and sustained economic growth encouraged social mobility, and the values and attitudes of an urban and industrial society challenged traditional institutions that still prevailed after more than three decades of revolutionary struggle and political and economic uncertainty from 1910 to 1940. The impact of internal transformations was compounded by external influences. By participating in World War II in alliance with the United States, Mexico became an actor in international politics and markets, however minor. Thanks to this, during and after the war Mexican society grew more exposed than ever before to the outside world. In this context of switt social change and increasing external influences, internal stabilization was the overriding goal of the Mexican state. The Catholic Church and the family were called on to contribute to this end and to the building of postrevolutionary society within the framework ot political authontarianism. In the ensuing consolidation of a patriarchal order, women held a key position.
Historically, Mexican women had been excluded from the public sphere and held in the private realm of home and family life, even if during the revolution (1910-20) there were a few episodes in which they had an intense political involvement. At first sight women's situation in the 1950s was the same as in the past. However, in the Cold War context the defense of the family became a central political battle and a common cause for the Church and Mexican women. Traditionally, the continuity of the family had been a private matter, but in the face of an alleged Communist ideological offensive it became an issue of public concern around which women were mobilized. In their fight they created new forms of political participation, and they acquired an unprecedented sense of political competence. Thus, in spite of the profoundly conservative nature of their endeavor, this experience made women aware of their own potential in the public sphere.
In the fifties the missions of women were to preserve the family against the disintegrating effects of modernization, to restore continuity, and to alleviate the pressures of change. The state, the Catholic Church, the school, and the family all converged in assigning women this role. One of the most significant consequences of...