PLAN DE AYALA, Mexico (AP) 鈥� At 4:30 a.m., the girls and women begin to appear in the dark streets of this rural village of Tojolabal people in southern Mexico. They walk in silence. Some are headed to grind corn to make their family鈥檚 tortillas. Others fetch firewood to carry home, on their backs or with the help of a donkey. The youngest hurry to finish chores before running to school.
Hours later, it鈥檚 still morning, and it鈥檚 time to talk. A group of young women and men gathers in a classroom at the Plan de Ayala high school. They鈥檝e come to discuss gender equality and reflect on the role of women in this remote Indigenous community in Chiapas, Mexico鈥檚 poorest state.
Jeydi Hern谩ndez, 17, wants to be a veterinarian and play basketball, though her first attempt to form a team failed: 鈥淭here were 12 of us, but my friends got married, and there were only four of us left.鈥� Mada铆 G贸mez, 18, complains that she can鈥檛 express opinions in her town: 鈥淭hey think women don鈥檛 know anything.鈥�
Two Indigenous women lead the workshop, and dozens attend. Years ago, such an initiative would not have been so well-received, they say. But change is coming 鈥� albeit slowly.
Seventy years ago, Mexican women won the right to vote, and today of electing its . Yet some of the Indigenous women who will vote in Sunday鈥檚 national election still don鈥檛 have a voice in their own homes and communities.
In Plan de Ayala and other corners of Mexico, women can鈥檛 participate in local government. Men set priorities. They decide how to spend resources: repair the school or the park? Plan de Ayala鈥檚 women aren鈥檛 even registered residents, even though they are on voter rolls, so its 1,200 men can only guess at the true population.
With no official data, it鈥檚 unclear how many communities operate this way. But it鈥檚 one of many contradictions for a part of the Mexican population that for centuries has been marginalized. Now, Indigenous women are pushing for change 鈥� little by little 鈥� with the younger generation often leading the charge.
PATH TO ACTIVISM
Of more than 23 million Indigenous people in Mexico 鈥� nearly 20% of the population 鈥� well over half live in poverty, according to government data from 2022. And women face the worst of it, with the lowest rates of literacy in their communities and little, if any, rights to own land.
Neither of the two women candidates for president 鈥� for the governing Morena party and the opposition鈥檚 鈥� have spoken much about Indigenous issues. Still, women in this region can鈥檛 hide some hope that a woman president could better address some of their most pressing needs: health care and education access, and protection from domestic violence.
The status of Mexico鈥檚 Indigenous peoples leaped onto the international stage in 1994 in Chiapas, when Zapatista guerrilla fighters declared war against the government. They aimed not to take power, but demanded that the government address racism and marginalization suffered by Indigenous peoples. The movement had unusually high participation from women.
Twelve days of fighting and years of negotiation culminated in 2001 with a constitutional amendment that recognized the right of Indigenous people to autonomous government; to preserve their languages, land and cultural identity; and to have access to basic rights such as health care and education.
This allowed many small Indigenous communities to govern themselves and choose their leaders without national political influence. It also meant that the federal government frequently looked the other way when those local customs contradicted basic rights like gender equality.
After the uprising, Indigenous women felt encouraged to fight for their rights in their communities. In some places they succeeded. But in many Indigenous communities.
Juana Cruz, 51, is one of the women on a crusade to bring change. She grew up listening to stories of the abuses suffered by four generations of her family forced to work on an estate where they had to speak Spanish rather than their native Tojolabal, a Mayan-family language. She remembers being beaten in school for not speaking Spanish well.
Today she is one of the most veteran social activists in Las Margaritas, the municipality that includes Plan de Ayala, and director of Tzome Ixuk, which means 鈥渙rganized woman鈥� in Tojolabal. Her collective accompanies victims of domestic violence to report crimes, organizes talks to hear communities鈥� needs, hosts workshops for men and women about gender rights, and teaches children Tojolabal. Political parties have approached her, she said, but she rejected their recruitment efforts 鈥� she wants to focus on organizing and educating in a politically independent environment.
鈥淭he ability that we have to decide is because we are not (affiliated) with any authority,鈥� Cruz said.
Six years ago, the Zapatistas and other Indigenous groups to run for president as their first independent candidate. She faced intense racism and didn鈥檛 make it onto the ballot. 鈥淏ut she gave us strength,鈥� Cruz said.
Cruz鈥檚 own activism stretches back to the Zapatista uprising, when she first heard about 鈥渙rganizing鈥� for rights. In the mid-1990s, she demanded water, electricity, sewer and schools for an Indigenous neighborhood in Las Margaritas 鈥� demands that prompted dozens of men to attack her, she said.
She described politicians finding her demands unacceptable 鈥� they believed Indigenous people didn鈥檛 need such things.
鈥楪ENERATION OF CHANGE鈥�
Since Cruz and others made those basic demands, there鈥檚 been progress in places like Las Margaritas, a sprawling township of some 140,000 people spread across about 400 mostly Indigenous communities, including Plan de Ayala. Some people here were born on hugemassive estates where Indigenous workers were treated like slaves. Today, many get by with .
Unwritten rules still govern much of life in the villages. Mexican law prohibits marriage until age 18, but many teens leave home years earlier and live as couples until they can legally wed. The community considers them married.
For some girls, it鈥檚 the only way to escape abusive homes 鈥� one 15-year-old described to The Associated Press how a relative beat her almost daily.
鈥淚 wanted to get married as soon as I could,鈥� she said, even though she knew it meant giving up her dreams of continued education. 鈥淚 would love to study again, but I still can鈥檛 because that鈥檚 the way the rules are here."
鈥淲hen you marry, you leave school, you leave everything that you have,鈥� said the girl, whose name AP is withholding because she鈥檚 a victim of abuse.
Increasingly, girls and young women are rejecting such norms. That鈥檚 part of what鈥檚 discussed in the workshops at Plan de Ayala high school.
About a third of those gathered said they would like to continue studying, according to Mar铆a Leticia Santiz, 28, and Liz V谩zquez, 33, who lead the discussion.
鈥淵ou all have the ability to make decisions in your communities, in your schools, in your families,鈥� V谩zquez tells the group. 鈥淵ou are a generation of change.鈥� Santiz translates to Tojolabal.
A buzz spreads through the group. Using the native language generates confidence and shows the youths they can be proud of it, Santiz said: 鈥淭here are still young people, women who are ashamed of the language, of being Indigenous.鈥�
V谩zquez and Santiz are from a collective called Ch鈥檌eltik, which means 鈥渨e are those who grow鈥� in the Indigenous language Tseltal. The group鈥檚 goal is to encourage conversation and reflection among young people in some of Chiapas鈥� most closed communities, learn the realities of people there, and provide tools to improve their lives.
Santiz says that in Plan de Ayala, where women have never held positions of authority, some women do want to participate in local civic life.
But 鈥渢hey don鈥檛 dare because they feel they are going to be punished,鈥� Santiz said. 鈥淭he social compacts that the people have sown in them are very ingrained.鈥�
LOOKING AHEAD
In Plan de Ayala, like most rural corners of Las Margaritas, there is little evidence of the coming national election. Posters of Sheinbaum are seen in some places. The face of G谩lvez 鈥� who has Indigenous roots, with an Otomi father 鈥� is not.
V谩zquez says that personally, she has not connected with either candidate. But in the workshop, she tells the group that a woman becoming president proves nothing is impossible.
Santiz is wary of politicians. 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 seen a change, attention toward the Indigenous,鈥� she said.
She said she wishes politicians would be authentic in their outreach to Indigenous communities and not simply use their people to sell an inclusive image: 鈥淏eing Indigenous isn鈥檛 just coming from an Indigenous community,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 returning and doing things for your community.鈥�
Experts say politicians have long looked down on Indigenous people and have wrongly explained away chauvinistic behavior as the carrying on of ancestral practices. Examples of Indigenous women rising to power 鈥� for example, in leading the fight against controversial infrastructure projects like dams 鈥� have been minimized.
are notable for what鈥檚 lacking: any prioritization of gender issues or detailed plans to address issues in Indigenous communities.
Sheinbaum insists she will try to reach agreements to compensate for past injustices against some Indigenous peoples. G谩lvez has only gone so far as to remind voters of projects she pushed when she was in charge of Indigenous development under a previous administration, two decades ago.
In Plan de Ayala, V谩zquez and Santiz leave the workshop at the high school encouraged. The young men seemed receptive to speaking about equality, and they see signs of change: fathers supporting their daughters鈥� dreams, young women carving out spaces for themselves.
After the workshop, Mada铆 G贸mez, the 18-year-old, heads home to finish helping her mother. She's not yet sure about continuing school 鈥� she wants to be economically independent and considers herself a strong woman who doesn't take 鈥渘o鈥� for an answer. Maybe she'll stay here and find work. Maybe she'll try making it to the U.S.
That afternoon, she puts on her soccer uniform and heads to the local field, optimistic that more girls want to join. On the dirt track, teens pass older women wearing traditional embroidered blouses and shiny satin skirts returning from the fields, their bodies stooped by huge bundles of grass hoisted on their backs.
G贸mez said she believes in the potential of women in her community and thinks Mexico鈥檚 first woman president could show they can do more even than men.
鈥淚 want gender equality to come, for them to give us that chance to raise our voices, for our voice to be valued the same as a man鈥檚,鈥� she said.
Mar铆a Verza, The Associated Press
