Emancipatory journalism: women of letters in the context of the Porfiriato and the Mexican Revolution

Abstract

The revolutionary struggle in modern Mexico is a turbulent moment, a moment of change and upheaval (as its name suggests) that converges with the beginning of women's struggle for emancipation and obtaining citizenship. This convergence responds to a need for political and social change that has been developing since the end of the 19th century and is accentuated as the Mexican Revolution takes place. In this sense, the ideal platform that wealthy-class literate women found to seek and obtain full citizenship was journalism, which, during the Porfiriato, was mainly distinguished by addressing issues related to “the feminine”: household ownership, decoration, personal care, social events, religious themes, among others. At the beginning of the 20th century, women began to venture into journalism not only as collaborators, but as founders and editors of their own newspapers, magazines and weekly deliveries, beginning with the publications of some women such as Rita Cetina and Laureana Wright, addressing the central themes of women's education, women's suffrage, the incursion of women into more work spheres and the celebration of the triumphs of other women in Mexico and the world, to mention a few. This new form of expression and demand not only allowed some to have their own income, bringing them closer to a more evident emancipatory process, but it also brought others closer to the revolutionary movements and made them participate in them, whether with journalistic articles that criticized the performance of some politicians, supporting revolutionary movements and even directly on the battlefield, as is the case of the Zapatista colonel and journalist Juana Belén Gutiérrez.