women’s rights
Gender Equality among the Batek
It is not too soon to begin celebrating the centenary of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees American women the right to vote. Already, our news media are reporting on local celebrations of the growing gender equality in the U.S. that the amendment symbolized, which will presumably culminate on the actual anniversary […]
Malapandaram React to Controversy over Temple Restrictions
Lord Ayyappan, the popular Hindu deity, is a confirmed celibate. As a result, until a few weeks ago, women of menstruating age, 10 – 50, have been rigidly excluded from participating in the massive pilgrimages to his temple complex at Sabarimala, in southern Kerala. But women devotees of the god, many from southern India, began […]
Women Foster Changes in a Zapotec Village
The well-known Zapotec rug weaver Pastora Gutierrez Reyes made the news again last week, this time in a New York Times feature. Ms. Gutierrez, a leader for women’s rights in the town of Teotitlán del Valle, in Mexico’s Oaxaca State, was described in Lynn Stephen’s book Zapotec Women (2005) and more recently in a Truthout […]
Zapotec Women Strive for Equality
Eufrosina Cruz Mendoza has had a fruitful career over the past 10 years as a successful politician, despite the initial resistance of the men in her hometown. The opposition to her election as mayor of the community made news headlines internationally nearly a decade ago since the town “fathers” had canceled the election results—it was […]
Yanadi Woman Advocates Human Rights
Tupakula Munemma, the young Yanadi woman who made a big impression in India during an election campaign rally in Hyderabad in 2008, is back in the news again. Ms. Munemma gave a speech at a political convention in the fall of 2008; then she ran for a seat in the state legislature of Andhra Pradesh […]
Zapotec Discrimination Against Women—Update
Eufrosina Cruz Mendoza, a Zapotec woman who was denied the right to vote or to run for political office in her hometown, gained international attention for her struggle last year. The Los Angeles Times ran an update story last Friday on how she is doing. It focused on the continuing reactions of Ms. Cruz to […]
Zapotec Woman Demands Right to Vote
Eufrosina Cruz was fed up with the discrimination. The men in the village told her she was not allowed to vote. Last year, the Zapotec woman decided to disobey the town rule prohibiting women from voting and she ran for mayor. Members of the town board, all of whom are men, tore up the ballots […]
