By Marc For many leftist academics and solidarity activists, the 1994 Zapatista uprising was seen as opening important political spaces for Indigenous women in a broader male-dominated, machista society. Three images helped shape these views: 1. Although the charismatic Subcomandante Marcos often captured the media spotlight, at the peace talks in the San Cristóbal cathedral and elsewhere he was matched with the diminutive and increasingly frail Comandanta Ramona who had gained her own cult following. 2. Media images of unarmed Indigenous women chasing soldiers out of their communities, including those in Saul Landau’s documentary, The Sixth Sun, and a famed January 1998 photo in one of Mexico’s principal national newspaper, La Jornada, reinforced this idea that Indigenous women often led subaltern protest movements in southern Mexico. 3. The Zapatista Revolutionary Women's Laws. In 1994, we were told that a significant portion of the Zapatista army were made up of Indigenous women, and that the EZLN was committed to equal rights and would not tolerate sexism within its ranks. The ten Revolutionary Women's Laws stated: 1. Women, regardless of their race, creed, color, or political affiliation, have the right to participate in the revolutionary struggle in a way determined by their desire and ability. 2. Women have the right to work and receive a fair salary. 3. Women have the right to decide the number of children they will bear and care for. 4. Women have the right to participate in the affairs of the community and to hold positions of authority if they are freely and democratically elected. 5. Women and their children have the right to primary attention in the matters of health and nutrition. 6. Women have the right to education. 7. Women have the right to choose their partner and are not to be forced into marriage. 8. Women shall not be beaten or physically mistreated by their family members or by strangers. Rape and attempted rape will be severely punished. 9. Women will be able to occupy positions of leadership in the organization and to hold military ranks in the revolutionary armed forces. 10. Women will have all the rights and obligations elaborated in the revolutionary laws and regulations. Mexico has long been plagued by what is called the “dead letter of the law,” a serious gap between delightful proclamations and the shortcomings of lived realities. These laws say more about desires than reflections of realities. But ten years on, has any real progress been made? Is gender equality even a goal? Does equality extend any farther than trite tokenism? Chiapas Within Zapatista communities and more broadly in Maya society, there appears to be a gap between what leadership projects and what communities experience. For example, at the Junta de Buen Gobierno in the Caracol of Morelia we met with a directiva comprised of three men and three women. The four plenaries I attended at the encuentro in Oventic were heavily dominated by women. But when we went to the community of Olga Isabel, we only met with three men and it appears that women played an insignificant role in community governance. Furthermore, when we met with the Junta de Buen Gobierno at Morelia it was a man who led the discussion with a woman adding her voice of thanks at the very end. Some said that this was a simple function of literacy. Historically, it has been men who have had most contact with the outside world and hence have gained most fluency in the dominant colonial language.

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