CHAPTER 12 WOMEN AND GENDER IN MESOAMERICA 459those living in traditional contexts) than among mestizos or ladinos. Although in-
digenous men engage in extramarital affairs, social norms in their communities stress
responsible behavior toward families (Bossen 1984; Eber 2000). Relatives and neigh-
bors are reluctant to condone the behavior of men who have affairs or abandon their
families. Although abandonment occurs in indigenous communities, it is less com-
mon than in the mestizo population. Domestic violence, on the other hand, is a se-
rious problem in both indigenous and nonindigenous households.
Women and Economics
Women have played a central role in the struggle to effect radical changes in the so-
cioeconomic structures of their countries, a struggle that led to civil wars in
Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua from the late 1970s to the late 1980s, and to
the Zapatista rebellion and subsequent indigenous autonomy movement in Chia-
pas, Mexico, in the 1990s and early twenty-first century (see Chapters 8, 9, and 10).
Coinciding with civil wars in the 1980s, Mexico and Central America suffered the
impact of an international recession, debt crisis, and the ultimate triumph of the mar-
ket over the state. Under the direction of the IMF, governments in the region initiated
structural adjustment programs that involved privatizing state-owned industries, re-
versing agrarian policies, and cutting back government spending. Although regional
economic integration has provided some opportunities for women’s advancement, it
continues to aggravate conditions for the poorest sectors of the population of which
women and children constitute the majority. In addition, the tendency of structural
adjustment policies to privilege men—as a result of the interplay between moderniz-
ing forces and the ideology of machismo—has contributed to lowering women’s au-
thority in indigenous societies, and to a dramatic increase in femicides (gender-based
murder of women) throughout Mexico and Central America.
Gender and Modernization of Indigenous Societies
Gender studies conducted among Zapotec Indians of Oaxaca and Mexico and among
Mayan Indians of Chiapas and Guatemala indicate that indigenous populations liv-
ing in traditional communities enjoy aspects of a more egalitarian gender system
than their corresponding socioeconomic class within the mestizo population (Ehlers
2000; Stephen 1991). For example, among Tzotzil-speaking Chamulas of highland
Chiapas, women and men contribute equally to the household economy. While men
tend the milpas and engage in wage labor in distant places, women take care of chil-
dren and domestic animals and devote many hours to producing textiles for sale
(Eber 2000; Rosenbaum 1993). In addition, they assume responsibility for milpa pro-
duction while their husbands work away from home. Women’s cash contributions
(as well as other services they provide) are indispensable to their families’ survival
(Rus 1990).
Interdependence between husbands and wives strengthens their relationships in
indigenous communities. Again, in Chamula, men and women are not considered
adults until they marry. A man cannot opt for political or religious office unless he
has a wife to fulfill the required complementary duties of his position. Although