CHAPTER 12 WOMEN AND GENDER IN MESOAMERICA 463munities that have grown throughout Mesoamerica. Women who join Protestant
churches speak about how they find in their new spiritual communities support to
help them deal with alcoholism, illness, domestic violence, and poverty. In general,
modernization has influenced many indigenous and poor Mestizo women to explore
alternatives to traditional spiritual practices. However, studies of women’s conver-
sion to Protestant religions suggests that they seldom occupy leadership roles in their
new church communities (Robledo Hernández 2003; Rostas 2003).
Emigration to urban areas of Mesoamerica and to the United States has become
an increasingly popular strategy to alleviate poverty and to escape the armed conflicts
of the region (see Chapter 9). Although migration is not new in Mesoamerica, it has
intensified dramatically in recent decades. For many small farmers, migrating to
farms or cities used to be a means to supplement farming in their home communi-
ties. Increasingly, migrants find that their only real option is to continue migrating
north to the United States.
Transnational migration is on its way to becoming the principal employment for
the younger generation in many poor communities of Mesoamerica (for more on
this topic, see Chapter 9). Although men migrate in greater numbers than women,
in some communities, such as the Zapotec town of Cotecas Altas, women make up half
of all seasonal migrants to the vegetable and fruit production zones of the northern
states of Mexico. In certain areas of El Salvador, women constitute one-third of the mi-
grants. Single women migrate in larger numbers than married women with children.
Figure 12.7 Women making bread in a Zapatista breadmaking co-op in San Pedro
Chenalhó, Chiapas, 1996. Photo by Heather Sinclair.