Public policies and women's empowerment in three indigenous communities of Oaxaca, Mexico
| Autor | Arturo César López García, Florinda Osorio Alvarado |
| Páginas | 704-731 |
CAPÍTULO 35
PUBLIC POLICIES AND WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT IN
THREE INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES OF
OAXACA, MEXICO
ARTURO CÉSAR LÓPEZ GARCÍA
Universidad de la Sierra Sur
FLORINDA OSORIO ALVARADO
Universidad de la Sierra Sur
1. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, the Mexican government has implemented various po-
licies aimed at solving public problems, some of them with a gender
perspective, following various recommendations made by international
organizations in this area, thus carrying out "actions aimed at reducing
the inequality that harms women, through the institutionalization of the
gender perspective" (Carmona 2015, 221).
With respect to the indigenous population in Mexico, according to the
2015 Intercensal Survey, there is a population of 12 million 25 thousand
947 people, which constitutes 10.1% of the national population. Accor-
ding to the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous
Peoples (CDI 2015), of the total estimated indigenous population, 6 mi-
llion 146,479 (51.1 per-cent) are women and 5 million 879,468 (48.9
per cent) are men, with Oaxaca and Chiapas being the states with the
largest numbers. It is also important to highlight that 55.5% of the in-
digenous population lives in municipalities with high and very high
marginalization, and 87.5% of indigenous municipalities are in condi-
tions of high and very high degree of social backwardness (CDI 2015).
The Mexican federal government, through its institutions, has promoted
attention to this sector of the population through the implementation of
various public policies aimed at indigenous groups, promoting female
participation that leads to greater income. Among the different social
programs, there are two that share similarities in terms of scope and
coverage in the Mexican territory: the Special Program for Food Secu-
rity (PESA) and the Program for the Improvement of Indigenous Pro-
duction and Productivity (PROIN). Both, in accordance with their rules
of operation, are aimed at improving the poverty conditions of vulnera-
ble groups in rural areas of Mexico, giving priority to young people,
indigenous women and the elderly (Osorio 2019).
This study was conducted in the district of Miahuatlan, in the Southern
Sierra of Oaxaca. The district is made up of 32 municipalities, conside-
red by CDI to be indigenous peoples of the Southern Zapotec ethnic
group. It should be mentioned that in these municipalities, in addition
to social backwardness and marginalization, machismo persists to a
large extent, a factor that has limited the participation of indigenous
women in different areas, including control of household income, gi-
ving women less decision-making power in this area.
The objective of this work located in Oaxaca, Mexico, is to document
the participation that indigenous women from three communities have
had in two public policies. On the one hand, the participation of women
from Santa Lucia Miahuatlan in the PESA program; and on the other
hand, the participation of indigenous women from San Miguel Yogo-
vana and El Portillo Paxtlan in the PROIN program. In both cases, the
aim is to determine whether, as a result of this participation, women
have transformed their gender relations in terms of female empower-
ment within their homes and community.
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
This work corresponds to a qualitative study. The study initially incor-
porates documentary research in the light of specialized literature from
a historical and socio-demographic perspective, for the knowledge of
the uses and customs of the study communities that would allow the
understanding - in a certain way - of the situation of machismo in those
rural environments. On the other hand, the research includes work in
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