Indigenous Women's Political Participation: Gendered Labour and Collective Rights Paradigm in Mexico

In South America, rights to local political participation in aboriginal communities are "earned" through labours for the community. These rights are not simply granted to each individual as part of a human rights regime. This method of political participation is especially prevalent in the province of Oaxaca, Mexico, where almost seventy-five percent of the municipalities elect municipal authorities through custom and tradition rather than secret ballot and universal suffrage. The low rates of female political participation in these areas have prompted the Mexican government to pass legislative reforms designed to encourage female participation in these areas. This article examines why these legislative initiatives have failed. The author contends that in focusing on women as individual rights-bearers, these legislative initiatives fail to take into account the complicated ways in which gendered labour influences political participation in non-liberal contexts. This article explores how aboriginal women refuse to cooperate with such legislative initiatives because these reforms often exacerbate their oppression in their local communities in terms of gendered collective labour. The author then goes on to suggest some ways in which gender equality could be promoted in non-liberal contexts.