Abstract

CHAVEZ-ARELLANO, María Eugenia  and  VAZQUEZ-GARCIA, Verónica. Administrations of rural municipal female presidents in Tlaxcala, México, 1992 to 2010, from the protagonists' perception. agric. soc. desarro [online]. 2011, vol.8, n.1, pp.45-78. ISSN 1870-5472.

Representation of women in municipal governments barely reaches 3% in México. The state of Tlaxcala stands out because the percentage of women that have presided in municipalities exceeds the national average, reaching 10% in 2005. In this document, part of the results obtained in a study carried out in Tlaxcala about the presence of rural women in municipal representation positions is presented. The period covered was from 1992 to 2010, and we focused on 14 women who occupied the municipal presidencies in municipalities of less than 20 000 inhabitants. The fundamental objective was to rescue the experiences of municipal presidents and former presidents during this period, to get to know directly how they became involved in political life and the strategies implemented by them during their administrations. As part of the results, we found that the presidents in question, in spite of finding themselves in situations of legitimate power, face situations in which inequality and gender domination appear as part of a discourse incorporated throughout life and widely shared by both men and women, and expressed in the practices and strategies that allow them to manage their administrations successfully, in spite of everything.

Keywords : Culture; rural women; municipality; politics.