Health, Education, And Liberation: 10 Points Of The Zapatista Women’s Revolutionary Law

When the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) engaged in an armed uprising against the Mexican state in 1994 as a response to the North American Free Trade Agreement, Indigenous women were at the frontlines as more than soldiers or chefs. They were revolutionaries who lived by the Women’s Revolutionary Law, which declared rights for women that previously had been unheard of in rural Indigenous communities. 

According to independent journalist Anna Rebrii, who has visited autonomous Zapatista territory in Chiapas for many gatherings, or Encuentros, the fight for gender equality has greatly advanced since the law was first written 30 years ago. Rebrii has written extensively on Zapatista governance systems, and has seen the law implemented across Zapatista communities. 

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What Are The 10 Points Of The Revolutionary Law?

First: Women have the right to participate in the revolutionary struggle in the place and at the level that their capacity and will dictates, without any discrimination based on race, creed, color, or political affiliation.

“That's what makes the movement so special. They genuinely believed that women had to be part of it, that women's situation had to be changed,” Rebrii said. “From the very beginning, they were recruiting women into this world of insurgents, and women were on the frontlines when the uprising happened.”

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Second: Women have the right to work and to receive a just salary. Third: Women have the right to decide how many children they will have and take care of.

In her visits, Rebrii noticed that men and women split reproductive roles, like cooking and childcare. She was surprised to see a male teacher in a weaving workshop, who told the students that since the revolution, all the men learned to weave in their communities. 

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Fourth: Women have the right to participate in community affairs and hold positions of authority if they are freely and democratically elected.‍

Women have held leadership roles in all levels of government, including the justice system. However, in November 2023, the Zapatistas announced they would be restructuring their government in order to better serve the people. They aim to follow a principle of leading by obeying, in which leaders themselves do not make decisions, but rather represent the will of their constituents. 

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Fifth: Women have the right to primary care with regard to their health and nutrition.‍

Comandante Ramona became one of the most famous Zapatistas after she traveled with a caravan to Mexico city to speak with the government on meeting Zapatista demands for increased access to education, healthcare, and other basic rights in 1996. The government failed to meet their demands, and Zapatista communities created their own Autonomous health clinics, one of which is named after Comandmente Ramona. Nowadays, the clinics are manned by both men and women, and they combine Western medicine with traditional methods of curanderismo that use local herbs. 

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Sixth: Women have the right to education.‍

Multiple autonomous schools operate in the region, serving all children. Instead of teachers, promotores as young as 12 years old facilitate education spaces for students only a few years younger than them. The goal is not to teach as an authority figure, but to facilitate dialogue where both parties can learn. Due to their closeness in age, the idea is that they are actually in a better position to interact with younger children to help them learn. 

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Seventh: Women have the right to choose their partners and not be forced to marry. Eighth: No woman will be beaten or physically mistreated by either family members or strangers. The crimes of rape and attempted rape will be severely punished. 

“I remember one woman told us that the women’s struggle is still ongoing, even though they have clearly achieved a lot,” Rebrii said. “They often have to convince women themselves that women have rights, that women have to stand up and demand more, that they deserve more, because women have internalized patriarchy, especially the older generation. That's how they were brought up.”

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Ninth: Women can occupy positions of authority in the organization and earn military rank in the revolutionary armed forces.

Although the Zapatistas have not used arms since 1994 when they agreed to the ceasefire initiated by the Mexican government, both men and women are still trained as insurgentes. Some of them choose to become milicianas and live in local communities, working as organizers and protectors in case of paramilitary threats. 

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Tenth: Women have all the rights and obligations set out by the revolutionary laws and regulations.

“In public events, you can just feel the self-confidence that the women exude, especially young women,” Rebrii said. “And I think just the fact that they get to participate as women, just as men get to participate, increases their self-confidence.”

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If you’d like to support the Zapatistas and women’s movements, check out  School for Chiapas to explore their work, resources, and solidarity store. 

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All photos courtesy of Anna Rebrii