Advantages Of The Soldaderas During The Mexican Revolutionary War

The main advantage of the Soldaderas during the Mexican Revolutionary war was their ability to fulfill multiple roles in the Mexican militia. The women executed domestic obligations, were fierce warriors on the battlefields, provide medical attention for mutilated troops and acted as a secret weapon to sneak supplies across the United States boarder utilizing their flowing skirts, they were able to smuggle ammunition, medicine and other goods. They were actively involved in every aspect of the Revolution, where their contribution was supporting soldiers on the battle field to intellectual leadership where women such as Maria Quinteras de Meras, Margarita Neri, who became a commander in Emiliano Zapata’s Army, and Amelia Robles Avila rose through the ranks of army and were
acknowledged for their extensive military services where in 1973, Robles received the title of Mérito revolutionario. Many who opted to join the army did not join out of patriotism but out of necessity due to Porfirismo that sought to protect Mexico’s elite at the cost of the indigenous people who were oppressed and faced much discrimination.
The indigenous populace of Mexico was abused and seen as a nuisance, where Diaz sought to erase them from Mexican history and took away their land which greatly affected their livelihood and left them in poverty which affected the soldaderas because the majority of them came from mestiza origin. During that time period, the Mexican constitution restricted women’s rights where they were not given the right to vote, women could not own property or allowed to oversee the education of their children – women’s life were virtually limited by gendered laws and constrained by men their entire lives beginning in their childhood by their fathers and during adulthood by her husband. Women were expected to be devoted to their families and be the reproducers of the next Mexican generations serving as their primary caregivers. Joining the revolutionary movement allowed them to escape the oppression that Marianismo represented and seek their independence in a male-orientated
society. They also faced hardships within the army where Soldaderas were regarded as primitive and dimwitted and were considered by men as mere sex objects whose sole propose was to fulfill their sexual appetite. However, Emiliano Zapata understood that their participation played a vital role in making sure the soldiers did not abandoning the frontlines because the Soldaderas were able to make the battlefield feel like home by not only performing the necessary jobs that enabled the army to function on a day to day basis (figure 2), but were able to bring along their families that provided a sense of togetherness and amity that kept the army together, “Women played for the Revolution; without them, the armies could not have existed, for they lacked the infrastructure and discipline which traditional armies use to support soldiers. Soldaderas provided the backbone of what was once referred to as ‘a people in arms’,” (King, 2014, pg. 1). Some of the Soldaderas who participated in the war effort were also feminists and social activists who fought for women’s suffrage, equal and nondiscriminatory remuneration and reasonably priced housing.