Indigenous women, government and community: Tarahumara women in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua ; Mujeres indígenas, gobierno y comunidad: El caso de mujeres tarahumaras en Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua

Abstract

The situation of indigenous women in Chihuahua is characterized by marginalization, poverty, and inequality. For this reason, some indigenous members of the Rarámuri community are forced to migrate with their families to the major cities of the state in order to satisfy their most basic needs. In the indigenous community settled in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, we find that the community´s government is administered and regulated by women, a role that has been traditionally assigned to men. The purpose of this article is to approach women›s participation in the Tarahumara´s government at Ciudad Juarez in order to understand their role as government officials, political leadership, and the methods they use to solve the community´s problem. In order to accomplish our objective, we interviewed female government representatives of the Tarahumara community in Ciudad Juarez. The results of this research showed two significant issues: the extreme vulnerability in which the indigenous people live in the urban environment and the strategies women use, attached to the gender role, to maintain order, leadership, and improve the quality of life of their community. ; La situación de las mujeres indígenas en Chihuahua se caracteriza por la marginación, pobreza y desigualdad. Por esta razón, algunos(as) miembros de la etnia rarámuri obligados por las necesidades más elementales, emigran con sus familias a las principales ciudades de la entidad. En el caso específico de la comunidad indígena asentada en Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, encontramos que son mujeres quienes dirigen las tareas de gobierno, rol tradicionalmente asignados a los hombres. El objetivo de este artículo es realizar un acercamiento de la participación femenina en el gobierno de la colonia tarahumara, con el propósito de conocer cómo se genera esta participación, sus liderazgos y las formas de resolución de sus problemas al interior de la comunidad. Para este propósito se realizaron entrevista con representantes de la comunidad y sus dos gobernadoras, además de un grupo focal con la presidenta y un grupo de mujeres. Los resultados de esta investigación mostraron dos cuestiones significativas: la situación de extrema vulnerabilidad en que viven las indígenas en el entorno urbano y que el gobierno femenino usa estrategias apegadas al rol de género para mantener el orden, el liderazgo y mejorar la calidad de vida de su comunidad. Indigenous women, government and community: Tarahumara women in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua Abstract The situation of indigenous women in Chihuahua is characterized by marginalization, poverty, and inequality. For this reason, some indigenous members of the Rarámuri community are forced to migrate with their families to the major cities of the state in order to satisfy their most basic needs. In the indigenous community settled in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, we find that the community´s government is administered and regulated by women, a role that has been traditionally assigned to men. The purpose of this article is to approach women›s participation in the Tarahumara´s government at Ciudad Juarez in order to understand their role as government officials, political leadership, and the methods they use to solve the community´s problem. In order to accomplish our objective, we interviewed female government representatives of the Tarahumara community in Ciudad Juarez. The results of this research showed two significant issues: the extreme vulnerability in which the indigenous people live in the urban environment and the strategies women use, attached to the gender role, to maintain order, leadership, and improve the quality of life of their community. Keywords: Gender, indigenous, community, women, government.