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Ermila Galindo was the main promoter of suffrage and women’s rights during the Mexican Revolution. She organized feminist groups, founded the magazine The Modern Womanpromoted the first two national feminist congresses, was a prominent speaker and writer of texts in which she defended her principles in favor of women with solidity and eloquence. At the second Feminist Congress, held in Yucatan from November 23 to December 2, 1916, she said:
“It is strictly just that women should have the right to vote in the election of authorities, because if they have obligations to the social group, it is reasonable that they should not lack rights. The laws apply equally to men and women; women pay taxes, women, especially independent women, help with community expenses, obey government regulations and, if they commit a crime, suffer the same penalties as the guilty man. Thus, in regard to obligations, the law considers them equal to men, only when it comes to prerogatives, it does not recognize them and does not grant them any of those enjoyed by men.
“The laws that govern and regulate marriage contracts, the rights of spouses, and parental authority are made by men and are clearly unjust. Why should women not be involved in the creation of laws that decide the most important part of their lives? Legally, married women do not exist…”
At that time, the Constituent Congress was being held in Querétaro, which would produce the most advanced Political Constitution of its time, the first to recognize the social rights to land, work, and education as collective rights. Hermila moved to that city and presented an initiative to include in the Constitution the recognition of the female vote. In her request she urged the deputies:
“Today, for the first time, and due to the constitutionalist revolution that has given it strong support, Mexican women have emerged from their withdrawal, hoping that the new government will have decisive protection for them, so that their right to vote becomes a reality… You, those appointed by the people to represent them here and be their most faithful interpreters, so that democracy may shine without irritating exclusions… will decree, because it is just, that women must be granted the right to vote.”
Her proposal was not only ignored, but rejected out of fear and prejudice. It was argued that women did not have the education or civic skills to vote responsibly, that their educational levels were lower than those of men, that their space par excellence was the home and that their interests were represented by their husbands, fathers and brothers. Although there were outstanding women who could responsibly exercise the vote, they were exceptional cases. Thus, the deputies approved article 34, which established that Mexican citizens were those who were 18 years old if they were married, 21 if they were single and had an honest way of living. Only they could vote. This wording was ambiguous, generic, in masculine language. Deputy Félix Palavicini warned of the danger of this ambiguity and exclaimed that it had to be explicit that women were not included, that only men were citizens, because there was a risk that they would organize and want to vote and be voted for.
And so it happened. Hermila Galindo, taking advantage of this ambiguity, ran for federal deputy in 1917 for district five of Mexico City. Her program included defending the interests of mothers and children and ending the minority age with which women were treated by law. Her candidacy was the first in our history in which a woman ran. It was also the first to receive votes from women who voted for her. However, Hermila came in fourth out of a total of 26 candidates.
In September 1917, in The Modern Woman, He published his political creed, which clearly reflects the ideals to which he dedicated his life:
“I firmly and intensely believe that woman deserves a better fate than has been dealt to her by the laws of all previous ages. I believe that the weaker half of the human race has the necessary aptitudes to be able to struggle successfully in life. I believe that there is no substantial difference between the male and female brains, and therefore men and women can, with equal success, devote themselves to artistic or scientific speculations, without the balance tipping in advance to either side.
“And I believe this, despite the fact that the education I received in my childhood was archaic like that generally given to all Mexican women, an education in the old Spanish style, which assumed that women were not born to be anything other than an object of luxury or necessity; or a lover or a mother; but that they should not, that they could not become a being useful to humanity, going beyond the orbit to which nature had circumscribed them. I believe this, despite the fact that the examples I saw in my adolescence showed me that there was a deep social difference between men and women, for reasons that then escaped me, but which I now see are clearly false… The struggle in favor of women has been a path of triumphs.”
And indeed, the struggle of women has achieved great triumphs, following the path opened by Hermila and many others like her.
