In Oaxaca City, Mexico, female activists stood at the forefront of a rioting teachers’ movement. It was August of 2006 and a tumultuous time for University representatives to pay a visit. Still, they came to collaborate on research for two weeks, spurred by their common interest in Latin American gender studies.
Stephanie Wood, Gabriela Martinez, Lynn Stephen, Analisa Taylor, Hannah Dillon and Judith Musick – all members of the Americas Research Interest Group within the Center for the Study of Women in Society at the University – departed having built ties with a grassroots feminist organization called “La Casa de la Mujer,” or the House of the Woman.
La Casa provides vital services to Oaxacan women, including a scholarship fund called Fondo de Becas that ensures that girls native to indigenous communities can complete high school. Additionally, La Casa pairs the girls with tutors and hosts weekend workshops once a month that have ranged from feminist discussions about Cinderella to cultural city excursions.
Since the initial summer visit, CSWS has forged a sister institutional relationship between La Casa and the University. After meeting a former scholarship recipient in 2007 and conferring with Wood, alumna Elke Richers became the first University student to intern at La Casa last spring. In early January, junior Katie Hulse began a three-month IE-3 internship there.
“I’ve done a lot of volunteering and working with various nonprofits,” Hulse said. “This is above and beyond the best, with the highest percentage of funds procured going directly into these women’s educations and the furthering of anti-sexism and pro-woman campaigns. It’s all locals caring about their own communities and their futures.”
In indigenous communities surrounding Oaxaca City, girls often drop out of school to tend to their families and help with chores. Domestic violence, maternal death and poverty pervade these rural villages.
“The abuse in the indigenous communities is awful,” Hulse said. “Maternal abuse, child abuse, married at 14 with kids at 15, illiteracy.”
To attend school, girls must pay tuition and purchase school supplies, books and uniforms on their family’s already tight budget, and language barriers make educational access difficult. Spanish is usually the girls’ second or third language. Most communities, which are home to between a few hundred and several thousand inhabitants, have primary schools, but sometimes girls have to travel to other villages for middle and high school.
Wood, who is a Research Associate for CSWS, said feminist concepts are not foreign to indigenous Mexican communities. Women once held significant leadership roles in their villages. Since European colonization began in 1521, however, patriarchal influences have transformed these communities. Women, such as those who staff La Casa, are trying to reverse these influences.
Enter La Casa’s Fondo de Becas, which endows girls “to explore wider varieties of who they are, what they are about and what they are interested in,” according to Richers. “They find the possibility to think about what would be their dream careers and where they would like to travel.”
“They are stoked just to be in school,” Richers said. “For us it can be a burden. Sometimes we do it for someone else. There, school is seen as a drain economically or not valued. Not taking those things for granted; that was a big lesson for me.”
One former scholarship recipient, who went on to attend Mount Hood Community College, visited the University in April 2007 and also spoke at Portland State University.
“We would like to see them take one more step to the University,” Wood said. “To plant the seeds that the University of Oregon would welcome these girls.”
Richers explained that while interning, she was responsible for translating documents such as informative pamphlets to English, writing grants, fundraising, and supporting La Casa teachers, administrators and mentors. Additionally, she visited the girls’ villages, some up to 12 hours away, and helped the girls facilitate presentations in front of their communities.
Hulse’s intern responsibilities are similar, she said, with an emphasis on fundraising. Right now, she is soliciting funds to purchase an all-terrain vehicle for La Casa.
Wood said the University has a scholarship account at Oregon Community Credit Union. Members set up automatic deposits or send checks through Wood that will directly benefit the Fondo de Becas.
“We increase the number of girls (able to receive scholarships) by one plus with about $150 per month,” Wood said. “Sometimes, we fall short. We would love to double the funds to support two girls.”
One of Richers’ biggest frustrations during her internship, she said, was that La Casa could not support more girls.
Currently, the scholarship fund is competitive, accepting 12 to 16 girls at a time into the three-year program. Teachers identify promising students and nominate them to receive scholarship funds. Girls must have top-notch grades, the resources to come to Oaxaca City for interviews and their parents’ consent to apply. The scholarship helps the girls take care of their obligations to their homes and families, as the money can be used for anything while the girl is enrolled in school.
“There’s a huge mountain of obstacles in educating people where there’s some resistance (in the communities),” Wood said.
She said La Casa encourages respect for human rights and an increase in the number of women involved in democracy.
Among La Casa benefactors is renowned Mexican singer Lila Downs. Last May, Downs performed a benefit concert in the Auditorio Lunario in Mexico City. More than 400 hundred attendees helped to raise $22,600 that directly benefited the Fondo de Becas.
La Casa originated in 1977 when a group of women grew tired of the patriarchy in Oaxaca and began a conscious-raising group with different branches and programs. The colorful building that houses La Casa hosts a library, researchers and a searchable database that Wood hopes to help expand this spring.
In March, Wood will return to Oaxaca City for the fifth time since 2006 with a colleague to help organize municipal archives dating back to the 16th century. They hope to teach girls multimedia skills to “develop a history that brings women back into an understanding of the past.” Wood’s visit coincides with the finale of Hulse’s internship.
“I want to impress how wonderful this organization is and how the roots are über feminist in a place that is machista,” Hulse said. “And, how fantastic these women are.”
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