A woman will likely be Mexico’s next president. But in some Indigenous villages, men hold the power

By MARÍA VERZA
Associated Press

PLAN DE AYALA, Mexico (AP) — Seventy years ago, Mexican women won the right to vote, and today the country’s on the verge of electing its first woman president. Yet some of the Indigenous women who will vote in Sunday’s national election still don’t have a voice in their own communities. Some  communities of Tojolabal people in the southern state of Chiapas don’t allow women to participate in local government despite the federal government’s commitment to gender parity. It’s one example of the marginalization Indigenous women continue to face. In certain places, such as Plan de Ayala in Las Margaritas, some Indigenous women are pushing for change little by little with help from younger generations. They say they’re seeing progress, for example in workshops where young men and women discuss equality.