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 Editorials | Issues | October 2007 
Mexico's Militia of Misses
 Bienvenue Ndahiriwe - Anchor
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For the first time in 31 years, the government of Mexico has taken steps to increase women's roles in its military. In fact, newly adopted laws enable women to apply to military schools for training in public administration, engineering, and other opportunities leading toward the highest ranks of the army. The new policy was met with mixed reactions.
For some, the government's decision to open up some of the closed doors of the army to women is a sign of progress for such an overly male-dominated society as Mexico has. Though women first joined the Mexican armed forces in 1938 as nurses, they had to wait until 1973 and 1976, respectively, to have access to medical and dental programs. For those in support of the new laws, the fact that women have access to 17 of the 39 careers schools in Mexico and are bound to the same standards as their male counterparts can only contribute to a "healthy competition" between sexes.
Others view this governmental move as a highly calculated one. In fact, in an age of fierce and hellish war between the military and drug-lords, Mexico has seen a sharp decrease of its percentage of male recruits. In the minds of those critics, the new laws allowing women's greater role in Mexican military are nothing less than a governmental remedy to the ever-increasing scarcity of new recruits. For them, it would be sheer folly not to interpret these new laws as mere governmental strategies to lure women into filling more positions as career soldiers.
How these changes will affect the atmosphere in the Mexican armed forces has yet to be seen, but it can almost be assured that those opposed to the new laws will not go quietly. |
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