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.