HERMILA GALINDO: BIOGRAPHY OF A FEMINIST FIGHTER - HISTORY - 2024

Hermila Galindo (1886-1954) was a politician, feminist, journalist, and teacher during the post-revolutionary era in Mexico. Born in the town of Villa Juárez, from a very young age she showed her support for the opponents of Porfirio Díaz. First, she sympathized with Bernardo Reyes, then with Francisco I. Madero and, finally, with Venustiano Carranza.

At the age of 15, Hermila Galindo moved to Mexico City. In the capital she came into contact with various liberal groups, standing out for her great oratory and brilliance. At that time she was distinguished by her support for Madero. After the Tragic Ten and the war to expel Victoriano Huerta, Galindo began working directly for Venustiano Carranza.

Source: Modern Woman - Hermila Galindo, via Wikimedia Commons

As a Carranza collaborator, Hermila Galindo traveled to various states to promote the new government's policy. She participated in the Constituent Congress, although her proposal to achieve female suffrage was not approved by her colleagues.

Apart from her political work, Hermila Galindo's most important contribution was her fight for women's rights. From her magazine, La Mujer Moderna, and in the various forums created in the country, Galindo advocated for equality and denounced the role of the Church in the historically suffered discrimination by women.

Biography

Hermila Galindo Acosta, known more generally as Hermila Galindo de Topete, was born in Villa Juárez, in the municipality of Lerdo (Mexico). She came to the world on June 2, 1886, being registered as a natural daughter.

Hermila was orphaned of a mother very soon, with only three days. This caused her to be given to her father, Rosario Galindo, and raised by his sister, Angela Galindo.

His education was developed in Villa Lerdo, then going on to study in Chihuahua, at an Industrial School. In this center he learned accounting, telegraphy, typing, shorthand and English.

Entry into politics

In 1902, Hermila suffered the loss of her father. That forced her, when she was 13 years old, to return home. The young woman had to start working, teaching private typing and shorthand classes to children in the area.

While still a student, Hermila had already demonstrated her social interest, showing her opposition to the Porfirio Díaz regime. Like other young people of her time, she began as a Reyista, to go over the years to support Madero and, finally, Carranza.

His entry into politics was due to chance. A lawyer and journalist, Francisco Martínez Ortiz, wrote a speech in 1909 in support of Benito Juárez and against Porfirio Día. Hermila Galindo was in charge of transcribing it, thanks to her typing skills.

The mayor of Torreón, upon learning the content of the speech, ordered the confiscation of all copies of the speech, but Galindo hid his.

This became important when the son of Juárez, in a local celebration in honor of his father, learned of the existence of this copy. He contacted Hermila and they distributed the text with the purpose of increasing the environment against the government of Porfirio Díaz.

In Mexico City

In 1911, when he was 15 years old, Galindo left for Mexico City. There he came into contact with the Abraham González Liberal Club. Together with many other colleagues, they began to carry out actions and debates to improve the political situation in the country, immersed in great instability.

In the capital, Hermila became secretary to General Eduardo Hay. This had been one of the founders of Francisco I. Madero's Anti-reelection Party, a cause that the young woman fully supported.

Despite the fall of Porfirio Díaz, the situation in Mexico did not stabilize. Madero's presidency ended with the Tragic Ten and with Huertas coming to power. Galindo was left without a steady job and had to teach shorthand courses at a school in Mexico City.

Support for Carranza

The civil war declared in Mexico between the supporters of President Victoriano Huerta and the revolutionary and constitutionalist forces brought chaos to the country. Finally, in 1914, Huerta was forced to resign. Venustiano Carranza, leader of the Constitutionalists, entered Mexico City.

Although not much information is known about Galindo's activities during that time, his biographers affirm that it is very likely that he continued in contact during those years with the revolutionary clubs. In fact, she was chosen by one of them as part of the committee that was to receive Carranza in the capital.

The young woman's speech, comparing Carranza with Juárez, impressed the entire audience. At the end, Carranza himself asked her to work with him as his private secretary, accepting the offer. From that moment, Galindo worked in favor of the new ruler.

Part of his work was to travel the entire country organizing revolutionary clubs throughout the territory. Hermila dedicated herself to promoting Carranza ideals, based on the defense of national sovereignty and the need to reform society.

Modern woman

Apart from dedicating herself to these propaganda tasks, Hermila Galindo also devoted a large part of her effort to promoting equality for women in the country. For her, feminism should be part of the achievements of the revolution.

Galindo was part of a group of feminists who, in September 1915, founded the magazine La Mujer Moderna. The purpose of this publication was to promote gender equality, secular education and sex education. These issues began to cause the Church to react against her.

In some of her writings, the author pointed out the discriminatory laws that appeared in Mexican legislation. As an example, the Civil Code of 1884 recognized the same rights for single women as for men, but when they married they lost those rights and became dependent on their husbands.

Feminist congress

The presentation that Galindo sent in 1916 to the First Feminist Congress of Yucatán caused a lot of stir in the most conservative sectors of the country and even among many feminists. The title of her work was The Woman in the Future and the author explained why equality between women and men was necessary.

In the presentation, Galindo affirmed that it was necessary to create a sexual education plan and accused religion, and the Church, of being responsible for the ignorance of the population on the subject.

These opinions related to women's sexuality were considered very radical. The most conservative sectors of the country reacted to her writings and responded with a statement supporting the traditional role of women, opposing their receiving education.

First diplomat

Hermila Galindo was also a pioneer in another aspect related to foreign relations. Carranza was interested in having her work known abroad and sent Galindo as her representative in Cuba and Colombia to propagate her ideas. In this way, she became the first woman to carry out diplomatic work in the country.

Also, during his stay in those two countries, Galindo showed his rejection of the interventionist policy of the United States in Mexico.

As a sign of her support for Carranza's thesis, Hermila Galindo wrote the book entitled The Carranza doctrine and the Indo-Latin Approach.

Proposal for a change in the Constitution

The works to elaborate a new constitution began at the end of 1916. Galindo tried that the rights of the woman were collected. At just 20 years old, she was the woman who gained the most visibility during the Constituent Congress held in Querétaro.

His speeches maintained the high level that always characterized Hermila. Her argument, which would be used again by other feminists, was as follows:

“It is strictly justice that women have the vote in the elections of the authorities, because if they have obligations to the social group, it is reasonable that they do not lack rights.

The laws apply equally to men and women: women pay contributions, women, especially independent women, help with community expenses, obey government regulations and, just in case they commit a crime, suffer the same penalties as the guilty man.

Thus, for obligations, the law considers it the same as man, only when dealing with prerogatives, it ignores it and does not grant it any of those enjoyed by men. "

With this defense of equality, Hermila wanted the right to vote of women to be recognized and to be reflected in the new constitutional text.

Rejection of your proposal

Hermila Galindo's attempt did not obtain the support of the Constituent Congress. Her words, in fact, were met with laughter or outright ignored, receiving the support of very few participants.

The argument of the congressmen to reject the proposal was the following:

“The fact that some women exceptionally have the necessary conditions to satisfactorily exercise political rights does not support the conclusion that they should be granted to women as a class.

The activity of women has not left the circle of the domestic home, nor have their interests been separated from those of the male members of the family; The unity of the family has not come to be broken among us, as it happens with the advance of civilization; women therefore do not feel the need to participate in public affairs, as evidenced by the lack of any collective movement in that sense ”.

Candidate

Despite that failure, Hermila Galindo was not willing to give up. Thus, she took advantage of the fact that the law did not directly prohibit the participation of women in politics, she managed to stand in the elections.

In this way, Galindo ran as a candidate for deputy for one of the districts of Mexico City in the 1917 elections. During her campaign, she declared that she had no hope of getting elected and that she only wanted to present the cause of women's suffrage before the whole country.

However, surprisingly, Hermila Galindo got the necessary votes to be elected. However, the Mexican Chamber of Deputies did not allow her to swear in office because she was a woman.

Writing career

During the following years, Galindo continued her work as a writer and editor, always focused on her fight for the equality of women and on supporting the Carranza government.

Apart from her work in the magazine La Mujer Moderna, Hermila Galindo was the author of five books in which she dealt with issues related to the Mexican Revolution. Likewise, she was the author of a biography of Venustiano Carranza.

However, Carranza's presidency was beginning to show signs of ending. Part of the town was disappointed, since the promised reforms did not arrive, especially the agrarian one. Soon, armed uprisings began to break out against him.

Provisional withdrawal from politics

The violent end of the Carrancista regime meant the end of the first phase of feminism in Mexico. Hermila Galindo also decided to withdraw from public life, although she continued to publish texts calling for gender equality and increased rights for women.

Galindo preferred, at the age of 24, to live in a calmer way, outside of the political scene. She married Manuel de Topete in 1923 and had two daughters. The couple lived for some years in the United States, later returning to Mexico.

First female congresswoman

Despite this withdrawal, Mexico had not forgotten Hermila Galindo. In 1952 she became the first woman to hold a seat in the country's Federal Congress. The following year, Congress approved the reform of article 34 of the Constitution to include women in it.

In this way, the proposal that Galindo had brought to the Constituent Assembly of 1917 was largely recovered. The article, once amended, was as follows:

"Citizens of the Republic are men and women who, having the status of Mexicans, also meet the following requirements: having reached 18 years of age, being married, or 21 if they are not, and having an honest way of life."

Death

Hermila Galindo de Topete suffered an acute myocardial infarction on August 19, 1954 in Mexico City. The attack caused his death and he could not see how, in 1958, Mexican women received full political equality.

References

1. López, Alberto. Hermila Galindo, feminist pioneer and first candidate for federal deputy. Obtained from elpais.com
2. Valles Ruiz, Rosa María. Hermila Galindo and the origins of feminism in Mexico. Recovered from magazines.unam.mx
3. Cruz Jaimes, Guadalupe. Hermila Galindo, a feminist in the Constituent Assembly of 1917. Obtained from Cimacnoticias.com.mx
4. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Galindo De Topete, Hermila (1896–1954). Retrieved from encyclopedia.com
5. Dulles, John WF Yesterday in Mexico: A Chronicle of the Revolution, 1919–1936. Recovered from books.google.es
6. Maciaş, Anna. Women and the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920. Recovered from muse.jhu.edu
7. Wikipedia. Hermila Galindo. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org