From suffrage to cinema: How the women of the Golden Age of Cinema helped change the social vision of women in Mexico - reflection

October 17, 1953, marked a turning point in Mexican history: women won the right to vote. This victory was the fruit of decades of struggle led by pioneering women such as Elvia Carrillo Puerto and Hermila Galindo, who raised their voices in Congress, on the streets, and in the press to demand political equality; or Amalia Castillo Ledón (the first female Mexican ambassador), who in 1945 participated in the United Nations Conference on International Organization, where she promoted the equality of men and women in the United Nations Charter; and many more figures that we will discuss in other posts.

However, while these voices resonated in the political sphere, another form of resistance and cultural transformation was emerging in parallel: cinema. During the 1930s and 1950s, Mexican Golden Age cinema established itself as a showcase of national identity. And although female roles were often relegated to traditional stereotypes—the self-sacrificing mother, the suffering peasant, the femme fatale—some actresses dared to challenge these narratives.

Dolores del Río

One of the first Mexican stars to succeed in Hollywood, she returned to Mexico and brought with her a different vision of women on screen: elegant, dignified, and in control of their own destiny. Although she did not directly participate in the suffrage movement, her characters portrayed independent and complex women who inspired female audiences. During the 1950s, the actress joined the National Actors Association (ANDA), where she "participated very actively in defending their labor rights and advocating for the interests of her guild." (Hernández & Salinas, 2024)

María Félix

"La Doña" embodied feminine strength and autonomy like no other. Her imposing presence and refusal to be pigeonholed made her an icon who challenged the social norms of her time. She herself stated: "I'm not a feminist, I'm feminine, very feminine." But her image as a powerful woman was, unintentionally, a symbol of empowerment.

In a 1996 interview with actress Verónica Castro, she said, "Protest! Complain! Don't give in! Prepare yourselves! Make your life what you want, not what your men allow you to be. Love and be loved, don't settle for less. From now on, this will be a country of women."

Although there is no evidence that these actresses participated in rallies or campaigns for women's rights, it cannot be denied that their films helped reshape the image of women in the Mexican collective imagination.

While the suffragettes fought in the legal and political spheres, the actresses of the Golden Age of Cinema did so on the cultural stage:

• They showed that women could be protagonists, not just companions.

• They opened debates about the role of women in society, albeit through fiction.

• They offered visual examples of strength, independence, and authority that undoubtedly paved the way for the social foundation for the right to vote to be conceived as part of an inevitable change.

Today, seventy two years after that historic October 17th, it is worth remembering that the achievement of women's suffrage was a collective achievement, in which politicians, intellectuals, teachers, workers, and, in a cultural sense, film artists also participated. Voices and images came together to build a common message: women have the right to decide, to dream, and to be protagonists in Mexico's history.

References

• Academia Mexicana de la Historia. “17 de octubre de 1953: las mujeres obtienen el derecho al voto en México.” [Artículo en línea]. Disponible en: https://www.historicas.unam.mx/publicaciones

• Cano, Gabriela. Amalia Castillo Ledón: política y diplomática mexicana. México: Instituto Mora, 2000.

• Cano, Gabriela, y Mercedes de Vega. El voto femenino en México. México: INEHRM, 2013.

• Excélsior. “Dolores del Río y el movimiento de actrices en la ANDA.” Excélsior, 2019. Disponible en: https://www.excelsior.com.mx/funcion/yaeshora-cimbra-a-las-mexicanas/1321618

• Hernánez, Jehiely y Ana Salinas. Una actriz, una estrella y una compañera solidaria: Dolores del Rio. Serie Estampas del México Contemporáneo. México: Instituto Nacional de Estudios Históricos de las Revoluciones de México, 2024

• Hershfield, Joanne. Mexican Cinema/Mexican Woman, 1940–1950. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1996.

• Jaiven, Ana Lau, y Roxana Rodríguez. Ell Sufragio femeninio y la Conostitución de 1917, una Revisión. Mexico: Política y Cultura no. 48 sep-dic 2017. Disponible en: https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0188-77422017000200057

• Tuñón, Julia. Mujeres de luz y sombra en el cine mexicano: La construcción de una imagen, 1939–1952. México: El Colegio de México, 1998.

• Tuñón, Julia. Mujeres en México: Una historia olvidada. México: Ediciones Era, 1987.

• Ramírez Berg, Charles. Cinema of Solitude: A Critical Study of Mexican Film, 1967–1983. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992.