The "Reno" of Mexico: Divorce Law and Practices in Revolutionary Yucatan, Mexico

During the turbulent years of the Mexican Revolution, revolutionary officials argued for bold reforms that would radically alter the family formation, and usher in gender equity for women across Mexico. According to the predominate discourse, marriage and divorce ranked high in the areas that required change, and to this end revolutionaries created new divorce laws that would “free” women from the burden of unwanted marriages. While ostensibly the legal reforms promoted equal rights for women, the cultural norms and political rhetoric simultaneously stressed women’s place within the home as a wife and mother. Theoretically, divorce laws granted both men and women the ability to divorce, but couples still lived in a social and political climate that emphasized women’s subordinate roles within the family. The wide gulf between divorce as a tool for women’s emancipation and women’s lived reality as “proper” roles as wives and mothers was revealed in the greater number of men--instead of women--who sought divorce. Focusing on divorce and the court in the state of Yucatán, my paper will argue that despite revolutionary laws that defined appropriate gender roles, women were able to seize upon the revolutionary moment and create a space for change.