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162 8 What options do married women have when they suffer from domestic violence and/or live in marital situations that they find oppressive or unsatisfactory? Research conducted in diverse ethnic and rural contexts in Mexico has found that a woman confronting these circumstances (whether formally married or in a common -law marriage) frequently abandons her home and seeks assistance from local judges in renegotiating her marital contract with the hope of improving her daily life.1 In this chapter, I explore the interrelationship between these two forms of feminine agency and analyze the extent to which wives seeking changes in their marital relationship depend upon available family support and on the responses they receive from judicial authorities. Both arenas—the familial and the judicial— are not only fundamentally important for women’s welfare, but they are also mutually constituted in multiple ways and subject to historical transformations. Over the course of the period examined in this chapter, the conditions that permitted (or prevented) a wife to separate from her husband and to gain access to the local justice system changed in parallel with the transformation of women’s role in the family and, more specifically, with the increase in their contribution to family income through wage labor undertaken outside the household. The written records of the marital conflicts presented before local justices of the peace constitute an extraordinarily rich source of information concerning the actions of the parties in dispute, their points of view, the forms of judicial intervention involved, and the agreements reached. In addition, these documents provide insight into the protagonists’ cultural representations with regard to gendered roles within marriage, authority in the family, the rights and obligations of family members, and some of the forms of control exercised by husbands. These materials, therefore, give us the opportunity of contrasting practices and representations that refer to family relations in general and the marital bond in particular. Conflictive Marriage and Separation in a Rural Municipality in Central Mexico, 1970–2000 SOLEDAD GONZÁLEZ MONTES Chap-08.qxd 4/7/07 10:57 AM Page 162 The Context: The Construction of “the New Rurality” in Mexico The neoliberal policies introduced in Mexico since the early 1980s have dramatically restructured regional economies: small- and medium-scale agricultural production has suffered a strong decline in relative economic value, and, as a consequence of deteriorating incomes, peasants have been forced to diversify their economic activities. Rural women have been compelled to find ways of contributing to the support of their households, just as their urban counterparts do, while the occupational structure underwent an extraordinarily rapid transformation . The result has been a notable feminization of the labor force in rural settings. The municipality of Xalatlaco, the object of this study, exemplifies these processes exceptionally well. It is located in the southeastern part of the Valley of Toluca, in the state of Mexico; some three-quarters of its population was dedicated to agriculture in small family holdings in 1970, but by the year 2000 this proportion had fallen to less than one-fifth. By this latter date, almost half the economically active population was engaged in commerce and services, and more than one-third was employed in industry. Thus, over the course of three decades, and especially in the past ten years, there has been a radical shift toward a postpeasant economy in which women have an outstanding role. Already by the 1960s, young single women in Xalatlaco had begun leaving their households to work as domestic employees, while married and older women sold foodstuffs and regional products in urban areas. When factories and clothingassembly plants opened in nearby towns in the 1970s, many women (including married women) sought employment there. Women’s entry into the labor force was not always free of conflict; some husbands had to give written permissions to their wives so they could work. These documents were legitimated by local municipal authorities, and copies can be found in the judicial records of the 1970s.2 Female participation in the economically active population at least doubled between 1970 and 2000, and women’s earnings rapidly became an indispensable part of the family income. Other important changes accompanied the feminization of the labor force, including rising female educational levels, declining rates of fertility, and an increase in female-headed households.3 One important sociocultural change that took place in Xalatlaco, as well as in the surrounding region, was the apparent loss of indigenous identity that went hand in hand with the decline...

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