María Sánchez, the first female to govern an indigenous municipality in Mexico, will take office in December. Sánchez won the popular vote October 3 in Oxchuc, a municipality home to 40,000 indigenous Tzetal peoples in the southeastern state of Chiapas. Her election represents a large step for indigenous women in Mexico, who generally do not have equal rights, in a region where standards of living are already low. Indigenous women suffer from a 32 percent illiteracy rate, compared to 18 percent for their male counterparts; less than nine percent of indigenous women attend secondary school. Sánchez hopes not only to directly address these issues, but that her election will set a new precedent for indigenous women in municipal offices.
