UPDATED June 17th, 2017
November 20 is the day we celebrate the Mexican Revolution, that long war (1910-1920) that ended the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz and began a new age for Mexico. Every year it seems we only celebrate the heroes: Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa, and the politicians: Francisco Madero and Venustiano Carranza. But the heroes we tend to forget are the Soldaderas, the women of the Mexican Revolution who fought right alongside the men.
The name Soldadera comes from the Spanish soldada, which is a term used to define the payment to the person who cares for soldiers. During the Mexican Revolution there were two types of Soldaderas. There were the female soldiers, and there were the majority of the Soldaderas—the women who accompanied the soldiers but were not soldiers themselves.
