REVIEW: SOSA ZAVALETA AND THE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF LATINAS, OTHER HALF OF THE S. TEXAS POLITICAL SKY

(Gabriela Sosa-Zavaleta is the author of two seminal works on the political impact Latinas in the political impact on Texas politics, especially in South Texas. Her two works on the subject first appeared in the continuing Studies in Valley History series. She has a Master's degree from the University of Texas-Brownsville in Public Policy, taught government at UTB for two years and is a Ph.D. students in Leadership Studies at the Our Lady of the Lake University at San Antonio-LRGV program. She is currently working on third article examining the role of politiqueras on local elections.)

By Juan Montoya

The participation of women in Texas politics has evolved since affluent white women were elected to the school boards in Dallas in 1908 to the time when a woman (Anne Richards) gained statewide office and was elected governor in 1991.

Long considered the realm of men and below the sensitivities of the gender, political activity on the part of women has undergone – in Sosa-Zavaleta's assessment – a "clear demographic transition...as the state evolved from agricultural/rural to urban/industrial."

The women who made the first inroads into the political arena were part of a "socially and educational elite (group) of white Christian women involved with issues critical to the state and their families," Sosa -Zavaleta notes. Their election to local school boards and later to the state legislature "guaranteed the outcome of social and political agendas...(that) reflected both women's issues and well as the early women's movement in Texas."

The success of the foray of white women into Texas politics had its heyday in the 1920s, but as early as 1918, Houston's Annie Webb Blanton was elected to the statewide position of State Superintendent of Education.

It was in the 1920's (1924) that the Miriam (Ma) Ferguson was elected governor, following in the footsteps of her husband James (Pa) Ferguson.

In fact, the writer points out, women were so successful in getting their legislative agenda passed in the statehouse in Austin that they became known as the "Pettycoat Lobby."

And although the participation of women in statewide politics fell off during the period from 1930-1960, the die had been cast and the formula that university-trained, urban female candidates with a well-established "political communities" could – and would – be successful as candidates for local and statewide political offices.

Sosa-Zavaleta makes the argument that just as white led the way to political involvement and participation in the early 1900s, Black women followed and started to exert their influence over black schools and neighborhoods just as white women had. "School and housing segregation in Texas required black women's activisms be concentrated on black schools just as white women were focused on white schools."

Yet, it wasn't until 1958 that Hattie Mae White became the first black women to be elected to the Houston school board which was comprised of whites and blacks. In the middle 1970s, Barbara Jordan was elected to the Texas Senate and then went on to serve in the U.S, Congress.

Sosa-Zavaleta traces the activity of Texas women as it extended to South Texas cities such as San Antonio, Laredo, and Corpus Christi. The emergence of statewide figures such as Sissy Farenthold (Corpus Christi) Ann Armstrong (Sarita), Judith Zaffirini (Laredo), and Irma Rangel (Kingsville), are benchmarks along the road to political participation for women in extreme South Texas.

Tara Rio-Ybarra, who defeated Juan Escobar, served one term and was then defeated in her reelection bid.

In Brownsville, the "Hispanization: of the electoral process started – as it did for white and black women – by their election to local school boards, city and county commissions, and notably, judicial  positions as justices of the peace and judges. More than ever, the possession of a university degree in law or anotehr profession was seen as a requisite to political involvement and electoral success.
However, women in South Texas waited an even period of time longer than did women from the otehr two groups, and she says 50 years would pass – 1950 to 200 – before women would, "in any major way, play an active role in changing the political landscape of the Lower Rio Grande Valley."
In her two essays on the subject of women's participation in state and RGV politics, Sosa-Zavaleta notes that Latina women, being, as it were, a "dual minority," had to overcome more obstacles of culture, poverty
and low educational attainment of their communities before they could make an impact on local and statewide politics as did their white and black counterparts before them.
Her later work – "Valley Women in the 2012 Elections" – delves into the specific dynamics affecting that election where the positions sought by women here included a new congressional seat as well as 18 positions for which there were both Democrat and Republican women candidates.
She notes that in none of those elections for the board of the Brownsville Independent School District, Catalina Presas-Garcia defeated two men for the position and that in some elections, in the BISD and JP races, both the candidates vying for the positions were women.

Sosa-Zavaleta has started a new branch of study with her two essays into Latina's participation in South Texas politics that opens new vistas for research by both academics and political pundits to explore. Mao Tse-Tung used to refer to women as the "other half of the sky." In South Texas, they are becoming more important and they may well be referred to as our "cielito lindo."

Women_in_Valley_Politics.docx 44K   View   Download

Women_in_Valley_Politics-2.docx 47K   View   Download