PENELOPES
Mexican women of different age and condition, whose husbands emigrated to the United States, are the protagonists this time: they speak of their state of neglect, their experiences, their struggles to succeed as single mothers in a society where the rights of women are still behind those of men. Thus, we intend to show a little studied aspect of migration: what happens to whom is waiting for those who emigrated.
The Greek myth of Penelope (who waited for her husband Ulises for 20 years after the Trojan War and his sea adventures) also represents the patriarchal tradition of submissive and obedient women who, throughout history, has been taken as the image of fidelity in various areas of the art and literature. The impossible situation of waiting is sublimated and made poetry in this ancient myth, where love and fidelity are able to overcome two decades of separation.
There are no statistics on how many Mexican women are in this situation of wait, so far it has not been considered a relevant issue. We estimate that between half a million and one million women wait, in one way or another, for their couples. The international migration of Mexicans per year is of 1.1 million (75% being men and the vast majority going to the U.S.), 60% of who never return. We also know that in 2013 there were nearly 33.6 million people from Mexican origin in the U.S., including the 11.6 millions who were born in Mexico. However, no statistics mention how many of these migrants (legal or illegal) are responsible for a family that awaits them in Mexico.
MULTIMEDIA
