Part of being a woman in an indigenous community is knowing how to weave. Women are the ones who dress the community, and they have been forced by circumstances to sell their work. While few could engage in a philosophical discussion on capitalism, they know they don't have money to buy basic foods. They know that every day it gets harder and harder to feed their families. In Chiapas as in other indigenous communities, life is tied to the land, but many people do not have land.
Many men leave the land to go to the cities to try to find work.
It is the woman who ends up maintaining the family, and it is the women who have to put up with the militarization in the area. With their movement they have introduced the ideas of difference and plurality, the indigenous view of the world. In a historic breakthrough, the Zapatista combatants included an estimated 30 percent of Mayan women. The high participation of women and the fact that the woman leaders were obeyed surprised locals and outsiders alike. In response to the indigenous uprising, the Mexican government began a strategy of low-intensity warfare with the goal of creating confusion and terror to prevent or inhibit the political participation of indigenous groups.