Gender and Welfare in Mexico: The Consolidation of a Postrevolutionary State by Nichole Sanders (review)
Mexico’s greatest hegemon is the PRI, the official party that dominated politics for much of the twentieth century. It has been roundly critiqued for its role in eroding the social inclusion and material redistribution upon which it was founded in revolutionary days. But this innovative study by Nichole Sanders of one of its most wide-reaching agencies, the Ministry of Public Assistance (SAP) (changed to Ministry of Health and Welfare, or SSA, in 1943), nuances the traditional historiographical characterization of theMexican state as moving steadily away fromwelfare-based reform over the twentieth century. Through a sophisticated and consistent application of gender analysis, Sanders writes an institutional history of the SAP/SSA that sheds light on the relationships among transnational health and hygiene professionals, middle-class women, government agents, and the urban and rural poor. Sanders argues that, through welfare expansion that drew in elements from the middle class, “benevolent ladies,” and private investment, the PRI was able to keep these critical sectors vested in the party and secure its claims to legitimacy.