Comisión Femenil Mexicana Nacional

Comisión Femenil Mexicana Nacional

Abbreviation	CFMN
Formation	1970; 51 years ago (1970)
Type	Nonprofit advocacy organization
Purpose	Chicana rights

Part of a series on
Chicanos and Mexican Americans
show Terms Identity Chicana/o Mexican American Chola/o La Raza Pachuca Pachuco Pinta/o Xicanx Concepts Anti-Mexican sentiment
show History Early-American Period Josefa Segovia Las Gorras Blancas Mexican–American War Mutualista San Elizario Salt War Sonoratown Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Pre-Chicano Movement 1917 Bath riots Bisbee Deportation Bloody Christmas Bracero program Cantaloupe strike of 1928 California agricultural strikes La Matanza Mexican Repatriation Operation Wetback Plan de San Diego Porvenir Massacre Sleepy Lagoon trial Zoot Suit Riots Chicano Movement Aztlán Black-brown unity Brown Berets Católicos por La Raza Chicanismo Chicano Moratorium Colegio César Chávez CFMN Conferencia de Mujeres CRP East L.A. walkouts Hijas de Cuauhtémoc Huelga schools United Farm Workers Land grant struggle Las Adelitas de Aztlán Los Siete de la Raza Los Seis de Boulder MANA MAYO MEChA PCUN Plan Espiritual de Aztlán Plan de Santa Bárbara Quinto Sol Raza Unida Party Post-Chicano Period 1992 Drywall Strike 2019 El Paso shooting Abolish ICE Arizona SB 1070 Castro 2020 DACA Great American Boycott IRCA Justice for Janitors Murder of Selena Proposition 187 Xicanx
show Culture Language Caló Chicano English Food New Mexican cuisine Tex-Mex cuisine Mexican-American cuisine Music Chicano rap Chicano rock Chicano soul Tejano music Symbols Centro Cultural de la Raza Lowrider Lowrider bicycle Mexican-American folklore Zoot suit
show Literature Literature Chicana literature Chicano literature Chicano poetry Autobiographical Always Running Living Up the Street Who Would Have Thought It? Novels Bless Me, Ultima Caballero Desert Blood From This Wicked Patch of Dust Mexican WhiteBoy The Dirty Girls Social Club The House on Mango Street The Rain God The Revolt of the Cockroach People So Far from God Under the Feet of Jesus ...y no se lo tragó la tierra Poetry and Short Stories Emplumada I Am Joaquin Moment of Silence Pensamiento Serpentino The Moths
show Chicana/o studies Fields Chicana feminism Chicanafuturism Chicano critical race theory Organizations MAS Programs, Tucson NACCS UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Texts Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza Brown, Not White The Church in the Barrio This Bridge Called My Back Theory Barrioization Coyolxauhqui imperative Gringo justice Nahui Ollin Nepantla New tribalism Rasquachismo Spiritual activism Vergüenza Youth control complex
show Visual art Visual Art Chicana art Chicano art Chicano films Paño Tortilla art Art Collectives Asco Culture Clash East Los Streetscapers Los Four Mujeres Muralistas Teatro Campesino Royal Chicano Air Force Locations Balmy Alley Chicano Park Estrada Courts Galería de la Raza Great Wall of Los Angeles Precita Eyes Self Help Graphics & Art
show Law Supreme Court cases Botiller v. Dominguez Hernandez v. Texas San Antonio I.S.D. v. Rodriguez Espinoza v. Farah Manufacturing Co. U.S. v. Brignoni-Ponce Plyler v. Doe Medellín v. Texas Flores-Figueroa v. U.S. Leal Garcia v. Texas Mendez v. Westminster Bernal v. Fainter Perez v. Brownell DHS v. Regents of the Univ. of Cal. Federal Court cases Madrigal v. Quilligan
show Population Population by City Arizona (Tucson) California (Los Angeles) Illinois (Chicago) Michigan (Detroit) Nebraska (Omaha) Texas Dallas–Fort Worth Houston Multiethnic Blaxicans Hispanos Californios Nuevomexicanos Tejanos Indigenous Mexican Americans Punjabi Mexican Americans
show Lists Chicano poets Chicano rappers Mexican Americans Writers Bibliography
United States portal Category Index
v t

The Comisión Femenil Mexicana Nacional (National Mexican Women's Commission, CFMN) was a Mexican-American organization dedicated to economically and politically empowering Chicana women in the United States.^[1]

Creation[]

The start of the Comisión Femenil Mexicana Nacional began during the Mexican American National Issues Conference, in October 1970. With the help of leadership from Francisca Flores^[1] and Simmie Romero, a group of women spoke up about the issues pertaining to Chicanas because they felt as though their issues were not being prioritized in the conferences.^[2] The lack of prioritization of Chicana issues in the annual Mexican American National Issues Conferences were due to the fact that it was issues of women, not men, the group of women believed. Therefore, the group of women decided to create an organization to address their issues without having to deal with, "the male sexism in the Chicano Movement or the racial discrimination in the Women's Movement".^[3] Because of these events, the Comisión Femenil Mexican Nacional was created.

History through the years[]

In 1972, CFMN created the Chicana Service Action Center. Its creation was in response to the need for training low-income, unskilled Chicana women.

In 1973, CFMN had a conference in Goleta, California. Topics such as education, childcare, sex education, and family planning were discussed. At this conference, the first constitution was drafted. In the draft they decided on the following terms: "to direct efforts to organizing women to assure leadership positions within the Chicano movement and in community life, to disseminate news and information regarding the work and achievement of Mexican and Chicana women, to concern themselves in promoting programs which specifically lend themselves to help, assist, and promote solutions to female issues, to spell out issues to support and explore ways to establish relationships with other women's organization".^[3] During this year, CFMN created Centros de Niños, a bilingual and bicultural childcare geared towards helping working and poor women in school or training.

In 1975, CFMN participated in the opposition of involuntary sterilization of Chicana women by filing a class action lawsuit, Madrigal V. Quilligan. However, they failed to stop the sterilization of Latina women but achieved to generate public outcry to the situation. The public outcry helped in creating bilingual consent forms and the enforcement of the 72-hour waiting period prior to performing operation. During this year, CFMN attended United Nations International Decade of the Woman's Year Conference in Mexico City.

In 1977, CFMN attended the National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas. At the conference CFMN was recognized as "the leading Latina Organization in the United States".^[4]

In 1978, members attended the National ERA March in Washington, DC. There, members lobbied for the expansion of the Equal Right Amendment, all the while actively asking Chicanas to take action in decision making processes.

In 1985, CFMN organized 23 chapters. The founded Casa Victoria, "a residential treatment program for adolescent girls who have been involved in the juvenile justice system. The program provided bilingual counseling, family therapy, education and vocational training, and positive role models as well as positive alternatives to incarceration".^[4] CFMN also created a newsletter, La Mujer. This year, CFMN also stopped holding national conferences. Business meetings, however, continued to be held for another decade.

Current status[]

In 2000, the CFMN's archives were established at the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives (CEMA) of UCSB's Davidson Library.

Although CFMN organization no longer exists, CFMN continues to have an active California Chapter.^[5] Comisión Femenil of the San Fernando Valley is the longest-standing active chapter. Established in the early 1990s, Comisión Femenil of the San Fernando Valley annually holds its Adelante Mujer Latina Career Conference. This one-day conference strives to engage, encourage, and inform high school Latinas about college. Participants are presented with career workshops led by professional Latinas, most of whom are from the same neighborhoods as the attendees. A college and resource fair is also a large part of this conference. Keynote speakers have included Dolores Huerta and Catherine Sandoval. was scheduled to speak at the 22nd Annual Adelante Mujer Latina Career Conference on March 21, 2015 at California State University, Northridge. They continue to support Latinas through scholarships, higher education and career options, professional development and career options, and community involvement.^[6]

Centro de Niños also continues to expand across Southern, California, specifically Los Angeles. It continues to serve poor working mothers by helping child development in the community.^[7]

Presidents^[3][]

Francisca Flores: 1970-1972

: 1972-1973

Anita Ramos: 1973-1974

Yolanda Nava: 1974-1975

Gloria Molina: 1975-1977

Sandra Serrano Sewell: 1977-1979

Christine Fuentes: 1979-1980

Gloria Moreno-Wycoff: 1980-1981

Leticia Quezada: 1981-1982

Angie Cisneros: 1982-1983

Beatriz Olvera-Stotzer: 1983-1985

Carmen Cantu: 1985-1987

Carmen E. Luna: 1987-1989

Magdalena Cervantes: 1989-1991

Desiree Portillo-Rabinov: 1991-1994

Nina Sorkin: 1994-1996

Julia Vera-Andrews: 1996-2000

See also[]

• National Organization for Women
• Equal Rights Amendment
• Madrigal v. Quilligan
• 1977 National Women's Conference

References[]

External links[]

• "Comisión Femenil Mexicana Nacional" at the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives

"Comision Femenil of the San Fernando Valley"

• https://archive.is/20150218065038/http://cfsfv.org/www.CFSFV.org/Welcome.html