Being indigenous in Chiapas, Mexico, generally means being poor and discriminated because of your dress, language, music, traditions and culture. And it’s even harder for indigenous women because they often have no rights even within their own society.

„ We indigenous women do not have good food. We do not have dignified housing. We do not have health services or education. We have no work programs, and so we scrape by in poverty. “

Comandante Esther’s Address to the Mexican Congress of the Union. March 28th, 2001

The EZLN uprising on January 1st 1994 was a turning point, at least for Zapatista women. Chiapanecan women organize in cooperatives, in religious women’s groups, in theatre projects and take responsibility for their own lives. Step by step they strike back in daily life, defend their villages against military incursions. Peasant women, teachers, believers, craftswomen, midwifes – they are all fighting for a better future, each one out of her own reality.

„Tierra de mujeres“ – „Land of women“ is a testimonial of those developments. Accompanied by expressive pictures, women talk about their lives, their difficulties and fears, their hopes.