- Rosario Castellanos (1925-1974)—poet, novelist, essayist, journalist and diplomat—was the first Mexican woman to consistently question women's roles in culture and society. Her master's thesis, “On Feminine Culture” (1950), questioned how modern male thinkers used such concepts as “woman” and “culture.” The title of one of her collections of feminist essays, Mujer que sabe latin ... (The Woman Who Knows Latin ...), alludes to the popular Hispanic saying that the woman who knows Latin neither marries nor leads a good life. For years Castellanos taught at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where she was known as a brilliant teacher and helped open doors for other women academics. She helped open journalism to women with her work on a prominent newspaper, Excélsior. In 1971 she became the Mexican ambassador to Israel. A new generation of Mexican feminists is discovering Castellanos’s works. Women often recite her poetry at women’s cafés and theaters in Mexico City and the provinces.
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