Sole Front for Women's Rights

The Sole Front for Women's Rights (Spanish: Frente Único Pro Derechos de la Mujer, FUPDM) was a coalition of Mexican feminist organizations founded in 1935. It was one of the dominant feminist organizations in Mexico during the second half of the 1930s. Prior to its founding, feminist activist Elvia Carrillo Puerto organized several Congresos Nacionales de Obreras y Campesinas (transl. 'National Congresses of Women Workers and Peasants'). These congresses were characterized by ideological clashes between communist factions and those aligned with the then-ruling Partido Nacional Revolucionário (PNR, transl. 'National Revolutionary Party'). Eventually, both sides called for a unified women's organization, leading to the establishment of the FUPDM. This new organization consolidated numerous existing women's groups under the leadership of María del Refugio García. Its political platform focused on women's rights, calling for suffrage and wage increases, as well as broader social and political reforms.

In its early years, the FUPDM addressed various local issues, as well as establishing the Consejo Nacional del Sufragio Femenino (transl. 'National Women's Suffrage Council'). After the Senate of the Republic's rejection of women's suffrage in 1937, the FUPDM organized protests, supported female political candidates in PNR primaries, and, when those candidates were rejected by the PNR, led a hunger strike, prompting President Lázaro Cárdenas to propose a bill establishing women's full citizenship. However, internal divisions arose within the FUPDM, with the majority prioritizing women's suffrage while a smaller faction, influenced by Juana Belén Gutiérrez de Mendoza's anti-suffragist and anti-patriarchal ideas, advocated for a broader social reorganization, leading to the formation of the Instituto Revolucionario Femenino (transl. 'Women's Revolutionary Institute').

In 1938, Cárdenas proposed integrating the FUPDM into the newly renamed Partido de la Revolución Mexicana (PRM, 'Party of the Mexican Revolution', formerly the PNR). The FUPDM agreed to this integration, which ultimately caused its fragmentation into smaller interest groups, drawing criticism from some members who feared a loss of unified focus on women's issues. While the FUPDM is widely recognized as a significant organization in the history of women's activism in Mexico, some scholars argue that its close ties to the PNR/PRM ultimately contributed to its decline and the marginalization of women's issues within the broader left.