Uncultivated plants are an important part of agricultural systems and play a key role in the survival of rural marginalized groups such as women, children, and the poor. Drawing on the gender, environment, and development literature and on the notion of womenÕs social location, this paper examines the ways in which gender, ethnicity, and economic status determine womenÕs roles in uncultivated plant management in Ixhuapan and Ocozotepec, two indigenous communities of Veracruz, Mexico. The first is inhabited by Nahua and the second by Popoluca peoples. Information was gathered through group and individual interviews and a food frequency survey. Results show that the gender ideology prevailing in each community, resulting from distinct ethnic affiliations and economic contexts, shapes womenÕs plant management. In Ixhuapan, Nahua women are used to leaving their community to generate income, while in Ocozotepec men are considered the main breadwinners and are the mediators between Popoluca households and the larger society. Nahua women gather quelites at the cornfields more often than their men, and more often than their female counterparts in Ocozotepec. They also manage and sell plants from their homegardens at higher percentages than Popoluca women. However, women in both communities use intensely the plants of their homegardens and play a key role in biodiversity conservation and cultural permanence.

Diversos estudios sobre participación femenina en política municipal han identificado los factores principales que facilitan el acceso de las mujeres al poder, aunque aún falta determinar el peso de cada uno. Este trabajo pondera dichos factores, a partir de la experiencia de 14 presidentas municipales que han gobernado durante dos décadas en el estado de Tlaxcala, y detecta los cambios siguientes: a) las de los últimos trienios llegan más jóvenes al cargo; b) su origen social es más diverso y sus profesiones más variadas y c) ya han desempeñado cargos administrativos. La conclusión es que la oferta creciente de opciones educativas y empleos para las mujeres, así como la alternancia política y aplicación de cuotas de género en la normativa electoral contribuyen a la equidad de género en el acceso al poder municipal en la entidad.

In this article, four urban high school students and their student leadership and social justice class advisor address the question, "What are high school students' perspectives on the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act's (NCLB) definition of a highly qualified teacher?" As the advisor to the course, Garcia challenged her students to examine their high school experiences with teachers. The students offer personal stories that describe what they consider the critical qualities of teachers — qualities not based solely on the credentials and education status defined by NCLB. The authors suggest that highly qualified teachers should cultivate safe, respectful, culturally sensitive, and responsive learning communities, establish relationships with students' families and communities, express their high expectations for their students through instructional planning and implementation, and know how students learn. This article urges educators and policymakers to consider the students' voices and school experiences when making decisions about their educational needs, including the critical issue of teacher quality.

HIV/STI, substance use, and mental health issues disproportionately affect racial/ethnic sexual minority young adults. These health vulnerabilities intensify across the life course, most notably when young adults are independent college students. To identify the perspectives of racial/ethnic sexual gender minorities living on or near an urban university, we implemented an intersectionality-informed SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats) analysis, as a qualitative community assessment situated within in a campus-community setting. The community needs assessment was the first step in the strategic prevention framework (SPF) to co-locate substance abuse, mental health, viral hepatitis, and HIV prevention care services for Latinx and Black/African American sexual gender minority young adults at a minority-serving institution. The SWOT analysis identified principles for selecting, adapting, and implementing an evidence-based intervention. The significance of these principles demonstrates the value of intersectionality in evidence-based interventions to influence health education and behavior among racial/ethnic sexual gender minorities.

ResumenEl presente artículo se plantea la siguiente interrogante: ¿es la descentralización el marco de gobernanza más adecuado para garantizar el derecho humano al agua de las mujeres? El trabajo se realizó a lo largo de 2015 en La Antigua, Veracruz, municipio cuya red de agua potable es administrada desde 2008 por un organismo paramunicipal. Los datos fueron recabados a partir de un diseño metodológico mixto que incluyó una encuesta, entrevistas y talleres. El lugar de residencia la ubicación de la vivienda, el estatus socioeconómico y el estado civil son factores que obstaculizan el disfrute del derecho humano al agua por parte de las mujeres. Todas comparten su exclusión del proceso de toma de decisiones y la necesidad de comprar agua de garrafón para consumo humano. Se concluye que la fragilidad financiera y la falta de participación ciudadana hacen de la descentralización un marco inadecuado para garantizar el derecho humano al agua.Palabras clave: acceso al agua, asequibilidad del agua, calidad del agua, distribución del agua, gobernanza. IntRoduccIónD esde el acuerdo presidencial de 1980 y la reforma al artículo 115 constitucional en 1983, los municipios de México asumieron la responsabilidad de proporcionar servicios de abastecimiento de agua potable a su población. Con la aprobación de la Ley de Aguas Nacionales de 1992 y la ampliación de reformas al artículo 115 realizadas en 1999, los municipios recibieron el control total de dichos servicios (Galindo y Palerm, 2009). Estos cambios constituyen importantes pasos hacia la AbstRActThis article considers the following question: Is decentralization the framework of governance most adequate to guarantee women's human right to water? The study was carried out throughout 2015 in La Antigua, Veracruz, municipality where the drinking water network is managed by a para-municipal organization since 2008. The data were collected using a mixed methodological design that included a survey, interviews and workshops. The place of residence, location of the household, socioeconomic status, and marital status are factors that obstruct the benefit of the human right to water by women. All the women share their exclusion from the decision making process and the need to purchase bottled water for human consumption. It is concluded that the financial fragility and the lack of citizen participation make decentralization an inadequate framework to guarantee the human right to water.