WOMEN GENDER AND EMPOWERMENT LATI 50 INTRODUCTION TO
- Slides: 6
WOMEN, GENDER, AND EMPOWERMENT LATI 50 INTRODUCTION TO LATIN AMERICA
STEREOTYPES Powerless in a macho world Passivity, docility Focus on family, children Lack of interest in politics and public sphere Marianismo (a controversial concept)
WOMEN’S INTERESTS “Practical” interests = position within gendered division of labor (e. g. , as mothers and spouses) “Strategic” interests = alternative social codes deriving from broad analysis of women’s subordination (e. g. , role in workforce, politics) Difference from U. S. interests in economic equality (e. g. , glass ceiling) and sexual liberation; emphasis on distinctiveness of womanhood Feminine or feminist?
WOMEN AND AUTHORITARIANISM Compliance: courtship by dictators Opposition: merger of practical and strategic interests Articulation of demands: Mothers (and Grandmothers) of Plaza de Mayo in Argentina Arpilleras in Chile “militant motherhood” in Brazil Pro-democratic, left-of-center orientation
WOMEN AND DEMOCRACY Disintegration of solidarity Quotas in legislatures (~ 30 percent) Female presidents: prominent widows Isabel Martínez de Perón (Argentina) Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (Nicaragua) Mireya Moscoso (Panama) Female presidents: successful politicians Michelle Bachelet (Chile) Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (Argentina) Laura Chinchilla (Costa Rica) Dilma Rousseff (Brazil)
Comparisons with the United States?
