Gender Politics In Brazil And Chile

What impact do political parties have on women's political representation and on state gender policies? Does this vary at national and local levels? This study looks at the National Women's Ministry in Chile, a country of ideological conflict, strong parties and centralized government and the leftwing Brazilian Workers' Party, characterised by clientelism, weak parties and decentralization.

&"An extensive and powerful literature on religion, society, and politics in Latin America in recent years has begun with the assumption that most of the movements that surged in the struggle against military rule are dead, that most of the activists are scattered and burned out, and that the promise of civil society as a source of new values and a new kind of citizenship and political life was illusory. Many have assumed that the religiously inspired activism of that period left little lasting impact, but hardly anyone has actually looked at the activists themselves to see what remains, how they cope in a different, more open environment, and how they see and act on the present and future. Activist Faith addresses these issues with a wealth of empirical detail from two key cases and with a richly interdisciplinary argument that draws on theorizing about social movements. The authors strive to understand what sustains activism and movements in radically different circumstances from those in which they arose. Their analysis is enriched by systematic attention to the impact of gender and gender-related issues on activism and movements. In the process, they shed much needed light on the fate of the activists and social movements that rose to prominence throughout Latin America during the 1980s. This beautifully written book is a major achievement that gives us analytical tools for studying how movements and activists survive in the doldrums and when a cycle of protest peaks and societies move on.&"&—Daniel H. Levine, University of Michigan

The rationale stated for studying radical women of Latin America is first to throw light on the development of dictatorship and authoritarianism, second to transcend the stereotype of inherently violent men and inherently peaceful women, and finally to demonstrate that there is no automatic sisterhood among women even of the same class and ethnicity. Brief chronologies of three countries each in Central and South America open the two sections. The contributors are historians and political scientists primarily from the US. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

For those interested in democratic transition and consolidation, social movements, and gender politics, this volume is the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and probing analysis available of how women's groups are helping to reshape Latin America. The contributors document and assess the remarkable wave of women's political participation in Latin America over the past two decades. The first five case studies, on Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and Peru, examine the origins, evolution, and goals of women's organizations as they worked together to end authoritarian rule and elaborate how women's groups have adapted in the 1990s to the day-to-day realities of democratic politics. In the 1990s, the challenge has shifted from mobilizing opposition to the very different task of working with parties and government bureaucracies in order to maintain and implement their agendas. The chapters on Nicaragua and Mexico broaden our understanding of political transitions.Seven case studies vividly illustrate the variety of women's movements in the region, ranging from the communal-kitchens movements to human rights groups. Each author discusses the strategies and debates of the feminist movements in question and records their political successes and failures. Jaquette's introductory and concluding essays provide a comparative framework, highlighting the innovative ways in which Latin American women are making gender a political issue.

This volume assesses one of the most important developments in contemporary Latin American women's movements: the engagement with rights-based discourses. Organised women have played a central role in the continued struggle for democracy in the region and with it gender justice. The foregrounding of human rights, and within them the recognition of women's rights, has offered women a strategic advantage in pursuing their goals of an inclusive citizenship. The country-based chapters analyse specific bodies of rights: rights and representation, domestic violence, labour rights, reproductive rights, legal advocacy, socio-economic rights, rights and ethnicity, and rights, the state and autonomy.