Feminist Movements in Latin America

1
Feminist Movements in Latin America

• Essential Components
• Combination of feminine and feminist ideals
• Groups of middle class or working class women who
  organize for various reasons
• Basic goals
• Reforms of the Civil Code marriage, divorce,
  custody of children, elimination of
  discrimination against illegitimate children (not
  universally supported by all feminists), end
  discriminatory adultery provisions
• Access to education
• Freedom to seek public employment
• Suffrage
• Reproductive rights

2
Motherist Aspects of Feminism

• Women viewed themselves both as individuals and
  part of a family group
• Mothering defined as basic role of women,
  therefore mothers rights should be protected,
  state aid to mothers and children should be
  provided
• Male family members rarely attacked directly by
  feministsstate reform their principal concern
• Protection of childrens rights as important as
  womens rights

3
Feminist Components

• Access to education
• SuffrageWhy less important than
  education? Literacy requirements
• Nature of political systems
• Formation of all female political parties an
  answer for some Argentina (1918) Brazil
  (1910), Chile 1922, 1924), Cuba (1914), Panama,
  (1923)
• Often achieved at the municipal level before
  the national level
• Often obtained in the midst of social and
  political change as in Argentina, Bolivia,
  Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Venezuela
• Sometimes obtained during dictatorships
  Dominican Republic, Nicaragua Paraguay

4
Feminist Movements in Latin America

• Why were reproductive rights so difficult to
  discuss or demand?
• International feminine and feminist connections
• Feminist Congresses 1910 Feminine Congress,
  Buenos Aires
• Pan American Womens Congresses (1922, Chile
  1924, Peru, International Feminine Congress,
  Colombia 1930
• Activities of InterAmerican Womens Commission,
  1930-on
• Activities of Pan American Child Congresses
  1916-on
• Represent Latin Americas First Wave of Feminism

5
Case Studies-Cuba

• Unlike other areas of Latin America, Cuba did not
  win independence until 1898
• Thereafter under the tutelage of the United
  States (Platt Amendment)
• 90 Miles away from the US and a clear
  anti-American feeling existed
• Feminist Movement had a dilemma about how to
  align themselves with the US feminist movement,
  and US feminists were often very wary of Cuban
  feminists

6
Cuban feminists and Cuban independence

• Cuban wars of independence lasted from from 1868
  to 1898
• Caused population growth to become negative
• Women central to independence movements as
  mothers were symbolized also as patriots
• Middle and upper-class women led female offensive
  against the Spanishbecame known as mambises
• These women included Maria Grajales, mother of
  Antonio Maceo, hero of independence
• Thus feminist activities preceded the US
  occupation of Cuba, and women activists were
  defined as nationalist-created womens liberty
  clubs in 1890s
• Women demanded not only the end of slavery but
  also womens rights in 1898

7
Womens Rights after Independence

• Often linked to debates about how Cuba could show
  its modernity
• Independence coincided with increased education
  for middle-class women and more women in paid
  labor force as professionals as well as workers
• First legal battle came over revisions of the
  Civil Code
• 1917 property law gave married women the right to
  administer their own properties
• 1918 Divorce lawno fault divorcevery
  revolutionary

8
Cuban Feminists Mariblanca Sabas Alomá, María
Dolores Machin, Grace Thompson-Seton and Ofelia
Rodríguez Acosta
9
Illegitimacy Rates, Cuba
10
Expansion of Female Literacy to 1943
11
Feminism in Uruguay
12
Feminism and the Model Democracy

• Early 20th century Uruguay known as a model
  democracy and the Switzerland of South America
  under the leadership of José Battle y Ordoñez
  (1856-1929)
• How did women fare?
• When did feminism emerge?

13
Secularism and Education

• From mid 19th century onward, the role of the
  Catholic Church debated especially by the
  dominant Colorado (red) party
• 1877 law mandated free public coeducational
  system-by 1906 60 of population literate, even
  higher in urban areas. This provided the
  underpinning for middle-class feminism. It also
  legitimated the formation of a Catholic womens
  group, the Asociación de Señoras Cristianas,
  which in turn, spurred liberal women to organize.

14
Impact of Argentina

• Similar events occurred in Argentina, a larger
  and more populous country
• Educated women travelled across the Río de la
  Plata and supported each others activities.
• Also encouraged women to participate in
  international groups.
• And both countries encouraged European
  immigration that brought not only professionals,
  but also working-class people influenced by
  Anarchism, Socialism, and Syndicalism.
• Initially women of both groups rebuffed by Batlle
  y Ordoñez first government from 1906-1910,
  particularly the Catholic womens groups, as his
  government was anti-clerical.
• Liberal womens groups began to form at this
  time, and one group even published a newspaper.

15
League of Female Freethinkers

• Founded in 1906 by María Abella de Ramírez, one
  of Uruguays most important feminists.
• This group participated in an International
  Freethinkers congress in Buenos Aires that same
  year.
• Also attended the first International Feminist
  Congress in Buenos Aires in 1910.
• Soon eclipsed by women associated with Uruguayan
  Socialist Party.

16
The Creation of a Welfare State in Uruguay

• By the time Batlle y Ordoñez returned to power in
  1911, he was ready to implement the most
  extensive social legislation in the world. Where
  would women fit in?
• The President viewed the state as the mediator to
  promote compensation for social injustices, not
  equality. Women were just another group in need
  of state protection. Thus the government passed
  laws to protect them, but also instituted laws to
  promote their participation in the workplace. He
  also created a Womens University. This did not
  mean giving women the vote, but it did help
  create divorce legislation on the simple will of
  the woman.

17
Liberal Feminism

• Began to emerge in 1916 after the passive of
  universal male suffrage. Thus women began to band
  together to push for female suffrage which they
  got in 1932.
• Also battled against white slavery under the
  guidance of Paulina Luisi.

18
The Second Wave of Feminism

• Rarely discussed in histories of Latin American
  feminism
• Usually discuss first wave and then the growth of
  social movements in the 1970s and 1980s.
• What happened in between?
• World economic depression
• Rise of Latin American Dictators
• Economic dislocation after WWII, especially the
  end of immigration and the increase in rural
  migration to cities
• Development of populist politics and military
  efforts to end them
• New role for womens issues within the United
  Nations and the Organization of American States
• The Third Wave of Feminism in the United States