Abstract
Feminist Agendas and Democracy in Latin America brings together an interdisciplinary group of researchers and activists who examine new directions of feminist activism in Latin America and their implications for democracy and gender justice. The diversity and effectiveness of feminists and women’s groups in pursuing their agendas is documented for Argentina, Brazil , Peru, Venezuela, the Mexico-U.S. border as well as in their participation in international forums. The book is organized into three parts: Feminism and the State, Legal Strategies and Democratic Institutions, and International and Cross-border Activism. Each part has three chapters from highly qualified authors and some of them are active participants in feminists movements. Jane Jaquette, as the editor, does a fine job in her introductory and concluding chapters by offering a big picture analysis that integrates the various chapters.
The book is written in a regional context marked by increasing differentiation among the countries, decentralization, growing political power of poor and indigenous groups, and continuing activism by human rights, environmental and women’s groups. The internal dynamics that contribute to a more pluralist democracy are also oriented by the region’s insertion in the new global model of governance and economic policy.
The women’s experiences and limits to implementing feminist agendas described in this book offer a broad map of the recent socio-political continuities and discontinuities in Latin American feminism. Most of the authors note that there are some clear improvements in women’s rights and gender equity through constitutional reforms and new laws in the region. They also conclude that a persistent machismo and the power of conservative sectors, such as the Catholic Church, limit such changes, especially regarding sexual and reproductive rights.
Feminist Agendas and Democracy documents the pace and complexity of changes across the different countries in the region. It offers a picture of the history and structure of Latin American women’s movements and highlights the tensions between different groups and agendas. This includes identifying their achievements and failures as well as new strategies for more effective participation in the political decision process. Marcela Tovar’s discussion of the women’s movement in Chile is crucial for understanding why Bachelett, with a clear feminist agenda herself, did not get an official endorsement as a candidate from the feminists and women’s groups in Chile, which resulted in them being left out of the electoral process. Similarly, Gioconda Spina describes how Venezuela’s Chavez, with an ambiguous conservative agenda for women, was able to gain support for his governmental social programs from some women’s grass roots movements despite opposition by the “feminist core” in Venezuela.
Readers may be surprised by the wide variety of strategies used by Latin American women representing different backgrounds as they struggle for their rights and demand better life conditions. For some groups, closing the gender inequality gap has not been a priority and, in Venezuela, their practices seem at odds with the search for gender equality. Although the diversity of women’s groups is not made explicit, the various chapters reveal “feminist agendas” that range from self-declared feminists, well-educated white middle-class women with gender equality as the core of their current agenda, to poor and working-class women who do not identify as feminists and whose agendas are organized around trade unions or family and community survival.
Political representation by women may be important symbolically but a common gender identity seems questionable as a common thread linking the interests of women of different groups in the region. The election of Chinchilla as Costa Rica’s President and her conservative agenda for women, is the most recent example. Chile’s lesson with Bachelett also suggests that the full exercise of women’s rights will not come only from the fact that a woman has become President but rather from a break in male control of the government.
The direct and indirect role of the feminist agendas in improving democracy and gender justice is indisputable in Latin America but deciding how much has been achieved is a challenge for the various chapters. Some social scientists might find that the book’s assessment of Latin American democracy is narrowly based on the concerns of feminist agendas and their success in influencing the democratization process. There is no evidence to support the blaming of traditional machismo for restricting women’s political participation, especially since Latin Americans today broadly accept gender equality and denounce sexism. Rather a “neo-machismo” warns of the negative consequences to the family of women who enter the labor market. Finally, the absence of discussion of differences by race/ethnicity, class, and sexual orientation is surprising.
Jaquette’s concluding chapter does an excellent job of putting together key aspects found throughout the book and recognizing the vital role that feminists and women’s movements have played in the consolidation of pluralist democracies in the region. Negotiation between women’s groups and the government has been crucial to redefining the concepts and scope of some policy debates. For instance, the conflict between egalitarian and “differences” feminisms is no longer the subject of heated debate. “Difference” has acquired a broader meaning in Latin American feminist analysis and the egalitarian and different approaches to women’s rights are complementary rather than opposed (p. 209).
Jacquette also addresses current criticisms of feminist agendas. She argues against positions, like that of Bernardo Sorj, that lament the reliance of feminist agendas on the risks and dangers of pluralist citizenship and the blurring of the distinctions between the private and public spheres (p. 214). Thus the resistance to feminist agendas in Latin America appears to come from everyday “machismo,” which is very much alive in the structure of political parties limiting an effective political participation of women in high positions of government as well as a masculine intellectual discourse that defends the status quo and dismisses the feminist approach and women’s activist practices.
Feminist Agendas and Democracy would be great reading for any women’s studies course that covers global perspectives or in any Latin American studies course. Public policy analysts would also benefit from this book. The fluidity of the reading and its broad spectrum of themes make it appealing to anyone interested in democracy, social movements or gender justice.