Feminism in Latin America

Although the term feminist would not be used to describe women's rights advocates until the 1890s, many women of the nineteenth century, mostly elite or middle class, tried to challenge dominant gender norms.

Born in Quito (now Ecuador), in 1797, Manuela Sáenz was a “precursor to feminism and women’s emancipation. History has both vilified and glorified Manuela Sáenz - for her affair with Simon Bolivar, and for accusations that say she only “manipulated gender norms to advance her person and political interests.” As an early supporter of the independence cause, she spied on Spanish royalty and held intellectual gatherings called tertulias.

Juana Manuela Gorriti, an Argentinian journalist and writer born in 1818, advocated greater rights for women and wrote literary works with women protagonists that were both “romantic and political”. Similar to Sáenz, Gorriti held tertulias for literary men and women, one of whom was Clorinda Matto de Turner, a novelist sympathetic towards Indians and critical of the priesthood in Peru. Gorriti also worked with Teresa González, an avid writer who ran a girls’ school and advocated education for women.[10]

In the late half of the 19th century there were three main areas of feminists' discussions: suffrage, protective labour laws, and access to education. In 1910, Argentina held the first meeting of the organization of International Feminist Congresses (topic of equality). The second meeting was in 1916 in Mexico.

The 1910s saw many women, such as Aleida March, gain prominence during the revolutions of Mexico, Cuba, and Nicaragua. Additionally, Amelio Robles, born in 1889, was a notable man in a peasant army and the Confederation of Veterans of the Revolution who by modern United States standards would be considered a trans man.

A prominent international figure born during this time was Gabriela Mistral, who in 1945 won the Nobel prize in literature and became a voice for women in Latin America. She upheld conservative gender norms, even at one point saying, “perfect patriotism in women is perfect motherhood”, and that as a teacher she was “married” to the state. However, feminist theorists contend that her personal experiences contradict her language, because she never married, she had a “mannish” appearance, and her close personal relationships with women suggest that she might have been a closet lesbian.[10]

The 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s were full of Latina feminists that pioneered the current Latin American Feminist movement. It was the beginning of the suffragist movement for many Latin American women. The first elected woman mayor of any major capital city in the Americas, Felisa Rincon de Gautier, was “an active participant in Puerto Rico's women's suffrage movement” that was won in 1932, and her child care programs “inspired the United States' Head Start program." [11]

Most women advocating for equal rights had to cling to femininity to gain respect, but feminist theorist Julia de Burgos used her writings to “openly contest the prevailing notion that womanhood and motherhood are synonymous.” Additionally, Dr. Leila Gonzalez was involved in the “Brazilian Black movement” and helped develop “the practice of Black Feminism in Brazil.”[11]

At the end of the 1960s, many Latin American women started forming groups of reflection and activism for defending women's rights. Initially, those women were from the middle class and a significant part came from the various left groups.[12] Unlike their predecessors however, Latin American feminists of the 1960s focused on social justice rather than suffrage. They emphasized “reproductive rights, equal pay in the job market, and equality of legal rights.”[13] This type of Latin American feminism was a result of the activism of Latina women against their position of subordinance, not a reaction to women gaining more legal rights in the United States and Europe. As Gloria Anzaldúa said, we must put history “through a sieve, winnow out the lies, look at the forces that we as a race, as women, have been part of.” [14]

Such female groups arose amid the sharp radicalization of class struggles in the continent, which resulted in labor and mass rising. The most evident manifestations of these were the Chilean industrial belts Cordón Industrial,[15] the Cordobazo in Argentina (a 1969 civil uprising), student mobilizations in Mexico and others. These facts could be regarded as the sharpest experience and numerous movements of urban and rural guerrilla came to the scene.

For those reasons, Latin American feminist theorist Ros Tobar says that Chilean feminism is closely tied to socialism. Authoritarian regimes reinforced “the traditional family, and the dependent role of women, which is reduced to that of mother.” Because dictatorships institutionalized social inequality, many Latin American feminists tie authoritarian governments with fewer rights for women. Slogans, such as “Women give life, the dictatorships exterminates it,” “In the Day of the National Protest: Let’s make love not the beds,” and “Feminism is Liberty, Socialism, and Much More,” portrayed the demands of many Latin American feminists.[13] Latin American feminist theorist Nelly Richard of Chile explored how feminism and gay culture broke down rigid structures of life in Chile and was essential to the liberation of women in her novel Masculine/Feminine: Practices of Difference.[16]

Feminist meetings continued to occur, initially every two years; later every three years. Topics discussed included recent accomplishments, strategies, possible future conflicts, ways to enhance their strategies and how to establish through such ways varied, rich and immense coordination between the national and transnational levels.

However, the mid-70s saw the decline of such movements due to the policy of neoliberalism in the region. When dictatorial regimes settled over the majority of the continent, these prevented the development of feminist movements. This was due not only to the establishment of a reactionary ideology based on the defense of tradition and family, but also to the political persecution and state terrorism with its consequences such as torture, forced exile, imprisonment, disappearances and murders of political, social and trade union activists. While the right wing of politicians considered feminists to be subversive and rebellious, the left, in contrast, named them the «small bourgeois».

It also was during this time that leftist feminist organizations gained attention for their efforts. This is most prominently seen in the “Women of Young Lords” of Puerto Rico. The Young Lords were at first, Boricuan, Afro-Taino men who fought for basic human rights and “openly challenged machismo, sexism, and patriarchy.” Bianca Canales, Luisa Capetillo, Connie Cruz, and Denise Oliver became leaders in the Young Lords, and facilitated a “Ten-Point Health Program."[11]

Most feminisms in Latin America arose out of the context of military dictatorships and masculine domination. However, a lot of marginalized women began questioning hegemonic feminism in the 1970s. These women, whether they were Afro-descendant, lesbians, Indigenous, transgender, sex workers, domestic workers, etc., began to look at different, interlocking types of oppression.[17] Gloria Anzaldúa, of Indigenous descent, described her experience with intersectionality as a “racial, ideological, cultural, and biological crosspollination” and called it a “new mestiza consciousness.” [14]

Various critiques of “internal colonialism of Latin American states toward their own indigenous populations” and “Eurocentrism in the social sciences” emerged, giving rise to Latin American Feminist Theory.[18]

The feminist movement returned to be an important protagonist in the early 1980s after the fall of dictatorships and the establishment of new democratic regimes throughout the region, with the dictatorship managing to interrupt the continuity with the previous stage. Feminists of the 1980s, e.g. Nancy Fraser, referring to violence against women, questioned the established limits of discussion and politicized problems which before had not ever been politicized, expanded their audiences, created new spaces and institutions in which the opposing interpretations could be developed and from where they could reach wider audiences.[19]

During the repressive period and particularly during the early years of democracy, human rights groups played a major role in the continent. These movements organized to denounce the torture, disappearances, and crimes of the dictatorship, were headed mainly by women (mothers, grandmothers and widows). In order to understand the change in the language of feminist movements, it is necessary to bear in mind two things: the first is that it was women that headed revelations and subsequent struggle for the punishment of those who were responsible for the state terrorism, and the second is the policy-especially of the United States- to prioritize human rights in the international agenda.[20]

Feminists were able to achieve goals because of political parties, international organizations and local labour groups. Latin American feminist movements had two forms: as centers of feminist work, and as part of the broad, informal, mobilized, volunteer, street feminist movement. At the IV meeting in Mexico in 1987 [21] there was signed a document on the myths of the feminist movement impeding its development. This document has a great impact; it states that feminism has a long way to go because, it is a radical transformation of society, politics and culture. The myths listed are:

• Feminists are not interested in power
• Feminists do politics in a different way
• All feminists are the same
• There is a natural unity for the mere fact of being women
• Feminism exists only as a policy of women towards women
• The movement is a small group
• The women's spaces ensure for themselves a positive space
• Personal is automatically political
• The consensus is democracy. This is important because each country in Latin America was able to push feminism in different ways – for example, through democracy, socialism, and even under authoritarian regimes (although this was less common).[9]

These myths were commonly disputed at Latin American and Caribbean meetings in the 1980s called Encuentros, a space created to “strengthen feminist networks,” exchange analysis, and confront “conditions of oppression.” Though the Encuentros constructed a common space, the people there made sure it was a place of political dialogue, not of a sisterhood.[22] One of the few points of unity found during these Encuentros was the effect colonialism and globalization had on their respective countries.[9]

The neoliberal policies that began in the late 1980s and reached their peak in the continent during the decade of the 1990s, made the feminist movement fragmented and privatized. Many women began to work in multilateral organizations, finance agencies etc. and became bridges between financing bodies and female movements. It was around this time that many feminists, feeling discomfort with the current hegemonic feminism, began to create their own, autonomous organizations.[10] In 1994, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) became “a catalyst for indigenous women's organization in Mexico” and created “The Women's Revolutionary Law." Their example of indigenous feminism led the way for other indigenous tribes, such as the Mayans, Quechuas, and Quiches.[11] Zapatista women were made public in 1994. They are used as inspiration and symbolic tools to feminists throughout the world, and are often referred to in scholarly essays and articles.[23] In 1993, many feminists tried to bring together these autonomous organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean, which led to the Beijing Global Conference on Women of 1995.[9]

Scholars argue that there is a strong correlation between the improvement of legal rights for Latin American women and the country's struggle for democracy. For example, because of women's active protests against President Abdala Bucaram's government, Ecuador's Constitution of 1998 saw many new legal rights for women. MUDE, or Women for Democracy, have stated that “what is not good for democracy is not good for women." However, this is not always the case. Peru had an authoritarian regime, but they had a quota for at least thirty percent of candidates in a race to be women. It is important to note though, that the advance of Latin American women's legal equality does not get rid of the social and economic inequality present.[9]

Protest on International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 2019 in Mexico City

The emergence of economic neoliberal models at the beginning of the 21st century led to a revival of the movement in the world, which was accompanied by an attempt at feminist dialogue with other social movements. A new feature is the feminist participation in global mobilization at different government meetings and in multinational organizations where there is a discussion of humanity's future.

With the rise of globalization and international policies, many feminist political and academic organizations have been institutionalized. The more professional tactics of NGOs and political lobbying have given Latina feminists more influence on public policy, but at the cost of giving up “bolder, more innovative proposals from community initiatives."[24]

In addition, the Colectivo Feminista Sexualidade Saude (CFSS ) of Brazil currently “provides health education for women and professionals,” where they encourage self-help and focus on “women's mental health, violence against women, and child mortality.” [11]

Today, there are also feminist groups that have spread to the United States. For example, The Latina Feminist Group formed in the 1990s is composed of women from all places in Latin America. Although groups like these are local, they are all-inclusive groups that accept members from all parts of Latin America. Members of the organizations are predominantly from European – Native American backgrounds with some members being completely descendants of Native American people.[25]

Today there is a weak relationship between lesbianism and feminism in Latin America. Since the 1960s, lesbians have become a viable group in Latin America. They have established groups to fight misogynist oppression against lesbians, fight AIDS in the LGBT community, and support one another. However, because of many military coups and dictatorships in Latin America, feminist lesbian groups have had to break up, reinvent, and reconstruct their work. Dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s in Chile and Argentina were examples of the resistance to these feminist lesbians groups in Latin America.[26]

In the 2000s, Latin American feminist groups have set goals for their communities. Such goals call for the consolidation of a more organized LGBT community across Latin America. Other goals overall look to change smaller domestic policies that in any way discriminate against members of the LGBT community. They also aim to have more people in office, to network better with the broader Latin people.[27] They have set goals to advocate for LGBT rights in the political world, from organizations and political groups to acknowledge their rights, and encourage other countries to protect feminists and other members of the LGBT community in Latin America. Leaders such as Rafael de la Dehesa have contributed to describing early LGBT relations in parts of Latin America through his writings and advocacy. De la Dehesa, a Harvard alumnus, has published books such as, “Queering the Public Sphere in Mexico and Brazil: Sexual Rights Movements in Emerging Democracies” that advocate for a shift in popular culture that accepts queer Latinos. His work, "Global Communities and Hybrid Cultures: Early Gay and Lesbian Electoral Activism in Brazil and Mexico" explains the gay communities and puts them in context to coincide with the history of those countries. Rafael has also introduced the idea of normalizing LGBT issues in patriarchal conservative societies such as Mexico and Brazil to suggest that being gay should no longer be considered taboo in the early 2000s.[28]

Two major areas of focus for the modern feminist movement in Latin America are legalizing abortion, and stopping violence against women.[29][30][31][32]

A key expression of the modern feminist movement and the fight for women's rights in Latin America is the Ni Una Menos. This is a social movement that emerged as a response to violence against women in Latin America. It has evolved to encompass and incorporate the fight for other rights as well.[33]