Synopses & Reviews
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 womens groups are helping to reshape Latin America. The contributors document and assess the remarkable wave of womens 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 womens organizations as they worked together to end authoritarian rule and elaborate how womens 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 womens 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. Jaquettes introductory and concluding essays provide a comparative framework, highlighting the innovative ways in which Latin American women are making gender a political issue.
Synopsis
The second edition of this pioneering text documents and assesses the remarkable wave of womens political participation in Latin America over the past two decades. Focusing first on the 1980s, it examines the origins, evolution, and goals of womens organizations as they worked together to end authoritarian rule. Next it shows how womens groups have adapted in the 1990s to the day-to-day realities of democratic politics, moving from the often heady challenge of mobilizing opposition to the very different task of working with parties and government bureaucracies in order to maintain and implement their agendas. Seven case studies vividly illustrate the variety of womens movements in the region and record their political successes and failures.
About the Author
Jane S. Jaquette is professor of politics and chair of the Diplomacy and World Affairs Department at Occidental College, Los Angeles.