Feminist Agendas and Democracy in Latin America

Feminist Agendas and Democracy in Latin America

  • Author: Jaquette, Jane S.; Ríos Tobar, Marcela; Marx, Jutta; Borner, Jutta; Caminotti, Mariana
  • Publisher: Duke University Press
  • ISBN: 9780822344377
  • eISBN Pdf: 9780822392569
  • Place of publication:  Durham , United States
  • Year of digital publication: 2009
  • Month: July
  • Pages: 270
  • DDC: 320.98082
  • Language: English
Latin American women’s movements played important roles in the democratic transitions in South America during the 1980s and in Central America during the 1990s. However, very little has been written on what has become of these movements and their agendas since the return to democracy. This timely collection examines how women’s movements have responded to the dramatic political, economic, and social changes of the last twenty years. In these essays, leading scholar-activists focus on the various strategies women’s movements have adopted and assess their successes and failures.

The book is organized around three broad topics. The first, women’s access to political power at the national level, is addressed by essays on the election of Michelle Bachelet in Chile, gender quotas in Argentina and Brazil, and the responses of the women’s movement to the “Bolivarian revolution” in Venezuela. The second topic, the use of legal strategies, is taken up in essays on women’s rights across the board in Argentina, violence against women in Brazil, and gender in the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Peru. Finally, the international impact of Latin American feminists is explored through an account of their participation in the World Social Forum, an assessment of a Chilean-led project carried out by women’s organizations in several countries to hold governments to the promises they made at international conferences in Cairo and Beijing, and an account of cross-border organizing to address femicides and domestic abuse in the Juárez-El Paso border region. Jane S. Jaquette provides the historical and political context of women’s movement activism in her introduction, and concludes the volume by engaging contemporary debates about feminism, civil society, and democracy.

Contributors. Jutta Borner, Mariana Caminotti, Alina Donoso, Gioconda Espina, Jane S. Jaquette, Beatriz Kohen, Julissa Mantilla Falcón, Jutta Marx, Gabriela L. Montoya, Flávia Piovesan, Marcela Ríos Tobar, Kathleen Staudt, Teresa Valdés, Virginia Vargas

  • Contents
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction
  • Part I: Feminism and the State
    • 1. Feminist Politics in Contemporary Chile: From the Democratic Transition to Bachelet - Marcela Ríos Tobar
    • 2. Gender Quotas, Candidate Selection, and Electoral Campaigns: Comparing Argentina and Brazil - Jutta Marx, Jutta Borner, and Mariana Caminotti
    • 3. Feminist Activism in a Changing Political Context: Venezuela - Gioconda Espina
  • Part II: Legal Strategies and Democratic Institutions
    • 4. The Effectiveness of Legal Strategies in Argentina - Beatríz Kohen
    • 5. Violence against Women in Brazil: International Litigation and Local Advances - Flávia Piovesan
    • 6. Gender and Human Rights : Lessons from the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission- Julissa Mantilla Falcón
  • Part III: International and Cross-Border Activism
    • 7. International Feminisms: The World Social Forum - Virginia Vargas
    • 8. Social Accountability and Citizen Participation: Are Latin American Governments Meeting Their Commitments to Gender Equity? - Teresa Valdés and Alina Donoso
    • 9. Violence and Activism at the Mexico–United States Border: Women, Migration, and Obstacles to Justice - Kathleen Staudt and Gabriela Montoya
    • 10. Feminist Activism and the Challenges of Democracy - Jane S. Jaquette
  • Bibliography
  • Contributors
  • Index

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