Women and Social Movements in Latin America

Lynn Stephen is Professor of Anthropology at Northeastern University.

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsChapter 1. Introduction:Gender and Politics, Experience and StructurePart I. El Salvador Chapter 2. Women's Rights Are Human Rights: The Merging of Feminine and Feminist Interests among El Salvador's Mothers of the Disappeared (CO-MADRES)Chapter 3. Women for Dignity and Life: The Emergence of Feminisms from El Salvador's Revolutionary LeftInterview. Morena Herrera, Women for Dignity and LifePart II. Mexico Chapter 4. The Politics of Urban Survival: The Women's Regional Council of the CONAMUP, MexicoInterview. Irene Soto, Women's Regional Council of the CONAMUPChapter 5. The Unintended Consequences of "Traditional" Women's Organizing: The Women's Council of the LÁzaro CÁrdenas Ejido Union, NayaritInterview. DoÑa Kata Moreno and Aurora Cruz, LÁzaro CÁrdenas Ejido UnionPart III. Brazil Chapter 6. Class, Gender and Autonomy: The Rural Women Workers' Movement of Southern BrazilInterview. Gessi BonÊs and Marlene Pasquali, Rural Women Workers' MovementPart IV. Chile Chapter 7. Sweet and Sour Grapes: The Struggles of Seasonal Women Workers in ChileInterview. Antonia GÓmez, Interindustry Union of Seasonal and Permanent Workers of Santa MarÍaChapter 8. Conclusions: Women in ActionNotesBibliographyIndex

A gendered analysis of the National Security regimes that dominated South and Central America in the 1970s and '80s reveals a pattern of abuse of women that failed to register in the public consciousness.... The evidence compiled by Stephen, a feminist ethnographer, from archives and interviews with women in grassroots movements in El Salvador, Mexico, Brazil, and Chile reveals the breakdown of the patriarchal bargain: men in power withdrew protection from women, and women rebelled against the male domination that crippled them and left them unfit to lead their own lives. (Choice)