In a series of posts on the possibility of a popular coalition that would seek to take power and effect structural change in the United States, I am maintaining that social movements in the United States have much to learn from the popular movements in Latin America (“A just, democratic & sustainable world-system” 1/12/2016; “The twelve practices of socialism” 1/14/2016; “Popular democratic socialist revolution” 1/15/2016; “Lessons of socialism for the USA” 1/18/2016; “Race and Revolution” 1/19/2016).  In this post, I reflect on lessons to be learned from Latin American popular movements with respect to the form in which they have managed the issue of the rights of women. 

     The women’s movement emerged in the United States in the 1840’s, and until the 1860s it offered a critique of fundamental cultural assumptions with respect to gender, and it advocated full legal, political, economic and social rights for women.  Beginning in the 1870s, the nation became more conservative with respect to the rights of blacks, workers, and the peoples of color in the world.  Adjusting to this ideological environment, the women’s movement narrowed its focus to the single issue of the right of women to vote, which it attained at a national level through constitutional amendment in 1919.  As a result of the increasing occupational attainment of women during the twentieth century, and with the eruption of the black power and student/anti-war movements in the late 1960s, the women’s movement rediscovered its radical roots, and it provided a broad critique of patriarchy.  During the 1960s and 1970s, it accomplished a transformation of ideas and practices with respect to gender, establishing the fundamental principle of the full political and civil rights of women in all social institutions.  At the same time, reflecting the segmentation of the various popular movements in the United States, the women’s movement never became integrated with other movements formed by the people (see “The rights of women” 11/11/13).

     The US women’s movement stimulated the emergence of a women’s movement in Cuba in the 1920s, in Mexico in the 1970s, and in Central America in the 1980s.  However, in contrast to the United States, as a consequence of the integrationist tendencies of the popular movements in these Latin American nations, the women’s movement was integrated into the general social struggle for the sovereignty of the nation and for the social and economic rights of the people.   In the process of integration, the women’s movement was transformed, as it adjusted its discourse to the requirements of the general social struggle, and accordingly, it was careful to avoid formulations and proposals that would offend the people active in the social struggle (see “The rights of women” 11/11/13 and “The Cuban women’s movement of the 1920s” 7/11/2014.  

      There are cultural differences between the North and Latin America with respect to gender, which have caused some to describe Latin America as macho.  However, I believe that this interpretation is superficial.  In comparison to the North, Latin American culture has: a much more strongly entrenched gender division of labor in the home, but much less so in the workplace; a much higher level of verbal sexual play between men and women, indulged in by both sexes; a much greater tendency for men to turn heads and to make “catcalls” to women in the street, which women often receive as compliments; and a profound mutual respect between men and women.  This last point should not be underestimated.  And it should not be forgotten that managing a household is a much more time consuming task in Latin America, so that the fact that women cook and men drive and repair cars and make house repairs has a degree of functionality.  And perhaps the games between men and women simply reflect that men and women enjoy each other and enjoy life.

     In addition to gender dynamics, there also has been a tendency in the Latin American left in recent years for political discussions to be carried out in a tone of mutual respect.  It is not uncommon for political disagreements to be expressed indirectly, in order to avoid conflict. This dynamic may be driven by a desire to avoid the divisive sectarianism of the 1960s, widely acknowledged today as an error of the popular movements.

       As a result of all of these historical and cultural factors, feminism in Latin America is less conflictual than is white feminism in the North. The Latin American women’s movement has been more diplomatic and more sensitive toward the sentiments of men, even while affirming fundamental principles with respect to the rights of women.  This was to some extent driven by movement politics: many of the male movement leaders had earned prestige with their courage and commitment to the people, and women who sought to put the issue of gender on the table did not want to undermine the movement by creating disunity, nor did they want to provoke a popular backlash against them.  It also was in part driven by the integrationist tendency of the popular Latin American movements, so that women could see the possibility of including the issue of gender on the agenda of the popular movement, if the matter were to be managed with intelligent tactics.  And it was driven by a culture in which mutual respect in difference rather than antagonism is the norm.  

     The agenda of the Latin American feminists, with their own form of feminism adapted to their particular political and cultural conditions, has been attained.  Fundamental principles of the women’s movement have been incorporated into the general social struggle of the people, such as the advocacy of the full participation of women in the social and economic development of the society, including having positions of authority in political and economic institutions; and programs for the elimination of all forms of violence against women.  These demands have become standard themes in the Third World popular movement for a just, democratic and sustainable world-system; and they are being implemented in those progressive nations in Latin America, where movements of the Left have come to power.

Posted July 11, 2014

     In the early 1920s, Cuban women experienced profound prejudice and discrimination, rooted in law and social convention.  The immense majority of women of employment age did not work, and working women received salaries much lower than men for the same work. Women did not have the right to vote or to hold public office.  The rights of women in the family also were minimal, as is illustrated by a law effectively granting a husband authorization to kill an adulterous wife (Instituto de Historia 1998:217-18).

     In 1918, the Feminine Club of Cuba was formed, which led to the establishment of the National Federation of Feminine Associations of Cuba in 1921, with Pilar Morlón as president.  The Federation convened the First National Congress of Women, held from April 1 to April 7, 1923, in which thirty-one organizations participated.  The delegates to the Congress were middle class women with a variety of political, social, and religious perspectives, but on common ground with respect to the issue of gender.  The Congress called for a campaign for woman suffrage; a struggle for the attainment of full and equal social, political, and economic rights for women; a battle against drugs and prostitution; the securing of laws for the protection of children; and the modification of teaching and education (Instituto de Historia 1998:217-18).

      The Second National Congress of Women was held from April 12 to April 18, 1925, which passed resolutions similar to those of the first Congress.  Reflecting a tendency toward the integration of the women’s movement with the workers’ movement and with the popular struggle for national liberation, the Second Congress included Estela Marrero, a delegate of the Union of Women Cigar Factory Workers, an important sector of working-class women; and Ana Cañizares, a delegate of the Anti-Clerical Federation of Cuba, which had been founded by Julio Antonio Mella in 1924 (Instituto de Historia 1998:218). 

     The evolution of social movements is significantly influenced by the political, economic, and ideological environment, and accordingly, the evolution of the women’s movement in Cuba has been different from its evolution in the United States.  The women’s movement in the United States was formed in the 1840s, and it developed for the next twenty years in a national environment influenced by the abolitionist movement and the subsequent struggle for the protection of the rights of the emancipated slaves.  In this progressive environment, the women’s movement called for full political, economic, and social rights for women, challenging laws and social conventions with respect to women in all areas of life.  But from the 1870s to the beginning of the twentieth century, the nation turned to the Right, developing laws and customs of racial segregation and discrimination, and developing imperialist policies with respect to other lands.  In this conservative ideological context, the women’s movement narrowed its program to the protection of the right to vote, and it de-emphasized calls for a comprehensive transformation of the economic and social position of women.  The US sociologist Stephen Buechler (1990) describes this process as the transformation from a women’s rights movement to a woman suffrage movement.  Later, in the context of the social movements that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s, which would culminate in the Revolution of 1968, the women’s movement would rediscover its liberationist roots, and it would be able to affect significant and permanent social changes with respect to women, although it has been somewhat restrained since the restoration of the conservative mood in 1979.  At the same time, consistent with limitations in the development of US popular movements, the evolution of the women’s movement would be characterized by limited integration with movements formed by other popular sectors of African-Americans, Latinos, indigenous peoples, workers, and farmers.

       In contrast, the women’s movement in Cuba emerged at a time of the revitalization of popular revolutionary movements in the 1920s, and it evolved in the context of the continuing popular revolution, which triumphed in 1959.  For both the women’s movement and the various popular sectors that formed the revolution in Cuba, the compelling mutually beneficial political strategy was the integration of women’s demands into the popular struggle.  At the same time, the turn of the popular movement to Marxism-Leninism (see “Mella fuses Martí and Marxism-Leninism” 7/9/2014), with its prior appropriation of the principle of full equal rights for women, gave ideological reinforcement to the integrationist strategy.  Thus, the dynamics in Cuba favored the tendency for the women’s movement to continue its radical demands for the full political, economic, and social rights of women and a social transformation with respect to gender, integrating itself into a general popular struggle that was seeking a fundamental political-economic-social-cultural transformation. 

     With the triumph of the revolution, the principle of gender equality was given high priority in word and in practice, such that women have played an important role, and in some respects a dominant role, in the development of the socialist revolution, particularly in the areas of science, education and health.  The Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) was founded in 1960 by Wilma Espín, a prominent member of Fidel’s July 26 Movement and wife of Raúl Castro.  The FMC organizes woman in neighborhoods throughout Cuba, providing women with an opportunity to discuss their particular needs and concerns, and it has a constitutionally guaranteed voice in the national decision-making process.  With the participation of 85% or 90% of Cuban women over the age of 16, the FMC is today one of the principle mass organizations in Cuba, alongside those of workers, students, and agricultural workers and cooperativists. 

     In some respects, the integrationist orientation of the Cuban women’s movement has made it more conservative than the women’s movements in the North.  Not wanting to provoke rejection by other popular sectors, the women’s movement in Cuba has persistently maintained a cooperative rather than conflictive orientation with the revolutionary movement and leadership and with the revolutionary government; and it has been cautious with respect to potentially divisive issues, such as lesbianism.  Because of its integrationist, cooperative, and cautious approach, it has not generated the popular hostility that the US women’s movement has generated; and it has attained, in cooperation with other popular movements, a radical transformation with respect to gender as well as other social dynamics pertaining to race, class, and imperialism.

      We will be further describing the Cuban Revolution as an integral movement uniting various popular sectors and characterized by high levels of popular participation in subsequent posts.


References

Buechler, Steven M.  1990.  Women’s Movements in the United States.  New Brunswick:  Rutgers University Press.

Instituto de Historia de Cuba. 1998.  La neocolonia.  La Habana: Editora Política. 


Key words:  Third World, revolution, colonialism, neocolonialism, imperialism, democracy, national liberation, sovereignty, self-determination, socialism, Marxism, Leninism, Cuba, Latin America, world-system, world-economy, development, underdevelopment, colonial, neocolonial, blog Third World perspective, Cuban Revolution, neocolonial republic, women’s movement, 1920s

Posted November 11, 2013

      The American Constitution made no affirmation of the rights of women.  As Howard Zinn writes in relation to the Declaration of Independence, “The use of the phrase ‘all men are created equal’ was probably not a deliberate attempt to make a statement about women.  It was just that women were beyond consideration as worthy of inclusion.  They were politically invisible.  Though practical needs gave women a certain authority in the home, on the farm, or in occupations like midwifery, they were simply overlooked in any consideration of political rights, any notions of civic equality” (2005:73).

     Seeking to expand the meaning of democracy, women in the United States during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries formed a movement that sought the affirmation and protection of their rights as women.  The movement included liberal reformist efforts to extend the concept of individual rights and liberties to women, radical critiques of the structures and ideology of patriarchy, and syntheses of feminism and socialism.  The movement was able to attain the constitutional right of women to vote in 1919.  And it had a significant impact on the dominant US culture from the 1960s to the 1980s, as many feminist ideas, especially from liberal feminism, became widely disseminated.  Fundamental principles of the movement, principles such as equal educational and occupational opportunity and the right of women to full participation in the public sphere, became widely accepted (Buechler 1990; Madoo Lengermann and Niebrugge 2008). 

   But the feminist movement encountered organized opposition in the 1970s, blocking the passage of a proposed constitutional amendment.  Successfully exploiting issues such as abortion rights and gay rights, the anti-feminist counter movement portrayed the women’s movement as opposed to “family values” and as contributing to a moral decline in the nation.  By the 1980s, a conservative mood was ascendant, and there occurred a de-radicalization of the movement, in which its potential to attain a social transformation was lost (Buechler 1990:120-25, 186-98).

     The inability of the movement to protect itself against the counterattack of the right is related to its limitations.  The movement never organized women into a mass organization, in the context of which intellectual work could have been tied to the practical concerns of women, leading to the formulation of a proposed national program of action that would have the recognized support of the majority of women.  At the same time, issues of gender have been fragmented from other issues, such as poverty, class inequality, race and ethnicity, environment, and imperialism.  Social scientists in the 1980s spoke of the need to unify issues of “race, class, and gender,” but this was not accomplished in theory or practice.

     In the presidential campaigns of 1984 and 1988, Jesse Jackson tried to unify progressive forces through a “Rainbow Coalition,” a progressive alliance of women, blacks, Latinos, workers, farmers, and ecologists.  In relation to women, his 1988 campaign proposed a reform of salary structures in accordance with the principle of comparable worth and funding for child care, and it affirmed the right of women to reproductive choice.  Although overwhelmingly supported by black and Latino voters, he received only 12% of the votes of white women voters in the democratic primaries of 1988, equal to the percentage of votes that he received among white men (McKelvey 275-84). 

     Fundamental principles of the women’s movements of the developed nations were widely disseminated throughout the Third World during the 1970s and 1980s, and they became integrated into the renewed Third World movements that emerged after 1995.  In its global dissemination and integration into Third World movements, feminism was transformed.  The new Third World feminism selected key ideas from liberal, radical, and socialist feminism in order to formulate an understanding that could attain popular consensus.  Taking from liberal feminism its focus on equal rights for women, Third World feminism affirms the right of women to full and equal participation in the construction of a just, democratic, and sustainable world.  Taking from radical feminism the recognition that violence against women is a systemic problem, Third World feminism mobilizes public opinion and engages in political education in relation to the problem of violence against women, and it seeks to establish structures of support for women who have been victimized by violence.  Taking from socialist feminism the need for integration, Third World feminism sees its role as one of redeeming the general social struggle of the people and of bringing the struggle to a more advanced stage. In this process of integration into the popular movement, Third World feminism treats with delicacy the issues of lesbianism and abortion, seeing these issues as divisive and as undermining the possibility for a practical integration of fundamental feminist concepts into the unfolding anti-neocolonial popular movements.  As a result of its creative adaptation to its particular social and economic conditions and its sensitivity to popular sentiments, Third World feminism has become an integral part of a global movement that today challenges global neocolonial structures and that seeks to construct a just, democratic, and sustainable world-system.

     In a series of conversations that I had in 1998 with founders of women’s organizations in Honduras, the principal leaders of the Honduran women’s movement described to me this process of the transformation of feminism.  They had found compelling the fundamental concepts of feminism that had been formulated in the developed nations.  But they understood the necessity of adapting feminism to their particular social and economic conditions.  Thus they gave emphasis to some concepts and rejected others, and they developed an alternative form of feminism.   Their approach was sometimes criticized by feminists from the North as an immature feminism, but they insisted on defending their feminism as valid and as appropriate for the neocolonial situation of their country (McKelvey 1999). 

     Thus we may speak of the internationalization and transformation of feminism.  As a form of feminism that is integrally connected to popular anti-neocolonial movements, Third World feminism could be interpreted as a more advanced formulation that synthesizes concepts that emerge from social struggles against multiple forms of domination.  Perhaps the “womanist” formulations that have emerged in the black community are a particular manifestation of this integral and more comprehensive form of feminism.


References

Buechler, Steven M.  1990.  Women’s Movements in the United States.  New Brunswick:  Rutgers University Press.

Madoo Lengermann, Patricia and Gillian Niebrugge.  2008.  “Contemporary Feminist Theories” in George Ritzer, Sociological Theory, Seventh Edition, Pp. 450-97.  Boston: McGraw-Hill.

McKelvey, Charles.  1994.  The African-American Movement:  From Pan-Africanism to the Rainbow Coalition. Bayside, New York: General Hall.

__________.  1999.  "Feminist Organizations and Grassroots Democracy in Honduras" in Jill Bystydzienski and Joti Sekhon, eds., Democratization and Women's Grassroots Movements.  Bloomington:  Indiana University Press, Pp. 196-213.

Zinn, Howard.  2005.  A People’s History of the United States: 1492 – Present.  New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Harper Perennial Modern Classics


Key words: Third World, revolution, colonialism, neocolonialism, imperialism, democracy, national liberation, sovereignty, self-determination, socialism, Marxism, Leninism, Cuba, Latin America, world-system, world-economy, development, underdevelopment, colonial, neocolonial, blog Third World perspective, women, women’s movement, feminism, Third World feminism