Gender, Sexuality and the Latin American Left: testing the transformation

Abstract

This article examines the extent of change under Latin American left governments by assessing their actions on women's and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights. To provide a historical context, it first offers an overview of the relationship between feminist movements and the left. It then employs a four-country comparison of Brazil, Bolivia, Chile and Venezuela on women's socioeconomic status; feminist state–society relations; women's representation in national decision-making positions; legislation on violence against women; reproductive rights; and sexual rights. It concludes that standard political and economic divisions among the cases do not explain their response to the demands of feminists and LGBT activists. While governments have improved women's status and inclusion, the transformation of gender and sexual power relations remains unfinished.

Notes

This article has benefited from the comments of participants in the ‘Left Turns?’ conference and the detailed suggestions of Max A Cameron, Eric Hershberg and Kathryn Jay.

1 Although this article addresses sexual rights, space restrictions do not allow for consideration of LGBT movements. However, a similarly contested relationship with the left is evident. See, for example, N Mongrovejo, Un Amor Que se Atrevio a Decir su Nombre: La Lucha de las Lesbianas y su Relacion con los Movimientos Homosexual y Feminista en America Latina, Mexico, DF: Plaza y Valdes Editores/CDHAL, 2000; and FE Babb, ‘Out in Nicaragua: local and transnational desires after the revolution’, Cultural Anthropology, 18 (3), pp 304–328.

2 SE Alvarez, EJ Friedman, E Beckman, M Blackwell, N Chinchilla, N Lebon, M Navarro & MR Tobar, ‘Encountering Latin American and Caribbean feminisms’, Signs: Jounal of Women in Culture and Society, 28 (2), 2002, p 542.

3 F Miller, Latin American Women and the Search for Social Justice, Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 1991.

4 IA Luciak, After the Revolution: Gender and Democracy in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.

5 L Smith & A Padula, Sex and Revolution: Women in Socialist Cuba, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.

6 MT Blandón, ‘The Coalición Nacional de Mujeres: an alliance of left-wing women, right-wing women, and radical feminists in Nicaragua’, in K Kampwirth & V Gonzalez (eds), Radical Women in Latin America: Left and Right, University Park, PA: Penn State Press, 2001, p 114.

7 K Monasterios P, ‘Bolivian women's organizations in the MAS era’, NACLA Report on the Americas , 40 (2), 2007, pp 33–34.

8 Alvarez, ‘Encountering Latin American and Caribbean feminisms’, p 547.

9 V Schild, ‘New subjects of rights? Women's movements and the construction of citizenship in the “new democracies”‘, in SE Alvarez, E Dagnino & A Escobar (eds), Cultures of Politics/Politics of Cultures: Latin American Social Movements Revisited, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1997, pp 93–117.

10 B Llanos & K Sample, 30 Years of Democracy: Riding the Wave? Women's Political Participation in Latin America, Peru: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 2008; and Inter-Parliamentary Union, Women in National Parliaments, Situation as of 25 January 1998, at http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/arc/world250198.htm, accessed 7 April 2008.

11 S Chiarotti, Violence against Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1998, at http://www.socialwatch.org/en/informesTematicso/39.html, accessed 22 April 2006.

12 F Macaulay, ‘Judicialising and (de)criminalising domestic violence in Latin America’, Social Policy and Society, 5 (1), 2006, pp 103–114.

13 L Baldez, ‘Elected bodies: gender quotas for female legislative candidates in Mexico’, Legislative Studies Quarterly, 29 (2), 2004, pp 231–258.

14 K Kampwirth, ‘Neither left nor right: Sandinismo in the anti-feminist era’, NACLA Report on the Americas, 41 (1), 2008, pp 30–34, 43.

15 V Gago, ‘Dangerous liaisons: Latin Amreican feminists and the left’, NACLA Report on the Americas, 40 (2), 2007, pp 17–19; and ‘Ministry of Government announces review of NGOs' legal status', Nicaragua Network Hotline, 9 September 2008, at http://www.nicanet.org/?p=562, accessed 30 September 2008.

16 JG Castañeda, ‘Latin America's left turn’, Foreign Affairs, May/June 2006, pp 28–43.

17 M Htun, Sex and the State: Abortion, Divorce, and the Family under Latin American Dictatorships and Democracies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

18 Bolivia is excluded here since the data for the tables below are not available for any time after Morales' election; the Chilean data cover a time in which Bachelet's party, but not Bachelet herself, was in power.

19 W Hunter & T Power, ‘Rewarding Lula: executive power, social policy, and the Brazilian elections of 2006’, Latin American Politics and Society, 49 (1), 2007, p 18.

20 ‘Em 2007, governo pagou 67,32% do Orçamento Mulher’, Jornal Fêmea, 155, 2008.

21 PM Savelis, ‘How new is Bachelet's Chile?’, Current History, February 2007, p 73.

22 EJ Friedman, ‘Getting rights for those without representation: the success of conjunctural coalition-building in Venezuela’, in N Craske & M Molyneux (eds), Gender, Rights and Justice in Latin America, London: Palgrave, 2002, pp 57–78.

23 G Espina, ‘Beyond polarization: organized Venezuelan women promote their “minimum agenda”’, NACLA Report on the Americas, 40 (2), 2007, pp 20–24; and Espina, ‘Sudden awakening in Venezuela: Venezuelan women active in placing controversial issues in parliament’, LOLApress, 13, 2000, p 62.

24 Inamujer, ‘Puntos de Encuentro con INAMUJER’, at http://www.inamujer.gob.ve/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=44, accessed 1 August 2008.

25 S Fernandes, ‘The gender agenda of the pink tide in Latin America’, zmag.org, 7 October 2007, at http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=13958, accessed 5 April 2008.

26 G Espina, ‘Creado el meamujer’, El Siglo (Venezuela), 2 April 2008; and EJ Friedman, ‘State-based advocacy for gender equality in the developing world: assessing the Venezuelan National Women's Agency’, Women & Politics, 21 (2), 2000, pp 47–80.

27 Monasterios P, ‘ Bolivian women's organizations in the MAS era’.

28 Mujeres y Asamblea Constituyente, Quienes Somos, at http://www.mujeresconstituyentes.org/quienes_somos.php, 31 Jul;y 2008.

29 L Farthing, ‘Everything is up for discussion: a 40th anniversary conversation with Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui’, NACLA Report on the Americas, 40 (4), 2007, p 8.

30 Monasterios P, ‘ Bolivian women's organizations in the MAS era’.

31 Bolpress, ‘Evo dijo que la instancia sería borrada de la estructura del Ejecutivo’, 20 January 2006; and NotiEMAIL, ‘Diputada cree viceministerio Género es “retroceso” para mujeres’, NotiEMAIL, 2 October 2006.

32 M Ríos Tobar, ‘Chilean feminism and social democracy from the democratic transition to Bachelet’, NACLA Report on the Americas, 40 (2), 2007, pp 25–29.

33 Ríos Tobar, ‘Chilean feminism and social democracy from the democratic transition to Bachelet’, p 28.

34 V Reis, ‘Black Brazilian women and the Lula administration’, NACLA Report on the Americas, 40 (2), 2007, pp 38–41.

35 Ibid; SPM, II Plano Nacional de Políticas para as Mulheres, 2008; and M Osava, ‘Brazil: turning women's rights into reality’, Inter-Press Service, 16 August 2007.

36 Friedman, ‘State-based advocacy for gender equality in the developing world’; and G Waylen, ‘Enhancing the substantive representation of women: lessons from transitions to democracy’, Parliamentary Affairs, 61 (3), 2008, pp 518–534.

37 Known as the ‘Gender Empowerment Measure’.

38 Monasterios P, ‘Bolivian women's organizations in the MAS era’, p 34.

39 All the data on female representation are from Inter-Parliamentary Union, Women in National Parliaments, at http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif-arc.htm, accessed 7 April 2008.

40 Espina, ‘Beyond polarization’, p 21.

41 M Draper, ‘Women and the mud ceiling’, Democracy Center blog, 3 October 2006, at http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/archives/2006_10_01_democracyctr_archive.html, accessed 30 September 2008.

42 Coordinadora de la Mujer et al, Aportes y complementaciones al cuestionario presentado por el gobierno boliviano ante el Comité de la CEDAW , 2007.

43 H Bunting, ‘Chile's Bachelet signs bill to promote women's participation in politics’, Santiago Times, 30 October 2007.

44 LF Miguel, ‘Political representation and gender in Brazil: quotas for women and their impact’, Bulletin of Latin American Research, 27 (2), 2008, pp 197–214.

45 M Escobar-Lemmon & MM Taylor-Robinson, ‘Women ministers in Latin American government: when, where, and why?’, Americal Journal of Political Science, 49 (4), 2005, pp 829–844; and executive branch websites for each government.

46 L Haas, ‘The Rules of the Game: Feminist Policy making in Chile', Politica 46, 2007, pp 199–225; D Estrada, ‘Chile: high-profile trial opens dialogue on domestic violence’, Global Information Network, 9 May 2007.

47 Article 15, paragraphs II, III.

48 CM Santos, ‘Transnational legal activism and the state: reflections on cases against Brazil in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’, Sur-International Journal on Human Rights, 4 (7), 2007, pp 29–59.

49 ‘Em 2007, governo pagou 67,32% do Orçamento Mulher’.

50 Espina, ‘Beyond polarization’, p 21.

51 Article 66; and J Friedman-Rudovsky, ‘Abortion under siege in Latin America’, Time, 9 August 2007.

52 Coordinadora de la Mujer, Aportes y complementaciones al cuestionario presentado por el gobierno boliviano ante el Comité de la CEDAW .

53 Rompiendo el Silencio.cl, ‘Partido Socialista apoyaría Ley de Unión Civil’, Santiago, 16 March 2008.

54 Rede Feminista de Saúde, Eleiç[otilde]es sem retrocesso: Un desafio para o feminismo brasileiro, at http://www.cfemea.org.br/temasedados/imprimir_detalhes.asp?IDTemasDados=151, 26 July 2008. In Brazil, abortion is legal for victims of rape who become pregnant.

55 Htun, Sex and the State, ch 6, p 168.

56 Rompiendo el Silencio.cl, ‘Partido Socialista apoyaría Ley de Unión Civil’.

57 Movimiento de Integración y Liberación Homosexual, VI Informe Anual: Derechos Humanos Minorías Sexuales Chilenas (Hechos 2007), Santiago: Movilh, 2008.

58 Although much recent policy on LGBT rights has been implemented at the sub-national level in Brazil's federal system, this article is focused on change at the national level. For more detail, see JP Marsiaj, ‘Expanding human rights: the Brazilian Gay, Lesbian and Travesti Movement and the struggle against homophobic discrimination’, paper presented for the XXVI International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2006.

59 S Picheta, ‘Brazilian president calls homophobia a “perverse disease”‘, Pink News, 11 June 2008.

60 See E/CN.4/2003/L.92 2003. The lack of consensus on the resolution to promote LGBT human rights led the Brazilian government to withdraw its support two years later.

61 Movimiento de Integración y Liberación Homosexual, VI Informe Annual.

62 S Fernandes, ‘Barrio women and popular politics in Chávez's Venezuela’, Latin American Politics and Society, 49 (3), 2007, pp 97–127.

63 G Waylen, ‘Constitutional engineering: what opportunities for the enhancement of gender rights?’, Third World Quarterly, 27 (7), 2008, pp 1209–1221.

64 Htun, Sex and the State, p 174.