Women’s Activism in Latin America and the Caribbean: Engendering Social Justice, Democratizing Citizenship

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“This is a very exciting collection that will fill an important gap in what has emerged in comparative studies of women and Latin American democracies. Maier and Lebon provide provocative overview essays, and the chapters trace a range of cases from Argentina and Brazil to Nicaragua and Venezuela, showing how institutions, leaders, and culture all shape the opportunities and challenges women face.”-Jane Jaquette, editor of Feminist Agendas and Democracy in Latin America Women’s Activism in Latin America and the Caribbean brings together a group of interdisciplinary scholars who analyze and document the diversity, vibrancy, and effectiveness of women’s experiences and organizing in Latin America and the Caribbean during the past four decades. Most of the expressions of collective agency are analyzed in this book within the context of the neoliberal model of globalization that has seriously affected most Latin American and Caribbean women’s lives in multiple ways. Contributors explore the emergence of the area’s feminist movements, dictatorships of the 1970s, the Central American uprisings, the urban, grassroots organizing for better living conditions, and, finally, the turn toward public policy and formal political involvement and the alternative globalization movement. Geared toward bridging cultural realities, this volume represents women’s transformations, challenges, and hopes, while considering the analytical tools needed to dissect the realities, understand the alternatives, and promote gender democracy. ELIZABETH MAIER is a researcher and professor of gender studies at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte (Colef) in Mexico and former chair of the Gender and Feminist Studies Section of the Latin American Studies Association. NATHALIE LEBON is an assistant professor of women, gender, and sexuality studies and affiliated with the Latin American Studies program at Gettysburg College.