The Hidden History of Gender and the State in Latin America

by Dore, Elizabeth; Molyneux, Maxine; Rodriguez, Eugenia (CON); Chaves, Maria Eugenia (CON)

• ISBN13: 9780822324348
• ISBN10: 0822324342
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-04-01
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

This collection examines the mutually influential interactions of gender and the state in Latin America from the late colonial period to the end of the twentieth century. Locating watershed moments in the processes of gender construction by the organized power of the ruling classes and in the processes by which gender has conditioned state-making,Hidden Histories of Gender and the State in Latin Americaremedies the lack of such considerations in previous studies of state formation. Along these lines, the book begins with two theoretical chapters by the editors, Elizabeth Dore and Maxine Molyneux. Dore opens by arguing against the prevailing view that the nineteenth century was marked by a gradual emancipation of women, while Molyneux considers how various Latin American state forms-liberal, corporatist, socialist, neoliberal-have more recently sought to incorporate women into their projects of social reform and modernization. These essays are followed by twelve case studies that examine how states have contributed to the normalization of male and female roles and relations. Covering an impressive breadth not only of historical time but also of geographical scope, this volume moves from Brazil to Costa Rica, from Mexico to Chile, traversing many countries in between. Contributors explore such topics as civic ritual in Bolivia, rape in war-torn Colombia, and the legal construction of patriarchy in Argentina. They examine the public regulation of domestic life, feminist lobby groups, class compromise, female slaves, and women in rural households-distinct, salient aspects of the state-gender relationship in specific countries at specific historical junctures. By providing a richly descriptive and theoretically grounded account of the interaction between state and gender politics in Latin America, this volume contributes to an important conversation between feminists interested in the state and political scientists interested in gender. It will be valuable to such disciplines as history, sociology, international comparative studies, and Latin American studies.Contributors. Mariacute;a Eugenia Chaves, Elizabeth Dore, Rebecca Earle, Jo Fisher, Laura Gotkowitz, Donna J. Guy, Fiona Macaulay, Maxine Molyneux, Eugenia Rodriguez, Karin Alejandra Rosemblatt, Ann Varley, Mary Kay Vaughan

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xv
I. State and Gender in Latin America
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Gender and the State in the Long Nineteenth Century	3	(30)
Elizabeth Dore
Twentieth-Century State Formations in Latin America	33	(52)
Maxine Molyneux
II. Case Studies
Civilizing Domestic Life in the Central Valley of Costa Rica, 1750--1850	85	(23)
Eugenia Rodriguez S.
Slave Women's Strategies for Freedom and the Late Spanish Colonial State	108	(19)
Maria Eugenia Chaves
Rape and the Anxious Republic: Revolutionary Colombia, 1810--1830	127	(20)
Rebecca Earle
Property, Households, and Public Regulation of Domestic Life: Diriomo, Nicaragua, 1840--1900	147	(25)
Elizabeth Dore
Parents Before the Tribunals: The Legal Construction of Patriarchy in Argentina	172	(22)
Donna J. Guy
Modernizing Patriarchy: State Policies, Rural Households, and Women in Mexico, 1930--1940	194	(21)
Mary Kay Vaughan
Commemorating the Heroinas: Gender and Civic Ritual in Early-Twentieth-Century Bolivia	215	(23)
Laura Gotkowitz
Women and the Home in Mexican Family Law	238	(24)
Ann Varley
Domesticating Men: State Building and Class Compromise in Popular-Front Chile	262	(29)
Karin Alejandra Rosemblatt
State, Gender, and Institutional Change: The Federacion de Mujeres Cubanas	291	(31)
Maxine Molyneux
Gender and the State in Argentina: The Case of the Sindicato de Amas de Casa	322	(24)
Jo Fisher
Getting Gender on the Policy Agenda: A Study of a Brazilian Feminist Lobby Group	346	(23)
Fiona Macaulay
Contributors	369	(2)
Index	371