1. WOMEN, GENDER, AND EMPOWERMENT
LATI 50
Introduction to Latin America

2. MIDTERM EXAM Coverage: Weeks 1-6
Grade share: 33% (without optional paper)
Format: closed-book exam (no electronic devices)
Date: February 20 (Thursday, in class)
Duration: 80 minutes (3:30-4:50 pm)
Bring blue books and writing materials

3. STEREOTYPES Powerless in a macho world Passivity, docility
Focus on family, children
Lack of interest in politics and public sphere
Marianismo (a controversial concept)

4. WOMEN’S INTERESTS
“Practical” interests = position within gendered division of labor (e.g., as mothers and spouses)
“Strategic” interests = alternative social codes deriving from broad analysis of women’s subordination (e.g., role in workforce, politics)
Difference from U.S. interests in economic equality (e.g., glass ceiling) and sexual liberation; emphasis on distinctiveness of womanhood
Feminine or feminist?

5. WOMEN AND AUTHORITARIANISM
Compliance: courtship by dictators
Opposition: merger of practical and strategic interests
Articulation of demands:
Mothers (and Grandmothers) of Plaza de Mayo in Argentina
Arpilleras in Chile
“militant motherhood” in Brazil
Pro-democratic, left-of-center orientation

6. WOMEN AND DEMOCRACY Disintegration of solidarity
Quotas in legislatures (~ 30 percent)
Female presidents: prominent widows
Isabel Martínez de Perón (Argentina)
Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (Nicaragua)
Mireya Moscoso (Panama)
Female presidents: successful politicians
Michelle Bachelet (Chile)
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (Argentina)
Laura Chinchilla (Costa Rica)
Dilma Rousseff (Brazil)

7. Comparisons with the United States?