1. LATI 50 INTRODUCTION TO LATIN AMERICA WOMEN, GENDER, AND EMPOWERMENT

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

3. 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?

4. 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

5. 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)

6. Comparisons with the United States?