Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Feminists and Technocrats in the Democratization of Latin America: A Prolegomenon

  • Published:
International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Women's movements made important contributions to ending the period of authoritarian rule in Latin America, but their participation in the reconstruction of democratic politics has been more limited than expected. This paper argues that the enormous influence exerted by technocratic elites in the democratization process in Latin America has represented an obstacle to the improvement of women's status in the region. Gender-biased assumptions and practices have been only partially addressed, in part because the policy-making process is under the control of economists, a professional group with a particularly unfriendly stand towards gendered analysis. It is suggested that reforms within economics may help in the task of making democracy more responsive to the demands of women.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Albelda, Randy (1997) Economics and Feminism: Disturbances in the Field. New York: Twayne Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alvarez, Sonia E. (1990) Engendering Democracy in Brazil: Women's Movements in Transition Politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alvarez, Sonia E. (1997) “Latin American Feminisms 'Go Global': Trends of the 1990s and Challenges for the New Millennium,” in Sonia E. Alvarez, Evelina Dagnino, and Arturo Escobar, eds., Cultures of Politics/Politics of Cultures: Re-visioning Latin American Social Movements. Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 293-324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arenas de Mesa, Alberto and Verónica Montecinos (1999) “The Privatization of Social Security and Women's Welfare: Gender Effects of the Chilean Reform.” Latin American Research Review, vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 7-37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arriagada, Irma (1998) “The Urban Female Labor Market in Latin America: The Myth and the Reality.” Santiago: ECLAC, Serie Mujer y Desarrollo No. 21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aslanbeigui, Nahid and Gale Summerfield (2000) “The Asian Crisis, Gender, and the International Financial Architecture,” Feminist Economics, vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 81-103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benería, Lourdes (1995) “Towards a Greater Integration of Gender in Economics,” World Development, vol. 23, No. 11, pp. 1839-1850.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benería, Lourdes (1999) “Globalization, Gender and the Davos Man,” Feminist Economics, vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 61-83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Binstock, Hanna (1998) “Towards Equality for Women. Progress in legislation since the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,” Santiago: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Women and Development Unit, Serie Mujer y Desarrollo, No 24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bisanth, Savitri and Diane Elson (2000) “Women's Empowerment Revisited,” UNIFEM, background paper (on line: www.unifem.undp.org/progressww/empower.html).

  • Blondet, Cecilia (1995) “Out of the Kitchen and onto the Streets: Women's Activism in Peru,” in Amrita Basu, ed. Women's Movements in Global Perspective. Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 251-275.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bouvard, Marguerite Guzmán (1994) Revolutionizing Motherhood. The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. Wilmington, Delaware: A Scholarly Resources Inc. Imprint.

    Google Scholar 

  • Camp, Roderic Ai (1998) “Women and Men, Men and Women: Gender Patters in Mexican Politics,” in Victoria E. Rodríguez, ed., Women's Participation in Mexican Political Life. Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 167-178.

    Google Scholar 

  • Centeno, Miguel A. and Patricio Silva (1998) “The Politics of Expertise in Latin America: Introduction,” in Miguel A. Centeno and Patricio Silva, eds., The Politics of Expertise in Latin America. New York: St. Martin's Press, pp. 1-12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colander, David, and Reuven Brenner, eds. (1992) Educating Economists. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Craske, Nikki (1998) “Remasculinization and the Neoliberal State in Latin America,” in Vicky Randall and Georgina Waylen, eds., Gender, Politics and the State. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 100-120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dietz, Mary (1992) “Context is All: Feminism and Theories of Citizenship,” in Chantal Mouffe, ed., Dimensions of Radical Democracy. Pluralism, Citizenship, Community. London: Verso, pp. 63-85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Domíguez, Jorge I. ed. (1997) Technopols. Freeing Politics and Markets in Latin America in the 1990s. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University.

    Google Scholar 

  • ECLAC-UNIFEM (1995) “Programa de acció regional para las mujeres de América Latina y el Caribe, 1995-2001.” Santiago: United Nations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elson, Diane (1994) “Micro, Meso, Macro: Gender and Economic Analysis in the Context of Policy Reform,” in Isabella Bakker, ed., The Strategic Silence. Gender and Economic Policy. London: Zed Book Ltd., pp. 33-45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferber, Marianne A. and Julie A. Nelson (1993) “Introduction: The Social Construction of Economics and the Social Construction of Gender,” in Marianne A. Ferber and Julie A. Nelson, eds., Beyond Economic Man. Feminist Theory and Economics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 1-22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzsimmons, Tracy (1995) “Paradoxes of Participation: Organizations and Democratization in Latin America.” Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University.

  • Fitzsimmons, Tracy (2000) “A Monstrous Regiment of Women? State, Regime, and Women's Political Organizing in Latin America,” Latin American Research Review, vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 216-229.

    Google Scholar 

  • Folbre, Nancy and Heidi Hartmann (1988) “The Rhetoric of Self-interest: Ideology and Gender in Economic Theory,” in Arjo Klamer, Donald N. McCloskey and Robert M. Solow, eds., The Consequences of Economic Rhetoric. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 184-203.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foweraker, Joe (1998) “Ten Theses on Women in the Political Life of Latin America,” in Victoria E. Rodríguez, ed., Women's Participation in Mexican Political Life. Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 63-97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, Elizabeth J. (1998) “Paradoxes of Gendered Political Opportunity in the Venezuelan Transition to Democracy,” Latin American Research Review, vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 87-135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaquette, Jane S. (1989) The Women's Movement in Latin America: Feminism and the Transition to Democracy. Boston: Unwyn Hyman, 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaquette, Jane S. and Sharon L. Wolchik (1998) “Women and Democratization in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe. A Comparative Introduction,” in, J. Jaquette and Sharon Wolchik, eds., Women and Democracy in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 1-28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jelin, Elizabeth (1996) “Women, Gender and Human Rights,” in Elizabeth Jelin and Eric Hershberg, eds., Constructing Democracy. Human Rights, Citizenship, and Society in Latin America. Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 177-196.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jennings, Ann L. (1993) “Public or Private? Institutional Economics and Feminism,” in Marianne A. Ferber and Julie A. Nelson, eds., Beyond Economic Man. Feminist Theory in Economics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 111-129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Korzeniewicz, Roberto Patricio and William C. Smith (2000) “Poverty, Inequality, and Growth in Latin America: Searching for the High Road to Globalization,” Latin American Research Review, vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 7-54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lister, Ruth (1993) “Tracing the Contours of Women's Citizenship,” Policy and Politics, vol. 21, No. 1, pp 3-16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Markoff, John (1999) “Where and When Was Democracy Invented?” Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 660-690.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mendus, Susan (1992) “Losing the Faith. Feminism and Democracy,” in John Dunn, ed., Democracy. The Unfinished Journey: 508 BC to AD 1993. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 207-219.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCloskey, Donald N. (1993) “Some Consequences of a Conjective Economics,” in Marianne Ferber and Julie Nelson, eds., Beyond Economic Man. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 69-93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montecinos, Verónica (1998) “The Symbolic Value of Economists in the Democratization of Chilean Politics,” in Kurt von Mettenheim and James Malloy, eds. Deepening Democracy in Latin America. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, pp. 108-122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montecinos, Verónica and John Markoff (2001) “From the Power of Economic Ideas to the Power of Economists,” in Miguel Angel Centeno and Fernando L´ opez-Alves, eds. The Other Mirror. Grand Theory through the Lens of Latin America. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, pp. 105-150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, Julie (1996) Feminism, Objectivity and Economics. London and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orloff, Ann S. (1993) “Gender and the Social Rights of Citizenship: The Comparative Analysis of Gender Relations and Welfare States,” American Sociological Review, vol. 58, pp. 303-328.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parry, Geraint and Michael Moran (1994) “Introduction: Problems of Democracy and Democratization,” in Geraint Moran and Michael Moran, eds., Democracy and Democratization. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 1-17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pateman, Carole (1989) The Disorder of Women: Democracy, Feminism, and Political Theory. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearson, Ruth (1995) “Bringing It All Back Home: Integrating Training for Gender Specialists and Economic Planners, World Development, vol. 23, No. 11, pp. 1995-1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, Anne (1992) “Must Feminists Give Up on Liberal Democracy?,” Political Studies, vol. 40, pp. 68-82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollack, Molly (1998) “Reflections on the Use of Labour Market Indicators in Designing Policies with a Gender-based Approach.” Santiago: ECLAC, Serie Mujer y Desarrollo No. 19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Razavi, Shahra (2000) “Women in Contemporary Democratization.” Geneva: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. Occasional Paper 4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schild,Verónica (1998) “New Subjects of Rights? Women's Movements and the Construction of Citizenship in the 'New Democracies',” in Sonia E. Alvarez, Evelina Dagnino and Arturo Escobar, eds., Cultures of Politics/Politics of Cultures. Re-visioning Latin American Social Movements. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, pp. 93-117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schild, Verónica (2000) “Engendering the New Social Citizenship in Chile: NGOs and Social Provisioning under Neo-Liberalism,” mimeo.

  • Schmitter, Phillipe (1998) “Contemporary Democratization. The Prospects of Women,” in Jane S. Jaquette and Sharon L. Wolchick, eds., Women and Democracy. Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe.” Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 222-237.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, Gita (2000) “Gender Mainstreaming in Finance Ministries,” World Development, vol. 28, No. 7, pp. 1379-1390.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siim, Birte (2000) Gender and Citizenship. Politics and Agency in France, Britain and Denmark. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smeall, Gratzia Villarroel (2001) “Bolivia. Women's Rights, the International Women's Convention and State Compliance,” in Lynn Walter, ed. Women's Rights. A Global View. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, pp. 15-28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sparr, Pamela (1994) “Feminist Critiques of Structural Adjustment,” in Pamela Sparr, ed., Mortgaging Women's Lives: Feminist Critiques of Structural Adjustment. London: Zed Press, pp. 13-39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Staudt, Kathleen (1998) “Women in Politics: Mexico in Global Perspective,” in Victoria E. Rodríguez, ed. Women's Participation in Mexican Political Life. Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 23-40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sunkel, Osvaldo, ed. (1993) Development fromWithin. Toward a Neostructuralist Approach for Latin America. Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valdés, Teresa (1993) “Movimiento de mujeres y producción de conocimientos,” in Guillermo Briones et al. Usos de la investigación social en Chile. Santiago: FLACSO, pp. 245-299.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valdés, Teresa and Enrique Gomariz, coordinators (1995) Mujeres Latinoamericanas en cifras. Tomo comparativo. Santiago: Instituto de la Mujer and FLACSO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valenzuela, María Elena (1998) “Women and the Democratization Process in Chile,” in J. Jaquette and Sharon Wolchik, eds., Women and Democracy in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 47-74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Voet, Rian (1998) Feminism and Citizenship. London: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vogel, Ursula (1991) “Is Citizenship Gender-Specific?,” in Ursula Vogel and Michael Moran, eds. The Frontiers of Citizenship. New York: St. Martin's Press, pp. 58-85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vogel, Ursula (1998) “The State and the Making of Gender. Some Historical Legacies,” in Vicky Randall and Georgina Waylen, eds. Gender, Politics and the State. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 29-44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waylen, Georgina (1996) Gender in Third World Politics. Buckingham: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waylen, Georgina (1998) “Gender, Feminism and the State. An Overview,” in Vicky Randall and Georgina Waylen, eds., Gender, Politics and the State. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 1-17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, John, ed. (1994) The Political Economy of Policy Reform. Washington D.C.: Institute For International Economics.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Montecinos, V. Feminists and Technocrats in the Democratization of Latin America: A Prolegomenon. International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 15, 175–199 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011180103117

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011180103117

Navigation