Fischman 2007

Fischman, Gustavo E. 2007. "Persistence and ruptures: The feminization of teaching and teacher education in Argentina." Gender and Education 19.3: 353-368.

 

 

 

• Apostles and second mothers
• normal schools, when they were set up, were dominated by women, both as teachers and students (353-354)
• paradigmatic images of teachers were mothers and/or lay missionaries devoting their lives to the (social and religious) reproduction of students (354-356)
• teachers were seen as similar to middle class ousewives (355)
• this idea of teachers as second mothers and the dominant position of normal schools persisted until the military dictatorship in the 1960s (356)
• reform under the dictatorship actually raised training for teachers, made the normal schools on level with tertiary education, but reinforced the feminization of teaching (356-8)
• male experst produced lessons, women taught them, men were always higher administrators (357)
• but lack of university degree meant teachers were still seen as semi-professionals, not professionals (358)
• democracy again
• schools and teachers were supposed to play an important role in the refoundation of democracy, but economic crisis pushed education spending and reform to the back burner (359)
• 1988: seven small strikes eventually become one 47 day strike for better wages and conditions (359)
• but print opinion turned against them, and they lost hte strike
• enrollment in teacher education programs nationwide dropped, and CABA saw an approx 40% drop (Braslavsky and Birgin 1995)
•  of course, open enrollment in universities and massive drop in teachers' salaries also happened at same time...
• Menem signed law that demanded all teachers have a university degree (360)
• "Yet it is fair to say that the old representation of teachers as enlightened and heroic figures was replaced by depictions of educators as bureaucratic and mediocre (361)
• teachers salaries still low, normal schools start complaining theat there students are increasingly coming from the poorer segments of society (362)
• strike in May 1997, government and media suggest teachers are betraying their students by not working (362)
• images of teachers as a second mother were invoked, part of expectations of (some of ) the public
• conclusion
• women are in positions of leadership in the ministry of education, unions, and research centers (363)
• calls women in education a zone of "equality' because women make up such an important part of the system (363)
• motherhood is still a strong image in edcuation, but Madres de Plaza de Mayo and Evita at least make this a complicated identity, one that can be politically strong (364)
• composite image is a person who teaches and serves out of a sense of altruism (365)
• 
  

 

 

Lopreite 2014

not yet published, politics of reproductive rights

• Introduction
• variation in domestic policy re: reproductive rights in Arg, Mex (1)
• both are federal countries with subnational mobilization on these issues
• looks at role of women legislators and political parties in understanding success of gender legislation (2)
• separates contraception and abortion, as they engender different responses (3)
• Explaining Legislative outcomes
• would expect:
• number of women in legislature to increase bills on women's issues
•  party ideology and fragmentation will also come into play: strong ideology drives legislators, fragmentation suggests parties will be less liekly to take a stand on the issue (4)
• National level politics in favor of women's reproductive rights was bleak with Menem, Fox (4-5)
• In Mexico, PRD control of DF meant that DF allowed contraception and abortion (6)
• this resulted in conservative backlash in other parts of the country
• ability of states to create own penal code allowed for political opportunities in both directions (7)
• Starting with Duhalde, women legislators in Argentina able to get federal government ot OK contraception rights (8)
• Women in Congress and Preferences toward Reproductive Rights
• Lots of Women in Arg parliament (9)
• Mexico doesn't follow quotas well (11)
• Political parties fragmentation in Argentina means parties don't take strong stand, women able to form cross-party coalitions (11-12)
• Conclusions:
• number of women in legislature was not a determining factor for policy success (13)
• party ideology was key
• 
  

Bandy and Bickham Mendez 2006

“A Place of Their Own? Women Organizers in the Maquilas of Nicaragua and Mexico”, Joe Bandy and Jennifer Bickham Mendez, pp 131-144

in Johnston, Hank, and Paul Almeida, eds. 2006. Latin American social movements: globalization, democratization, and transnational networks. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield.

• Authors examine the opportunities and obstacles that women workers’ movements have faced, specifically surrounding gender differences, as the seek social change via national and transnational coalitions (132)
• EPZs in Nicaragua and Mexico
• important to see power relations between women and male-dominated labor unions and NGOs
• US-Mexico border
• Women labor activists act as brokers between communities and workplaces, local and national organizations (133)
• the strategy here has evolved in four steps (134)
• 1st: get codes of conduct
• 2nd litigation
• third, use international institutions (NAFTA NAO) (134-135)
• 4th, direct action and unionization, because last three weren’t effective enough (135)
• but women find they have had to struggle to voice their perspectives and gendered critiques (135)
• community-based concerns, which are noted alongside/as gendered concerns (by the authors), have been ignored/not been engaged fully by male-dominated labor organizations (135-136)
• WHY?
• unions have taken the lead on many cross-border collaborations
• not uncommon to see union tendencies lean towards bravado, machismo, gendered divisions of labor activism, and resentment of women’s public voice (136)
• females activists have found it difficult to work their way up hierarchical and/or less participatory forms of organization, especially as they privilege shopfloor interests over community interests
• unions tend toward strikes and litigation, which are more masculine forms of confrontation (137)
• men more willing to confront since they are less threatened by physical and sexual coercion
• therefore unions seek out militant factories, which tend to be more male workers
• Nicaragua
• Central Sandinista de Trabajadores (CST), main labor union, started women’s programs in 1992 (137)
• BUT male leadership of CST limited gendered demands (137), women actively prevented from attaining leadership roles (138)
• some women left, formed the Maria Elena Cuadra, an organization by and for women
• MEC has turned away from unionization and strikes
• focuses more on political lobbying and public awareness
• has created regional connections with Central American Network of Women in Solidarity with Maquila Workers, and is sustained by its financial support
• focused on a campaign to get a code of ethics for maquilas
• don’t want maquilas to leave, just want them to be better places to work (138-139)
• BUT MEC has faced a lot of obstacles
• other organizations not excited about expanding their work outside labor/workplace specific issues (139)
• also, MEC adamantly refuses to join boycotts, fearing the loss of jobs (140)...self-limiting radicalism (Cohen and Arato 1992)
• “we are asking for the minimum.  We aren’t even questioning the exploitation of workers”
• MEC active in late 1990s, early 2000s, in more recent years has been less active combatting employers, some MEC activists have returned to labor movement (141)
• A Place of the Own, Global-Local Resistance
• women in both regions have struggle for accountability, but have also sought to maintain the empowering aspects of new political opportunities (141)
• public attention has fixed some issues in both places (142)
• BUT women have discovered that labor movement is highly gendered at evey level
• Conclusion
• as transnational social movements resist global inequality, they also face an awkward negotiation between their own unequal structures
• if civil societies weaken the position of diverse stakeholders they only succeed in mobilizing activists, and limiting the possibility for a more inclusive, democratic alternative to neoliberalism (144)