scholarly journals Women in Uruguayan Communism: Contradictions and Ambiguities, 1920s–1960s

2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 643-672
Author(s):  
GERARDO LEIBNER

AbstractThis article examines the dynamics of women's participation in the Communist Party of Uruguay (PCU) from the 1920s to the 1960s. Despite its commitment to women's emancipation and to equality between men and women, the PCU's attitudes towards gender equality were often contradictory and its messages were ambiguous. Though it promoted women's participation, the Party oscillated between seeking to overcome social prejudices, upholding principled and dogmatic positions, and accommodating the conservative habits prevalent among the working class. Women were encouraged to take part in activities but not to assume leadership positions. The 1960s, ironically a period characterised by openness and political success, was a decade of regression in gender equality that stood in contrast to the Uruguayan Communists' long trajectory concerning women's rights.

2019 ◽  
Vol 117 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-180
Author(s):  
Katherine Keirs

The confluence of social and political forces during the Menzies era stalled the progress of wage justice for women workers until the end of the 1960s. Nevertheless, women’s organisations and the progressive trade union movement advocated equal pay for the sexes throughout this period. This article examines the contribution of the Union of Australian Women (UAW), which represented the interests of working-class women, to the campaign for equal pay from 1950 to 1966. It discusses the ways in which the mixture of women’s culturally accepted domestic roles and widespread anti-communism muted enthusiasm for the UAW’s message. The article argues, however, that the UAW made an effective contribution to keeping equal pay in the public consciousness, redressing the inattention to working-class women’s role in their economic emancipation.


Author(s):  
Joan Marie Johnson

Wealthy women’s understanding of financial independence and sisterhood are themes that are crucial to the ideas of women wealthy throughout the book. The Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL) largely failed to effectively develop a cross-class coalition of wealthy women and labor women. By studying the WTUL in comparison to Grace Dodge’s working girls clubs and YWCA work, and the support of wealthy women for the 1909 Shirtwaist Strike, the chapter explores why many wealthy women sought gender equality. Their interactions with working-class women and their desire to control their own finances drove them to link financial independence with political equality. When the wealthy held the purse strings, cross-class cooperation, while potentially empowering to laboring women, was also a potent source of conflict. Working women resented the fact that Margaret Dreier Robins and Mary Dreier dominated the funding for the WTUL and insisted on having their way, despite the sisters’ deep commitment to feminism and their professed desire for cross-class coalition.


2021 ◽  
pp. 187-202
Author(s):  
Katie Lauve-Moon

This concluding chapter demonstrates the concept of the stained-glass labyrinth by providing an overview of gendered barriers identified in each chapter and ways different types of gendered organizational processes reinforce normative gender structure both within these organizations and in broader society. It illustrates how gendered processes on the individual, interactional, organizational, and societal levels are mutually reinforcing in ways that result in unequal outcomes between men and women. In particular, this chapter illustrates how normative gender structure within CBF congregations presents barriers for women pastors in these contexts thereby reinforcing their underrepresentation in leadership positions. Finally, this chapter reiterates previous chapters by emphasizing organizational (structural) change. Instead of exclusively expecting women pastors to adopt strategies to maneuver better through organizational gendered barriers and resist sexism, this work calls on organizations to change the gender structure itself so that women no longer have to clear unequal and sizeable hurdles on their paths to pastoral positions and in their positions as pastors. For it is only through structural change that gender equality can be fully realized.


2019 ◽  
pp. 77-98
Author(s):  
Ashwin Desai ◽  
Goolam Vahed

In this chapter, we delve into the lives of working class women, many of whom obtained jobs in the clothing and textile industry from the 1960s, and whose incomes were crucial for upward mobility. It reveals how they negotiate life in an environment of extended families and patriarchal relations and how paid work offered them freedoms from the strictures of home life. Of particular relevance is showing how post 1990 the opening of the economy to cheap imports affected the lives of working class women and in turn, what consequences this had for Indian family life.


1977 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Peterson

Working—Class women in the Weimar Republic faced a complex and disorienting political situation. The revolutionary government granted women the right to vote in November 1918, but then ousted many women from their wartime jobs with the assistance of the trade unions and factory councils. The growing radicalism of working women during the latter phases of the First World War, marked especially by heavy female participation in the general strike of January 1918 in the munitions industry, was checked by the expulsion of women from exactly those sectors of employment which were most conducive to radicalism, the large plants in the metal industry. In other sectors, however, there was a large expansion of union membership among women during there volutionary period from November 1918 until May 1919, and many women in light industry and rural areas simultaneously joined unions and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Urban women working in large plants who might have supported the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD) or the Communist Party (KPD) were fired to make room for returning war veterans, and this led to an eclipse of female radicalism from 1919 until 1923. The inflation of 1923 again activated many women who were attracted to the Communist Party by its neighborhood price control committees, and women took an active part in pressuring food shops to keep prices down and joined in plundering shops or stealing from the fields of landlords and peasants when hunger left them no alternative. The economic chaos of 1923 pushed even women in light industry to the left, and textile workers in Berlin, Saxony, and Thuringia gave the Communists a majority in union elections.


Author(s):  
Kristen P. Williams

The traditional/mainstream international relations (IR) study of foreign policy has primarily focused on state behavior in the international system, examining factors such as the influence of decision-makers’ attitudes and beliefs, regime type, domestic political actors, civil society, norms, culture, and so forth on foreign policy. Much of this research has neglected to address women and gender in the context of studying foreign policy actors, decisions, and outcomes. Given that women are increasingly gaining access to the political process in terms of both formal government positions and informal political activism, and recognition by the international community of women’s roles in peace and war, feminist international relations (IR) scholars have challenged the assumptions and research focus of mainstream IR, including the study of foreign policy. Feminist international relations (IR) scholars have shown that countries with greater gender equality have foreign policies that are less belligerent. How do we account for foreign policies that are explicitly focused on women’s empowerment and gender equality? The main questions motivating the research on feminism in foreign policy are as follows. Is there a gender gap between men and women in terms of foreign policy? If so, what explains the gender gap? Research shows that the evidence is mixed—for example, men and women often agree on foreign policy goals and objectives, but sometimes differ on what actions to take to achieve those goals, primarily whether to use force. In considering where the women are in foreign policy, scholars examine women’s representation and participation in government, as gender equality is related to women’s representation and participation. While an increasing number of women have entered formal politics, whether as heads of state/government, cabinet and ministerial positions, and ambassadorships, for example, women remain underrepresented. The question also arises as to whether and how women’s participation and representation (descriptive and substantive representation) impact foreign policy. Does increased women’s participation and representation lead to a foreign policy focused on “women’s issues” and gender equality? Is a critical mass of women necessary for policies that promote gender equality and women’s empowerment? Finally, what does it mean to have a feminist foreign policy?


Author(s):  
Terri R. Lituchy ◽  
Bella L. Galperin ◽  
Lemayon Melyoki ◽  
Thomas Senaji ◽  
Betty Jane Punnett

This chapter considers African women's participation in leadership and their views on effective leadership. The literature suggests that African women remain underrepresented in leadership roles, although participation rates are increasing. African women are well represented as entrepreneurs, in the less profitable informal sector, and are increasingly found in political spheres. The LEAD research shows men and women holding similar views regarding effective leadership. Preliminary results suggest that traditional views about leadership, which held women back, may be changing. This is a positive development, as society will benefit from the leadership skills of women. Efforts by African governments to mandate percentages of women in leadership positions may have an effect on government as well as business. Africa, however, is a large continent with parts of its population residing in rural areas where traditions continue. Consequently, more research is needed to understand developments regarding the involvement of women in leadership to inform policy and influence practice.


Author(s):  
Farah Jabbouri

This research intends to study the influence of female empowerment on leadership effectiveness in the UNDP Lebanon. It was once believed that men were the only ones that could fill positions of power and leadership. Even nowadays, women still face great difficulties while obtaining the positions of power in their career and suffer from inequality at work. This study will be looking at the impact of women empowerment and its influence on fulfilling work outcomes and meeting organizational objectives as well as proving that gender equality is the basis of empowerment. The research utilizes mixed methods for conducting interviews and sending online anonymous questionnaires. The results of the interviews show that the UNDP strongly encourages female applicants to apply to power and leadership positions. Upon conducting the study, the distribution of jobs among men and women at the UNDP was shown to be equitable. 52% of the employees are female and 48% are male. Furthermore, the findings show that 50% of the employees that filled the questionnaire have female managers. The online questionnaire shows that the staff are satisfied with the empowerment initiatives at the UNDP and that both men and women are empowered equally.


Author(s):  
Rebecca Tuuri

This chapter explores the first three decades of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). In 1935, educator, clubwoman, and politician Mary McLeod Bethune founded the NCNW as an organization of black women's organizations to create a united lobbying voice. By utilizing a strategy of broker politics, the NCNW opened up professional opportunities for black women and lobbied for civil rights legislation. NCNW women also enforced strict standards of respectability as they sought such power. While the NCNW claimed to speak on behalf of all black women, a majority of its membership came from black sororities. This college-based membership, as well as the council's focus on black professionalization, meant that many working class women viewed the organization as elitist and uninterested in their concerns. However, beginning in the mid 1950s and continuing through the 1960s, the NCNW became more significantly involved in civil rights and the needs of the poor.


Author(s):  
Penda Choppy

Seychellois society is generally perceived to be matrifocal. This is because women’s influence is considered all pervasive, from the family unit to church and political activities and public service institutions. Since its social revolution in the last quarter of the 20th century, Seychelles has been considered very avant-garde in its promotion of women in responsible positions. It is important to note, however, that though this promotion of women has not specifically targeted any social class, it is working-class women who have benefited the most from it. In the first place, the working class in Seychelles has always been a much larger majority. The landowning and merchant class have, since the early settlement period and throughout colonial history, been restricted to a few but very influential people. Thus, though women in these classes have also benefited from social reform and emancipation, it has not been the norm to assess changes within their ranks simply because their numbers are negligible compared to the working class. Second, social reform in Seychelles was led by a socialist government, which emphasized a classless society, with the intention of leveling the field for working-class people. Thus, women’s emancipation has almost always been seen from a working-class perspective. If there is an economic middle class in 21st-century Seychelles, it has emerged from the working class. Thus, this article tends to focus on the working class. It is also important to note that a result of women’s emancipation and accession to prominent positions in government and middle management has been the perceived tendency to emphasize the failures of the male population. With no less than ten women’s associations in existence and the current global push for promoting women’s causes, Seychellois men have begun to feel marginalized and have formed their own associations to promote their cause and image. However, the matrifocal nature of Seychellois society might indeed be just a perception. In effect, men still hold the top positions in key domains of power such as the Cabinet and Parliament. Women ministers are often perceived as having been promoted through the benevolence of a male presidency. In fact, there is a certain amount of gender power conflict in Seychelles, which might result from (a) the clashing of patriarchal and matriarchal systems imposed by colonialism, (b) male subjugation and female exploitation during and after slavery, and (c) female emancipation during the socialist era.


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