THE REASONS FOR WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN UPRISING BATTLES- GUERILLA IN LATIN AMERICA

• Authors: Sniadecka-Kotarska M.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The authoress presents the study of the participation and role of women in the guerilla movements in Latin America. The study spans the period between the second half of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century. The problem of the women's contribution to the guerilla wars has been hardly ignored by now, still it is really worth our interest, and for many reasons. One of them is the high social basis of women in the groups ( 30%-40%) in all those countries where the rebel movements took place. Another refers to the motivations of the women who, first of all, decided to join the guerilla groups in order to change the asymmetric male-female relationships based on discrimination of women. The comparative analysis of the role of women included two areas: the Carribean-Mezzoamerican (Cuba, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico) and the Andean (Columbia, Peru). It was in those countries that the guerilla wars lasted for various periods of time, ranging from 3 to 40 years. No matter how long the war lasted, women were always present in the groups, the number of which ranged from a few to over a dozen in particular countries. There are three categories of issues the authoress deals with: In the first one she juxtaposes and compares the areas and duration of the guerilla wars as well as social status, ethno-racial identity and age of the women fighters. Next, she discusses the promises of the guerilla ideologists, theoretical and vague in fact, which were intended to attract women to the combat, and the more matter-of-fact motivation of the women themselves. In the second part the participation of women is presented: kind of training the women had to go through, kind of battles and other tasks they were assigned to, their chances for promotion, functions they fulfilled, their successes and failures. Next category of issues concern changing male-female relationships within the guerilla groups, the personal relationships of the fighting women, their revolutionary marriages, but also the problem of abortion and contraception. In the conclusion the authoress points at the variety of the women's participation in the guerilla in particular countries depending on how the war ended, whether it was won or lost, ended with compromise or is still lasting. But there is something that all those situations have in common. In spite of the long-lasting commitment and sacrifice, in spite of the fact that the efforts of men and women were equal, the women haven't managed to take advantage of those experiences and to transfer the more egalitarian relationships of the guerilla groups into civilian life. Women who used to be fighting revolutionaries, now don't know how to join, like their male fellow-fighters, into legal political structures and to vie for positions in professional, social and cultural life. After years of fighting, irrespective for their courage and how well they had deserved of the cause, later they returned to the traditional women's roles again-those of women-mothers, the souls of home (alma de casa).

Keywords

EN

GENDER STUDIES; LATIN AMERICA; UPRISINGS

Discipline

• ETHNOLOGY: ETHNOLOGY

• Publisher: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Etnografia Polska
• Year: 2004
• Volume: 48
• Issue: 1-2
• Pages: 177-195
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Sniadecka-Kotarska M.

• M. Sniadecka-Kotarska, ul. Majowa 20, 92-724 Lodz, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

04PLAAAA0008217