Women's Activism and Feminist Agency in Mozambique and Nicaragua

307 Pages·2008·1.78 MB·English

by  Jennifer Leigh Disney

Women’s Activism
and Feminist Agency in
Mozambique and Nicaragua

Women’s Activism
and Feminist Agency
in Mozambique and
Nicaragua
Jennifer Leigh Disney
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Philadelphia
Jennifer Leigh Disney is Associate Professor of Political Science at Winthrop University.

TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1601 North Broad Street
Philadelphia PA 19122
www.temple.edu/tempress
Copyright © 2008 by Temple University
All rights reserved
Published 2008
Printed in the United States of America
Th e paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Disney, Jennifer Leigh, 1971–
Women’s activism and feminist agency in Mozambique and Nicaragua /
Jennifer Leigh Disney.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59213-828-9 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Women political activists—Mozambique. 2. Women political activists—
Nicaragua. 3. Social change—Mozambique. 4. Social change—Nicaragua.
5. Feminist theory—Mozambique. 6. Feminist theory—Nicaragua. I. Title.
HQ1236.5.M85D57 2008
305.4209679—dc22 2008014161
Portions of Chapters 5 and 8 appeared in Disney, Jennifer Leigh,
“Mozambique: Empowering Women Th rough Family Law,” from Women in
African Parliaments, edited by Gretchen Bauer and Hannah Britton, 45–83.
Copyright © 2006 by Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. Used with permission of
the publisher.
Portions of Chapters 5 and 6 appeared in Disney, Jennifer Leigh. “Incomplete
Revolutions: Gendered Participation in Productive and Reproductive Labor
in Mozambique and Nicaragua,” Gender and Globalization: Marxist Feminist
Perspectives, a special edition of Socialism and Democracy 18, no. 1 (Jan–June
2004): 7–42. Used with permission of the journal.
Portions of Chapters 7 and 8 appeared in Disney, Jennifer Leigh.
“Democratization, Civil Society, and Women’s Organizing in
Post-Revolutionary Mozambique and Nicaragua,” New Political Science 25, no.
4 (Dec 2003): 533–560. Used with permission of the journal.
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
Contents
List of Maps and Tables vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
List of Acronyms xvii
1 “Women Must Occupy and Give Th emselves the Place
Th ey Deserve”
Women’s Activism and Feminist Agency in Mozambique and Nicaragua 1
2 “Aft er Acknowledging Diff erences, We Must Also See What
We Have in Common”
Feminist Contestations and Commonalities across First World/
Th ird World, African, and Latin American Divides 20
3 “Doing a Revolution Doesn’t Stop You from Being Machista”
Th e Birth of Revolutionary Women’s Organizations and the Limits
of Marxism-Leninism in Mozambique and Nicaragua 46
4 “Women Are Not Cows—We Are Active Agents of History”
Autonomy Struggles Emerge in Mozambique and Nicaragua 85
5 “Th e Oppressed Woman Is Easier to Deal With”
Political Participation, Legal Reforms, and Cultural Constraints
in Mozambique and Nicaragua 115
vi / Contents
6 “I Can Do Anything a Man Can Do”
Military Participation, Economic Production, and Women’s Emancipation
in Mozambique and Nicaragua 142
7 “Th ere Are No Alternatives: Is Th is Really Democracy?”
Democratization and Civil Society in Mozambique and Nicaragua 173
8 “Partners in the Home, at Work, and on the Street”
Th e Contemporary Women’s Movements and Emergent Feminisms
in Mozambique and Nicaragua 196
Appendix 227
Notes 235
Bibliography 259
Index 275
List of Maps and Tables
MAPS
1 Country Map of Mozambique xx
2 Country Map of Nicaragua xxi
TABLES
1.1 Basic Poverty and Development Indicators in Mozambique
and Nicaragua 7
1.2 Selected 2007/2008 UN Development Programme Human and
Gender Development Report Indicators 8
5.1 Percentage of Women’s Representation in Assemblies in
Mozambique, 1977 117
5.2 Percentage of Women’s Representation in Frelimo, 1999 117
5.3 Women’s Representation as Ministers and Vice Ministers in
Mozambique, 1999 and 2005 118
5.4 Percentage of Women’s Representation of FSLN Members of
Parliament, 1980–2006 120
5.5 Percentage Women MPs in Nicaragua, 1984–2006 120
6.1 Agricultural Holdings in Nicaragua (%), 1990–1992 153
6.2 GDP Composition and Labor Force Participation by Sector, 2007 155
viii / List of Maps and Tables
6.3 Distribution of Work Time by Gender and Age in Urban and Rural
Sectors at the National Level in Productive and Reproductive Spaces
(Structural Percentage) in Nicaragua, 1997 159
6.4 Time Allocation of One Day in the Life of a Rural Woman in
Nicaragua, 1981 160
Preface
W
hat is new about women’s organizations and women’s gender
interests within socialist revolutionary movements being
subsumed by and deemed secondary to male revolutionary
leaders and class analysis? Unfortunately, not much. But for scholar-ac-
tivists trying to understand what has gone wrong in contemporary eman-
cipatory struggles for social change, a detailed account of the theories
and practices of such struggles from the perspectives of the women and
men directly involved, with all the contradictions, assertions, triumphs,
and unintended consequences contained therein, provides not only a
tribute to and recognition of those who have struggled before, but also a
roadmap of what to adopt and what to try to avoid for future social justice
theorizing and organizing. Too oft en, scholars working within a “First
World” context work from the presumption that citizens of the “Th ird
World” are “practitioners,” while theory is reserved for “First World”
academicians. What motivated me to take this project on was the belief
that the theories and practices of Th ird World women have a lot to teach
to First World feminist theorists and social justice scholars and activists.
What propelled me to fi nish this project were the amazing women I met
and the compelling and courageous stories they told me. It is to them and
for them that I dedicate this book, for the richness of my work lies in the
voices of the women and men who shared their lives with me, and it is for
them and their struggles that I rely so heavily on their personal accounts
and hope to do their stories justice.