WOMEN IN REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS: LATIN AMERICAN GUERRILLA STRUGGLE

CHANGING

PATTERNS

OF

Linda M. Lobao In this study I will examine the patterns of women's participation in the guerrilla struggles of Latin American revolutionary movements. Women's participation in such struggles has long been overlooked. Analyses of Latin American women's political behavior tend to be directed to conventional political processes, such as voting and office holding, reflecting gender bias, as well as the ethnocentricity of North American researchers. 1 In the literature on guerrilla warfare, armed struggle is generally regarded as an exclusively male political behavior. 2 In actuality, Latin American women have participated in guerrilla movements, though not in extensive numbers until recently. 3 With the influx of women into the Nicaraguan, Salvadoran, and Guatemalan movements, analysts have been forced to acknowledge and reconsider women's contributions to armed struggles. Guerrillas are members of political organizations operating in both rural and urban areas and using armed warfare for the purpose of changing societal structure. 4 According to Che Guevara, s the distinguishing feature of guerrilla warfare, as opposed to regular warfare employed by large armies, is that guerrillas possess "a much smaller number of arms for use in defense against oppression." Rather than outfighting government forces, guerrillas concentrate on breaking down the legitimacy of the regime and morally isolating it from popular support. 6 Latin American nations have occupied historically dependent positions in the world capitalist system. As a result, past revolutionary struggles have been directed at colonial regimes, as well as those of internal political elites that have risen out of each nation's specific pattern of dependency.7 I will address the following questions about the nature of women's participation in guerrilla struggles, s First, what factors affect Latin Dialectical Anthropology, 15:211-232, 1990. 9 1990Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

American women's participation as compared to men's? Second, how does class affect women's ability to participate? Finally, what roles in the division of labor are g u e r r i l l e r a s most likely to perform? Patterns of women's participation are delineated in light of these questions. Movements in five nations are then examined to show variations in these patterns. FACTORS AFFECTING WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION

Barriers to Women's I n v o l v e m e n t I. The S t r u c t u r a l l y S u b o r d i n a t e P o s i t i o n of Latin A m e r i c a n W o m e n and the Ideology of P a t r i a r c h y Latin American women participate in nearly

all non-domestic spheres of national life to a lesser extent than men. 9 This widely documented generalization stems from their structurally subordinate position and suggests why women should be expected to participate less frequently than men in guerrilla movements. Recent Marxian and feminist theorists have compellingly argued that the sphere of reproduction must be taken into account in order to describe women's roles, women's relegation to domestic activities, and the historical subordination of women. TM Women, primarily, direct the reproductive activities of the household which are necessary for the reproduction of labor power. Such activities include childbearing, socialization of children, and the care of family members. Women are thus first located in the private sphere of the home as a result of the sexual division of labor, while men are first located in the public sphere outside the home. u The sexual division of labor builds upon women's subordination in the sphere of

212 reproduction. 12 Women are socialized not to perform, or to become expert at, tasks which are incompatible with their reproductive roles. This facilitates the channeling of women into lower status "feminine" jobs, where they do not compete with men. Further, in the occupational sphere, as well as in all areas of social organization, the energy, time, and freedom of movement available to most women is greatly limited by their role in reproductive activities. ~ Most men do not face the double burden of participating in nondomestic areas while taking responsibility for the domestic area. Women's role in reproductive activities thus constitutes a major barrier toward their involvement in nondomestic political action such as guerrilla struggle. In Latin America, patriarchal attitudes both reflect and reinforce the subordination of women and their relegation to the domestic sphere. These attitudes, which represent "ideal" configurations held by both men and women, are summarized by Schmidt: 14 (1) The sexual division of labor reflects natural differences between men and women.

(2) Women's identity comes through their relationship with men. (3) Women achieve their highest fulfillment as wives and mothers.

(4) Women are childlike. (5) Women are apolitical.

Patriarchal attitudes operate most profoundly at the familial level and are relatively consistent across class lines. Is The patriarchal model of Latin American family structure is characterized by male control over most activities related to the outside world (calle). 16 Within the domestic sphere (casa), however, women maintain considerable control through their acknowledged expertise in child rearing and discipline and other household activitiesfi 7 Traditional patriarchal models of family structure and of feminine behavior are undermined by cases of women who head households or are professionals in charge of men. However, at the national level, the formal pattern of male dominance still prevails. The

legal status of women in most Latin American civil codes is based upon patria potesta, the patriarchal right of the father to control his family. Women are legally "equated with idiots and children. "is Occupational and educational statistics reveal men's predominance in public activities. In twelve Latin American nations for which data are available, an average of only 18.7 percent of women were reported as active in the labor force, as compared to 51.8 percent of men. 19 ILO employs censuses and surveys from government and other sources in compiling these data. Criteria used to define economic activity may differ from country to country. In particular, low status, informal sector employment such as household service and agricultural work, parttime and seasonal employment, unpaid family labor, and petty commerce and home production, tend to be underestimated or unreported by government sources. 2~ Statistics on Latin American women's labor force participation is generally higher than official statistics reveal. Educational attainment is also much lower for women than men. Female illiteracy surpasses male rates in all Latin American nations. 21 Educational differences become narrower, however, at higher levels, and, hence, higher socioeconomic statuses are attained. Women represent from 24 to 47 percent of students enrolled in higher education [for which such data were recorded] and from 23 to 50 percent of university graduates in Latin American nations. 22 As in education and the work force, women participate less in conventional political activities, z~ Stacey and Price ~ report that in 1975 the percent of women in Latin American legislatures ranged from none in Panama to 8 percent in Mexico. Even women holding public office have limited commitment to political involvement. Only 20 percent of 167 female politicians interviewed in Chile and Peru had ambitions for a political or bureaucratic career, and the majority expressed no desire to remain in public office beyond their current appointment. 2s Women also tend to vote less frequently than men. ~

213 Conventional politics, however, is limited as an indicator of feminine political participation in Latin America. First, the majority of women did not gain suffrage until after World War II, 27 and legal entry of a new group into an electorate has historically been associated with abnormally low voter turnout. 2s Secondly, abstention from conventional politics may be regarded as a political act in Latin America, a refusal to participate in a system that represents only privileged minorities. 29 Finally, much political behavior in Latin America occurs outside the formal political process. While women have only recently participated in large numbers in the "public sphere" of revolution and protest, they have constantly influenced politics through their position in kinship networks and their political socialization of children.3~ The assumption that Latin American women are more politically conservative than men has been challenged by a number of researchers.31 An Argentine study, for example, found males more likely to support parties of the far right. 32 Women, however, may be "less radical rather than more conservative" than males on certain issues, particularly those involving the family.33 As Jaquette 34 notes, because the Latin American family is an effective institution of social control, it has been attacked by radical movements supporting social change. Women may oppose such movements because they have a stake in maintaining the family as a strong institution. Conservative groups have also tried to gain women's support by portraying the left as antithetical to the family.3s Middle and upper class women in Chile, for example, attempted to tie support for the family to opposition to the Allende government. The right-wing Chilean women who composed "El Poder Feminino" staged massive propaganda campaigns to convince other women of the "dangers" of Marxism. Right-wing Brazilian women similarly aided in the overthrow of Joao Goulart by raising a fictitious threat to the family.3~ That these deliberately misinformative campaigns successfully contributed to the downfall of Allende and Goulart indicates that revolutionary movements remain vulnerable to feminine attack unless they skillfully deal with the potential

ideological contradiction of support for the family, coupled with an agenda for social change. In sum, the structural constraints of women's reproductive activities and the traditional ideological constraints (patriarchal attitudes) which define women's roles are major barriers to their participation in guerrilla struggle. Correlatively, women may oppose movements which are perceived as incompatible with their concerns or as offering no guarantee that their personal power base, the family, will remain intact. FACTORS

THAT FACILITATE

WOMEN'S INVOLVEMENT While women confront greater barriers than men in participating in armed struggle, several factors can be delineated as specifically contributing to women's involvement.

I. The Historical Location of the Movement: C h a n g i n g P a t t e r n s of Struggle and Ideological Influence The nature of revolutionary struggle in Latin America has undergone a number of changes, particularly since the early 1970s, which have encouraged women's involvement.37 Prior to this period, revolutionary struggle tended to follow the "foquista model"3$--a small group of revolutionaries relying on military action--in contrast to the gradual establishment of mass-based political organization, formed the center of struggle.39 The failure of Che Guevara in Bolivia and of "foquismo" throughout Latin America and the decimation of movements in Brazil (1969-1971) and other nations pointed to the increased necessity for popular support in the face of greater repression from the right. While subjective and objective conditions must be ripe for revolution, the guerrilla organization itself must be linked to the population. To the extent these links have been absent in Latin American movements, there has been an increased likelihood of failure. 4~ The mobilization of women serves to ground movements in more extensive popular support. As Chinchilla notes, 41 women's participation is in line with the conception of

214 "prolonged people's war" (gradual organization of all mass sectors under a variety of organizational forms and tactics, as inspired by the Vietnamese), which has been adopted as current revolutionary strategy in Central America. There is also the related danger that if guerrilla movements fail to politicize women, progovernment parties may attempt to co-opt feminine support. Chaney42 has noted that Latin American politicians have historically viewed woman as "electoral capital," to be mobilized "in the case of emergencies." The mobilization of women against Allende and Goulart may be reminders to more recent guerrilla groups that conservative forces will likewise recruit women, given the opportunity. Thus, depending on specific historical conditions, some groups have realized the need to mobilize women. Another factor that has facilitated women's participation is the increasing awareness of feminist issues and their implications for class struggle in Latin America.4a While the relationship between class and gender has been explored since the time of Marx, the women's liberation movements beginning in the late 1960s, primarily in advanced capitalist nations, sensitized activists to feminist issues. 44 Submission to patriarchal attitudes reinforces acceptance of the capitalist division of labor and the class structure upon which it rests. The subjugation of women has historically been responsible for their low levels of class consciousness and resistance to political development.4s As Molyneux notes, ~ the Latin American left might very well have unequivocally denounced "feminism" as "counterrevolutionary diversion." Instead, from the 1970s onward, the "problems of gender oppression" were increasingly integrated with those of class oppression in leftist ideology. 47 Women were to be mobilized on two fronts: as members of the working class, and on behalf of their own crossclass liberation. 4s The influence of women's liberation movements in the developed nations was not only diffused to the socialist left, but also to emergent feminist movements in nations such as Mexico, Peru, and Brazil 49 and to the mass media, s~ Thus, while male dominance still "limits women in all situations, in all social classes,"

there has been an increasing popular sensitivity to women's issues in Latin America.sl In sum, changes in the political nature of guerrilla struggle and the diffusion of feminist thought have encouraged more recent guerrilla movements to recruit women, coincident with Latin American women becoming increasingly receptive to the need for their own liberation. Later guerrilla movements have also been able to profit from the examples of women's involvement in earlier ones in Latin America, as well as in Vietnam, Angola, and Mozambique.s2 These examples and, particularly, the postrevolutionary incorporation of Cuban women into production and politics vis-a-vis the attack on the "second shift" (the divisions of labor in household work) could guide later movements in their policies toward women,s3

II. S o c i a l S t r u c t u r a l C h a r a c t e r i s t i c s R e l a t e d to W o m e n ' s R o l e s Women's responsibility for the reproductive activities of the household limits the time and scope of their involvement outside the home. However, the centrality of these roles to women's lives can also provide a basis for political action. Changing socioeconomic and political conditions related to family survival have impinged on women's roles and served to mobilize women. For example, women's beliefs that government policies hampered family sustenance fostered their militancy and progressive political consciousness in early nineteenth century Barcelona. s4 Flora ss reports that neighborhood associations established by Brazilian working class women "stemmed from the immediate needs of reproduction of the labor force their day to day needs as housewives and mothers." These associations, initially focused on day care, helped women gain organizational and tactical experience that later facilitated their involvement in broader political issues. Chinchillas6 describes how the politically repressive Somoza regime impelled Nicaraguan women's mobilization because it undermined their roles as nurturers and family protectors. As industrialization increases, greater numbers of women move into the paid labor

215 force. This increases their contact with individuals and issues outside the family, which in turn increases their potential for mobilization. Chafetz and Dworkins7 note that when large numbers of married women enter the labor force, they begin to see employment as important and permanent, and to compare their labor force experiences with those of men. It is at this point that large-scale women's movements with feminist ideology have great potential for development. A large number of households in Central American nations are dependent upon female bread winners because of high male unemployment and underemployment and males' involvement in migrant agricultural work.ss When women have major responsibility for both domestic and nondomestic aspects of family survival and perceive the government as threatening, they may participate in revolutionary movements, especially if such movements are seen as facilitating these joint roles of mother and wage earner, s9

III. Organizational Characteristics The historical location of the revolutionary struggle and social-structural factors related to women's roles present opportunities and rationales for guerrilla movements to recruit women. Internal organizational characteristics, such as the way in which revolutionary goals are formulated, and male-female relationships within guerrilla groups, can also foster women's participation. 6~ The issues involved in revolutionary struggle---such as economic policy, political representation, and foreign hegemony--are clearly of major importance in motivating both men and women. Goals specifically directed to women's concerns, however, should increase their motivation to participate beyond these initial levels. Molyneux61 defines two major waysmstrategic and practical--in which women's interests may be articulated by organizations seeking feminine support. Strategic gender interests are derived "from the analysis of women's subordination and from the formulation of an alternative, more satisfactory set of arrangements to those which exist. ''62 These involve long-term, essentially

feminist objectives of ending women's subordination, such as abolishing the sexual division of labor, institutionalized forms of gender discrimination, and male control over women. Practical gender interests "arise from the concrete conditions of women's positioning within the gender division of labor. ''63 These interests usually develop in response to an immediate need, such as for domestic provision and public welfare, and "do not generally entail a strategic goal such as women's emancipation or gender equality. '~4 Practical gender interests are closely intertwined with class, as economic necessity impacts poorer women. Molyneux6s notes that before most women will support movements advocating strategic gender interests, they must first perceive such movements as dealing with their basic, short-term, practical interests. Revolutionary groups that seek the mass support of women thus need to develop platforms with such issues in mind. To the extent that the Latin American left has not developed a compatible social change family agenda, it has lost women's support. Male-female relations within the guerrilla movements can also encourage women's participation, such as when egalitarian relationships in the division of labor and in the opportunity for leadership are encouraged. While armed struggle has been a traditionally male domain of political behavior, groups that are able to supersede some of the sexism of the larger society stand a better chance of female recruitment.(~ On balance, while women's roles in reproductive activities and the tradition of Latin American patriarchalism inhibit women's participation in guerrilla movements, certain conditions can promote feminine support. Changes in the nature of Latin American revolutionary struggle and the diffusion of feminist ideology make recent movements more likely to recruit women or make them more receptive to recruitment. Social-structural characteristics related to women's roles can also be a springboard for their activism. Women's participation depends on the nature of external socio-historical conditions, as well as on how guerrillas have responded to these conditions

216 through recruitment efforts, policy development, and internal relations. CLASS DIFFERENCES IN WOMEN'S ABILITY TO PARTICIPATE The classes that support revolutionary movements, as well as their specific grievances, depend upon historical conditions experienced in each nation. Since Latin American nations have occupied dependent positions in the world economy, movements advocating fundamental social change have attacked the internal and external social relations which sustain such dependency---class and political structures, and foreign hegemony. Class is an important base for revolutionary struggle; most guerrilla movements have been supported by segments of the middle class and the proletariat, while traditional elites, excluding students and intellectuals, generally support the entrenched order. 67 However, the middle class as a whole, composed of heterogeneous rural and urban groups, has varied in its commitment to the status quo. 68 The urban and rural proletariats, potentially the most radical classes, face the greatest barriers toward political involvement, since they are, for the most part, kept from formal political participation. Their marginal subsistence decreases their capacity to react to exploitation, even for those conscious of class interest. They are vulnerable to employer threats, and political activities may take away from paid labor time, increasing the costs of such activism. 69 Working class women in the labor force face even greater obstacles to political involvement than working class men, because of their responsibility for the reproductive activities of the household.70 Their work (two out of five Latin American women in the labor force are domestic servants) is exhausting and low paid, and tends to restrict them to domestic areas, where class consciousness is not as likely to arise. 71 In rural areas, campesino women are similarly burdened by their household reproductive activities, compounded by their agricultural labor. 72 Working class women who do not work outside the home still share the disadvantages of their class and gendernlow education, low income, few

marketable skills, and responsibility for the domestic area. The burden of gender stratification, in addition to class, is reflected in studies of conventional politics that show low socioeconomic status decreases women's activism more profoundly than it does men's in Latin America.73 Despite barriers to political involvement, working class women have, at times, managed to act in support of class interests. They have frequently been members of revolutionary organizations in the Nicaraguan, Salvadoran, and Guatemalan struggles, 74 and Chilean working class women were a decisive factor in the 1970 election of Allende.7s Indeed, their experiences in the day-to-day struggle to survive may make these women tenacious political fighters. 76 Female heads of working-class households have a particularly great potential to develop class consciousness. As primary wage earners, they are more committed to their jobs and can organize around class, work, and household-based issues. 77 However, these women are also the most vulnerable to the costs of political action, in terms of job loss or imprisonment, which may inhibit them. 75 Should the middle classes (or, in some cases, segments of the elite) support a revolutionary movement, the women involved would participate to a greater degree than working class women. Middle class women are more familiar with formal political processes and important areas of national life. They make up a majority of female university students and professional workers; their higher education contributes to their political awareness and to their greater participation in conventional politics. 79 Middle class women's ethics and activities, however, does not negate patriarchal tradition. In fact, Jaquette ~ argues that many patriarchal attitudes operate more strongly for the middle class, while Cohen81 finds that women entering Colombian universities expect education to complement future familial roles. Even when women enter politics, they perform such roles, now extended to the public arena. The "supermadre" or conventional female political officeholder treats employees like children. Moreover, the "super-madre" operates in areas equivalent

217 to a macro extension of her household skills, such as social welfare health care, child care, and literacy programs. Women have been virtually absent from all high level policy making positions throughout Latin America. 82 Middle class women participate more than working class women both because it is feasible for them to do so and because their class has had traditional access to these areas. Nor do they have the basic problems of survival faced by working class women. Should calling to take up a career, join a political movement, or even a guerrilla band occur, there are no financial considerations (such as support of family members) to stop them. Furthermore, problems of child care and housekeeping are simplified for middle class women. While they still face major responsibility for child rearing and supervision of the domestic sphere, middle class women are able to escape much of the drudgery of housework through their exploitation of lower class women as domestic servants. The middle class dona de casa thus has greater time and financial resources to pursue activities. Further, she possesses the ascriptive background to exercise institutionalized authority and to command respect from a large segment of the population. ~ Social status and education may allow middle class women easier access to, and permit vanguard positions in, political groups which also include working class persons. In sum, while middle class women face gender barriers to participation, working class women are doubly burdened by class and gender. Women share common motivating interests with the men of their class and, potentially, may be motivated by gender specific interests as well. In order for working class women to participate, the consciousness of these interests, which may arise form perception of objective socioeconomic conditions and/or revolutionary ideology, must be extremely high. Grievances involving household sustenance and practical gender issues, such as child care or social welfare, are important to all women, but most crucial to the working class. The salience of these issues provide a key factor in explaining why working class women mobilize, despite the costs.

THE DIVISION OF LABOR BY GENDER IN GUERRILLA MOVEMENTS Guerrilla movements challenge fundamental aspects of the social order, creating new statuses and roles for members in the process. That these movements have included even small numbers of women make them differ uniquely from the military institutions of the state. Abilities, such as skill in combat or leadership, are necessarily more important than social status in the allocation of positions in guerrilla movements. Shortages in personnel may also open opportunities to play new roles. As a result, gender should not be as important for determining guerrilla roles as it is in the larger society. However, it should be recalled that even guerrilla movements that challenge the division of labor by gender are located in fundamentally sexist societies. Hence, the division of labor by gender, which affects occupational, educational, and conventional political life, can be expected to filter down into guerrilla operations. When conventional armies do utilize women, they place them in positions that are most compatible with the existing gender order. 84 Enloe notes that actual practices concerning women's roles in liberation armies "frequently look strikingly similar, '' even though ideological reasons for recruiting women differ greatly in the two situations. 8s Thus, women may be more likely to occupy support, rather than combat, positions in guerrilla struggle. An indication that guerrillas themselves hold patriarchal attitudes, in spite of their otherwise radical orientation, is found in Che's handbook on guerrilla warfare: But also in this stage [the guerrilla struggle] a w o m a n can perform her habitual tasks of peacetime; it is very pleasing to a soldier subjected to the extremely hard conditions of life to be able to look forward to a seasoned meal which tastes like something...The woman as cook can greatly improve the diet and, furthermore, it is easier to keep her in these domestic tasks; 9 9 duties] are scorned by those [males] who perform them; they are constantly trying to get out of those tasks in order to enter into forces that are actively in c o m b a t . 86

218 Halperin 87 cites a similar bent toward sexism even in Actas Tupamaras, the manifesto of the Uruguayan Tupamaro movement. Feminine contributions to guerrilla warfare include " . . . a carefully and competently prepared meal." While sexism within movements can operate to relegate women to such functions, strategic motives may also lead to the same result. Women can play important revolutionary roles in support positions as a result of universal sex stereotyping. Using data compiled from news sources on 350 world terrorists, Russell and Miller 88 argue that women attract less suspicion than men. Women as a group can oversee safe dwellings or store weapons without attracting as much suspicion as a gathering of males. They can also pose as wives or mothers to gain entrance to restricted areas. They can act as decoys and distract male attention in hit-run assaults, as was frequent in the Tupamaros movement. Guerrillas may thus place women in support roles more out of strategic utility than sexism, because they can manipulate patriarchal images to the movement's advantage. Logically, women would do more to aid guerrilla movements by exploiting these patriarchal "images" through covert operations than by standing behind a stove in order to feed a male body and ego. While women are more likely to occupy backup positions, actual roles may vary. The spread of feminist ideology may sensitize later groups to the inequities of the division of labor and alter traditional patterns of role assignment. Later movements may also profit from earlier examples of women's success in combat. Finally, when women have been heavily recruited, necessary support positions may be filled, allowing women to act in other ways. PATTERNS OF WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN GUERRILLA MOVEMENTS: CASE STUDIES Key factors circumscribing the patterns of women's participation if guerrilla struggle have been suggested. Women participate less extensively than men, since they face greater

barriers to it. This general pattern may fluctuate, however, depending upon the historical location of the guerrilla movement, social-structural conditions affecting women's roles, and internal guerrilla organization. Women's class associations differentially affect their ability to participate. Middle class women, because of financial resources, have less difficulty participating. The sexual division of labor, then, for both strategic and ideological reasons, ordinarily results in women's greater assignment to support than to combat roles. Case studies of five guerrilla movements are now presented to show variations in actual patterns of participation, and the factors which influenced them. Women in the guerrilla movements of Cuba, Colombia, Uruguay, Nicaragua, and E1 Salvador are compared in terms of the three specified issues: extent of participation, class background, and roles performed. These five polities were selected because they present a chronology of women's participation (from the late 1950s to the present), and because historical conditions affecting women's participation in each area were sufficiently varied so that important comparisons could be drawn. Data about women in guerrilla movements are inherently limited, due to the nature of the subject. We are examining a dynamic outside of conventional politics, where data are more difficult to gather, namely, highly genderstratified societies with a paucity of literature on women, and with historically repressive political conditions, where censorship and political reprisals may silence reports. Information about guerrillas is typically impressionistic and fragmentary. Some case studies examine the contribution of individual women 89 and a few biographies exist. ~ While female participation is mentioned, details such as the number of females involved or the duties they perform are missing. 91 Only one study has been found which presents a systematic comparative investigation of women's participation in the movements of several Latin American nations. 92

219

Cuba Armed struggle in Cuba was first aimed at overthrowing the Batista Regime that had seized power in the 1952 coup. 93 Cubans were outraged at the illegal m a n n e r in which Batista took control of the government and at the dictatorship's corruption, censorship, terror, and torture. Inequalities of wealth and living conditions, failure to achieve agrarian reforms, high unemployment, and Batista's policies toward U.S. investment in Cuba were among the other factors contributing to the dictator's downfall.94 The Cuban Revolution succeeded through the efforts of a core group of revolutionaries. For nearly two decades it served as the foquista model on which subsequent guerrilla struggles in Latin America were based. The Cuban government under Fidel Castro has been lauded for mobilizing women. 95 However, they were mobilized generally after the insurgent period, and they do not seem to have participated extensively in the armed struggle itself. Jaquette 96 mentions only three females (all linked to mate leaders) who participated in the guerrilla struggle in the Sierra Maestra--Celia Saanchez (Fidel's secretary), Vilma Espin (wife of Raul Castro), and Hayd~e Santamaria (wife of the Party Leader Amando Hart Davaalos). Hayd~e and another woman, Melba Hernandez, were members of the initial group that created the 26th of July Movement and were participants in the attack on the Moncada. 97 Rowbotham 95 provides other evidence of female participation. She states that although a women's Red Army battalion was formed, "the conditions of guerrilla fighting did not encourage the emergence of women." Men took control of the Revolution because they "were not accustomed to taking orders from a woman. '~9 Chapelle 1~176 estimates that by December, 1958, one in twenty Fidelista troops was a woman. While there is disagreement over the social origins of those who participated in the insurgency, most analysts acknowledge the important contributions made by the middle class and the peasantry. TM Fidel's core group who survived the 1956 landing were middle class, as

were the majority of the leadership. 1~ Evidence that middle class women participated is suggested from the backgrounds of the women previously discussed and the existence of student guerrilla organizations, which sometimes included women. I ~ Peasant women probably participated less frequently. Vilma Espin, president of the Federation of Cuban Women, noted that campesino women were generally not active until mobilized by the Federation after the insurgency period. 1~ Women were largely confined to support and relief roles. Franqui t~ has examined the Revolution through letters and interviews with Cuban revolutionaries; he provides evidence of support rather than combat activity. For example, women were "mobilized" to obtain a guerrilla corpse from the police; a Santiago woman delivered secret correspondence; women participated in street demonstrations. 1~ According to Lopez, 1~ women were combatants, nurses, messengers, scouts, and teachers, and withstood battle conditions "to perform domestic tasks on guerrilla fronts." Che Geuvara l~ noted, however, that women were not routinely combatants, but were sometimes placed in such positions when needed for reinforcements. Chapelle 1~ observed that with the exception of one sniper platoon, women in the guerrilla army did housekeeping and supply assignments. Celia, Hayd~e, and Vilma are exceptional in that they were actually in combat. Fidel's letters to Celia illustrate her combat experience; he states, "Even when a woman goes around the mountains with a rifle in hand, she always makes our men tidier, more decent, more gentlemanly...,,u0 In a later letter, Fidel orders Celia to arrest a guerrilla charged with malperformance of duties, l u Apparently, Cuban women were not actively recruited during the insurgency; excerpts from Radio Rebelde broadcasts, the major revolutionary station, reveal no attempt to mobilize them. 112 Certainly, inequality between the sexes was incompatible with the classless, egalitarian society the Cuban Revolution was committed to create, as the Castro government early recognized. 113 But widespread mobilization of women did not occur until the establishment of the Federation of Cuban women in 1960. When

220 asked by Fidel Castro to organize the Federation, Espin responded: "I asked precisely why do we have to have a women's organization? I had never been discriminated against. I had my career as a chemical engineer. I never suffered, I never had any difficulty. ''114 While Celia, Hayd~e, and Vilma took part in actual combat, according to Guevera's comments, they seem to have been exceptions. The Cuban guerrilleras performed mainly support roles. Their combat opportunities came generally in relief capacities, as substitutes for males.

Colombia Revolutionary struggle in Colombia during the mid-1960s was affected by the aftermath of "La Violencia," a violent civil war between the Liberal and Conservative parties which ended in 1953. "La Violencia" left oligarchic rule intact. In 1966 President Carlos Lleras Restrepo was elected with only 20 percent of the votes cast. Sixty-five percent of eligible voters abstained, indicating their frustration with an electoral agreement which allowed competition only between two indistinguishable parties serving elite interests, lls The Colombian Communist Party, as early as 1950, had organized peasants, fleeing from "La Violencia" to occupy areas from which they could defend themselves. Independent Communist Republics were established in these areas, which survived until the last major army offensive in 1965.116 Peasants formed a decentralized guerrilla organization with the major aims of ending oligarchic rule and instituting land reforms, u7 Gomez 118 reports that women were organized in committees but provides no detail as to their activities. He does note, however, that during an invasion of one peasant republic, women and children were not permitted to accompany the guerrilla detachments. After 1965, peasants were still well-organized and continued the struggle, even though the army occupied many of their former strongholds. Women do not seem to have participated in any great numbers in two important guerrilla organizations of the mid-1960s: the Army of National Liberation (ELN) of Camilo Torres, a

Fidelista movement; or the People's Liberation Army (EPL), a Maoist group. 119 Goals of both groups included an end to oligarchic rule and imperialism, and institution of agrarian reform. 12~ Jaquette 121 notes that "progressively educated" women in Torres' movement researched conditions of women in various areas of Colombia so that policies could be developed toward these groups. When Torres was killed by the army at Pato de Cemento in 1966, a female who escaped into the forest was presumably seen firing at troops. 122 The EPL, People's Liberation Army, which was formed after Torres' death, allowed women to join an auxiliary; the EPL's declaration of 1968 stated: Countless women from the people could only rely on poverty, slavery, and prostitution. Now their path is clear and bright; they join the ranks of one of the auxiliary units of the EPL, helping with their own hands to build a true fatherland [sic] 123

can

However, there is no evidence of feminine involvement in these units. The women who participated in Torres' group were most likely middle class, based on the support Torres received from students in general, and the reference to "progressively educated" women. TM Peasants also composed part of Torres' organization, but in somewhat lesser numbers than students, las According to U.S. Major "Pappy" Shelton, the EPL had "real peasant support" though its organizers seem to have been educated and middle class. 126 Based on the previous organizational experience of Colombian peasants, it would be expected that some peasant women participated in both movements; their roles in the two movements are similarly unclear. Participation in combat is alluded to only in the "presumed" account of an armed guerrillera at Torres' death. Both Torres and the EPL seemed to have made no real attempt to recruit women. 127 Torres' platform stated that "protection for women and children [would] be provided by the law by means of effective sanction," and that both men and women would be drafted into civic, rather than military, service. The EPL offered women branches to join but presented little rationale as to why they should join them. x2s

221 Thus, women seem not to have participated extensively in the Colombian movements.

Uruguay The Tupamaros arose as a response to the economic crisis faced by Uruguay from the mid-1950s onward. Production stagnated and unemployment and inflation rose. The nation was dependent on a monoculture export economy (animal products), which experienced price fluctuations and market decline. Uruguayans protested, with strikes and riots in full stride during the late 1960s. The government responded by implementing a state of siege and engaging in repression. 129 The Tupamaros, founded in 1962, attributed Uruguay's economic stagnation to the contradictions and malfunctions inherent in capitalism. ~~ Among their major goals were the establishment of socialism, and hence an end to foreign hegemony, oligarchic rule, and government repression. 131 In contrast to previous movements, women played major roles in the Tupamaro movement. Porzecanski's study132 of Tupamaro arrest records indicates that at the onset of the movement in 1 9 6 6 , females composed approximately 10 percent of the group. By 1972, they represented over one-quarter of all Tupamaro members. Participation rates, as estimated from arrest records, partially reflect the readiness of the police to apprehend women. However, a variety of sources have noted the importance of women to the movement.133 The Tupamaros recruited members from all classes of society, but primarily from the middle class. As Kohl and Litt TM note, since Uruguay is a middle class and highly urbanized society, the movement tends to reflect this composition. Porzecanski's data also reveal a middle class base of support. In 1966, 61 percent of the guerrillas were students of middle class professionals, while 32 percent were workers. These figures remained approximately the same in 1972. The data have not been broken down by sex and class simultaneously, so it is unclear what proportion of females were middle or working class. However, since middle class participation was

nearly double that of working class, it is likely that the movement was composed of women largely from the middle class. Women seemed to have filled both support and combat roles. All active Tupamaro squads had one or two female members but more emphasis was placed on support activities such as liaison, logistics, and operation of safe dwellings.135 Tupamaro reports indicated large numbers of women involved in robberies and kidnappings, often acting as decoys.136 Other descriptions of the movement portray women guarding prisoners, robbing banks, and passing out leaflets. 137 In order to distract government forces, women would strike provocative poses and feign accidents, playing an important tactical role in guerrilla action. According to Jaquette, 13s the Tupamaros were the only group (as of 1973) to have developed a detailed position on "revolutionary women." They strongly advocated an end to cultural and educational discrimination against women and stressed complementary, rather than differential, performance of guerrilla tasks. The Tupamaros also developed a program for revolutionary government which would appeal to women. The program called for, in part, free education, equal distribution of income, state control of the health system and industry, state aid to the elderly, and nationalization of food wholesale enterprises. 139 Since the proportion of women in the Tupamaro movement was substantial and, according to Porzecanski's data, more than doubled in six years, an argument can be made that the Tupamaros adopted effective strategies to recruit women. Though the movement was largely foquista in character and never achieved a mass base, it occurred at a period when educated, middle-class Uruguayans were increasingly focused on gender issues. In sum, middle class women seemed to be most responsive toward the movement, and soon filled both combat and support positions. This contrasts with the movements in Cuba and Colombia, where low rates of participation were associated with basically noncombatant roles.

222

Nicaragua In contrast to the guerrilla movements considered thus far, revolution in Nicaragua followed the patter of a protracted people's war, with mass-based participation. 14~ According to the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), the objectives of the Nicaraguan Revolution were "to take political power by destroying...the dictatorship and to establish a revolutionary government based on the workerpeasant alliance and the convergence of all the patriotic anti-imperialist and anti-oligarchic forces in the country.''141 The immediate aim of the revolution was to overthrow Somoza and his National Guard, who brutally repressed the population in their attempt to maintain privilege for a small elite. Nicaragua was tied to the world economy through cotton, sugar, and coffee exports. Dependent "development" meant the dispossession of small farmers, the creation of a landless proletariat, high unemployment, a low standard of living, and a short life expectancy.142 It also meant the destabilization of family life, as men abandoned families and migrated in search of seasonal, or other, employment and higher wages. 143 The number of female headed households has been high, an estimated one-third of all families in 1978.144 Nicaragua's history of dependent capitalism also resulted in a high percentage of women in the labor force (as compared to other Latin American nations), since women have had to work to support their families. Data from 1977 indicate that 86 percent of women who were family heads worked outside the home, as did 45 percent of married women.145 Thus, according to Chinchilla, "capitalist development in Nicaragua made impossible the realization of bourgeois ideals of the nuclear family and economically dependent women."t~ Female membership in the Sandinista movement during the final offensive in mid-1979 has been estimated at 30 percent. 147 A central factor was active recruitment by AMPRONAC, the Association of Women Confronting the National Problem, founded in 1977 by FSLN cadre. 1~ AMPRONAC served as a forum for women whose families or relative had been victimized by the Somoza regime, demonstrations

and petitions being the principal activities. However, it clandestinely encouraged women to join the FSLN. 149 In March, 1978, AMPRONAC openly announced its support for the Sandinistas. 150 The earliest organizers of AMPRONAC had been mainly middle and upper class women--lawyers, journalists, and bureaucrats. 151 Ramirez-Horton152 interviewed one woman, for example, who "decided to use her university education and leave her daughter with the maid, over the strong protests of her husband, to begin organizing women in the urban areas in defense of human rights." By 1978, the organization had achieved mass support, incorporating women from all social classes opposed to the dictatorship: peasants, workers, students, as well as the middle class and segments of the upper class. 153 Women initially participated in the Sandinista struggle in support roles, but later engaged in combat. In fact, they achieved positions of leadership, commanding "everything from small units to full battalions. ''1s4 At the major battle of Leon, four of the seven Sandinista commanders were women.155 The organizational conditions created by the Sandinistas are an important reason why so many women participated in the movement. As Chinchilla156 notes, women's commitment to their families, which had been a traditional barrier to their engagement in revolutionary movements, actually facilitated it under the Sandinistas. The FSLN responded to the immediate problems faced by women under Somoza. First, it attempted to counter the repression felt keenly and uniquely by women: women were expected to protect their children, but their children had increasingly become targets of repression, due to their real or fabricated opposition to the dictatorship; and many women needed to work outside the home, but they, too, were subjected to harassment from Somocista troops. 157 Secondly, the FSLN incorporated longerterm objectives important to women into its formal platform. It called for the "struggle to end discrimination against women," particularly in the forms of prostitution and domestic servitude,

223 and encouraged women to organize "in defense of their rights" under the dictatorship. 15s AMPRONAC's 159 platform included among its major demands: "Better living conditions, improved housing, education. Equal salary for equal w o r k . . . A n end to prostitution and the usage of women as economic c o m m o d i t i e s . . . Abolishment of all laws that discriminate against women." Major goals of AMLAE (the Luisa Amanda Espinoza Association of Nicaraguan Women), the organization created from AMPRONAC after the 1979 victory, indicate the continuation of such objectives. These include establishing child care, health care, and educational programs, organizing workers (particularly domestics, with the long-term goal of completely eliminating domestic service), eliminating female unemployment, establishing forums to encourage female political participation, and creating laws to remove legal discrimination against women.16~ FSLN goals were thus oriented around more immediate, social welfare issues, as well as long-term end to discrimination. Such goals bolstered, rather than undercut, the familial roles of many women and tended to promote family survival, especially for lower class and female-headed households. The repression of the Somoza regime, coupled with poor socioeconomic conditions, undoubtedly impinged on many women's ability to sustain their families. While women from the lower classes faced greater barriers to participation, the extensive involvement of such women in the FSLN indicates the great appeal of its objectives. The FSLN also stressed conditions conducive to female participation. According to Chinchilla, 161 it emphasized "correct relationships" among members, based advancement on merit and skill, and cultivated respect and support for women. Relations between men and women in the organization contrasted sharply with the sexism outside the movement.162 This climate was not easily achieved. The first women recruited into the FSLN during the 1960s experienced isolation and an undervaluing of their achievements. As more women entered the movement, sexism began to break down. 1(~ Chinchilla x64 notes that the atmosphere of respect based on merit provided an

important motivation for women to join the movement. Nicaragua clearly demonstrates the possibility of the mass mobilization of women, despite class and gender barriers to participation. The FSLN gained extensive support by focusing on issues relevant societywide, the overthrow of a repressive regime, as well as gender specific issues that addressed the role of women in Nicaraguan society. It created an organization, AMPRONAC, to specifically mobilize women and the conditions conducive to feminine participation.

E1 Salvador In October, 1979, young Salvadoran officers seized power in a coup against General Oscar Humberto Romero. The coup was undertaken to stem the inequalities which placed most Salvadorans in poverty; increasing human rights violations; and the unpopularity of the military, who were tarnished by their involvement with a regime considered corrupt and repressive. 16s The coup was supported by many factions of the left. However, the first junta established by the coup lasted only three months before its reforms were blocked by the oligarchy, big business, and rightwing military officials. In the following years, government by the moderate Christian Democrats did little to combat the power of the oligarchy and big business, while repression by the right continued to increase. 166 The major opposition to right-wing forces now consists of the joint opposition fronts of the FMLN/FDR (Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation/Democratic Revolutionary Front). Their present platform includes demands for direct power-sharing, extensive agrarian reform, reform of the financial system and foreign trade, a mixed economy, a pluralistic polity, and restructuring of the army and security forces.167 At this time, women's rights are not specifically mentioned in principal objectives of the struggle. 16s Women make up a great part of the popular organizations that comprise the FMLN/FDR. 169 The FMLN is a coalition of four political-military organizations and the Communist Party of E1

224 Salvador. The Popular Forces of Liberation (FPL) and the National Resistance (RN), two of the groups within the FMLN, have high ranking female c o m m a n d a n t e s . 17~ Female participation in the FPL has been estimated at 40 percent. 171 The FDR is an umbrella organization for socialist, social-democratic, student, and worker parties. It enjoys considerable female leadership, with 40 percent of the Revolutionary Council composed of women. 17z The FMLN/FDR has a broad base of support and includes individuals from the middle and working classes: students, union workers, and professionals. 173 In rural areas, local peasants play a key part in guerrilla operations. 174 Middle class women, in particular teachers and students, were the first to be drawn into political/military organizations in the late 1960s. Rural working class women soon followed. In the late 1970s, urban workers entered the struggle. 17s Women are involved in both support and combat operations. Relations between men and women seem egalitarian. One guerrilla comments on women's roles: We are trying to teach the women that they do not have to accept only the traditional roles for women, that they should try to examine their potentialities. We have some peasant women who join us as cooks but they soon realize that they have opportunities to do other things. They become combatants, medics, or leaders. 176

Montgomery177 presents another example: One guerrilla said in an interview that the "process of coming to see women as companera and not as sex objects" was one he and fellow guerrillas had had to go through in the mountains. In his particular unit, two-thirds of the combatants were women. "There is a great concern," he said, "to destroy machismo."

The FMLN/FDR has no unified mass organization for women on the scale of the Sandinista AMPRONAC. Rather, there are various smaller organizations, affiliated with the FMLN/FDR, which deal with gender-related issues, such as AMES (the Association of Salvadoran Women), incorporating housewives, professionals, teachers, students and previously unorganized groups; groups of peasant women in

the zones of FMLN control; the Committee of Mothers and Relatives of the Disappeared, Assassinated and Political Prisoners; ANDES (the National Association of Salvadoran Teachers); and AUTRAMES (the Association of Market Vendors and Workers).17s The FMLN/FDR tacitly supports women's issues and encourages women to share tasks and leadership with men. But it has not developed a formal platform on women's issues comparable to that of the FSLN. Principal objectives of the struggle do not mention women. 179 The platform of the Democratic Revolutionary Front (FDR) advocates issues important to women (the development of social services, literacy programs, and low-cost housing programs), without referring to women directly, is~ According to FMLN/FDR official Norma Guevara, "the resources for which we are struggling belong to all so that the possibility of resolving the problems of women and children exists only in the context of a project that takes account of all the social, political, and economic problems of our country. 'qSt National liberation is thus to include the liberation of both men and women. 182 Finally, after reporting on women's extensive participation, a spokesperson for two affiliates of the FMLN/FDR notes that: This participation is not the result of a line established by the Party leadership but is the reflection of a complex political problem involving the masses of the Salvadoran people. In all kinds of political activities, in the struggles of the people, the presence of women, and not only of women, but of entire families, is very common. The participation of the family unit is a very important experience.

The Association of Salvadoran Women 183 has noted that movements of the left have not dealt with the problems of women with the same consistency with which they confront other social problems. Their pronouncements in this regard are limited to the realm of class s t r u g g l e . . , they do not make reference to the specific conditions of w o m e n . . . " AMES 184 further states that while "the struggle for women's liberation must be immersed in the struggle for the liberation of our peoples," women's "specific demands" must be recognized. The various women's organizations

225 affiliates with the FMLN/FDR, therefore, have the major task of organizing women around gender as well as class based issues. 185 AMES itself was created to mobilize women on the basis of such demands. Its platform includes an end to forced sterilization, safe family planning, free child care, and the right to education and training, ls6 As in Nicaragua, the number of female headed households is high (due to migration during coffee, cotton, and cane harvests and high unemployment), so problems of family support also become exacerbated,la7 In sum, the FMLN/FDR has formally tended to focus on class based issues, which would appeal to women as well as men, and has created internal organizational conditions conducive to women's participation on an egalitarian basis. Women's organizations in the FMLN/FDR have the major task of addressing gender-based issues.

If men have, for centuries, devoted themselves to political work and have fulfilled themselves in it, it is because they have always had the support of one or several women who have provided them with children, with affection, with domestic services; to these women are diverted all psychological tensions, thereby freeing men from the small and large problems of domestic life. We women, on the other hand, do not have such support systems available to us, and in order to utilize our intellectual potential we must organize ourselves in such a way that the private sphere does not interfere with our specific political work. It is indeed dramatic to organize ourselves physically and psychologically to exercise this role without experiencing guilt vis-a-vis the "neglected" roles of mother and wife which relegate us to the domestic sphere. For a woman to be active in sociopolitical organizations implies the assumption of a definitive commitment, a commitment which, she feels, will have repercussions on her activities as a woman, wife, mother, and in some cases, as paid worker. This

D i s c u s s i o n and C o n c l u s i o n I have addressed three questions regarding the nature of women's participation in guerrilla movements. First, what factors affect Latin American women's participation as compared to men's? Second, how does class affect the ability to participate? Finally, what roles in the division of labor do women tend to perform? The movements in five Latin American nations were examined in light of these questions. Our conclusions are necessarily limited by the paucity of information about the guerrillera. In all of the movements, women participated less extensively than men. The structural constraints on women due to reproductive activities and the patriarchal nature of Latin American society were major reasons suggested for this limited participation. While it is impossible directly to ascertain to what extent women failed to participate because of these reasons,a statement by AMES (The Association of Salvadoran Women)188 acknowledges women's reproductive activities and associated attitudes as major limiting factors. The following passage is taken from the section entitled "The Difficult Task of Being Members of an Organized Movement":

situation is aggravated by the fact that until now it has not

appeared that men have the intention of truly assuming some of the responsibility which for centuries has been delegated to women. It is not easy for men, even with good intentions, to raise their consciousness concerning the privileges conveyed by

masculinity and to relinquish their role as the star member of the cast, becoming instead comrades who share daffy life and struggle.

While women were expected to participate less than men, certain factors might foster greater female involvement. The historical period of the movement, social-structural conditions at large, and internal organizational characteristics were expected to influence the extent of actual participation. The Colombian and Cuban struggles, occurring prior to the 1970s, tended to follow the foquista pattern of struggle, in contrast to the prolonged "people's war" of Nicaragua and E1 Salvador. Mass mobilization of groups opposed to the government in conjunction with guerrilla action was not typical revolutionary strategy. The Colombia and Cuban movements also occurred before feminist thought had begun to emerge throughout Latin America. Thus, the two earlier groups did not develop special platforms for women, nor make efforts to recruit them. Correlatively, gender equality was overlooked as an essential component of internal relations.

226 There was, correspondingly, only a small degree of female involvement in the Cuban and Colombian movements. In contrast, the three later movements with substantial female engagement occurred during a period of increasing awareness of feminist issues, and of women's involvement in previous struggles. The Sandinista and Salvadoran movements were also based on current revolutionary strategy of protracted, mass-based struggle, which increases the possibility that women (as well as men) from all segments of society will participate. Social-structural characteristics of the three nations seem to have fostered women's participation. Though statistics on women's economic activity must be approached cautiously, data for the 1970s indicate higher economic participation for women in Uruguay, Nicaragua, and E1 Salvador, as compared to other Latin American nations, including Colombia and Cuba. ls9 Economic activity is said to sensitize women to class and work based issues more readily than domestic work inside the household. 19~ Nicaragua and E1 Salvador, in comparison to other Latin American nations, also had many female-headed households. In these two nations, issues of family sustenance and the political repression of the government seemed particularly threatening to women as family nurturers and protectors. Thus, the case studies suggest that women's roles in both domestic and non-domestic aspects of family survival may serve as a basis for participation. Movement characteristics may also influence the extent of women's participation. The Tupamaros, Sandinistas, and Salvadorans promoted policies of everyday egalitarian relations between men and women. Women were to share in leadership, decision-making, and task performance. These movements also employed platforms attractive to women, which seemed to be of two types. First, in opposition to patriarchalism, women were offered some feminist objectives, in line with long-term, strategic gender interestsnan end to discrimination in such areas as work force, the polity, and education. Second, programs stressing shorter-term, practical gender interests, such as

child care, health care, and literacy, which maximized social welfare and facilitated women's roles in the work place and household, were advocated. The Tupamaros and Sandinistas formally offered women both types of platforms. In the Salvadoran case, the FMLN/FDR includes social welfare policies in conjunction with the feminist planks offered by its affiliated women's organizations. All three movements advocated gender interests that were compatible with the wider goals of the revolution, such as social welfare, the reduction of social inequality, and the need for mass political mobilization. Molyneux 191 notes that in much current socialist policy, "women's emancipation is not just dependent on the realization of the wider goals, but is pursued insofar as it contributes to the realization of those goals." According to Molyneux, 192 the latitude that revolutionary movements possess in addressing gender issues depends, in part, on the severity of the struggle and the need for popular support. Advocating feminist interests in patriarchal societies becomes more problematic when the need for mass support is great. This may explain why the Salvadorans have formally made little reference to women, except through their affiliate women's organizations. According to Molyneux, 193 the invasion of Nicaragua by the Contras similarly pressured AMNLAE to table highly feminist issues for fear of alienating popular support. In sum, while women face greater barriers to participating in guerrilla movements than men, a number of factors may foster women's engagement. The later three movements illustrate how these factors, coalescing in time and space, can alter traditional patterns. The guerrilla movements in all five nations attempted to alter internal and external relations which characterized each nation's pattern of dependent development. While specific objectives varied as a result of a nation's unique historical conditions, the movements emphasized such changes as more egalitarian relations within the economic or political structure, and between the national and hegemonic core. The successful revolutions in Cuba and Nicaragua indicate additional possibilities for mobilization due to the

227 unpopularity of a single repressive regime. Class has been an important factor in revolutionary struggle and seems to be an overriding basis of participation for both men and women. Indeed, there is no evidence to suggest that female supporters belong to classes different from their male comrades. Within gender, however, the analysis of the five movements indicates middle class women probably faced fewer barriers to participation. Where both the middle classes and working class campesinos participated, middle class women were somewhat more likely to be at the forefront of guerrilla activity. In Cuba, as Jaquette 1~ notes, "exceptional" middle class women formed the core of the 26th of July movement. In Colombia, Torres' group had early student organizers. Initial organizers of the Sandinista APRONAC and the Salvadoran female recruits of political-military groups tended to be middle class. Working class and campesino women seemed to enter the movements somewhat later. The Tupamaros' middle class base remained relatively consistent throughout the life of the movement, reflecting a demographic pattern specific to Uruguay, and the absence of mass support. The question of why middle class women tended to be early participants may be linked to their higher education and perhaps greater awareness of political issues. However, even campesino and working class women who recognized the benefits of involvement still faced the burdens of class as well as gender. Since these women pay the highest costs for political participation, it is not surprising that they would enter movements later--when conscious of fundamental interests, such as those related to household survival, and when revolutionary groups provided the means for addressing these interests. In Nicaragua and E1 Salvador, working class women's roles in sustaining the family were continually being eroded by government oppression and poor economic conditions. The mass-based strategy of the Sandinista and Salvadoran groups called for addressing the needs of all potentially mobilizable groups. Hence, these groups begin to recruit large numbers of working class and campesino women through attention to their specific class and gender interests. Practical gender concerns, such

as social welfare and child care, are critical because of the many female-headed households in both nations. Women were more likely to occupy support rather than combat positions, although actual roles varied by movement. Women played important revolutionary roles in support positions in which, given the patriarchal nature of Latin American society, their male comrades would stand limited chances of success. By acting as decoys, distracting the opposition's attention, or posing as relatives, women could manipulate patriarchal images to the movement's advantage. Strategic utility may therefore have overridden sexism as the major reason for placing women in such positions, though sexism was indeed apparent in accounts of the earlier movements. Women performed mainly in support capacities in the Cuban and Colombian struggles, which had limited participation. In the later three movements, women participated extensively in combat as well. The spread of feminist thinking, and examples of women's previous successes in combat, undoubtedly contributed to the broadening of women's roles. The influx of women in the Tupamaro, Sandinista and Salvadoran movements also meant that necessary support functions could be discharged, while additional women would be available for combat. Finally, under conditions of mass mobilization, as in Nicaragua and E1 Salvador, the need for combatants is especially great. Previously excluded groups, such as women and youth, may be given the opportunities formerly reserved for adult males. The extensive participation of women in guerrilla movements, their mobilization from varied social classes, and their greater participation in combat indicate new patterns in Latin American revolutionary struggle. Women's participation in the Cuban Revolution hardly conformed to these patterns; the Cubans were successful in spite of their limited mobilization of women. Only two decades later, however, such participation was a critical component of the Sandinista victory and was being reproduced in other Latin American nations as well. Women will continue to play an important role in guerrilla struggle as future movements build on the experiences of the past.

228

NOTES 1.

2.

3. 4.

9.

10.

11.

A number of political scientists argue that much of the political behavior in Latin America occurs outside conventional processes through guerrilla movements, military coups, strikes and demonstrations: e.g., Wiarda, Howard J. and Harvey F. Kline, "The Latin American Tradition and Process of Development," in Wiarda and Kline (eds.), Latin American Politics and Development (Boston: Houghton Mifflin CO., 1979), p. 42. The paucity of studies on women's participation in such activities is frequently noted. See, e.g., Jaquette, Jane S., "Female Political Participation in Latin America," in June Nash and Helen Sara (eds.), Sex and Class in Latin America (New York: Praeger, 1976). For example, the major study of guerrilla warfare by Richard Gott, Guerrilla Movements in Latin America (Garden City: Doubleday, 1971), does not even reference "women." Vitale, Luis, Historia y Sociologia de la Mujer Latinoamericana (Barcelona: Editorial Fontamara, 1981). Kohl, James and John Litt, "Urban Guerrilla Warfare: Uruguay," in Kohl, James and John Lift (eds.), Urban Guerrilla Warfare in Latin America (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1974). Guevara, Che, Guerrilla Warfare (New York: Vintage, 1969). Chailand, Gerard, Guerrilla Strategies (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1982), p. 240. Cardoso, Fernando Henrique and Enzo Faletto, Dependency and Development in Latin America (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1979). While this paper generically refers to "Latin American women," it should be kept in mind that Latin women differ on a number of important characteristics, e.g., nationality, class, race, and rural/urban background. Valid generalization, however, incorporate "Latin American women" as a useful category. See Jaquette, "Female Political Participation in Latin America," op. cit. Vitale, Historia y Sociologia de la Mujer Latinoamerica, op. cir. Brenner, Johanna and Maria Ramas, "Rethinking Women's Oppression," New Left Review144 (March-April), pp. 3371. Chodorow, Nancy, "Mothering Male Dominance, and Capitalism," in ZiUah Eisenstein (ed.), Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1979), pp. 83-106.

12.

13. 14.

15.

16.

17. 18. 19. 20.

21.

22.

23.

24. 25. 26. 27. 28.

Deere, Carmen Diana and Magdalena Leon de Leal, "Peasant Production, Proletarianization, and the Sexual Division of Labor in the Andes," in Lourdes Beneria (ed.), Woman and Development (New York: Praeger, 1982), pp. 65-93 Chancy, Elsa M., Supermadre: Women in Politics in Latin America (Austin: Univ. of Texas Press, 1979). Schmidt, Steffen W., "Political Participation and Development: The Role of Women in Latin America," JournaloflnternationalAffairs 30 (Fall-Winter), pp. 17-18. Safa, Helen Icken, "Class Consciousness among Working Class Women in Latin America, Puerto Rico," in June Nash and Helen Sara (eds.), Sex and Class in Latin America (New York: Praeger, 1976), p. 80. Nash, June and Helen Safa, "The Family and Ideological Reinforcement of Sexual Subordination," in June Nash and Helen Sara (eds.), Sex and Class in Latin America (New York: Praeger, 1976), p. 80. Chancy, Supremadre, op. cir. Kinzer, Nora Scott, "Priests, Machos, and Babies," Journal ofMarriage andFamily 35 (May), pp. 300-311. International Labor Organization, Yearbook of Labor Statistics (Geneva: ILO, 1984). Tinker, Irene, "New Technologies for Food-Related Activities: An Equity Strategy," in Rosalyn Dauber and Melinda L. Cain (eds.), Women and Technological Change in Developing Countries (Boulder: Westview Press, 1981), p. 53. Nash, June, "A Critique of Social Science Roles in Latin America," in June Nash and Helen Safa (eds.), Sex and Class in Latin America, op. cit., p. 13. Willde, James W. and Stephen Harber (eds.), Statistical Abstract of Latin America, Volume 21 (Los Angeles: Univ. of California Press, 1981), pp. 143-144. Jaquette, "Female Political Participation in Latin America," ap. cit. Stacey, Margaret, and Marion Price, Women, Power, and Politics (London: Travistock, 1981), p. 142. Chancy, Supremadre, op. cit., p. 137. Jaquette, "Female Political Participation in Latin America," op. cir. Ibid., p. 222. Schmidt, Steffen W., "Women in Colombia: Attitudes and Future Perspectives in the Political System," Journal of lnteramerican Studies and Worm Affairs 17 (November), p. 480.

229 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37.

38.

39. 40. 41. 42.

43. 44. 45.

46.

47. 48. 49. 50.

Jaquette, "Female Political Participation in Latin America," op. cit, p. 233. Randall, Vicky, Women and Politics (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1982), pp. 44-45. Ibid. Ibid., pp. 52-62. Jaquette, "Female Political Participation in Latin America," op. cir., pp. 229-230. Ibid. Ibid. Schmidt, "Political Participation and Development, op. cit., p. 254. Chinchilla, Norma Stoltz, "Women in Revolutionary Movements: The Case of Nicaragua," paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Sociological Society, San Francisco, p. 20. The foco theory was first formulated by Che Guevara. He argued that guerrilla fighters could defeat the regular army; that guerrilla warfare should take place in the countryside; and that "objective" conditions need not be ripe for revolution to occur, "since the foco, the mobile focal point of insurrection [could] by its very existence...create them." Challand, Gerard, Revolution in the Third Worm (Baltimore: Penguin, 1977). For a Marxist critique of the foco theory, see Silva, Clea, "The Errors of the Foco Theory," Monthly Review 20 (July-August), pp. 18-35. Chinchilla, "Women in Revolutionary Movements," op. cir., p. 20. Chailand, Revolution in the Third World, op. cit., pp. 42-47. Chinchilla, "Women in Revolutionary Movements," op. cit., p. 20. Chaney, Elsa M., "Women in Latin American Politics," in Ann Pescatello (ed.), Female and Male in Latin America (Pittsburgh: Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, 1973), p. 115. Chinchilla, "Women in Revolutionary Movements," op. cit. Ibid., pp. 4-9. Chinchilla, Norma Stoltz, "Mobilizing Women: Revolution in the Revolution,"Latin American Perspectives 4 (Fall), p. 95. Molyneux, Maxine, "Mobilization without Emancipation? Women's Interests, the State, and Revolution in Nicaragua," Feminist Studies 11 (Summer), p. 37. Flora, Cornelia Butler, "Socialist Feminism in Latin America," Woman and Politics 4 (Spring), p. 71. Ibid. op. cit. p. 72. Chinchilla, "Women in Revolutionary Movements," op. c/t., pp. 7-8.

51. 52. 53. 54.

55. 56. 57.

58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69.

Flora, "Socialist Feminism in Latin America," op. cir. p. 91. Chinchilla, "Women in Revolutionary Movements," op. c/t. Ibid. Kaplan, Temma, "Female Consciousness and Collective Action: The Case of Barcelona, 1910-1918," in Nanner O. Keohane, MicheUe Z. Rosaldo, and Barbara C. Gelpi (eds.), Feminist Theory: A Critique of Ideology (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1982). Flora, "Socialist Feminism in Latin America," op. cit., p. 78. Chinchilla, "Women in Revolutionary Movements," op. ciL Chafetz, Janet Saltzman and Anthony Gary Dworkin, Female Revolt: Women's Movements in World and Historical Perspective (Totowa NJ: Rowman and Allanheid, 1986), pp. 102-103. Chinchilla, "Women in Revolutionary Movements," op. c/t., pp. 9-11. Nash, June, "Women in Development: Dependency and Exploitation," Development and Change 8 (2), pp. 161-182. Chinchilla, "Women in Revolutionary Movements," op. cit, pp. 15-20. Molyneux, "Mobilization without Emancipation?" op. cit. Ibid., p. 232. Ibid., p. 233. Ibid. Ibid. Chinchilla, "Women in Revolutionary Movements," op. cit Halpedn, Ernst, Terrorism in Latin America Beverly Hills: Sage, 1976). Soares, Glaucio Ari Dillon, "Mobilidade e Politica," Revista Brasileira de Estudos Politicos 50, pp. 101-119. Nash, " A Critique of Social Science Roles in Latin America," op. c/t. A variety of sociological theories have attempted to deal with the mobilization of deprived groups. chafetz and Dworkin (op. cit.) argue for use of an eclectic model in which the intensification of a social structural change results in a movement mounted by direct beneficiaries, as well as by external organizations and leadership. In Latin America, economic and political crises impinging on the urban and rural proletariat have historically resulted in activism when these classes could be linked to labor movements and popular or political organizations. See Chinchilla, "Class Struggle in Central America: Background and Overview," Latin American Perspectives 7 (Spring and Summer), pp. 2-23, 44.

230 70. 71.

72.

73. 74. 75.

76.

77. 78. 79. 80. 81.

82. 83. 84. 85.

Sefchovich, Sara, "America Latina: La Mujer en Lucha," Fern (January-February), pp. 5-12. Safa, Helen Icken, "The Changing Class Composition of the Female Labor Force in Latin America," Latin American Perspectives 4 (Fail), p. 135. Deere and Leon de Leal, "Peasant Production, Proletarianization, and the Sexual Division of Labor in the Andes," op. cit. Chaney, Supremadre, op. cit., p.87. Chinchilla, "Women in Revolutionary Movements," op. c/t. Chaney, Supremadre, op. c/t., p. 97. Tilly (Tilly, Louise, "Paths of Proletarianization: Organization of Production, Sexual Division of Labor, and Women's Collective Action," Signs 7 [Winter], pp. 400417) outlines specific conditions under which working-class women have tended to act collectively. When women are involved in wage labor, characteristics related to the organization of production, such as women's contact with other workers of similar interests, engagement in structured associations, ability to withdraw labor without incurring great cost, and a household division of labor that allows them to act autonomously, promote collective activity. Working-class women also tend to act collectively when the household itself is mobilized on the basis of commonly shared interests. According to Tilly, these factors differ little from those leading to working-class male mobilization, with the exception that women are much more likely to act when household sustenance or consumption is threatened. Research on Latin American working-class women similarly argues that the structural position of women in production and household are important mobilizing factors. See Chinchilla, "Women in Revolutionary Movements," op. ciL Safa, "Class Consciousness among Working Class Women in Latin America, Puerto Rico," op. cit, pp. 75-76. Ibid. Chancy, "Women in Latin American Politics," pp. 108, 111-112. Jaquette, "Female Political Participation in Latin America," op. cit., p. 230. Cohen Lucy, "Female Entry into the Professions in Colombia," Journal of Marriage and Family 35 (May), p. 328. Chaney, "Women in Latin American Politics," pp. 109. Schmidt, "Women in Colombia," op. cir., pp. 468-469. Enioe, Cynthia, "Women--The Reserve Army of Labor," The Review of Radical Political Economies 12 (Summer). Ibid., p. 49.

86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92.

93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99. 100.

101. 102. 103. 104.

105. 106. 107.

108. 109. 110. 111. 112. 113. 114.

Guevara, Guerrilla Warfare, p. 87. Halperin, Terrorism in Latin Americaj op. cit., p. 45. Russell, Charles A. And Bowman H. Miller, "Profile of a Terrorist, "Terrorism 1, pp. 17-33. Franqni, Carlos, Diary of the Cuban Revolution (New York: Viking, 1980). See Martin Rojas and Mirta Rodriguez Calderon (eds.), Tania (New York: Random House, 1971). Vega, Mercier, Guerrillas in Latin America (New York: Praeger, 1969). See Jaquette, Jane S., "Women in Revolutionary Movements in Latin America," Journal of Marriage and Family35 (May), pp. 344-354. I,aqueur, Walter, Guerrilla: A Historical and Critical Study (London: Weidenfield and Nicolson, 1970). lb~ Jaquette, "Women in Revolutionary Movements in Latin America," op. ci~ Ibid. Franqui, "Diary of the Cuban Revolution," op. cir.. p. 527. Rowbotham, Sheila, Women, Resistance, and Revolution (New York: Random House, 1972), p. 223. Quoted from Che Guevara in Ibid. Chappelle, Dickey, "How Castro Won," in Franklin Mark Osank, (ed.), Modern Guerrilla Warfare (New York: Free Press, 1962), p. 37. Tortes, Simon and Jniin Aronde, "Debray and the Cuban Experience," Monthly Review 20 0uly-August), p. 56. Draper, Castroism: Theory and Practice, (New York:, 1965). Franqni, Diary of the Cuban Revolution, op. cit., pp. 526527, 532. Espin, quoted in Purcell, Susan Kaufman, "Modernizing Women for a Modem Society: The Cuban Case," in Ann Pescatello (ed.), Female and Male in Latin America (Pittsburgh Press, 1973). Franqni, Diary of the Cuban Revolution, op. cit. Ibid., pp. 215, 219, 229. Lopez, Olga, "Las Guerrilleras Cubanas," in Michele Fiouret (ed.), La Guerrilla en Hispano America (Paris: Masson, 1976), p. 112. Oncvara, Guerrilla Warfare op. cit. Chapelle, "How Castro Won," op. cit., p. 327. Franqui, Diary of the Cuban Revolution, op. cit., p. 192. Ibid., p. 352. Ibid., pp. 279-299, 391-394. Purcell, "Modernizing Women for a Modern Society," op. cit., pp. 261-262. Quoted in Azicri, Max, "Women's Development Through

231

115. 116.

117. 118. 119. 120. 121. 122. 123. 124. 125. 126. 127. 128. 129. 130. 131.

132. 133. 134. 135. 136. 137. 138. 139.

Revolutionary Mobilization: A Study of the Federation of Cuban Women," International Journal of Women's Studies 2 (Ianuary-February), p. 29. Oott, Guerrilla Movements in Latin America, op. cit, p. 242. Gomez, Alberto, "The Revolutionary Forces of Colombia and Their Perspectives," World Market Review 10 (April), pp. 59-67. Gilly, Adolfo, "Guerrillas and 'Peasant Republics' in Colombia," Monthly Review 17 (October), pp. 30-40. Gomez, "The Revolutionary Forces of Colombia and Their Perspectives," op. ciL, p.61. Jaquette, "Women in Revolutionary Movements in Latin America," op. cir., p. 348. Gott, Guerrilla Movements in Latin America, op. cit., pp. 525-534. Jaquette, "Women in Revolutionary Movements in Latin America," op. cit. Ibid. Gott, Guerrilla Movements in Latin America, op. cit., p. 533. Broderick, Waiter J., Camilo Torros: A Biography of the Prlest-Guerrillero (New York: Doubleday, 1975). Gott, Guerrilla Movements in Latin America, op. cit., p. 528. Ibid, pp. 303-304. Broderick, Camilo Torros, op. cit. Gott, Guerrilla Movements in Latin America, op. eit., p. 526. Porzecanski, Arturo C., Uruguay's Tupamaros: The Urban Guerrilla (New York: Praeger, 1973). Ibid. Movimento de Liberation Naeional, "The Tupamaro Program for Revolutionary Government," James KoM and John Litt (eds.), Urban Guerrilla Warfare in Latin America (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1974)., pp. 293-296. Porzecanski, Uruguay's Tupamaros, op. ci~, p. 31. Halperin, Terrorism and Latin America, op. c/t., p. 45. Kohl and Litt, "Urban Guerrilla Warfare: Uruguay," op. c/t., p. 191. Halperin, Terrorism and Latin America, op. c/t;, p. 45. Jaquette, "Women in Revolutionary Movements in Latin America," op. ciL, p. 351. Gilio, Maria Esther, La Guerrilla Tupamara (Havana: Casas de las Americas, 1970). Jaquettr "Women in Revolutionary Movements in Latin America," op. ci~, p. 351. Movimento de Liberation Nacional, "The Tupamaro's Plan for Revolutionary Government, op. ci~, pp. 293-296.

140. 141.

142.

143. 144. 145.

146. 147. 148. 149. 150. 151. 152. 153.

154. 155. 156. 157. 158. 159. 160. 161. 162. 163. 164. 165. 166. 167.

Chinchilla,"Women in Revolutionary Movements," op. c/L Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional, "Why the FSLN Struggles in Unity with the People," Latin American Perspectives 6 (Winter), pp. 139. Ramirez-Horton, Susan E., "The Role of Women in the Nicaraguan Revolution," in Thomas Walker (ed.), Nicaragua in Revolution (New York: Praeger, 1982). Ibid. Chinchilla, "Women in Revolutionary Movements," op. cir. AMNLAF, "Our Participation in the Economy," in Women's International Resource Exchange, Nicaraguan Women and the Revolution (New York: Women's International Resource Exchange, 1982). Ibid, p. 14. Flynn, Patricia, "Women Challenge the Myth,"NACLA Report on the Americas 14 (September-October), p. 29. Chinchilla, "Women in Revolutionary Movements," OF. cit., p. 24. Schultz, Victoria, "Organizer! Women in Nicaragua," NACLA Report on the Americas 14 (March-April), p. 37. Flynn, "Women Challenge the Myth," op. cir., p. 29. Ramirez-Horton, "The Role of Women in the Nicaraguan Revolution," op. c/t., p. 51. Ibm, p. 47. AMPRONAC., "Our Participation in the Economy," in Women's Resource Exchange International, Nicaraguan Women in the Revolution (New York: Women's Resource Exchange International, 1982), pp. 3-4. Flynn, "Women Challenge the Myth," op. cit., p. 29. Schultz, "Organizer!" op. cit., p. 38. Chinchilla, "Women in Revolutionary Movements," op. ciL, p. 14. Ibid, p. 11. FSLN, "Why the Sandinistas Struggle in Unity with the People," op. cit., p. 112. AMPRONAC, "Our Participation in the Economy," op. cit., pp. 4-5. Flynn, "Women Challenge the Myth," op. cir., p. 31. Chinchilla, "Women in Revolutionary Movements," op. cir., p. 17. Ibid., pp. 15-20. Ibid. Ibid., p. 18. NACLA, "EEl Salvador 1984: Locked in Battle," NACLA Report on the Americas 18 (March-April), p. 14. Ibig Ibia[, p. 16.

232 168. 169.

170. 171.

172.

173. 174. 175.

176. 177. 178. 179. 180. 181. 182.

Ibid.

AMES, "Participation of Latin American Women in Social and Political Organizations: Reflections of Salvadoran Women," Monthly Review 34 (June). Armstrong, Robert, "The Revolution Stumbles," NACLA Report on the Americas 14 (March-April), p. 28. Armstrong,Robert and Janet Shenk, "There's a War Going On," NACLA Report on the Americas 14 (July-Augus0' p. 20. Central America Information Office, El Salvador, Background to the Crisis (Cambridge: Central American Information Office, 1982), p. 57. Armstrong and Shenk, "There's a War Going On," op. c/t., p. 32. NACLA, "No Easy Victory," NACLA Report on the Americas 15 (May-Jane), p. 12. Castillo, Caroline, "The Situation of Women in El Salvador," in Women's International Resource Exchange, Women and War: El Salvador (New York: Women's International Resource Exchange, 1982), p. 8. Quote from NACLA, "No Easy Victory," op. cir. Montgomery, Tommie Sue, Revolution in El Salvador (Boulder: Westview Press, 1982), p. 151. Castillo, "The Situation of Women in El Salvador," op. c/t. NACLA, "El Salvador 1984," op. c/t., p. 16. Armstrong and Shenk, "There's a War Going On," op. c/t., pp. 31-33. Quoted in Montgomery, Revolution in El Salvador, op. c/t., pp. 154-155. Ibid., p. 154.

183. 184.

185.

AMES, "Participation of Latin American Women in Social and Political Organizations," op. cir., p. 19. Ibm, p. 23. WIRE, "Women's Lives in El Salvador, and Interview with Miriam Galdemez, and E1 Salvadoran Refugee, in Women's International Resource Exchange, Women and War: El Salvador (New York: Women's International Resource Exchange, 1982), p. 3.

186.

IbM.

187.

Criollo, Cccelia, "Is Revolution Men's Work?" in Women's International Resource Exchange, Women and War: El Salvador (New York: Women's International Resource Exchange, 1982), p. 4. AMES, "Participation of Latin American Women in Social and Political Organizations," op. cir., pp. 18-19. Willde, James W. and Stephen Haber, StatisticalAbstract of Latin America, Volume 21 (Los Angeles: UCLA Press, 1982), p. 174. The percent of the total female population which is economically active, by nation and year of data, are as fonows: Colombia, 15.4% (1973); Cuba, 11.5% (est. 1970); E1 Salvador, 20.5% (1978); Nicaragua, 18% (1977); and Uruguay, 22% (1975). It should be noted that Cuban statistics reflect the period prior to the drafting of the Family Code and women's increased economic participation during the 70s. Ch~ffetzand Dworkin, Female Revolt, op. cir., pp. 102-103. Molyneux, "Mobilization without Emancipation?" op. cir., p. 245. Vo~ Ibid., p. 244. Jaquette, "Women in Revolutionary Movements in Latin America," op. ci~

188. 189.

190. 191. 192. 193. 194.