Bananeras : women transforming the banana unions of Latin America

“I want to learn how to defend myself from whoever tries to oppress me, whether it’s my husband, my union, or my boss.”—a __bananera__ Women banana workers—__bananeras__—are waging a powerful revolution by making gender equity central in Latin American labor organizing. Their successes disrupt the popular image of the Latin American woman worker as a passive bystander and broadly re-imagine the possibilities of international labor solidarity. Over the past 20 years, bananeras have organized themselves and gained increasing control over their unions, their workplaces, and their lives. Highly accessible and narrative in style, __Bananeras: Women Transforming the Banana Unions of Latin America__ recounts the history and growth of this vital movement. Starting in 1985 with one union in La Lima, Honduras, and expanding domestically through the late 1990s, experienced activists successfully reached out to younger women with a message of empowerment. In a compelling example of transnational feminism at work, the bananeras crossed borders to ally with banana workers in five other banana exporting countries in Latin America, arguing all the while that empowering women at every level of their organizations makes for stronger unions, better able to confront the ever-encroaching multinational corporations. When the bananeras of Latin America, with their male allies, explicitly integrate gender equity into their organizing work as essential to effective labor internationalism—when they refuse to separate the global struggle against trans-national corporations from the formidable efforts at home to achieve equity and respect—they inspire all of us to envision a new framework for internationalism that places women’s human rights at the center of global class politics. A professor of American studies at the University of California Santa Cruz, **Dana Frank** focuses on US and international labor issues. Published in __The Washington Post__, __The Nation__, and other periodicals, she is the author of __Buy American__ and, with Robin D.G. Kelley and Howard Zinn, of __Three Strikes__. “I want to learn how to defend myself from whoever tries to oppress me, whether it’s my husband, my union, or my boss.”—a bananera Women banana workers— bananeras —are waging a powerful revolution by making gender equity central in Latin American labor organizing. Their successes disrupt the popular image of the Latin American woman worker as a passive bystander and broadly re-imagine the possibilities of international labor solidarity. Over the past 20 years, bananeras have organized themselves and gained increasing control over their unions, their workplaces, and their lives. Highly accessible and narrative in style, Bananeras: Women Transforming the Banana Unions of Latin America recounts the history and growth of this vital movement. Starting in 1985 with one union in La Lima, Honduras, and expanding domestically through the late 1990s, experienced activists successfully reached out to younger women with a message of empowerment. In a compelling example of transnational feminism at work, the bananeras crossed borders to ally with banana workers in five other banana exporting countries in Latin America, arguing all the while that empowering women at every level of their organizations makes for stronger unions, better able to confront the ever-encroaching multinational corporations. When the bananeras of Latin America, with their male allies, explicitly integrate gender equity into their organizing work as essential to effective labor internationalism—when they refuse to separate the global struggle against trans-national corporations from the formidable efforts at home to achieve equity and respect—they inspire all of us to envision a new framework for internationalism that places women’s human rights at the center of global class politics. A professor of American studies at the University of California Santa Cruz, Dana Frank focuses on US and international labor issues. Published in The Washington Post , The Nation , and other periodicals, she is the author of Buy American and, with Robin D.G. Kelley and Howard Zinn, of Three Strikes . This story of Latina labor organizers is "a vital accounting of the struggles still being waged" (Margaret Randall, author of When I Look Into the Mirror and See You: Women, Terror, and Resistance ). Women who pick and pack bananas in Latin America have organized themselves and gained increasing control over their unions, their workplaces, and their lives—while making gender equity central in their effort. Highly accessible and narrative in style, and written by the author of the award-winning Buy American: The Untold Story of Economic Nationalism , Bananeras recounts the history and growth of this vital movement and shows how Latin American woman workers are shaping and broadly reimagining the possibilities of international labor solidarity. Includes photographs. "A wonderful book—entertaining, enlightening, and inspiring. A unique blend of personal stories grounded in a solid analysis of the globalization of the banana economy, the rise of a regional banana workers movement, and the intense internal struggle for gender justice within Latin America's historically male-dominated unions." —Stephen Coats, former Executive Director, US Labor Education in the Americas Project "[ Bananeras ] is a vital accounting of the struggles still being waged."—Margaret Randall, author of When I Look Into the Mirror and See You: Women, Terror, and Resistance Women banana workers have organized themselves and gained increasing control over their unions, their workplaces, and their lives. Highly accessible and narrative in style, Bananeras recounts the history and growth of this vital movement and shows how Latin American woman workers are shaping and broadly reimagining the possibilities of international labor solidarity. Dana Frank is a professor of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the author of the award-winning Buy American: The Untold Story of Economic Nationalism . "Women banana workers have organized themselves and gained increasing control over their unions, their workplaces, and their lives. Highly accessible and narrative in style, Bananeras recounts the history and growth of this vital movement and shows how Latin American women workers are shaping and broadly reimagining the possibilities of international labor solidarity" --from publisher. The Work Enslaves Us -- Sitraterco: Women's Power Is Union Power -- Honduras: A Free Space -- Latin America: The Big Challenge -- The War At Home -- Global Allies -- A New Kind Of Labor Movement. Dana Frank. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [111]-131) And Index.