Left-Wing Populism and Feminist Politics: Women’s Movements and Gender Equality Policies in Evo Morales’ Bolivia (Gender and Politics)

This book investigates the relation between left-wing populism and feminist politics by analysing three specific aspects. First, whether left-wing populist parties promote gender equality policies, against charges of a general inconsistency between both political projects; Second, how do these parties form their policy-making coalitions in the field of gender equality; Third, how much impact on policy do women’s movements have when left-wing populists are in power. The book is focused on the case of Bolivia during the first twelve years of Evo Morales's presidency. The empirical analysis is based on the qualitative content analysis of documents and semi-structured interviews with women’s movements’ activists, policy-makers and experts in women’s movements. The central issue of the book is present throughout the volume, but each empirical chapter can be also read as a semi-autonomous analysis of a specific aspect of the relation between left-wing populism and feminist politics, whichincreases the interest of the book for different audiences including experts in gender and politics and feminist activists, specialists in Latin American politics, indigenous politics and social movements. Presentation 6 References 9 Praise for Left-Wing Populism and Feminist Politics 10 Contents 12 List of Tables 15 1 Introduction: Looking at the Relation Between Feminist Politics and Left-Wing Populism Through the Bolivian Case 16 1 Key Concepts 18 2 Open Discussions on Left-Wing Populism and Feminist Politics 25 2.1 Is There a Specific Relationship Between Populism and Feminist Politics? 26 2.2 Right-Wing Populism and Feminist Politics: An Essential Contradiction 27 2.3 The Complex Relationship Between Left-Wing Populism and Feminist Politics 28 3 Methodology 34 4 A Tool for Action 36 5 Evo Morales’ Bolivia (2006–2018) 37 5.1 Evo Morales’ Left-Wing Populist and Indigenist Government 37 5.2 Women’s Organisations and Gender Equality Policies in Bolivia (2006–2018) 40 References 41 2 Legislation on Violence Against Women in Politics, a Pioneer Policy on Gender Equality 48 1 Ongoing Debates on Violence Against Women in Politics and How to Tackle It 51 1.1 The Definition of “Violence Against Women in Politics” 53 1.2 The Role of Electoral Courts in Preventing and Addressing VAWP 54 1.3 The Responsibilities of Political Parties in the Struggle Against VAWP 55 1.4 Intersectionality in Legislation on VAWP 55 2 Legislative Efforts to Tackle Violence Against Women in Politics in Bolivia and Latin America 57 2.1 Bolivia: The Long Way Towards the 243 Law and Beyond 57 2.2 Latin America: First Steps 61 3 Key Features of the Bolivian Legislation on VAWP 63 3.1 A Wide and Detailed Definition of “Violence Against Women in Politics” 63 3.2 A Powerful Electoral Organ 65 3.3 Political Parties, Key Actors to Tackle VAWP 67 3.4 An Intersectional Legislation? 69 4 The Influence of the Bolivian Legislation on Subsequent Norms on VAWP in Latin America 71 4.1 Wide Definitions of VAWP 72 4.2 The Role of Electoral Organs 74 4.3 The Growing Presence of Political Parties in Legislation 75 4.4 An Incipient Intersectional Approach 76 5 Conclusions 77 References 79 3 Pragmatism in the Formation of Policy-Making Coalitions 84 1 MAS and Evo Morales’ Conception of the “People” and the “Elite” 88 2 “Popular” Women’s Social Organisations versus “Elitist” Feminist NGOs: The MAS’ Populist Discourse on Women’s Organisations 89 3 The (Real) Role of Feminist NGOs and Women’s Social Organisations in Policy-Making Processes in Bolivia 95 4 Conclusions 101 References 102 4 Women’s Movements Institutionalisation and Impact on Policy 104 1 The Bolivian Movement of Domestic Workers 106 2 The Institutionalisation of the Bolivian Domestic Workers’ Movement 108 3 The Movements’ Impact on Policy 112 3.1 Impacts on the Symbolic Dimension of Policy 113 3.2 Impacts on the Mixed Dimension of Policy 114 3.3 Impacts on the Substantive Dimension of Policy 116 4 The Relationship Between the Institutionalisation of the Movement and Its Impacts on Policy 120 5 Conclusions 122 References 124 5 Conclusions 127 References 135 Annexes 137 Annex 1: Documents and Interviews 137 Annex 2: Acronyms 143 Index 146