Motherhood, Social Policies and Women's Activism in Latin America (Studies of the Americas)

This book is a critical resource for understanding the relationship between gender, social policy and women's activism in Latin America, with specific reference to Chile. Latin America's mother-centered kinship system makes it an ideal field in which to study motherhood and maternalism--the ways in which motherhood becomes a public policy issue. As maternalism embraces and enhances gender differences, it has been criticized for deepening gender inequalities. Yet invoking motherhood continues to offer an effective strategy for advancing women's living conditions and rights, and for women themselves to be present in the public sphere. In analyzing these important relationships, the contributors to this volume discuss maternal health, sexual and reproductive rights, labor programs, paid employment, women miners' unionization, housing policies, environmental suffering, and LGBTQ intimate partner violence. Alejandra Ramm is Associate Professor of Sociology at the Universidad de Valparaíso and Associate Researcher at the Social Sciences Research Institute (ICSO) at the Universidad Diego Portales (UDP), Chile. Jasmine Gideon is Senior Lecturer in Development Studies at Birkbeck, University of London, UK. Front Matter ....Pages i-xxi Motherhood, Social Policies, and Women’s Activism in Latin America: An Overview (Jasmine Gideon, Alejandra Ramm)....Pages 1-11 Latin America: A Fertile Ground for Maternalism (Alejandra Ramm)....Pages 13-37 “Taking the Nature Out of Mother”: From Politics of Exclusion to Feminisms of Difference and Recognition of Rights (Jadwiga E. Pieper Mooney)....Pages 39-67 Constructing Maternalism from Paternalism: The Case of State Milk Programs (Jael Goldsmith Weil)....Pages 69-95 To Not Die in Childbirth: Maternal Health and State Policy, 1930–1980 (María Soledad Zárate)....Pages 97-121 Resistance to Sexual and Reproductive Rights: Maternalism and Conservatism (Gabriela Alvarez Minte)....Pages 123-144 “Las madres del plomo”: Women’s Environmental Activism and Suffering in Northern Chile (Evelyn Arriagada)....Pages 145-165 Technocracy and Strategic Maternalism: Housing Policies, 1990–2014 (Alejandra Ramm)....Pages 167-194 LGBTQ-IPV and the Case for Challenging Maternalist Family Violence Paradigms (Hillary Hiner)....Pages 195-217 Women Miners: Motherhood, Labor Integration, and Unionization (Nicolás Angelcos)....Pages 219-243 The Persistent Maternalism in Labor Programs (Catalina de la Cruz)....Pages 245-266 Economic Modernization and Redefining Womanhood: Women, Family and Work in a Center Right-Wing Government (Carmen Gloria Godoy, Paula Raposo)....Pages 267-290 Back Matter ....Pages 291-296 "This book is a critical resource for understanding the relationship between gender, social policy and women's activism in Latin America, with specific reference to Chile. Latin America's mother-centered kinship system makes it an ideal field in which to study motherhood and maternalism--the ways in which motherhood becomes a public policy issue. As maternalism embraces and enhances gender differences, it has been criticized for deepening gender inequalities. Yet invoking motherhood continues to offer an effective strategy for advancing women's living conditions and rights, and for women themselves to be present in the public sphere. In analyzing these important relationships, the contributors to this volume discuss maternal health, sexual and reproductive rights, labor programs, paid employment, women miners' unionization, housing policies, environmental suffering, and LGBTQ intimate partner violence."-- Provided by publisher