Report From Bogota: Women and Liberation in Latin America

This is a report by two women from IS/S who attended the first Latin American Women's Conference in Colombia in July 1981. It is translated from ISIS Spanish Bulletin No 7 which focused on Women and National Liberation Struggles. More about what was discussed in Bogota will be published in the next english-language issues of ISIS which will concentrate on women in Latin America. The conference will also be the entire theme of Spanish ISIS No 8 which comes out in January.

The first ever conference of Latin Annerican and Caribbean women was held this year on 18-21 July in Bogota. Women from 25 countries took part. We met over all four days in a trade union centre on the outskirts of Colombia's capital. It was very moving, arriving there to find more than 250 women, many with ponchos and guitars, each carrying their own struggles, experiences and hopes on their shoulders — all set to discuss and exchange points of view about women's struggles in different countries and regions.

The atmosphere was warm and friendly with none of the formality and rituals so often found in international conferences, so communication was easy. Everyone worked hard during the day, showing great dedication and enthusiasm. We all wanted to learn from each other. During breaks and in the evenings we entertained ourselves by singing, talking, reading poetry, dancing and doing theatre and mime. There was an overwhelming feeling of unity, fantasy, and freedom.

Women came to the conference from all social backgrounds : students, housewives, peasants, professionals, workers, etc. Understandably, given the characteristics of our under-developed continent with its history of colonisation and military dictatorships, the most discussed issue — and the one which proved to be the most explosive — was the relationship between feminism and broader political struggles. These are the main points we discussed :

— the autonomy of the women's movement in relation to political parties

— double-militancy, i.e. working both in the women's movement and in political parties

— the political significance of women's liberation struggles and a feminist concept of politics

— feminism and cultural imperialism

— the need to broaden and strengthen the movement through the mobilisation and participation of women from the mass of the people and not only the middle classes

— an emphasis on feminist organisation which is primarily based on on direct personal experience.

When it came to discussing the autonomy of the women's movement, everyone agreed that this doesn't mean breaking away from the general process of social change. Instead it implies examining the need for structural changes in society from a new perspective. Feminism, as an autonomous movement, has to become a strong social force allied to other sectors of society. Several women stressed the need to get away from a particular attitude which is prevalent in many feminist and Left circles and amounts to a 'fear of strength'.

By concentrating on self-assertiveness this attitude results in a shrinking away from contact with society and, without any 'motivation for power', easily leads to a form of sterility. Feminism needs to be a mass movement capable of helping to transform society through a series of progressive conquests. In other words, the women's movement has to act as a very strong pressure group. Feminist perspective implies an entirely new outlook on life which requires profound changes in society's dominant values — a veritable cultural revolution. It means redefining the roles which society at present assigns to women and men, as much in our private as in our public
lives. Consequently, it affects the education system, the organisation of healthcare, the role of the mass media, organisations in the community and the political system itself It is for this reason that the autonomy of the women's movement is founded on the very specific nature of women's struggles.

The question of two levels of militant action (double militancy) revealed different and sometimes directly opposite views. Some stressed the right and the need for women to agitate  inside political parties, introducing the specific problems of women Into them, in the belief that the liberation ofwomen cannot be achieved without the liberation of the people. Others spoke against this double-sided approach because of the vertical, sectarian nature and the sexist attitudes prevalent in the existing left political parties. Nevertheless, both tendencies recognised the specific oppression of women and the obstacles which political parties have placed in the way of women's issues, as well as their resistance to the emerging women's movement, something which is happening not only in Latin America, but also in other continents. Everyone agreed that feminism lets loose an ideological and political struggle to change society. The problem point is the relationship between feminism and political parties.

Efforts to climb out of the ghetto into which some feminist groups have fallen, and which incorporates a certain elitism, led to a very interesting discussion about new methods of community education. Strong criticism was voiced against dominant politics and programmes for development, including those practiced by international organisations, which aren't based on any genuine participation of the people where women, too, have a lot to say. It's not a question of giving things to women in order to try and integrate them into a society which operates on the basis of machismo and injustice. It's a question of letting women express their most genuine values. New experiments in working with women in the community (popular areas) start from a very simple basis. Meetings are organised where women can talk to one another in an isolated situation and in mutual confidence. In this way they begin to perceive, little by little, that they have a lot in common for they all share problems, worries, feelings of isolation and the longing for a better life. The best results have been obtained through the use of audio-visual material, cartoons and pictures, or popular theatre. Contrary
to common opinion, in a very short time women show great interest in talking not only about problems of survival, but also about their sexuality, problems arising from couple relationships, the education of their children, personal development (for example, many women want to learn to speak in public), and society in general.

At the Bogota conference we also dealt with women's work and the conditions of inequality which prevail in this area, starting with the high percentage of female unemployment in Latin America, on top of low wages, the lack of proper employees' contracts, the difficulties, and in some cases the impossibility, of forming trade unions, and the lack of laws to protect maternity etc.

The other major theme to be tackled was sexuality. This included practical demonstrations of self-examination for those who were interested. Many women wanted to get to
know and learn how to control their own bodies, so as not to be helpless in the hands of gynaecologists. Detailed information was provided about different methods of contraception, including the harmful effects of some of them the right to free and conscious maternity and the need to separate sexuality from mere reproduction. We also touched on the question of lesbianism and society's attitudes to it, introducing arguments which until now have been taboo in Latin America. We strongly denounced sexual violence as a social and political attack on women and it was proposed that November 25th should become an international day of protest against violence against women. This was because three sisters from the Dominican Republic were murdered on that date after suffering sexual attacks.

All the themes which were discussed — political as much as those dealing with personal life — are interrelated. As we said in one of the editorials of our international bulletin (Spanish ISIS No. 5) : The private is directly political because patriarchal ideology cuts right across the lives of individual men and women. The important thing is to relate both levels and understand that women's liberation will not happen without the transformation of society, nor will there ever be true social transformation without the emancipation of women.'

We were all sad the last day of the conference arrived. There was still so much more to discuss. But we left with the satisfaction of having started a communication between women who all share the same fundamental experience. It was decided to definitely hold a second conference in two years time in Peru. Meanwhile different groups will carry on working towards women's liberation, enriched by this new exchange of contacts, ideas, and experiences.