Popular Women's Union of Loja

What is the UPML?

The Popular Women's Union of Loja (UPML—Union Popular de Mujeres de Loja) is a grassroots women's organization, headquartered in the city of Loja in the province of the same name in the South American nation of Ecuador.

The organization includes mainly urban but also some rural women, and currently consists of some thirty-five grassroots or base-level organizations with a membership totaling 1500. Our members are women who are extremely poor but seek to contribute to the development of a more just and humane society. About 80 percent are married women and 20 percent are single, including some abandoned mothers. UPML was founded in May 1984. We saw it as necessary to continue developing a space for women to come together so that as an organized force and a part of the popular movement we could join the overall struggle of the poor.

We are not a parallel organization to the popular movement, and we do not oppose it or try to hold ourselves apart from it. We see clearly that the enemy of the poor, men and women alike, is injustice, exploitation, poverty, and oppression.

We are concerned not only with the liberation of women but of all poor people, and so we know that we must march together, keep on friendly terms, and coordinate our work with other grassroots organizations that share our goals, in order to consolidate the popular movement in our province and our country.

UPML is a grassroots women's organization in which together we analyze our experience of reality and, guided by the word of God, explore how we can liberate ourselves from the double oppression and exploitation in which we live. Just as we all share responsibility for the injustice and marginalization experienced by women, so is women's liberation the responsibility of everyone. Nonetheless it is we women ourselves who must take the lead in working toward our own liberation. Today as a society we need more scope for the intelligence and creativity of women, more commitment in the struggle for liberation, and more groups dedicated to raising women's consciousness and fighting for our liberation. Men need to let go of their egotism, their superior attitude, and their machismo, replacing them with respect, consideration, sincerity, and solidarity with and for women.

We need to remember, however, that we also need more of the liberating spirit and less empty rhetoric that dulls the awareness and the fighting spirit of women. UPML has set for itself clear, concrete, and winnable goals, including:

1. To promote the organization and solidarity of women in general, especially those who are most marginalized, so that women themselves can learn a new way of living as human beings and have an experience of living within a supportive community. This will also allow us to open up more space in our organizations for educating ourselves and others.
2. To educate the grassroots women of Loja, so that they come to see themselves as complete human beings endowed with intelligence and freedom, possessing rights and responsibilities, and in charge of their own development.
3. To expose the conditions of injustice and oppression that women are subject to today.
4. To build women's skills through all types of concrete activities, so that the level of women's abilities and creativity is raised throughout the community in ways that support their economic development and improve their standard of living. Such efforts should enable women to share their values, experiences, knowledge, accomplishments, and initiatives, exploring and supporting the application of different approaches (cultural, technical, and material) to skill-building.
5. To support the participating base-level organizations in planning and implementing community projects that lighten the difficult economic situation of poor households in the city and the countryside, so that these projects are one more means of reinforcing women's unity and solidarity.

In order to achieve these objectives, UPML maintains an indispensable minimum of internal structure. We try to function as flexibly as possible while sustaining a broad democratic spirit and giving great priority to participation from the grassroots, in decision making as well as in planning and executing activities.

The accompanying diagram gives an idea of the structure of the UPML.

 

Implementation of the objectives and programmatic activities of the UPML fall into the following areas:

1. Education—In its three years of existence, the UPML has focused on efforts to raise the awareness of women and to support its base-level organizations and consolidate the existence of the union. So far most of the activities undertaken have thus been educational in nature. UPML considers that educational work has primary importance, because we believe that the starting point for the liberation of women is not doing more but being more. With those criteria, the UPML has undertaken activities in the following areas:

With leadership—Courses, seminars, and workshops at different levels with the Provincial Directorate, the Education and Training Team, and leaders of the base-level organizations.

With the base-level organizations—Visits, day-long sessions, and courses at different levels with each of the base-level organizations of the UPML.

Issues addressed—In preparing each course, the needs and concerns of the UPML as a whole and each one of its participating organizations are taken into account. Each course has its own focus. Examples include discovering women as persons; the condition of peasant women in our society; what's going on in our province, our nation, and Latin America as a whole; human rights in general and women's rights in particular; the situation of women in the family; political education and popular organization; and organizational dynamics.

2. Training and skill building

With leadership—Courses, workshops, and seminars for the Provincial Directorate, the Education and Training Team, and leadership of the base-level organizations. These courses address such topics as methodology for popular education, methodology for socioeconomic research, techniques for analysis of social reality, and popular medicine and health education.

With the base-level organizations—Leadership at the provincial and local level ensures that material addressed in their sessions is shared with each of the base-level organizations, taking into account the needs of each group.

Technical training—UPML additionally ensures that each of the base-level organizations receives whatever technical training is required for the community projects it has undertaken. Training courses are also given in response to general community needs. To this end UPML offers courses through each of the base-level organizations.

3. Community projects—Efforts to promote the liberation of women should take into account their economic and job-related needs. In this line, UPML is beginning to develop self-managed income-generating projects, which we term "community projects." Whenever possible each base-level organization sponsors such a project. These projects are guided by the following criteria:
   • Each base-level organization should choose its own project, according to its practical requirements and possibilities, seeking to benefit from available resources and reclaiming the wisdom of the people.
   • The project that is chosen should be economically productive—that is, it should afford some economic gain, however small, for the organization itself and its members.
   • The productive effort should be truly community-based, in the sense that it is the joint responsibility of all members of each organization.
   • The community project should foster the growth of unity and solidarity within each base-level organization.

In accordance with these criteria, several base-level organizations of the UPML have undertaken community projects. Some examples include breeding small animals (guinea pigs, poultry), gardens (medicinal plants, vegetables), sewing workshops, bakeries, cultivation of corn or beans, and so on.

4. Information and publications—This area includes publication of the by-laws of the UPML, publication of annual programs of action, course curricula, and publication of our book. And We Had No Voice, which recounts the experiences of the UPML.
5. Relations at the national level—UPML has participated in national women's meetings and some of its members have collaborated in courses given by women's organizations in other provinces.
6. Fundraising—One of the greatest stumbling blocks to the work of the UPML is the scarcity of economic resources. So far, we have financed our own activities, through the following means:
   • Some of the base-level organizations make monthly or occasional contributions to the UPML treasury. Since the members of these organizations are poor women, the amount of such contributions is limited.
   • Each base-level organization funds its own courses, covering expenses for food, lodging, and transportation.
   • UPML has managed to obtain grants from several foreign agencies: Solidarity, in Holland, for publishing and distribution of educational materials, and Development and Peace, in Canada, for a program of research/action which resulted in the publication of And We Had No Voice. This source also provided funds for continuing and deepening the work of the UPML.
   • Finally, the sales of And We Had No Voice have generated a new source of income for the UPML.

We will turn now from this general description of the UPML to a closer examination of a single project: the publication of And We Had No Voice.

Why Did We Publish a Book?

The UPML emerged as a result of longstanding efforts by the Social Pastoral Secretariat of the diocese of Loja, which operated an outreach program for women. Through the Catechism Secretariat our parish priests began to call on the laity, both men and women, to receive training as catechists, taking courses at different levels that helped us to understand the reality in which we were living—systematic injustice, oppression, and exploitation of man by man-all of which is contrary to God's plan.

The catechists were aware that the Social Pastoral Secretariat ran programs of economic assistance. Responding to the needs of our communities, then, we opened maternal and infant care centers, which served pregnant women, nursing mothers, and mothers of malnourished children. In these centers the catechists taught what we had learned.

Seeing that we needed to extend our educational efforts to far more women—and not just mothers, but women in general—two courses targeted specifically to women were included among the training programs offered by the Catechism Secretariat each year. Wives of male catechists, women catechists, and all the women who attended the maternal and infant care centers were particularly invited.

Through all this work with women a permanent group emerged that took on responsibility for the courses, meetings, gatherings, and so on. This group also selected a number of women to serve as "orientation workers." In 1983 these women became an ongoing team.

Throughout this process, one of the strongest desires of the women who were organizing was to form a province-wide organization of women, a goal that we achieved on May 29, 1984.

When we formed the UPML, we felt it was necessary to set down all the progress we had made in both city and countryside over the past fifteen years. We also felt it was important to record our history as a women's group, documenting and evaluating our experiences during this period. This is how we came to publish our book, And We Had No Voice.

The first obstacle we faced was our lack of skills for such an undertaking. We also lacked the most basic materials necessary for achieving our goal. Further, certain people outside the UPML opposed the project on political and ideological grounds.

The compilation of experiences included in the book bespeaks the active participation of our base-level organizations, which contributed their ideas, skills, and perspectives through interviews, surveys, and articles written by small groups. All of this material was then edited by the orientation team and the directorate, with the assistance of certain friends and supporters of the UPML.

Finally, in July 1985, the book finally rolled off the presses. We could never have imagined how much we gained through this project, since during the preparation and later distribution of the book we achieved:

• Increased skills for the orientation team and the directorate.
• A growth of awareness regarding the importance of women's organizing.
• More sharing of experiences, not only among ourselves but with other organizations, nationally and internationally.

In addition, the book has been and continues to be a most effective means of spreading the word about the UPML and creating a forum for our voice as women of the people. Finally, the book has been a source of income for the UPML.

UPML: A Growing Organization

In accordance with its by-laws, the Popular Women's Union of Loja held its annual general assembly in the city of Loja on May 27-30, 1987. The objectives of the assembly were to consolidate the organization, to reappoint the provincial directorate, and to reflect on the gains and losses of the UPML. Another objective was to seek new ways of overcoming the obstacles to a broader involvement of women in popular organizations.

Participating in the assembly were forty-two official delegates, representing the member organizations of the UPML. Also present were eighteen delegates from other women's organizations. General coordination of the assembly was in the hands of the UPML provincial directorate. Also present as special guests were Maria Teresa Rivera; Noemi Galves of CEAP; Hna. Elsie Monge, president of CEDHU; Carmen Gangotena of CEDECO; and Lily Rodriguez, director of CEPAM.

In preparation for the meeting, all of the base-level organizations of the UPML were surveyed as to their current situation, their progress, and difficulties they faced. Secondarily, the survey dealt with some of the chief themes that would be discussed in the assembly. In addition, members of the orientation team visited the base-level organizations to encourage their participation in the meeting.

A major theme of the meetings was the current political situation in Ecuador. As a result of continuous violations of the national Constitution, on January 16, 1987, President Leon Febres Cordero was kidnapped at Taura Airforce Base, to forcibly demand freedom for Gen. Frank Vargas Pazzos. Subsequently, taking advantage of an earthquake that occurred in the northeastern part of our country. President Febres Cordero unleashed his own "economic earthquake" to further ravage the Ecuadoran people. This meant not only new economic measures, but also the introduction of more than 6000 U.S. troops, which only worsened the situation of the earthquake victims in the northeast region and the Ecuadoran people in general.

Meanwhile, we Ecuadorans learn every day of major new abuses of public funds, scandals that have touched Ecua hospital, the construction of the superhighway circling the city of Guayaquil, and Fokker Airlines, among others.

All of these developments bring other problems in their wake: inflation, hoarding of agricultural products, harsh criticism of popular organizations—particularly women's organizations, unemployment, migration, budget shortfalls for the universities, delinquency, prostitution, and so on. Faced with this situation, those with awareness are responding in kind, with strikes by doctors, postal workers, court employees, teachers, secondary and university students. Entire provinces have gone on strike, as for example in Esmeraldas. At the same time, the Left parties are seeking to unite. The government, for its part, is responding with increasing repression, using airborne squadrons and other tactics. As a result, human rights in our country exist only on paper.

According to our Constitution, all Ecuadorans, men and women, enjoy the following as their most fundamental rights:

• The right to life; yet we are insulted, tortured, and killed.
• The right to freedom of expression and religion; yet those who speak the truth are repressed.
• The right to elect whom we choose and to run for office; yet we are persecuted when we do not vote for the government party.
• The right to food; yet more than two million Ecuadorans are undernourished.
• The right to work; yet 50 percent of our people have no work.
• The right to education; yet funding for schools and universities is cut back.
• The right to housing; yet 98 percent are living in dwellings that are not fit for human habitation.
• The right to freedom of association; yet popular organizations are repressed.

These rights spring from human dignity, equality, and justice. Nonetheless, the basic rights of poor women are trampled upon every day. In the home we are considered as sex objects, we are physically abused, our work is not valued; from birth we are rejected simply for being women. We are considered incompetent and are denied equal opportunity for schooling, being trained only for domestic tasks. We are supposed to just go along with men's wishes instead of making our own decisions.

Outside the home, we are the objects of advertisements, commercialism; we are again seen as sex objects (prostitution); we are the guinea pigs for new birth control methods. We are denied the right to participate in popular organizations and, what's more, to organize ourselves as women. We are not supposed to give our opinion without permission from our husbands. We are paid less than men even though we do the same work.

We believe that the oppression women face inside and outside the home is a product of social structures—and therefore a political and ideological problem. We turn now to a consideration of the political situation of women.

In the domain of popular organizations, it is women who face the greatest difficulties in organizing ourselves. Some of these difficulties come right from our families. With all of our responsibilities in the home, we do not have enough time to participate in organizing. If we try to organize ourselves we are accused of being divisive in the home, of trying to order our men around, or of trying to liberate ourselves only so that we can indulge our fancies.

In mixed popular organizations, women always occupy secondary roles. Often we are assigned only to housekeeping chores. In the meetings, the men give their opinion and the women are supposed to just go along. Whenever a women's organization is formed, attempts are made to wreck it or to make sure it will take orders from male leadership. If this tactic does not succeed it is disparaged as an "antimale" organization.

In political parties and institutions, a similar situation prevails. Women's organizations are mistrusted and seen as dangerous, incompetent, and of little account. Thus it is not seen as worthwhile to support their development. Both leftwing and rightwing parties each have their own program to solve "the woman problem." If women are allowed to participate in the parties, it is only so they can add to the number of votes and help out in election campaigns. In other words, women exist to serve—whether as ornaments or simply to add numbers.

Because we are doubly exploited and oppressed, we must undertake a double struggle. We must struggle with our own brothers in the movement so that they will appreciate the importance of women's organizations and support them—so that together we can fight our common enemy, which oppresses and exploits both women and men. Clearly, men are threatened by women's organizations because they are afraid of losing their male privilege—which we ourselves have unknowingly collaborated in creating. Likewise the oppressor class fears to lose its privileges and so tries to undermine popular organizing.

In discussing these issues, the UPML general assembly was not able to go beyond agreement on a description of the problems we face. We concluded by ratifying the general objectives of the UPML, noting several specific goals, such as:

• Enlarging the orientation team.
• Formalizing the membership of the base-level organizations in the UPML.
• Defending the autonomy of the UPML.
• Continuing to share the experiences of the base-level organizations.
• Finding our own building to house UPML activities.

To work toward these objectives, the assembly set criteria for the leadership of the union, agreeing that our leaders should be:

• Women of faith.
• Warm and welcoming.
• Committed to solidarity.
• Democratic.
• Active and outgoing.
• Courageous in the struggle for the complete liberation of women.
• Humble.
• Given to reflective thinking.
• Understanding.
• Serious and at home with themselves as women.
• Sincere.
• Concerned with the base-level organizations.
• Respectful of the needs of each base-level organization and the UPML in general.

Next, we elected our Provincial Directorate, who would guide the organization for one year. We chose to hold our election with secret ballots and complete freedom of choice.

To maximize participation in the assembly, after each theme was presented through a role play, we broke up into smaller groups with a list of simple questions for each group to answer, recording their thoughts on a large sheet of paper, which was then presented by a representative of each group to the entire assembly. Then the assembly discussed the ideas presented, and a facilitator who was responsible for each theme tried to sum up the discussion of that theme.

It is worth noting that we also included time for recreation in planning our meeting, so that the participants would not tire themselves out. A committee was formed to plan activities for recreation, and the facilitators also made up songs for us to sing that related to each of the themes, using popular tunes.

At the end of each theme and also at the end of the whole assembly, we evaluated the meeting, so that we could identify our mistakes as we went along and determine their causes, as well as making suggestions for improving future events.

The meeting closed with a cultural celebration and performance—a gift of solidarity to our group from an ensemble of Saraguros, an indigenous people.

Acknowledgement

UPML would like to thank Isis International for extending to us the opportunity to share this article, which we hope will further the cause of women's organizing in Latin America.

 

Union Popular de Mujeres de Loja
Mariana Troya
Casilla 763
Loja, Ecuador