Moema Viezzer

Our purpose in this brief article is to illustrate the role of Rede Mulher— the Women's Network of Brazil— in working with grassroots women's organizations. We will describe a national workshop we sponsored on popular education with women to show how popular education can be an instrument for building connections and communication within the women's movement.

Moema Viezzer is coordinator of Rede Mulher, Sao Paulo, Brazil. This article was written with the collaboration of Beatriz Cannabrava and Vera Lucia Vaccari, members of the Rede Mulher coordinating team.

On Networks

Much has been said in recent years on networks. Like many issues in the field of popular education, this one is controversial. Still there is general agreement that in a society as patriarchal and hierarchical as ours, it is vital to invent new types of organizations, so as not to reinforce in practice the very structures that we critique in theory. Networks have developed precisely as one of these alternative forms of developing connections.

In speaking of networks we may draw an analogy to fishing lines. Used separately, each line can catch only one fish at a time. But when the individual lines are joined into a net, in which every knot reinforces and is reinforced by every other, the total capacity is geometrically increased. Pursuing our analogy a little further, in a fishing net there is no hierarchy among the knots. Any tear may be individually repaired without jeopardizing the whole.

Another thing to consider is that we choose different types of nets to catch different kinds of fish. The same holds true with networks. There are simple networks for facilitating interchanges among independent groups where there is no attempt to develop a common theoretical approach or undertake joint actions. At the other end of the spectrum are networks that seek to fully develop a particular method in order to strengthen their approach to popular education, other end of the spectrum are networks that seek to fully develop a particular method in order to strengthen their approach to popular education.

From this perspective it may be important to note a third point. In speaking of networks for popular education, we feel it is crucial that there be, first of all, enough time and space to knit the network together— that is, to clarify its objectives and explore what each group and individual brings to the whole— in order to reach the second stage, that of extending its reach. In this second stage networks operate in political spaces that are broader and usually more complex and controversial, in which they must define their own approach in relation to other existing groupings.

Rede Mulher

The name "Rede Mulher"— the Women's Network—was chosen by the founder of this group as an expression of the approach that brought it into being. Included in this name are all of the possibilities and limitations, the advantages and disadvantages, represented by working as a network and not as an organization. Taking the network concept as our starting point, we defined ourselves as a body supporting organized women's groups by means of popular education programs.

The specific objective of Rede Mulher is to bring together a network of grassroots women's groups in Brazil that are involved in social transformation. It is difficult to forge links among such groups, not only because the country is so large and communication is so difficult, but also because of the institutional dependency of most women's groups in poor communities, both urban and rural. Usually, such groups have been organized by other institutions, especially the Catholic Church and the state. As a result they lack their own programs for addressing the subordination of women as a problem of unequal gender relations, and for fighting for an equality of rights between men and women as an indispensable precondition for universal social transformation.

In recent years. Rede Mulher has begun to put into practice its own approach, sponsoring research/education projects, conferences, and interchanges among grassroots women in order to help the popular women's movement become more dynamic and also more united, since so far it has been quite fragmented.

The projects undertaken by Rede Mulher have emerged first and foremost from the needs women themselves have expressed. Methodologically, we rely on participatory research involving women's groups. By developing a systematic analysis of the results of their investigations, participants can better understand the social subordination of women to men, which in turn allows them to take greater control of their own organizations and movements, structuring programmatic activities that meet their needs as women from various grassroots sectors.

Rede Mulher has also sponsored workshops on popular education with women, organized according to the three stages assumed by the popular education process: starting from social practice, evaluating this practice collectively, and finally returning to practice, having now incorporated into it a popular education approach.

 

Founded in 1980, Rede Mulher grew out of the ideas of Moema Viezzer, a Brazilian sociologist and educator involved in studying Latin American women's issues since 1975. In 1983 it was registered as a nonprofit organization. Today the organization includes a board of seven as well as a technical team which sponsors programs with the participation of grassroots women's groups. The board is structured in accordance with the appropriate legal regulations and the technical team has its own internal structure. A team of four people handles day-to-day coordination: a general coordinator and three assistants who are responsible for different areas of work. Additional staff are signed on to carry out particular programs and projects.

Since its founding, Rede Mulher has received funding from agencies in Canada, England, West Germany, Sweden, and Chile, as well as various Brazilian groups. It is affiliated with CEAAL and the Health Network of Isis International. In 1987, the two main programs undertaken by Rede Mulher were education on women's rights and training popular education teachers. Rede Mulher also operates a documentation center that gathers materials on women and popular education in Brazil and other countries and a communications center that currently distributes twenty-three films and videos to women's groups for a nominal rental fee of twenty-five cents U.S. A publications unit, known as Ediciones Rede Mulher, has issued various materials.

Rede Mulher keeps in touch with women's institutions and popular education groups throughout Latin Ameri

ca, as well as in Europe, Africa, and Asia. It also offers internships for people interested in learning more about the group and its activities.

The Workshop

Brazil's first national workshop on methods for popular education with women was sponsored by Rede Mulher in 1985. This program was part of a continent-wide effort by the CEAAL women's network. Moema Viezzer, convenor for the Brazil subregion of the CEAAL program, selected Rede Mulher to coordinate the workshop, and so the Rede Mulher team took on responsibility for the workshop's three stages of planning, implementation, and follow-up.

By way of background, it is worth noting that Brazil makes up practically half of the Latin American continent, covering more than 8.5 million square kilometers. Its population of 140 million represents a third of the continent's people. The country is a federal republic comprising twenty-three states and two territories. The year 1985 not only marked the beginning of the workshop we are discussing, it was also the year that Brazil's first civilian president took office, chosen in indirect elections after more than twenty years of military dictatorships. During that year the country was also preparing for the election of a National Constituent Assembly, which later became the National Constituent Congress, charged with drafting a new constitution to replace the one promulgated by the military regime.

As we planned our national meeting, the workshop format seemed most suited for our efforts. We think of a workshop as a space for reflection and action in which participants work toward a structural explanation of their social reality, joining theory and practice. The workshop approach does away with the idea of teachers who do nothing but teach and students who do nothing but learn; rather, the participants constitute a group that is generating new knowledge by dint of collective effort.

A workshop, in this view, is not a discrete event. Rather, it is a process, which always starts from some type of description of social reality, proceeds to a moment of collective evaluation of a particular social practice, and concludes by recreating that practice.

Every time we sponsor a workshop on popular education with women, we begin by exploring the subordination of women to men as a longstanding and universal phenomenon that appears in all civilizations and economic systems, even though it functions in intimate connection with the particular nature of any given system. The mechanisms through which this subordination is created and maintained reside in the social, economic, political, and cultural context that has developed in each region, society, or nation. Changing the unequal social relations between men and women necessitates changes in economic, social, political, and cultural structures that support the capitalist system and patriarchal ideology.

The main components of our workshops on popular education with women may be summarized as follows:

• In exploring the situation of women, women's perceptions of their own experiences must serve as the starting point and be emphasized throughout.
• Evaluations must involve women from the sectors under discussion.
• The workshop should be planned with women of the popular sectors in mind. To this end, the process we create should foster a broader and deeper analysis of social reality and help us improve the effectiveness of our forms of organization.

Popular education for women is a recent development in our continent. Just as women have been marginalized and discriminated against in society, so have they been in most grassroots organizations—including many of those involved in popular education. Thus it is necessary to develop coordinated efforts to promote the needs and concerns of women of the popular classes.

The thematic focus for the first Brazilian workshop on popular education and the women's movement was the subordination of women to men and the struggle for gender relations that would be free of domination. The principal objective was to explore how this theme is or is not addressed by popular organizations with a significant female membership in Brazil.

This thematic focus was developed by way of several verses authored by a member of a mothers club in the eastern region of Sao Paulo, Nelcine Alves Araiijo (see illustration).

To begin the workshop process. Rede Mulher sent explanatory mailings to women organized through unions, women's associations, mothers clubs, political parties, and professional associations. Nearly 150 women signed up for the workshop, but owing to funding difficulties and logistical problems only seventy-five could be accepted.

The participants came from nearly every state in Brazil and included housewives, bus conductors, laundry workers, needle workers, domestic workers, farm laborers, pastoral workers, and prostitutes. Some of these women traveled more than three days to reach the meeting site for the second stage of the program. Participants from the state of Rondonia in the country's northern region, for example, traveled more than 3000 kilometers, half the way on unpaved roads. Those attending the workshop raised money for their travel expenses through raffles and events sponsored by their organizations or by the institutions working with them, such as the Catholic church, political parties, unions, and the like. Such support, while welcome, was only temporary; ongoing support for the establishment of autonomous women's organizations has not been available. The lack of funding to support women's initiatives is one of the problems faced by women of grassroots organizations and was raised in the evaluation of our workshop.

Most of the groups that took part in the workshop had not been organized by the women themselves, but by other institutions. Many of these groups were active at the neighborhood or community level; a few had extended their reach up to the municipal, state, or national level. The members of such groups are predominantly married women, most over twenty-five years old, with an average of three to five children. Many such groups still have not discussed gender relations. Thus the workshop assumed that most participants would be broaching the subject for the first time.

As noted above, the workshop took places in three stages. Each of these is discussed in detail below.

Phase 1: Preparing for the Meeting

For the seven months leading up to the meeting, we corresponded with participants, using five "aids for joint preparation" developed by the Rede Mulher technical team and filled out by the women who had registered for the workshop in collaboration with their sponsoring groups. Every two weeks another mailing was sent out, with contents as described below.

Unit 1—The objective was to bring out the problems created by unequal gender and class relations and by the country's economic situation. Three key words were chosen from the verse shown above— woman, Brazilian, and suffered— and participants were asked to note down the first things they associated with each word.

Unit 2—To show how women are subordinated to men in daily life and how this gives rise to a "culture of women's oppression," handed down from generation to generation, we asked the participants to think of sayings, proverbs, verses, and songs that mention women.

Unit 3—This mailing invited participating groups to bring some of their work to display at the meeting, including primers, handicrafts, audiovisuals, recipes for herbal medicine, and so on. The displays were presented at the meeting in a Cultural Fair.

Unit 4—Unlike the other mailings, which were presented on a single sheet, this unit included a questionnaire that asked participants about their organizations, the type of work undertaken, the number of members, and some details about them, such as age, marital status, number of children, and so on. Questions were also included about the struggles and achievements of these groups, the problems they had faced, and the solutions they had found.

Unit 5—The purpose of the final mailing was to compile details on the participants themselves in order to prepare a group profile. It was also intended to allow the women to review all the work of this first phase at home with their sponsoring groups. The responses were used to prepare a Conference Notebook which considered questions such as: Who are we? Where do we come from? How are we going to work together? What have we prepared for this meeting? What are our next steps?

Phase 2: Holding the Meeting

Given that the workshop involved grassroots women, many of whom were illiterate or unaccustomed to reading or intellectual work, we felt it was important to use various popular education techniques to spark the process of reflection and to sustain a lively interchange within each group and among the women attending. The techniques we used included introductions, dividing into groups, introducing the topics, analysis and synthesis, and evaluation of the methods used and of communication at the individual and group levels. We tried to key each piece of written material to a certain color, to help integrate the illiterate women.

The meeting itself was a three-day live-in program held in an old farmhouse that had been refitted as a conference center by the Methodist University of Piracicaba in the interior of Sao Paulo. University staff took care of logistical matters at the meeting.

Each topic was discussed in subgroups of approximately ten women. Every three subgroups met together for mini plenaries, and a full plenary was held at the end of each day so that the entire group could discuss and synthesize the day's efforts.

The question of how women are subordinated to men and how to organize to overcome this division were presented as two sides of the same coin, as shown in the diagram.

To discuss the first side of the coin— the situation of women— the group was divided into three. Each subgroup was assigned a poster, with each poster a different color, for one of the three key words: woman, Brazilian, suffering. The subgroups made their presentations according to the "match light" (fosforo) technique. Each subgroup used a different way of analyzing their topic. For woman we used a game with music and body movement; for Brazilian, a jigsaw puzzle of the map of Brazil; and for suffering a children's game known as the game of the blind and the prisoners. Each group answered three questions about the problems women face: those that derive simply from being women; those that stem from being in the popular sector; and those that relate to the current situation of the country. Also discussed were the problems faced by organized women's groups that work autonomously or inside mixed organizations.

Here is a sampling of the conclusions reached by the participants: That women's problems are rooted in our culture; that women are most deeply affected by the current situation in Brazil because they are the ones who manage the family's budget; that women of the popular sectors suffer the most because their basic survival needs go unmet; and that those who must contend with prejudice because of their race or skin color are even more oppressed.

The group also concluded that women are organizing to break down the structures of their oppression, but face many obstacles because of their low level of formal education and because it is so difficult to raise gender issues in mixed organizations such as the church, unions, or political parties.

To discuss the "other side of the coin"— how women are organizing—the participants divided into three groups comprising six subgroups: women organized through political parties or the church; through professional associations and labor and peasant unions; and in mothers clubs and autonomous women's groups. Each group watched an audiovisual about organizing.

Members of the subgroups gave presentations using the "web" technique and answered questions about what kind of space is actually available to women in popular organizations. Next they came up with statements about themselves and their relationships to men, children, government institutions at all levels, the National Constituent Assembly and the new Brazilian constitution, nongovernmental organizations, organizations in general, political parties, church-related groups, and labor and peasant unions.

In addition, a group of cultural workers from the eastern region of Sao Paulo presented a theater piece, On Being a Woman, which emerged from a research and evaluation project on mothers clubs and women's groups carried out by Rede Mulher from 1983 to 1985.

The last day of the meeting was devoted to reviewing the process of preparation for the workshop. Also discussed were proposals for joint action at the national level. For the review, posters were distributed among the participants that had a description of the contents, objectives, and strategy for each activity, and the activities were reconstructed with the help of the facilitator.

For follow-up, the group approved proposals to share the experience of the meeting more broadly; to undertake a coordinated national campaign; and to support more organizing among Brazilian women of the popular sectors. The national campaign addressed the current situation of the country, namely, advancing the interests of women before the National Constituent Congress. As part of that process, a statement addressed to the president of the republic was distributed, demanding the involvement of women and popular organizations in the Constituent Assembly. The group also decided to hold actions on March 8 of the following year on the same theme.

Because Brazil is so spread out and its popular women's groups are so fragmented. Rede Mulher was asked to coordinate the efforts of these groups to prepare a joint statement on women's rights and the new Brazilian constitution. Also planned was a visit to Brasilia, the national capital, to present the statement to the delegates elected in 1986.

Phase 3: Follow-Up

The decision to focus follow-up efforts on the constitutional process fed into another Rede Mulher project, on Women and the Constituent Assembly, which was designed to provide information and adult education to outlying areas. This project was launched in December 1985 and included several phases in itself.

First, we established commissions to coordinate the project at the state level and report back to Rede Mulher so that local activities could be shared with other regions through a newsletter. Seven issues of this bulletin, entitled Women and the Constituent Assembly, were published and distributed by Rede Mulher. Circulation of the newsletter grew as new groups joined the campaign. By the end, 730 groups across the country were involved, with an aggregate membership of some 25,000 women.

The proposals that Rede Mulher received from the statewide commissions were compiled and circulated as a draft to all the groups involved. With their input, the draft was reworked into a finished document, which was cast into legal language with the help of lawyers and then submitted as an amendment to the new constitution.

The document was put forward in the Praca da Se, the cathedral square in the center of Sao Paulo, during the National Day of Inauguration of Popular Initiatives for the Constituent Congress. These popular initiatives, as provided by the rules of the Constituent Congress, are amendments proposed for consideration by the congress. They must be supported by 30,000 signatures from voters and sponsored by at least three legally registered organizations.

In May 1987, thirty-one women, members of the statewide commissions, visited the National Constituent Congress in Brasilia, where they were able to present the document to several congressional delegates. At this time a National Coordinating Commission for Popular Initiatives on Women's Rights was also established. This commission was charged with circulating the document, gathering the 30,000 signatures, and organizing the delegation that would present it to the congress. The National Coordinating Commission assigned Moema Viezzer, coordinator of Rede Mulher and the Constituent Assembly Project, with overseeing this effort.

What's Next?

Further steps have been discussed by various groups that participated in the workshop and wanted to continue building a nationwide popular women's movement. Rede Mulher's contribution will come through its Education for Women's Rights project, which plans to train ninety outreach workers as well as publishing and circulating materials intended to advance both popular education on this subject and the provision of alternative legal services to women.

We are also looking ahead to our second workshop on popular education and the women's movement, which will take place in 1988. The process for that effort will be similar to the one described in this article—starting from social practice, undertaking a collective evaluation, and returning to practice—but this time with women's groups that are better known to one another and clearer in their goals for building a movement.

Many of the positive accomplishments of the workshop have already been noted. We would like to close with a few additional points:

• Because the concluding "return to practice" was a coordinated effort, the groups were able to become better acquainted with one another. Thus a real interchange could take place among groups with similar goals that previously operated in complete isolation from one another.
• The groups agreed on a joint campaign through a consensus process, respecting the diversity of the women present and the many differences that derive from different levels and types of organization.
• This effort has opened up space for discussing women's subordination to men as a social problem and the need for women's organizing as a social movement, with implications for many contexts where women have participated for years, such as parties, unions, and Christian base communities.
• The process has also contributed to the emergence of grassroots leaders who are ready to undertake further activities in their state or region. In the future, this should have even more of an impact as their efforts have a ripple effect.

It also seems important to us to consider the following points:

• One thing we are seeing at Rede Mulher is a need for better means of communication, to facilitate more consistent reporting from the groups we work with in distant areas. Even though our materials are used appropriately and the projects often achieve their initial goals, the grassroots groups find it difficult to document their experiences in writing, which translates into a lack of feedback for us. Large-scale responses generally occur only when there is a new call for mobilization—as in staging a conference, collecting signatures, and the like.
• Rede Mulher also feels a need for more effective fundraising by women's groups for projects that they wish to undertake at the network level. This, of course, is not to discount the need to seek institutional support for larger-scale popular education projects, especially in a country like Brazil, where the emerging women's movement faces grave economic problems.
• Also important to consider is the need to develop and share methods and techniques for popular education that are useful for discussing the subordination of women as it is played out in different social classes in Brazil.
• Finally, we feel that the entire workshop/network project needs to be deepened, so that it is truly not an event but a process that fosters collective actions and stronger links. Such a process would represent an authentic advance in the social analysis of gender relations and the construction of a popular women's movement.

—Sao Paulo, June 1987

Rede Mulher
Caixa Postal 1803
01051 Sao Paulo, SP
Brasil

A Rede Mulher slideshow is currently being translated into English. Contact the group for more information on this or for a list of their Portuguese-language publications and audiovisuals.