Venezuelan Women and Women's Organizations in the Bolivarian Revolution - Links
Women and Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution
With the fall of the dictatorship of Pérez Jimenez in 1958, Venezuela tentatively took its first steps towards the aperture of a fragile, exclusionary democracy. In practice, democracy proved to be a gender-exclusive phenomenon. Although the Constitution of 1960 declared that men and women were formally equal under the law, women who had been active in the struggle for democracy found themselves devoid of its privileges and marginalized from politics.
In the First Seminar for the Evaluation of Venezuelan Women in 1968, women assessed the achievements they had made since their enfranchisement in 1947, outlined their goals, and recognized that they had little chance of promoting gender-based social or legal reforms without creating a formal institution within government. As women began to organize in civil society, the partisan rivalry between the two dominant parties of the era, COPEI and AD, principally continued to cater to class interests, thus impeding the survival of groups that cut across class lines and thwarting the development of gender-based consciousness.
Beyond organizational obstacles, Venezuelan women were severely restricted by penal, civil, and labor laws. Up until the early 80s, married and cohabiting women were not allowed to manage their own affairs, make decisions for their children, work, own property, or sign official documents without spousal approval.
Efforts by Venezuelan feminists to organize a women’s movement and create institutional space to promote women’s rights coincided with increased international awareness and promotion of the feminist agenda. In 1967, the United Nations issued the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Three years later the Program of Concerted International Action for the Advancement of Women was released. 1974 was declared International Women’s Year. Drawing on inspiration from these achievements, as well as from a series of international conferences sponsored by the United Nations in 1975, 1980, and 1985, known as the International Women’s Decade, feminists took advantage of this conducive international climate to thrust women’s issues into the public eye, influence government to draft policy recommendations directed to promoting women’s social, political, and economic equality, and gave birth to several women’s organizations, such as Circulos Femininos Populares. Despite these achievements, women’s groups continued to face significant obstacles, such as limited resources allocation and the threat of being swallowed up by partisan politics.
Links - The People and community committees
Links - The Government and Ministries
DE TODO EL MUNDO
