Even by focusing on women instead, I have had to be creative in my approach. Russia is Re-Engaging with Latin America. Drawing from her evidence, she makes two arguments: that changing understandings of femininity and masculinity shaped the way allactors understood the industrial workplace and that working women in Medelln lived gender not as an opposition between male and female but rather as a normative field marked by proper and improper ways of being female. The use of gender makes the understanding of historio-cultural change in Medelln in relation to industrialization in the early twentieth century relevant to men as well as women. This distinction separates the work of Farnsworth-Alvear from that of Duncan, Bergquist, or Sowell. Bergquist, Charles. Generally speaking, as one searches for sources on Colombia, one finds hundreds of articles and books on drugs and violence. The assumption is that there is a nuclear family where the father is the worker who supports the family and the mother cares for the children, who grow up to perpetuate their parents roles in society. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. The small industries and factories that opened in the late 1800s generally increased job opportunities for women because the demand was for unskilled labor that did not directly compete with the artisans.. During American involvement in WWII (1941-1947), women regularly stepped in to . Activities carried out by minor citizens in the 1950's would include: playing outdoors, going to the diner with friends, etc. Duncans 2000 book focuses on women and child laborers rather than on their competition with men, as in his previous book. This approach creates texts whose substance and focus stand in marked contrast to the work of Urrutia and others. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2000. , where served as chair of its legislative committee and as elected Member-at-large of the executive committee, and the Miami Beach Womens Conference, as part of the planning committee during its inaugural year. This understanding can be more enlightening within the context of Colombian history than are accounts of names and events. This reinterpretation is an example of agency versus determinism. They knew how to do screen embroidery, sew by machine, weave bone lace, wash and iron, make artificial flowers and fancy candy, and write engagement announcements. Before 1933 women in Colombia were only allowed schooling until middle school level education. There is still a lot of space for future researchliterallyas even the best sources presented here tended to focus on one particular geographic area. It assesses shifting gender roles and ideologies, and the ways that they intersect with a peace process and transitions in a post-Accord period, particularly in relation to issues of transitional justice. It was safer than the street and freer than the home. R. Barranquilla: Dos Tendencias en el Movimiento Obrero, 1900-1950. Memoria y Sociedad (January 2001): 121-128. In spite of this monolithic approach, women and children, often from the families of permanent hacienda workers, joinedin the coffee harvest., In other words, they were not considered a permanent part of the coffee labor force, although an editorial from 1933 stated that the coffee industry in Colombia provided adequate and almost permanent work to women and children., There were women who participated directly in the coffee industry as the sorters and graders of coffee beans (, Familial relationships could make or break the success of a farm or familys independence and there was often competition between neighbors. Cohen, Paul A. A 1989 book by sociologists Junsay and Heaton is a comparative study between distinct countries, with Colombia chosen to represent Latin America. However, the 1950s were a time of new definition in men's gender roles. Duncans book emphasizes the indigenous/Spanish cultural dichotomy in parallel to female/male polarity, and links both to the colonial era especially. Male soldiers had just returned home from war to see America "at the summit of the world" (Churchill). The reasoning behind this can be found in the work of Arango, Farnsworth-Alvear, and Keremitsis. Duncan, Ronald J.Crafts, Capitalism, and Women: The Potters of La Chamba, Colombia. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1986. If the mass of workers is involved, then the reader must assume that all individuals within that mass participated in the same way. Farnsworth-Alvear, Dulcinea in the Factory, 4. Explaining Confederation: Colombian Unions in the 1980s., Labor in Latin America: Comparative Essays on Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, and Colombia. Fighting was not only a transgression of work rules, but gender boundaries separat[ed] anger, strength, and self-defense from images of femininity., Most women told their stories in a double voice,. I get my direct deposit every two weeks. This seems a departure from Farnsworth-Alvears finding of the double-voice among factory workers earlier. Death Stalks Colombias Unions.. This focus is something that Urrutia did not do and something that Farnsworth-Alvear discusses at length. The way in which she frames the concept does not take gender as a simple bipolar social model of male and female, but examines the divisions within each category, the areas of overlap between them, and changing definitions over time. Explaining Confederation: Colombian Unions in the 1980s. Latin American Research Review 25.2 (1990): 115-133. There is some horizontal mobility in that a girl can choose to move to another town for work. Throughout the colonial era, the 19th century and the establishment of the republican era, Colombian women were relegated to be housewives in a male dominated society. fall back into the same mold as the earliest publications examined here. Women's right to suffrage was granted by Colombian dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla in 1954, but had its origins in the 1930s with the struggle of women to acquire full citizenship. It is difficult to know where to draw a line in the timeline of Colombian history. . Of all the texts I read for this essay, Farnsworth-Alvears were the most enjoyable. [15]Up until that point, women who had abortions in this largely Catholic nation faced sentences ranging from 16 to 54 months in prison. As established in the Colombian Constitution of 1991, women in Colombia have the right to bodily integrity and autonomy; to vote (see also: Elections in Colombia); to hold public office; to work; to fair wages or equal pay; to own property; to receive an education; to serve in the military in certain duties, but are excluded from combat arms units; to enter into legal contracts; and to have marital, parental and religious rights. According to Bergquists earlier work, the historiography of labor in Latin America as a whole is still underdeveloped, but open to interpretive efforts., The focus of his book is undeniably on the history of the labor movement; that is, organized labor and its link to politics as history. Other recent publications, such as those from W. John Green. Bergquist, Labor in Latin America, 277. This idea then is a challenge to the falsely dichotomized categories with which we have traditionally understood working class life such as masculine/feminine, home/work, east/west, or public/private. As Farnsworth-Alvear, Friedmann-Sanchez, and Duncans work shows, gender also opens a window to understanding womens and mens positions within Colombian society. Dulcinea in the Factory: Myths, Morals, Men, and Women in Colombias. Often the story is a reinterpretation after the fact, with events changed to suit the image the storyteller wants to remember. As a whole, the 1950's children were happier and healthier because they were always doing something that was challenging or social. The same pattern exists in the developing world though it is less well-researched. Dr. Blumenfeld has presented her research at numerous academic conferences, including theCaribbean Studies AssociationandFlorida Political Science Association, where she is Ex-Officio Past President. By law subordinate to her husband. Sowell, The Early Colombian Labor Movement, 15. The way in which she frames the concept does not take gender as a simple bipolar social model of male and female, but examines the divisions within each category, the areas of overlap between them, and changing definitions over time. A 2006 court decision that also allowed doctors to refuse to perform abortions based on personal beliefs stated that this was previously only permitted in cases of rape, if the mother's health was in danger, or if the fetus had an untreatable malformation. The book begins with the Society of Artisans (La Sociedad de Artesanos) in 19th century Colombia, though who they are exactly is not fully explained. Friedmann-Sanchez, Greta. [11] Marital rape was criminalized in 1996. Women are included, yet the descriptions of their participation are merely factoids, with no analysis of their influence in a significant cultural or social manner. Keremetsiss 1984 article inserts women into already existing categories occupied by men., The article discusses the division of labor by sex in textile mills of Colombia and Mexico, though it presents statistics more than anything else. Dr. Blumenfeld is also involved in her community through theMiami-Dade County Commission for Women, where served as chair of its legislative committee and as elected Member-at-large of the executive committee, and the Miami Beach Womens Conference, as part of the planning committee during its inaugural year. R. Barranquilla: Dos Tendencias en el Movimiento Obrero, 1900-1950. Memoria y Sociedad (January 2001): 121-128. Figuras de santidad y virtuosidad en el virreinato del Per: sujetos queer y alteridades coloniales. The book goes through the Disney movies released in the 1950s and how they reinforced the social norms at the time, including gender norms. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1998. A reorientation in the approach to Colombian history may, in fact, help illuminate the proclivity towards drugs and violence in Colombian history in a different and possibly clearer fashion. Female Industrial Employment and Protective Labor, Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs, Pedraja Tomn, Women in Colombian Organizations, 1900-1940., Keremitsis, Latin American Women Workers in Transition., Mujer, Religin, e Industria: Fabricato, 1923-1982, Farnsworth-Alvear, Ann. These narratives provide a textured who and why for the what of history. The interviews distinguish between mutual flirtations and sexual intimidation. Depending on the context, this may include sex -based social structures (i.e. Vatican II asked the Catholic Churches around the world to take a more active role in practitioners' quotidian lives. Women didn't receive suffrage until August 25th of 1954. Not only is his analysis interested in these differentiating factors, but he also notes the importance of defining artisan in the Hispanic context, in contrast to non-Iberian or Marxist characterizations because the artisan occupied a different social stratum in Latin America than his counterparts in Europe. According to Bergquists earlier work, the historiography of labor in Latin America as a whole is still underdeveloped, but open to interpretive efforts. The focus of his book is undeniably on the history of the labor movement; that is, organized labor and its link to politics as history. Buy from bookshop.org (affiliate link) Juliet Gardiner is a historian and broadcaster and a former editor of History Today. Latin American Women Workers in Transition: Sexual Division of, the Labor Force in Mexico and Colombia in the Textile Industry., Rosenberg, Terry Jean. Paid Agroindustrial Work and Unpaid Caregiving for Dependents: The Gendered Dialectics between Structure and Agency in Colombia, Anthropology of Work Review, 33:1 (2012): 34-46. He looks at a different region and that is part of the explanation for this difference in focus. Women's experiences in Colombia have historically been marked by patterns of social and political exclusion, which impact gender roles and relations. The weight of this responsibility was evidently felt by women in the 1950's, 60's and 70's, as overall political participation of women between 1958 and 1974 stood at just 6.79%. French and James. Women in the 1950s. Womens work in cottage-industry crafts is frequently viewed within the local culture as unskilled work, simply an extension of their domestic work and not something to be remunerated at wage rates used for men. This classification then justifies low pay, if any, for their work. In spite of a promising first chapter, Sowells analysis focuses on organization and politics, on men or workers in the generic, and in the end is not all that different from Urrutias work. Since then, men have established workshops, sold their wares to wider markets in a more commercial fashion, and thus have been the primary beneficiaries of the economic development of crafts in Colombia. There is a shift in the view of pottery as craft to pottery as commodity, with a parallel shift from rural production to towns as centers of pottery making and a decline in the status of women from primary producers to assistants. I have also included some texts for their absence of women. Oral History, Identity Formation, and Working-Class Mobilization. In, Gendered Worlds of Latin American Women Workers, Lpez-Alves, Fernando. For the people of La Chamba, the influence of capitalist expansion is one more example of power in a history of dominance by outsiders. Oral History, Identity Formation, and Working-Class Mobilization. In The Gendered Worlds of Latin American Women Workers. Bogot: Editorial Universidad de Antioquia, 1991. Bergquist also says that the traditional approach to labor that divides it into the two categories, rural (peasant) or industrial (modern proletariat), is inappropriate for Latin America; a better categorization would be to discuss labors role within any export production. This emphasis reveals his work as focused on economic structures. The Ceramics of Rquira, Colombia: Gender, Work, and Economic Change. Not only could women move away from traditional definitions of femininity in defending themselves, but they could also enjoy a new kind of flirtation without involvement. Sowell attempts to bring other elements into his work by pointing out that the growth of economic dependency on coffee in Colombia did not affect labor evenly in all geographic areas of the country. Bogot was still favorable to artisans and industry. Female Industrial Employment and Protective Labor Legislation in Bogot, Colombia. Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 24.1 (February 1982): 59-80. French and James. Women filled the roles of housewife, mother and homemaker, or they were single but always on the lookout for a good husband. Women also . There is room for a broader conceptualization than the urban-rural dichotomy of Colombian labor, as evidenced by the way that the books reviewed here have revealed differences between rural areas and cities. There were few benefits to unionization since the nature of coffee production was such that producers could go for a long time without employees. Since the 1970s, state agencies, like Artisanas de Colombia, have aided the establishment of workshops and the purchase of equipment primarily for men who are thought to be a better investment. The reasoning behind this can be found in the work of Arango, Farnsworth-Alvear, and Keremitsis. French, John D. and Daniel James. Bergquist, Labor in Latin America, 364. Duncan, Crafts, Capitalism, and Women, 101. Required fields are marked *. The value of the labor both as income and a source of self-esteem has superseded the importance of reputation. Viking/Penguin 526pp 16.99. The book then turns into a bunch of number-crunching and charts, and the conclusions are predictable: the more education the person has the better the job she is likely to get, a woman is more likely to work if she is single, and so on. The authors observation that religion is an important factor in the perpetuation of gender roles in Colombia is interesting compared to the other case studies from non-Catholic countries. Her analysis is not merely feminist, but humanist and personal. This page was last edited on 23 February 2023, at 14:07. Eventhoug now a days there is sead to be that we have more liberty there are still some duties that certain genders have to make. Bergquist, Labor in Latin America, 315. Women's roles change after World War II as the same women who were once encouraged to work in factories to support the war effort are urged to stay home and . The use of gender makes the understanding of historio-cultural change in Medelln in relation to industrialization in the early twentieth century relevant to men as well as women. Upper class women in a small town in 1950s Columbia, were expected to be mothers and wives when they grew up. The Digital Government Agenda North America Needs, Medical Adaptation: Traditional Treatments for Modern Diseases Among Two Mapuche Communities in La Araucana, Chile. Gerda Westendorp was admitted on February 1, 1935, to study medicine. Any form of violence in the History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth. Apparently, in Colombia during the 1950's, men were expected to take care of the family and protect family . Among men, it's Republicans who more often say they have been discriminated against because of their gender (20% compared with 14% of Democratic men). [18], Last edited on 23 February 2023, at 14:07, "Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (%) | Data", "Labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15-64) (Modeled ILO estimate) | Data", http://www.omct.org/files/2004/07/2409/eng_2003_04_colombia.pdf, "Unintended Pregnancy and Induced Abortion in Colombia: Causes and Consequences", "With advances and setbacks, a year of struggle for women's rights", "Violence and discrimination against women in the armed conflict in Colombia", Consejeria Presidencial para la Equidad de la Mujer, Human Rights Watch - Women displaced by violence in Colombia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Women_in_Colombia&oldid=1141128931. Each of these is a trigger for women to quit their jobs and recur as cycles in their lives. What has not yet shifted are industry or national policies that might provide more support. Gender Roles Colombia has made significant progress towards gender equality over the past century. " (31) Each of these is a trigger for women to quit their jobs and recur as cycles in their lives.. According to French and James, what Farnsworths work suggests for historians will require the use of different kinds of sources, tools, and questions. The U.S. marriage rate was at an all-time high and couples were tying the . It is not just an experience that defines who one is, but what one does with that experience. Women in Colombian Organizations, 1900-1940: A Study, Saether, Steiner. . Gender Roles in the 1950's In the 1950's as of now there will always be many roles that will be specifically appointed to eache gender. They were interesting and engaging compared to the dry texts like Urrutias, which were full of names, dates, and acronyms that meant little to me once I closed the cover. The number of male and female pottery workers in the rural area is nearly equal, but twice as many men as women work in pottery in the urban workshops. In town workshops where there are hired workers, they are generally men. Her work departs from that of Cohens in the realm of myth. French, John D. and Daniel James. Green, W. John. By 1918, reformers succeeded in getting an ordinance passed that required factories to hire what were called vigilantas, whose job it was to watch the workers and keep the workplace moral and disciplined.