How has the women’s movement developed in
Nicaragua?
he women’s movement in Nicaragua is today one
of the strongest and most purposeful social
movements in the country. It is also the strongest
women’s movement in Central America. Women’s
groups have succeeded in establishing ongoing spaces
of dialogue with the state about national as well as
bread-and-butter issues. We have been generating new
forms of participation for women, forms of organiza-
tion that respond more to the needs, styles and work
possibilities of women themselves.
Do you think there is a significant difference between
women’s participation now and their participation five or
ten years ago?
Surely. Not only has participation increased in num-
bers, but in quality as well. In the era of the revolution,
Nicaragua had just one huge women’s organization.
Now that organization is one of many. Women on the
left did not call themselves feminists five years ago, and
now they do. The Sandinista front has itself acknowl-
edged its obligation to feminists.
There is a high level of feminist analysis in
Nicaragua, which I think comes from all of the political
training and the experience lived in that school of
everyday life that the revolution created for everyone in
the country. If there is something that we women owe
to the revolution, it is the organizational capacity that
we now have. We reached a consensus that women in
Nicaragua need political power more than ever. We
need to encourage women to assume positions of pub-
lic office in order to improve the situation of women
44
and to change the value system within the enormous
economic and political crisis this country is going
through.
We have succeeded in producing a minimal agenda
that has been adopted by women of all political stripes,
including women from social movements and from
political parties, and women from the right to left of the
political spectrum-from orthodox Sandinistas to
Sandinista reformers, from radical feminists to
Christians to lesbians, and even women who have his-
torically kept their distance from party politics. After a
year of struggling together, this coali-
tion has demonstrated its viability in
Nicaragua. We decided to keep it
alive beyond the elections with the Nicar idea of analyzing the experience of
these elections, and preparing our- femin selves to face future elections in a
more organized fashion. born
It can be said that the feminist move-
ment was a child of Sandinismo. Is
there still a Sandinista feminism?
I think it is obvious that Nicaraguan
feminism has its origins in the revolu-
tion. It was born in the revolution, it
grew during the revolution in the sec-
ond half of the 1980s, and it has
grown at an accelerated pace since
the end of the Contra war. Those of us
who were once stigmatized within the
“a
is
i
revo Iu
it grew
revolt
and has
at an acc
the differences and political antagonisms that still pre-
vail in Nicaragua. It is clear, for example, that we can
agree with them that it is not permissible for women to
continue being beaten or raped. We can also agree on
women’s rights to land.
Is the feminist movement part of the progressive move-
ment in Nicaragua?
We are one movement among many. Currently, we
are participating in a proposal called the “Initiative for
Nicaragua,” which is an attempt from within
Nicaraguan civil society to formulate
a national project. This has become
necessary because, after the collapse
guan of the grand ideological paradigms and the dismantling of the state, the
;m was role that political parties used to play has largely disappeared. The progres- n the sive movement now consists of all of
the organizations, individuals and
ition, institutions that fight for the democ-
in the ratization of life in general, as well as
democratization of the political sys-
ition, tem. The democratization of life
requires the transformation of the grown conditions of poverty and oppression
elerated
pace since the
end of the
party for being feminists are now on
the outside. Despite everything, we Cont
can dialogue with those who continue
to be activists and Sandinista repre-
sentatives in the Assembly. Although
we have political differences as far as the party is con-
cerned, we do not have large differences when it comes
to the problem of the subordination and the rights of
women.
Feminists have also been fundamental to the devel-
opment of the broader women’s movement. For exam-
ple, in 1979 when the revolution triumphed, there were
only 12 of us who declared ourselves feminists and who
began to organize from within the FSLN. Years later, it
is clear that feminism has gained legitimacy in
Nicaragua. Ninety-five percent of the women’s organi-
zations, including ones in which men participate,
declare themselves feminist.
Recently, those of us who come from the left have
succeeded in dialoguing with women from the right or
who lived in exile during the war. These women had
many prejudices against the left, but they have been as
willing as we have to get closer to other women, despite
VOL XXXI, No 1 JULY/AUG 1997
ra war.
that exist in the country, whether
these conditions are based on ethnic-
ity, gender or class.
Can you tell us a little more about
how the Nicaraguan women’s move-
ment is linked with other political
movements, both in Nicaragua and in
the rest of Central America?
There is an ecumenical women’s
group in Nicaragua, where Protestant and Catholic
women meet around issues of gender and their faith in
order to analyze reality and in some way contribute to
the transformation of old ways of thinking and old val-
ues. There is a serious problem with the Catholic
Church because the Cardinal and the hierarchy are very
reactionary. We prefer to associate with women from
the base ecclesiastic communities or with the progres-
sive sectors of the Church. We have begun a dialogue
with women from the Protestant churches, and at an
international level, we try to establish and maintain
links through regional and global initiatives.
In the case of Central America, we have been build-
ing a program called “Rebuild the Current.” The work
of this group has allowed us to coordinate the actions of
the Central American feminist groups and to facilitate
communication among women in the region. We are
building different kinds of networks in Central
45VOICES ON THE LEFT
America, such as networks of trade unions, of black and
indigenous women, and a network of organizations
interested in health issues. We have organized feminist
conferences with leaders from each country, who we
invite to assess current processes and to discuss the
advances and potential pitfalls that the movement might
confront in each country.
How would you evaluate the recent process of democra-
tization that has taken place across
the region?
I refer to this process of democ-
ratization as “formal” democrati-
zation. There are no longer dicta-
torships in the region, and we are
now governed by elected civilian
regimes. It is obvious, however,
that the gigantic economic crisis of
the continent is working against
these democratic processes,
because it is not possible to think
of democratic advances without
economic democratization.
These dreadful plans for eco-
nomic adjustment that are being
applied throughout the continent
pose a danger because poverty is a
breeding ground for revolts and
demagogic populism from both
the right and the left. I think that
the dismantling of the state is
undermining traditional actors like
trade unions and social move-
ments. Also, the crisis means that
people have to dedicate more time
to making a living just so they can
subsist. Every day more people
enter the informal sector of the
this will not have an impact at the level of society as a
whole.
This is the conflict that has emerged at feminist
meetings recently. Some feminists-including
myself-believe that we must continue developing
strategies for social change for women and for society
as a whole. Nation states are being decimated by the
process of globalization. We need to discuss these
larger problems, not just specific issues. We must think
The fight
for women’s rights
should be from within
the system.
Otherwise, other people
will always be making
decisions without
consulting us. Someone
has to dirty her
dress to open
the way.
economy, leaving behind any
security and benefits they may once have had. I believe
this puts the processes of democratization in Latin
America at risk.
How do you see the feminist movement in the Latin
American context?
The Latin American feminist movement has grown
not only in Nicaragua, but throughout the region. This
is not accidental since it is women who are most
affected by the economic crisis, and women who shoul-
der the burden of making ends meet. That is why I say
that we have to stop thinking small and start thinking
big. We have to rethink everthing in terms of macro-
economics and macropolitics, because if we do not, we
will continue making changes at the micro level, but
of the larger issues in terms of
gender and politics. This is our
task.
Throughout the twentieth cen-
tury, feminists have fought for
rights that are specifically women’s
rights, like the right to vote. Now
we are talking about macroeco-
nomics and women’s economic
and property rights. The agenda
has become more complicated for
us because the world has become
more complex. What reality is
demanding of the feminists at the
end of the century is not the same
as what was required when the
first feminists were active.
We cannot stop to think or wait
for a miracle to change the situa-
tion. Necessity forces us to act, to
think in a much more complex
manner, to be more informed, and
to prepare ourselves in areas we
had previously neglected or con-
sidered were not important. We
want total participation. We want
more women to be in the places
where the decisions that affect us
are made. I would like one day to
have a woman as minister of
finance or economic planning in Nicaragua, a woman
who is sensitive and committed to our demands. The
fight should be from within the system. Women should
increasingly assume positions of government authority.
Otherwise, other people will always be making deci-
sions about our lives without consulting us, and we
will remain stuck as an opposition that knows only
how to protest, but not how to propose new alterna-
tives. Someone has to dirty her dress in order to open
the way, even though she will be criticized for it. I
think that protest without commitment, without taking
the risk of making a mistake, does not take us any-
where. If the women of Nicaragua had never moved
beyond mere protest, the revolution would have never
happened.
Menu
