The Costa Rican Women's Movement: A Reader (Pitt Latin American Series)
This reader reflects the genesis, scope, and direction of women’s activism in a single Latin American country. It collects the voices of forty-one diverse women who live in Costa Rica, some radical, others strongly conservative, and most ranging inbetween, as they write about their lives, their problems, their aspirations.\ Unlike the comparative studies of women’s issues that look at several different countries, the reader provides an insider’s view of one small, but...
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This reader reflects the genesis, scope, and direction of women’s activism in a single Latin American country. It collects the voices of forty-one diverse women who live in Costa Rica, some radical, others strongly conservative, and most ranging inbetween, as they write about their lives, their problems, their aspirations. Unlike the comparative studies of women’s issues that look at several different countries, the reader provides an insider’s view of one small, but quintessentially Latin American, society. These women write of their own experience in organizing and working for change within the Costa Rican community. Some represent groups fitting into traditional “women’s movement” that wants to improve certain aspects of women’s and families’ daily lives. Still others, the “feminists,” argue forcefully that true improvement requires a profound change of power relations in society, of women’s access to power and decision making. The articles are organized into thematic groups that range from the definitions of Feminism in Costa Rica to women in Costa Rican history, women’s legal equality, discrimination against women, and the status of Women’s Studies. The brief biographies that identify each author underscore the leadership of Costa Rican women in Latin American Feminism. The founders and editors of Mujer, one of the most influential Feminist journals in Latin America, are among the authors represented in the reader. The audience for this book will include specialists interested in Latin America, in women inLatin America, and in the international women’s movement.
AcknowledgmentsIntroduction. The Costa Rican Women's Movement and Costa Rican Feminism in the Early 1990s: Multiple, Dynamic, Action-OrientedIThe Varying Faces of the Costa Rican Women's Movement and Costa Rican Feminism11Different Times, Women, Visions: The Deep Roots of Costa Rican Feminism52The Group Ventana: An Assessment133Improving the Quality of Women's Daily Lives: Costa Rica's Centro Feminista de Informacion y Accion194The Alianza de Mujeres Costarricenses, a Popular Movement: An Impassioned Plea for Action-Oriented Feminism245Women's Liberation from Servitude and Overprotection29IIMaking Women Visible in Costa Rican History356Women in Colonial Costa Rica: A Significant Presence397Contradictory Aspects of Costa Rican Women's History During the Nineteenth Century528The Suffragist Movement in Costa Rica, 1889-1949: Centennial of Democracy?619Unusual Costa Rican Women: Three Who Were Proclaimed "Distinguished Citizens of the Nation"8410Peasant Women's Autobiographies: Women's Double Contribution to the Rural Economy89IIIThe Quest for Women's Equality9911The Law and Women's Lives: Contradictions and Struggles10312Negotiating Women's Legal Equality: Four Versions of a Law11113Leading Arguments Against Women's Legal Equality: Highlights of a National Debate11914Redefining Political Equality: More Than Including Women127IVWomen Suffering Discrimination13715Women Heads of Household in Costa Rica's Limon Province: The Effects of Class Modified by Race and Gender14116The Lesbian Feminist Group Las Entendidas14717Women with Disabilities: Between Sexism and Handicappism15318Never to Cry Alone Again: Women and Violence in Costa Rica16019Father-Daughter Incest: Case Studies in Costa Rica170VWomen's Organizations and Organizations Working with Women18120Peace Corps Volunteers See Working-Class Women's Realities18521Women as Leaders in the Costa Rican Cooperative Movement19222The Struggle for Housing in Costa Rica: The Transformation of Women into Political Actors19823Long-Term Survival of a Costa Rican Women's Crafts Cooperative: Approaches to Problems of Rapid Growth at CASEM in the Santa Elena-Monteverde Region21024Reconceptualizing the Theory of Women in Organizations: Contributions of Feminist Analysis234VIThe Women's Movement and Feminism in the Arts24525Feminist Visions: Four Women Artists in Costa Rica24826Women and Love: Myths and Stereotypes in Popular Songs Broadcast in Costa Rica26227Yadira Calvo: Costa Rican Feminist Writer par Excellence269VIIThe Constantly Evolving Status of Women's Studies27728From CIEM to IEM: The Consolidation of Women's Studies at the Universidad Nacional28229Gender Studies at the Universidad de Costa Rica28730CSUCA's Approach to Women's Studies and Its Projected Program in Central America29331Timely, Relevant, Trustworthy, Precise, Ongoing: Toward a Gender-in-Development Information Network29832Women's Presence in the University: The Case of the Universidad Nacional in Heredia30433Problems of Joint Interdisciplinary Research in Women's Studies: An Effort to Integrate Disciplines for More Fruitful Analysis31034The Predictability of Cesarean-Section Births: A Case Study of Students in Costa Rican Childbirth Classes316Conclusion for an Action-Oriented Research Agenda334Glossary341Index357
