Revolutionizing Motherhood:

Revolutionizing Motherhood: Theoretical Perspectives

Feminist Theory & the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo • Re: Essay Q #1 – how does theory apply to this text? • Traditional, middle age, working class women left their homes to protest the disappearance of their children • Beyond marianismo/machismo

Previously Critiqued Feminist Concepts • Public/Private Dichotomy • (early attempt to explain subordination, not based on biology) • Were core tenets of political thought for analysis of oppression & emancipation • Relates to societal expectations for gender behavior • Do these analytic distinctions help us understand the process of empowerment?

Molyneux & Moser • Practical & Strategic Gender Interests • Practical Gender Interests: involve attempts to gain basic needs (usually by poor women) • Food, housing, water, childcare • Women’s participation in the public arena • Establishing community soup kitchens, child care centers, etc. • Arises not from consciousness of a new role, but the desire to perform traditional roles well • * Motherhood is the primary causal factor of collective action

The personal becomes political—Private issues are colonizing public space (re: Plaza de Mayo) • Does not challenge gender inequality

Molyneux & Moser, cont… • Strategic Gender Interests • Involve a positive challenge to women’s subordination (usually by middle-class feminists) • Struggle for gender equality by challenging the institutionalization of male domination • Yet can involve private issues such as domestic violence & reproductive rights • Is the practical/strategic distinction a useful analytic concept?

Dichotomous Conceptualizations • The original intent: to make women visible • These concepts have come under increasing criticism by feminist scholars • Feminist turned to why conventional approaches to understand gender history did not fit women’s experiences • 1990s: consensus on the importance of gender in the constitution of political power

Cubitt & Greenslade(covered earlier) • “End to Dichotomy” • Was a watershed in feminist theorizing • Emphasis has turned to a broader framework which focuses on: • State building • Class exploitation • Racial & ethnic oppression • To construct our understanding of power relations that are gendered

Nonetheless… • Dichotomous concepts continue to be uncritically replicated by scholars attempting to theorize women’s participation in these spheres

Cubitt & Greenslade • The distinction between private & public spheres essentializes women • It subordinates women to a “personal patriarch” • What appeared to be private (family, sexuality) was a product of state & church policy – and therefore public

Women may escape subordination to a personal patriarch in the private sphere by moving into the public sphere • But as they do so, they are subjected to a collective patriarchy in the public world

Q: So how can we see the private sphere as public? • The two spheres are inextricably inter-related • How does Revolutionizing Motherhood illustrate this?

The Feminist Response: • Women’s reproduction provides workers for the public labor market • Women educate & socialize men & women so they can work in the public sphere • Women’s unpaid labor in the home releases men so they can work in the public sphere

Cubitt & Greenslade’s Critique: • Women are seen moving into the public space formerly occupied by men • This image is powerful where military regimes are in control • The movement of the women into public space suggests a transformative impact women have on politics

Cubitt & Greenslade’s Critique: • But: Women “moving into public space” reinforces the private/public dichotomy • Women’s concerns are expressed in terms of moral values & family commitments • Thus many feminists criticized Guzman Bouvard’s analysis of the Mothers

Feijoo • The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo focus on reproductive rights • Their stand on maternity locks them into a traditional, marginalized, passive role • This reinforces the conventional sexual division of labor • They perpetuate the concept of the self-sacrificing woman

Jelin • Femininity & Maternity vs. Political Socialization • Women have been at the forefront of the human rights movement • Where disappearances & torture occur • Their status as mothers protected them from physical violence • Commitment rarely stemmed from ideological conviction or strategic calculations against the dictatorship • The Mothers thus took a practical, not a political position—demanding return of their children

Women lost their fear & faced risk to satisfy their personal need • This expanded the feminine role of caring for the family • Their participation did not focus primarily on the rights of women, but stemmed from personal family tragedy

Jelin: Chile vs. Argentina • In contrast, in Chile, political socialization fostered a women’s movement • As direct victims of repression, women’s demands were converted into political demands against the regime • Is she correct?

Conger Lind • Politization of gender identity & new collective identities • Research rarely focuses on how poor women negotiate power & construct collective identities • A new focus on reconceptualizing gender identity is needed

Traditional research assumes men & women are socialized differently, thus have different identities, expectations, & needs • These shape their social consciousness • Gender identity is not fixed • For poor women, collectivization of reproductive activities leads to the formation of new collective identities & new definition of needs • Women become politicized, forming a counter-resistance • This enables them to use their new identity in their struggle & to challenge existing systems

Jacquette • Naturally determined & socially determined lives • Women’s participation in social movements breaks the barrier between the two spheres • Women are released from “naturally determined” lives to enter the “socially determined” world • Collective action blurs the boundaries of public & private & reduces women’s isolation • This is a strategic principle for political empowerment of women

Through participation in social movements women gain awareness of gender subordination • Their actions do not depend merely on the domestic sphere • But demand incorporation into the state or directly confront the state

Q: Does public action originating from private grief transform the mothers into women aware of gender demands? • What is Guzmán Bouvard’s position?

The Mothers directly challenged the dictatorship • They emerged from their traditional role to subvert the social & political order, revealing their revolutionary potential • They subverted the concept of motherhood as merely reproductive & stepped out of their roles as passive & private persons

Working class mothers rejected obedience, hierarchy, & marianismo • They refused to wear black to morn for their children • They did not need feminist theory to understand how the traditional female role reinforces a repressive system

They challenged the Catholic heritage that supported the political system • Army Captain: “I can’t imagine the Virgin Mary shouting, protesting, spreading hatred when her son was snatched from her arms”

Feminists have not perceived the Mothers’ transformation of maternity or their roles as revolutionary women • They fail to differentiate them from Eva Perón who projected a traditional image of motherhood into the political arena & perpetuated the authoritarian state while wielding power • They redefined private & public spheres to create a political space

The mothers’ politics undermines militaristic thinking • They did not seek to eliminate maternity as their identity, but created a political role for the values of love & caring associated with maternity • They transformed themselves from women seeking to protect the sanctity of motherhood within the political system to transform the State so it reflects maternal values • Theirs was a humanistic revolution

Revolutionizing Motherhood: