At the end of the 1950's the Catholic Church tried to remove itself from the politics of Colombia. According to the United Nations Development Program's Gender Inequality Index, Colombia ranks 91 out of 186 countries in gender equity, which puts it below the Latin American and Caribbean regional average and below countries like Oman, Libya, Bahrain, and Myanmar. The body of work done by Farnsworth-Alvear is meant to add texture and nuance to the history of labor in Latin American cities. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1986. Instead of a larger than life labor movement that brought great things for Colombias workers, her work shatters the myth of an all-male labor force, or that of a uniformly submissive, quiet, and virginal female labor force. While most of the people of Rquira learn pottery from their elders, not everyone becomes a potter. Squaring the Circle: Womens Factory Labor, The Gendered Worlds of Latin American Women Workers. The press playedon the fears of male readers and the anti-Communism of the Colombian middle and ruling classes. Working women then were not only seen as a threat to traditional social order and gender roles, but to the safety and political stability of the state. 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. Talking, Fighting, and Flirting: Workers Sociability in Medelln Textile Mills, 1935-1950. In The Gendered Worlds of Latin American Women Workers, edited by John D. French and Daniel James. The only other time Cano appears is in Pedraja Tomns work. Again, the discussion is brief and the reference is the same used by Bergquist. https://pulitzercenter.org/projects/south-america-colombia-labor-union-human-rights-judicial-government-corruption-paramilitary-drug-violence-education. 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. Women in the 1950s. With the introduction of mass production techniques, some worry that the traditional handcrafted techniques and styles will eventually be lost: As the economic momentum of mens workshops in town makes good incomes possible for young menfewer young women are obligated to learn their gender-specific version of the craft. Thus, there may be a loss of cultural form in the name of progress, something that might not be visible in a non-gendered analysis. 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. Her work departs from that of Cohens in the realm of myth. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989. 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, both proud of their reputations as good employees and their ability to stand up for themselves. This phenomenon, as well as discrepancies in pay rates for men and women, has been well-documented in developed societies. The law was named ley sobre Rgimen de Capitulaciones Matrimoniales ("Law about marriage capitulations regime") which was later proposed in congress in December 1930 by Ofelia Uribe as a constitutional reform. While pottery provides some income, it is not highly profitable. In both cases, there is no mention of women at all. 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. 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. Friedmann-Sanchez, Greta. Dr. Blumenfeld has presented her research at numerous academic conferences, including theCaribbean Studies AssociationandFlorida Political Science Association, where she is Ex-Officio Past President. At the same time, others are severely constrained by socio-economic and historical/cultural contexts that limit the possibilities for creative action. He notes the geographical separation of these communities and the physical hazards from insects and tropical diseases, as well as the social and political reality of life as mean and frightening.. It is possible that most of Urrutias sources did not specify such facts; this was, after all, 19, century Bogot. The red (left) is the female Venus symbol. By the middle of the sixteenth century, the Spaniards had established a major foothold in the Americas. These living conditions have not changed in over 100 years and indeed may be frightening to a foreign observer or even to someone from the urban and modern world of the cities of Colombia. [12] Article 42 of the Constitution of Colombia provides that "Family relations are based on the equality of rights and duties of the couple and on the mutual respect of all its members. The law generated controversy, as did any issue related to women's rights at the time. At the same time, others are severely constrained by socio-economic and historical/cultural contexts that limit the possibilities for creative action. Pablo and Pedro- must stand up for their family's honor What was the role of the workers in the, Of all the texts I read for this essay, Farnsworth-Alvears were the most enjoyable. But in the long nineteenth century, the expansion of European colonialism spread European norms about men's and women's roles to other parts of the world. Squaring the Circle: Womens Factory Labor, Gender Ideology, and Necessity. In The Gendered Worlds of Latin American Women Workers. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. It did not pass, and later generated persecutions and plotting against the group of women. In 1957 women first voted in Colombia on a plebiscite. Gender Roles in the 1950s: Definition and Overview Gender roles are expectations about behaviors and duties performed by each sex. Unions were generally looked down upon by employers in early twentieth century Colombia and most strikes were repressed or worse. 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. Latin American Women Workers in Transition: Sexual Division of the Labor Force in Mexico and Colombia in the Textile Industry. Americas (Academy of American Franciscan History) 40.4 (1984): 491-504. Soldiers returning home the end of World War II in 1945 helped usher in a new era in American history. [16], The armed conflict in the country has had a very negative effect on women, especially by exposing them to gender-based violence. Other recent publications, such as those from W. John Green and Jess Bolvar Bolvar fall back into the same mold as the earliest publications examined here. Assets in Intrahousehold Bargaining Among Women Workers in Colombias Cut-flower Industry, Feminist Economics, 12:1-2 (2006): 247-269. andPaid 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. The press playedon the fears of male readers and the anti-Communism of the Colombian middle and ruling classes., Working women then were not only seen as a threat to traditional social order and gender roles, but to the safety and political stability of the state. Writing a historiography of labor in Colombia is not a simple task. Keremitsis, Dawn. If success was linked to this manliness, where did women and their labor fit? If La Violencia was mainly a product of the coffee zones, then the role of women should be explored; was involvement a family affair or another incidence of manliness? 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. It is not just an experience that defines who one is, but what one does with that experience. As Charles Bergquist pointed out in 1993,gender has emerged as a tool for understanding history from a multiplicity of perspectives and that the inclusion of women resurrects a multitude of subjects previously ignored. In reading it, one remembers that it is human beings who make history and experience it not as history but as life. (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2000), 75. The book, while probably accurate, is flat. They are not innovators in the world of new technology and markets like men who have fewer obligations to family and community. 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. Caf, Conflicto, y Corporativismo: Una Hiptesis Sobre la Creacin de la Federacin Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia en 1927. Anuario Colombiano de Historia Social y de la Cultura 26 (1999): 134-163. Cohabitation is very common in this country, and the majority of children are born outside of marriage. Squaring the Circle: Womens Factory Labor, History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth. To the extent that . The author has not explored who the escogedoras were, where they come from, or what their lives were like inside and outside of the workplace. Arango, Luz G. Mujer, Religin, e Industria: Fabricato, 1923-1982. In a meta-analysis of 17 studies of a wide variety of mental illnesses, Gove (1972) found consistently higher rates for women compared to men, which he attributed to traditional gender roles. 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., for skilled workers in mid to late 1800s Bogot since only 1% of women identified themselves as artisans, according to census data., Additionally, he looks at travel accounts from the period and is able to describe the racial composition of the society. For the people of La Chamba, the influence of capitalist expansion is one more example of power in a history of dominance by outsiders. What Does This Mean for the Region- and for the U.S.? While there are some good historical studies on the subject, this work is supplemented by texts from anthropology and sociology. Depending on the context, this may include sex -based social structures (i.e. 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. For example, while the men and older boys did the heavy labor, the women and children of both sexes played an important role in the harvest., This role included the picking, depulping, drying, and sorting of coffee beans before their transport to the coffee towns., Women and girls made clothes, wove baskets for the harvest, made candles and soap, and did the washing., On the family farm, the division of labor for growing food crops is not specified, and much of Bergquists description of daily life in the growing region reads like an ethnography, an anthropological text rather than a history, and some of it sounds as if he were describing a primitive culture existing within a modern one. Male soldiers had just returned home from war to see America "at the summit of the world" (Churchill). The historian has to see the context in which the story is told. In La Chamba, there are more households headed by women than in other parts of Colombia (30% versus 5% in Rquira)., Most of these households depend on the sale of ceramics for their entire income. Men were authoritative and had control over the . The image of American women in the 1950s was heavily shaped by popular culture: the ideal suburban housewife who cared for the home and children appeared frequently in women's magazines, in the movies and on television. This reinterpretation is an example of agency versus determinism. For example, a discussion of Colombias, could be enhanced by an examination of the role of women and children in the escalation of the violence, and could be related to a discussion of rural structures and ideology. These themes are discussed in more detail in later works by Luz G. Arango. , (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1986), ix. While most of the people of Rquira learn pottery from their elders, not everyone becomes a potter. The value of the labor both as income and a source of self-esteem has superseded the importance of reputation. Labor Issues in Colombias Privatization: A Comparative Perspective. Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance 34.S (1994): 237-259. Bergquist, Charles. 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.. Friedmann-Sanchez, Greta. Duncan, Crafts, Capitalism, and Women, 101. R. Barranquilla: Dos Tendencias en el Movimiento Obrero, Crafts, Capitalism, and Women: The Potters of La Chamba, Colombia. This definition is an obvious contradiction to Bergquists claim that Colombia is racially and culturally homogenous. Sibling Rivalry on the Left and Labor Struggles in Colombia During. Bolvar Bolvar, Jess. Bolvar Bolvar, Jess. . Instead of a larger than life labor movement that brought great things for Colombias workers, her work shatters the myth of an all-male labor force, or that of a uniformly submissive, quiet, and virginal female labor force. While women are forging this new ground, they still struggle with balance and the workplace that has welcomed them has not entirely accommodated them either. Junsay, Alma T. and Tim B. Heaton. Familial relationships could make or break the success of a farm or familys independence and there was often competition between neighbors. Ulandssekretariatet LO/FTF Council Analytical Unit, Labor Market Profile 2018: Colombia. Danish Trade Union Council for International Development and Cooperation (February 2018), http://www.ulandssekretariatet.dk/sites/default/files/uploads/public/PDF/LMP/LMP2018/lmp_colombia_2018_final.pdf. This approach creates texts whose substance and focus stand in marked contrast to the work of Urrutia and others. Gerda Westendorp was admitted on February 1, 1935, to study medicine. New work should not rewrite history in a new category of women, or simply add women to old histories and conceptual frameworks of mens labor, but attempt to understand sex and gender male or female as one aspect of any history. 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. Each author relies on the system as a determining factor in workers identity formation and organizational interests, with little attention paid to other elements. Green, W. John. Duncan thoroughly discusses Colombias history from the colonial era to the present. Sowell, David. Equally important is the limited scope for examining participation. Freidmann-Sanchez notes the high degree of turnover among female workers in the floriculture industry. The author has not explored who the. 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. The blue (right) represents the male Mars symbol. The research is based on personal interviews, though whether these interviews can be considered oral histories is debatable. This distinction separates the work of Farnsworth-Alvear from that of Duncan, Bergquist, or Sowell. This understanding can be more enlightening within the context of Colombian history than are accounts of names and events. Only four other Latin American nations enacted universal suffrage later. Her text delineates with charts the number of male and female workers over time within the industry and their participation in unions, though there is some discussion of the cultural attitudes towards the desirability of men over women as employees, and vice versa. In academia, there tends to be a separation of womens studies from labor studies. This focus is something that Urrutia did not do and something that Farnsworth-Alvear discusses at length. This poverty is often the reason young women leave to pursue other paths, erod[ing] the future of the craft., The work of economic anthropologist Greta Friedmann-Sanchez reveals that women in Colombias floriculture industry are pushing the boundaries of sex roles even further than those in the factory setting. Often the story is a reinterpretation after the fact, with events changed to suit the image the storyteller wants to remember.
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