Gender and Social Movement Decline

Abstract

Social movement decline is an understudied topic in social movements research. This article takes the case of the prodemocracy movement in Pinochet's Chile to focus on one aspect of movement decline: the question of what activists do at the end of their movement and, in particular, how what they do is gendered. The question of what activists do is an important one, both because activism often profoundly affects the lives of those who engage in it and because what ex-activists do can affect the societies in which they live. The author uses ethnographic data to examine what Chilean shantytown women did after their prodemocracy movement ended, demonstrating that their continued involvement with what remained of the movement, their work lives, their political attitudes and activities, their geographical mobility, and their social networks were profoundly affected by the gender regime in which they lived.

Acción colectiva feminista y sus repertorios: de calles y hashtags.

“…Las autoras centran su análisis en la manifestación como forma de acción colectiva que invita a repensar las categorías clásicas dada la heterogeneidad y polifonía de sus participantes y que puede, de manera horizontal y con una dimensión de ritual, ser reivindicativa y propositiva al mismo tiempo, instalando nuevos problemas públicos y renovando los vocabularios que los agentes usan en sus interacciones y sus luchas (Natalucci;Rey, 2018, 31). En el ámbito chileno, Adams (2002) examina, a través de datos etnográficos, las acciones de mujeres activistas de clase trabajadora tras que el declive del movimiento prodemocracia en la dictadura de Pinochet con el avenimiento de los gobiernos civiles. El estudio aporta una perspectiva poco analizada acerca de quiénes sostienen la acción colectiva feminista en el momento en que un movimiento social entra en repliegue.…”

Feminismos en el Chile Post-Dictadura: Hegemonías y marginalidades.

“…No obstante, esta nueva concepción de las relaciones entre feministas y Estado sólo está dirigida a las mujeres educadas de clase media, militantes o simpatizantes de los partidos políticos de la Concertación. Las feministas "populares" (según su propia denominación) y las mujeres organizadas en torno a la supervivencia en las poblaciones, se desmovilizan rápidamente, con cierta amargura frente al desfase entre sus expectativas -de participación política, económica y social -y la calidad de la democracia reinstaurada (Adams, 2002).…”

Gender and Sustainability: Lessons from Asia and Latin America

“…Many feminist scholars have focused their research on the role of gender in the rise and fall of collective action and social movements in Latin America (Safa 1990;Schild 1994;Bennett 1995;Stephen 1997;Adams 2002;Simonian 2006;McCallum 2007). Their studies highlight some key points: Gender rather than class is often the basis for collective action; social networks play an important role in the evolution of the movements; women resist and accommodate their identities to dominant gender ideologies; women activists often abandon activism after their movement ends; identity politics are tied to local notions of race and class; neighborhood organizations voice women's struggles and identities; class and gender determine how women choose to protest; women engage in collective action when their livelihoods are endangered; and women's political action should be contextualized within local and global processes.…”