The Violence Against Women Campaigns in Latin America

Abstract

This article urges caution in reading the backlash against gender-sensitive policies as a global phenomenon. Drawing inspiration from Latin America, the authors consider how international agreements for nation-states to adopt measures to prevent violence against women have been taken up in proactive ways through the collaboration of international organizations, national governments, and expanding and evolving women's movements. The push for the development of democratic citizenship in Latin America has opened up possibilities for bringing awareness of violence against women to a public that is in the process of engaging with a range of social justice issues and collaborating on multiple fronts. The authors argue that strategic coalitions across difference have been central to the success of the efforts to combat violence against women. They show how new feminist alliances have not only helped denormalize and deprivatize gender violence but revitalized feminist issues as part of a broad front to build progressive societies.

Indigenous, Mestizo and Afro‐Descendent Women against Violence: Building Interethnic Alliances in the Context of Regional Autonomy

“…This essay, following the approach of Cole and Phillips (), argues that the struggle against gender violence has facilitated the disposition of diverse actors to coordinate joint actions. Specifically, by defining violence against women as a human rights violation, and by adopting a human rights approach to development issues, women's groups have been able to experiment with new approaches in their grassroots work.…”

“…Specifically, by defining violence against women as a human rights violation, and by adopting a human rights approach to development issues, women's groups have been able to experiment with new approaches in their grassroots work. Also, this framework has enabled them to agree upon a gender agenda that is persuasive and politically efficient in contexts where there is scant will to recognise women's rights (Molyneux and Lazar, ; Merry, , ; Cole and Phillips, ).…”

“…The works of Cole and Phillips () and Merry (, ) are the main references guiding this analysis of the formation of alliances against gender violence. They analyse the forming of coalitions among women's organisations in Latin America and Asia and the Pacific, respectively.…”

“…One is the influence of the transnational feminist movement, which has understood how to take advantage of the globalisation of the universal human rights regime. The other is the vitality with which local organisations have adopted global agendas, through which they have learned to work through consensus – over and above their differences – to enhance the impact of their work (Cole and Phillips, : 145).…”

“…This work begins by echoing the feminist and analytical curiosity of Cole and Phillips () to learn about how the struggle against gender violence has facilitated the forming of alliances and about the nature of the constructed alliances. The methodological approach taken by Cole and Phillips to respond to those questions is to pay attention to the actors and their actions as determined by the context of the local political culture (Cole and Phillips, : 47). This framework assigns special relevance to the involved groups and to the particular agency of Atlantic Coast activists.…”