Gerda Westendorp was admitted on February 1, 1935, to study medicine. 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. Dr. Blumenfeld has presented her research at numerous academic conferences, including theCaribbean Studies AssociationandFlorida Political Science Association, where she is Ex-Officio Past President. Women belonging to indigenous groups were highly targeted by the Spanish colonizers during the colonial era. Really appreciate you sharing this blog post.Really thank you! What was the role of the workers in the trilladoras? The body of work done by Farnsworth-Alvear is meant to add texture and nuance to the history of labor in Latin American cities. On December 10, 1934 the Congress of Colombia presented a law to give women the right to study. Bergquist, Labor in Latin America, 315. Duncans book emphasizes the indigenous/Spanish cultural dichotomy in parallel to female/male polarity, and links both to the colonial era especially. Labor Issues in Colombias Privatization: A Comparative Perspective. Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance 34.S (1994): 237-259. andLpez-Alves, Fernando. Women also . Keep writing. in studying the role of women in Colombia and of more general interest for those concerned with the woman in Latin America-first, the intertwining of socioeconomic class and the "place" the woman occupies in society; second, the predominant values or perspectives on what role women should play; third, some political aspects of women's participation Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997, 2. They are not innovators in the world of new technology and markets like men who have fewer obligations to family and community. Only four other Latin American nations enacted universal suffrage later. The value of the labor both as income and a source of self-esteem has superseded the importance of reputation. The main difference Friedmann-Sanchez has found compared to the previous generation of laborers, is the women are not bothered by these comments and feel little need to defend or protect their names or character: When asked about their reputation as being loose sexually, workers laugh and say, , Y qu, que les duela? The Early Colombian Labor Movement: Artisans and Politics in Bogota. Assets in Intrahousehold Bargaining Among Women Workers in Colombias Cut-flower Industry, Feminist Economics, 12:1-2 (2006): 247-269. Official statistics often reflect this phenomenon by not counting a woman who works for her husband as employed. He also takes the reader to a new geographic location in the port city of Barranquilla. The data were collected from at least 1000 households chosen at random in Bogot and nearby rural areas. Online Documents. A man as the head of the house might maintain more than one household as the number of children affected the amount of available labor. Women in Colombian Organizations, 1900-1940: A Study, Saether, Steiner. A higher number of women lost their income as the gender unemployment gap doubled from 5% to 10%. Green, W. John. war. 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. Duncan, Ronald J. Crafts, Capitalism, and Women: The potters of La Chamba, Colombia. 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. I have also included some texts for their, Latin America has one of the lowest formally recognized employment rates for women in the world, due in part to the invisible work of home-based labor., Alma T. Junsay and Tim B. Heaton note worldwide increases in the number of women working since the 1950s, yet the division of labor is still based on traditional sex roles.. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Dedicated writers engaged with the Americas and beyond. The constant political violence, social issues, and economic problems were among the main subjects of study for women, mainly in the areas of family violence and couple relationships, and also in children abuse. Greens article is pure politics, with the generic mobs of workers differentiated only by their respective leaders and party affiliations. Friedmann-Sanchezs work then suggests this more accurate depiction of the workforce also reflects one that will continue to affect change into the future. Women filled the roles of housewife, mother and homemaker, or they were single but always on the lookout for a good husband. The Early Colombian Labor Movement: Artisans and Politics in Bogota, 1832-1919. With the growing popularity of the television and the importance of consumer culture in the 1950s, televised sitcoms and printed advertisements were the perfect way to reinforce existing gender norms to keep the family at the center of American society. French and James think that the use of micro-histories, including interviews and oral histories, may be the way to fill in the gaps left by official documents. 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. Pedraja Tomn, Ren de la. This paper underscores the essentially gendered nature of both war and peace. There is some horizontal mobility in that a girl can choose to move to another town for work. From Miss . 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. Most of the women who do work are related to the man who owns the shop., Womens work supports the mans, but is undervalued and often discounted. Bergquist, Charles. Explaining Confederation: Colombian Unions in the 1980s. Latin American Research Review 25.2 (1990): 115-133. Many men were getting degrees and found jobs that paid higher because of the higher education they received. However, broadly speaking, men are the primary income earners for the family while women are expected to be the homemakers. The supposed homogeneity within Colombian coffee society should be all the more reason to look for other differentiating factors such as gender, age, geography, or industry, and the close attention he speaks of should then include the lives of women and children within this structure, especially the details of their participation and indoctrination. To the extent that . 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. Like what youve read? The reasoning behind this can be found in the work of Arango, Farnsworth-Alvear, and Keremitsis. The Digital Government Agenda North America Needs, Medical Adaptation: Traditional Treatments for Modern Diseases Among Two Mapuche Communities in La Araucana, Chile. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997. After this, women began to be seen by many as equal to men for their academic achievements, creativity, and discipline. Bergquist, Labor in Latin America, 364. In the space of the factory, these liaisons were less formal than traditional courtships. Bolvar Bolvar, Jess. [5], Women in Colombia have been very important in military aspects, serving mainly as supporters or spies such as in the case of Policarpa Salavarrieta who played a key role in the independence of Colombia from the Spanish empire. 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. French, John D. and Daniel James. If, 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? 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. both proud of their reputations as good employees and their ability to stand up for themselves. While most of the people of Rquira learn pottery from their elders, not everyone becomes a potter. The problem for. in contrast to non-Iberian or Marxist characterizations because the artisan occupied a different social stratum in Latin America than his counterparts in Europe. Greens article is pure politics, with the generic mobs of workers differentiated only by their respective leaders and party affiliations. The data were collected from at least 1000 households chosen at random in Bogot and nearby rural areas. 1950 to 57% in 2018 and men's falling from 82% to 69% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017, 2018b). fall back into the same mold as the earliest publications examined here. If success was linked to this manliness, where did women and their labor fit? The weight of this responsibility was evidently felt by women in the 1950's, 60's and 70's, as overall political participation of women between 1958 and 1974 stood at just 6.79%. The blue (right) represents the male Mars symbol. She is . In reading it, one remembers that it is human beings who make history and experience it not as history but as life. While there are some good historical studies on the subject, this work is supplemented by texts from anthropology and sociology. French and James. The move generated a scandal in congress. Explaining Confederation: Colombian Unions in the 1980s., Labor in Latin America: Comparative Essays on Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, and Colombia. 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. with different conclusions (discussed below). Bergquist, Charles. Most union members were fired and few unions survived., According to Steiner Saether, the economic and social history of Colombia had only begun to be studied with seriousness and professionalism in the 1960s and 1970s. Add to that John D. French and Daniel Jamess assessment that there has been a collective blindness among historians of Latin American labor that fails to see women and tends to ignore differences amongst the members of the working class in general, and we begin to see that perhaps the historiography of Colombian labor is a late bloomer. Unions were generally looked down upon by employers in early twentieth century Colombia and most strikes were repressed or worse. Duncans 2000 book focuses on women and child laborers rather than on their competition with men, as in his previous book. 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. Variations or dissention among the ranks are never considered. 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. Conflicts between workers were defined in different ways for men and women. I would argue, and to an extent Friedmann-Sanchez illustrates, that they are both right: human subjects do have agency and often surprise the observer with their ingenuity. Sowell, David. There is plenty of material for comparative studies within the country, which will lead to a richer, broader, and more inclusive historiography for Colombia. The U.S. marriage rate was at an all-time high and couples were tying the . 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. They were interesting and engaging compared to the dry texts like Urrutias, which were full of names, dates, and acronyms that meant little to me once I closed the cover. She received her doctorate from Florida International University, graduated cum laude with a Bachelors degree in Spanish from Harvard University, and holds a Masters Degree in Latin American and Caribbean Studies from the University of Connecticut. Farnsworth-Alvear, Dulcinea in the Factory, 4. Duncan, Ronald J. While he spends most of the time on the economic and political aspects, he uses these to emphasize the blending of indigenous forms with those of the Spanish. As a whole, the 1950's children were happier and healthier because they were always doing something that was challenging or social. Her work departs from that of Cohens in the realm of myth. Women make up 60% of the workers, earning equal wages and gaining a sense of self and empowerment through this employment. Her analysis is not merely feminist, but humanist and personal. [9], In the 1990s, Colombia enacted Ley 294 de 1996, in order to fight domestic violence. Anthropologist Ronald Duncan claims that the presence of ceramics throughout Colombian history makes them a good indicator of the social, political, and economic changes that have occurred in the countryas much as the history of wars and presidents., His 1998 study of pottery workers in Rquira addresses an example of male appropriation of womens work., In Rquira, pottery is traditionally associated with women, though men began making it in the 1950s when mass production equipment was introduced.
