Women and Politics in Latin America - by Nikki Craske (Paperback)

About the Book

This book provides a comprehensive view of women's political participation in Latin America. Focusing on the latter half of the twentieth century, it examines five different arenas of action and debate: political institutions, workplaces, social movements, revolutions, and feminisms. Nikki Craske explores the ways in which women have become more effective in the public arena as the context of politics has altered.

Book Synopsis

This book provides a comprehensive view of women's political participation in Latin America. Focusing on the latter half of the twentieth century, it examines five different arenas of action and debate: political institutions, workplaces, social movements, revolutions, and feminisms. Nikki Craske explores the ways in which women have become more effective in the public arena as the context of politics has altered.

Craske demonstrates how gender relations shape political institutions and practices while simultaneously being shaped by them. She examines the moments when women's action has challenged received ideas, and had a significant impact on the political life of Latin American nations. Women remain heavily underrepresented in political lie, despite their important role in popular movements against authoritarianism, Craske states, and posits that the economy is a substantial constraint on women's political participation. This powerful book analyzes the gains made since the 1950s while scrutinizing the challenges and difficulties which still constrain women's political participation.

Review Quotes

Craske defines 'politics' in a broad and inclusive sense and shows that, in spite of considerable difficulties and obstacles, there have been important shifts recently in gender relations and the nature of politics and political practice in Latin America. --Tessa Cubitt "Academic Development Centre, University of Portsmouth"

CraskeÆs aim, at root, is to re-evaluate the relation between women and politics in a period of apparent decline and disenchantment. . . . The failure of womenÆs movements to prevent demobilization or to ensure many lasting gains . . . demands, Craske suggests, a re-assessment of the strategies originally employed to mobilize political action. Perhaps its clearest revelation is symptomatically at the point that Craske attempts to define feminism. . . CraskeÆs book is poised facing this dilemma between seeing feminism as æcritiqueÆ of current theories on the one hand or æenhance[ment]Æ building on and strengthening those theories, on the other.-- "Bulletin of Hispanic Studies"

CraskeÆs book provides a comprehensive overview of the scholarship on womenÆs participation, including some of her own original research on Argentina, Chile, and Mexico. . . Craske finds a key aspect of womenÆs political participation in the frequent use of motherhood as a mobilizing point. Be it in human rights groups, neighborhood organizations, revolutionary movements, or trade unions, Latin American women frequently see their activism as rooted in their roles as mothers. . . . Appropriate not only for seasoned scholars . . . but also for graduate students and advanced undergraduates.-- "Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs"

In her wide-ranging survey, Women and Politics in Latin America, Nikki Craske has combined a wealth of empirical detail with theoretical insight, to produce a book which will be essential reading on the subject. --Maxine Molyneaux "Institute of Latin American Studies, University of London"

This well written, thorough, and accessible book presents a fine, updated overview of the challenges facing women in Latin America.--Orin Starn "Author of Nighwatch: The Politics of Protest in the Andes"

About the Author

Nikki Craske is a lecturer in politics at Queen's University of Belfast. She has coedited Mexico and the North American Free Trade Agreement: Who Will Benefit? and Dismantling the Mexican State.