Women’s Srudies hr. Forum. Vol. 8. No. 2. pp. Ill-1 16. 19X5. Prmted m Great Britam.

0277-5395185 $3.(X1+ .oO 0 1985 Pergamon Press Ltd.

CHILEAN WOMEN AND THE UN DECADE FOR WOMEN*

ROSA BRAVO and ROSALBA TODARO

Synopsis-This article analyses two aspects of the reality of Chilean women during the United Nations Decade of Women: political participation and labour force participation. This analysis takes into account some of the proposals of the Regional Plan of Action for the Integration of Women into Latin American Economic and Social Development as well as the consequences of the political, cultural and economic model established by the Chilean military government. The effects of the Decade of Women on Chilean women is not analysed primarily because the specific proposals contained in the Plan of Action are based on the prerequisites of development and participation-which are not applicable to the Chilean case during this period.

Notwithstanding the fact that all forms of popular participation have been effectively eliminated, there have emerged women’s organizations whose concerns include calling into question the oppression of women on the basis of sex. With respect to labour, women’s participation in the labour force has increased. However, this increase is not a response to improved opportunities or a more equalitarian treatment of women workers, but rather as the consequence of elevated unemployment rates especially in lower class families where women have greater access to certain kinds of marginal employment.

On a final note, the article also includes a discussion of recent trends in research on women, trends which provide a challenge to the more traditional forms of research.

INTRODUCTION

This article attempts to analyse some of the more notable features which have characterized the reality of Chilean women during the past ten years-a period which coincides with the Decade of Women declared by the United Nations. The analysis takes into consideration some of the proposals contained in the Regional Plan of Action for the Integration of Women into Latin American Economic and Social Development (CEPAL, 1977), a plan to which the Chilean government formally subscribes. In addition, also considered are the characteristics which more clearly define the nature of political, economic and cultural model imple- mented by the Chilean government.

During the period under discussion the situation of important groups of women in Chile has been affected by a series of events which are not necessarily related to the implementation of the Plan proposals. This could not be otherwise given that to implement the proposed forms of action

* This article was written in May 1983; its was translated from Spanish by Patricia Churchryk.

implies a global model of development which would promote structural changes which in turn would allow a given country to overcome its condition of underdevelopment. This condition of underde- velopment must be recognized as one of the major obstacles to women’s participation in the economic, political, social and cultural life of an under- developed country. Moreoever, a widespread participation on the part of various sectors of the population, specifically of women, is also implied especially in regard to a variety of decision-making circumstances.

However, the Plan of Action is introduced at a time when an authoritarian government, still in power, had already been established in Chile in which the possibilities for participation have been eliminated. As well, the government has actively promoted the implementation of an economic model based on ‘free competition’ with the net result of a high concentration of wealth. Principal sources of employment have been destroyed and a situation of poverty and unemployment created such that vast sectors of the population have been adversely affected. Another feature of the Chilean political model is the promotion of an ultra- traditional ideology concerning sex roles particularly those assigned to women. The official position regarding appropriate roles for women is sown into

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fertile ground. It is impossible to ignore the they are distorted by an interpretation alien to patriarchal system in which we live which, in placing women themselves is, in fact, exactly the kind of women as a sex in a subordinate position relative to ‘integration’ women have suffered in all patriarchal men, cuts across the boundaries of social class. This societies. patriarchal system obviously goes far beyond the Among the organizations and social movements current political model. in existence at the time when the military

Taking into account these introductory consider- government to power in Chile, there were really ations, the analysis which follows will focus on two none with the characteristics to which we refer aspects of women’s situation, political and economic above. However, during the latter part of the period participation. Furthermore we include a preliminary under discussion, we are confronted with the discussion of research on women undertaken during emergence of a variety of organizations which, to a the past ten years. The purpose of this latter greater or lesser extent, articulate a specific concern discussion is to share the experiences of women for oppression of women. These organizations can doing research on women, who, in their work be roughly divided into two groups: those of commit themselves to try to change the oppressive professional women from the middle strata, and situation in which Chilean women live. those of women from the lower strata (popular

classes) both rural and urban,

POLITICAL ASPECTS OF WOMEN’S These two groups of organizations seem to have

PARTICIPATION different origins. It would seem reasonable to argue that the more middle-class organizations emerge as

The Decade of Women began shortly after the a response not only to the non-existence of military government took power in Chile. Hence alternative channels of participation and political during this period all forms of popular participation expression, but also to a growing awareness that in decision-making were eliminated, abruptly even in times of political democracy the specific cutting short the process of democratization that nature of their situation as women had little place. Chilean society had been undergoing. The people’s In the case of organizations emerging out of the movement with its union organizations, low income popular sectors, these seem to emerge rather as a community organization# and political organiza- response to the social and economic problems tions was systematically repressed and dismantled. suffered by the lower classes. By participating in

The Regional Plan of Action sets forth in its activities and organizations such as pools of the proposals for government action: unemployed, handicraft workshops, or ‘soup

‘To promote and strengthen popular participation kitchens’ for children, many women became

especially among women, at all levels, including aware of the problems from the roles society has

decision-making, especially through the electoral assigned to them as women, although the current

system.’ (CEPAL, 1977: 8). situation of the country does not allow them to raise their voices in order to express their concrete

The contradiction is evident. In a situation where demands. participation channels are closed to the entire Not unconnected to this process of raising population, it is unlikely that they might be opened consciousness and group formation has been the up for women who traditionally have played a indirect influence of the Decade of Women, to the secondary role in decision-making. Nevertheless, we extent that it has aided in legitimizing the issue and would like to raise some issues which seem to us to in channelling resources for these purposes. be fundamental to a discussion of women’s The Chilean government, in turn, has generated participation. We would argue that the extent to its own organizations or rather has given its own which women’s specific demands might be included orientation to organizations which already existed at in a general political program is determined by the the time it took power. For example, the functions extent to which women’s organizations exist to of the official women’s organization, the Secretaria articulate those demands. To integrate women into National de la Mujer, are: a process created by others where women’s problems are either not considered at all or where ‘To the Women’s Secretariat falls the task of

collaborating in the relationship between the supreme government and the women’s organi-

I In Chile, ‘organizacibn poblacional’ (translated as low zations in order to integrate women into the income community organizations) refers to groups of social, cultural and economic development of the people who all live in the same, usually recently formed, urban sector and who organize with the view to confront

country through their organized and voluntary work.

one of the many common problems shared by people who have low incomes, for example, unemployment, health, To create in women a national consciousness commumty services, etc. and an adequate understanding of the dignity and

112 ROSA BRAVO and ROSAI.BA TODARO

Chilean Women and the UN Decade for Women 113

importance of their mission within the family and society.

To train women and, through them, the family, in order that they may be fully incorporated into the social and cultural development of the nation.

To promote women’s support of government plans and to encourage women to voluntarily collaborate in the development programs promoted by the government.

To qualify women volunteers by means of specific programs.

To honour the importance of women and to cooperate in preparing women to better carry out their roles as mothers, wives and housekeepers.’ (Larrain, 1982: SO).

From this we can logically conclude that the Secretariat’s fundamental functions are to lend political support to the government through a system of a ‘female voluntariat’,2 and to transmit an ideology which results in mystifying woman’s role at home. The words of the Cultural Advisor to the Secretariat, Gisela Silva are revealing:

‘The female voluntariat should unite the concepts of Home and Fatherland and identify woman in the home in her service to Chile, and thus dignify women’s roles.’ (Larrain, 1982: 84).

This clearly contrasts with the Plan of Action’s proposals regarding the creation of mechanisms

. . . to counteract the persistence of current attitudes regarding the traditional roles assigned to both sexes by means of changes in educational and traditional cultural models.’ (CEPAL, 1977: 10).

WOMEN’S LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION

As we have already pointed out, one of the main objectives of the economic model introduced by the present regime is to obtain, in the most pure form possible, the allocation of resources based solely on a market economy. The economic measures adopted to ensure the free interplay of market forces include the elimination of customs barriers, a fixed rate of exchange which overvalued the national currency concomitant with the flow of short term foreign finance capital devoted to speculation, and the non-existence of productive investment, all of which ensured not only the destruction of the productive apparatus and the concentration of wealth but also rates of unemployment of a magnitude previously unknown in Chile.

* The expression ‘female voluntariat’ refers to an organized group of women working without pay in a variety of government sponsored social welfare activities.

At the same time, social and labour legislation was restructured in order that the market could function with greater facility. This legislation resulted in the fragmentation of the labour movement which deprived unions of their negoti- ating power and in this way allowed the market to function without interference. This has required systematic and ‘efficient’ use of repressive measures.

During this period the rate of female labour force participation has increased although, in overall terms, only marginally. However, far from being a response to increased opportunities for women and a more equalitarian treatment of women workers, this increased participation reflects the response of principally lower-class families to a situation of high unemployment. While it is true that patriarchal ideology relegates women to the home and family, a demand for female labour has always existed. This demand usually occurs in those kinds of activities which can be considered an extension of women’s family roles, or which call for certain ‘natural’ characteristics which might give some women comparative advantages over men. However, paid labour does not usually liberate women from their family and domestic responsibilities. This, together with the fact that women’s income is generally considered only as a supplement to family income (‘pin money’) has several consequences: women generally only have access to the lowest paid jobs and hence little access to the better paid, more prestigious jobs, and they constitute a reserve labour force which can be released into or withdrawn from the labour market in a way that does not have the same impact as similar fluctuations in male labour.

Although the statistics necessary to demonstrate this process are incomplete, it can be observed that, during periods of high unemployment, the labour force participation of women from low income sectors increases while that of women from high income groups decreases. This latter occurs be- cause, faced with a reduction in real income and employment opportunities these women often have no alternative but to stay at home (Rosales, 1979). Furthermore, it can also be observed that women from lower income sectors become even more concentrated in the service sector, especially in domestic service and in the informal labour market. The absorption of women in the service sector has also been encouraged by a displacement process, which has removed women from jobs traditionally theirs in industry (textiles and clothing manufactur- ing, for example) given that these are the kinds of industries most adversely affected by the govern- ment’s economic model.

In spite of the advances made by organized women of the popular classes, it is clear that their increased labour force participation has occurred within an ideological context still markedly male

114 ROSA BRAVO and ROSALBA TODARO

chauvinist (‘machista’). What happens is that women take on independent roles and assume the function of family provider while ideologically they appear to continue to be dependent on men. According to a study on low income communities (Martinic, 1979), women are perceived as having more ‘drive’ and being more motivated to look for work whereas men tend to ‘lose heart’ or become alcoholic. In this same study, mother who were interviewed declared that women should work only when their husbands are unemployed but that once the husband is working, a women should then dedicate herself exclusively to the home.

In periods of high unemployment, like that of contemporary Chile, the assumption that women work only for ‘pin money’ produces an even more complicated situation. Not only do women, especi- ally those from the lower income strata seem to be more motivated to work out of the need to feed their children, but they also accept whatever work they might be able to find. If we look closely at where women are currently located in the Chilean labour force we find that while they may work at jobs not traditionally considered women’s work, for example in minimum employment programs, they do however, continue to occupy the worst paid jobs.

This situation is further characterized by high levels of female unemployment despite the fact that many women are included among the ‘chronically unemployed’3 and thus do not appear to be measured by the current employment and unem- ployment surveys.

In addition to these socio-economic and structural factors, the official discourse on women, which is ideologically patriarchal, makes the situation even more difficult. President Pinochet, in a speech addressed to the Women’s Secretariat (Secreataria National de la Mujer), makes this patently obvious:

‘Woman, from the moment she becomes a mother, expects nothing more in terms of material things: she seeks and finds the purpose of her life in her child, her only treasure, and the object of all her dreams.’ (El Mercurio, October 19, 1979).

Thus it is clear that the government’s position on women not only reinforces the traditional image of woman as mother but also implies that women should not work outside the home-a position which consistently undermines the equality of women in the labour force.

The UN’s Regional Plan of Action suggests at least some measures which would aid in the

3’In Spanish, those who look for work and become discouraged in the process are referred to as ‘cesantes desalentados’. These workers while they might give up the search owing to the characteristics of the market do not give up the need and/or desire to be employed.

development of equal opportunities for women in the labour force. Notwithstanding the fact that the Plan of Action does not analyse the roots of women’s inequality and instead seems to offer only cosmetic remedies, the current situation in Chile does not even permit a minimal implementation of its recommendations.

CONCERNING RESEARCH ON WOMEN

During the period under discussion, interest in Women’s Studies as well as the volume of research on women has notably increased. This has been accompanied by a process of consciousness-raising on the part of the women researchers themselves whereby they become increasingly aware that knowledge is not unconnected to discrimination and the oppression of women, at the same time that they become more aware of their own situation as women. The most important aspect of this growing awareness is not that women had been neglected as an appropriate object of study nor that it is now possible to work with data previously unavailable- but rather the realization that theoretical knowledge is structured without the presence of woman as social actor, that is that through the process of conceptualization, ‘human being’ is equated to ‘male’ (Bonder, 1982). For this reason, it has become necessary to rethink the bases on which scientific knowledge is generated and thus call into question the very paradigm on which knowledge is generated in the Human and Social Sciences.

Research on women challenges the positivist approach to science whose basic point of departure is the complete separation of subject from object of study in order to guarantee the ‘objectivity’ of knowledge. The feminist who does research on women assumes a commitment to her work precisely because her point of departure involves questioning the sexist basis of existing knowledge. She is not an objective or disinterested observer. In fact, not being an objective and disinterested observer becomes a prerequisite to her research in order that it might become an instrument of social change. In this way women begin to realize that ‘objective’ knowledge is linked to a set of values which not only excludes women but also perpetuates their oppres- sion. Furthermore, it becomes clear that everything from the kinds of problems chosen as appropriate topics of study to the data and the methods used to study them are based on an androcentric approach to science and knowledge.

However, it would be difficult to argue that, beyond challenging the bases of existing knowledge, major advances have been made in the creation of an alternative body of knowledge. Most of the research on women generated in Chile in the past few years has been exploratory in nature attempting to develop an alternative methodology. So far, this

Chilean Women and the UN Decade for Women

research has been unable to reach a level of systematization capable of moving beyond trial and error methods. In any case, there does exist a clearly defined awareness of the need to develop theory and a more systematic methodology.

socio-economic sectors-an interaction which has enriched the analysis by infusing it with character- istics from our own reality.

One of the obstacles to rapid progress in this area, besides of course, the difficulties inherent in the process of creating a body of knowledge couter- posed to the weight of already existing knowledge, is the non-existence of support from Chilean formal institutions. Alternative research is generated in alternative research organizations, which are gene- rally financed by institutions whose main objective has been immediate action, principally as a result of the drastic situation in which women of the popular classes live. These financing institutions have promoted and in some cases still promote the separation of theory from practice. They have been concerned that support for research might become transformed into activities divorced from reality, such that the only beneficiaries of this support would be the intellectual groups. In this way then, what has occurred is that purely action oriented activities are often based more on intuition than on a process of amassing a body of knowledge that would aid in the development of new theory and methodology. Thus, acquired knowledge tends to remain isolated knowledge. As such it is unavailable to benefit future action and it is non-transferable thus perpetuating the spontaneous nature of action.

CONCLUSIONS

It is difficult to assess the importance of the Decade of Women for Chilean women. In political, social and economic terms, the situation in which the Chilean people have lived these past ten years has been an extremely difficult one. However, it is important to point out that advances have been made in terms of an increased awareness on the part of women with regard to their role in society and the need for their participation in order to achieve a genuine democracy. This implies not only to recover what we have lost, not only to ‘integrate ourselves’ into a society designed by others, but also to participate in the creation of a society in which patriarchal authoritarianism would no longer exist in any of its many forms.

Despite the fact that there have been advances, we should caution that they have not yet been channelled towards significant changes in the concrete situation of the majority of women. We have only begun what promises to be a long process.

As far as feminist researchers are concerned we have often accepted this state of affairs due, on the one hand to the absence of alternatives, but we would argue, fundamentally because it has particu- larly suited the process of methodological develop- ment which, in this early phase, has required a trial and error approach.

We have gained ground, but we will be able to continue this work only as long as autonomous women’s organizations grow in strength, work with those objectives and construct a power base in order to effectively exercise a degree of pressure and influence in the decision-making process.

We find ourselves at a critical juncture where it has become imperative to make the great leap forward towards a systematization of what is valuable and accumulated experience-a systema- tization which would allow us to initiate and execute more adequately focussed research. It is already apparent that some of the current research is much more explicit in a concept of knowledge in which theory and practice are elements of the same process.

If it is true that in order to achieve our objectives it is fundamental to strengthen women’s organiza- tions, then it is equally true that given the incipient nature of this process, it is still important to find and take advantage of whatever might support it. For this very reason, we are concerned that the Decade is ending when we have only just begun.

REFERENCES

It seems appropriate, at this point, on the one hand, the impact of the international feminist movement on the process of developing conscious- ness among women researchers regarding the need to reconceptualize theory, and the other, the influence of the UN’s Decade of Women in legitimating and allocating resources to this kind of research. In the special case of Chile, this entire process has occurred hand in hand with the emergence of women’s groups (such as those to which we earlier made reference). This has permitted the interaction of women from different

Bonder, Gloria. 1982. Los estudios de la mujer y la critica epistemol6gica a 10s paradigmas de las ciencias humanas. Centro de Estudios de la Mujer, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

C.E.P.A.L. (COMMON ECONOMICA PARA AMERICA LATINA). 1977. Plan de Accidn Regional sobre la Integracidn de la Mujer en el Desarrollo Econdmico y Social de AmCrica Latine. United Nations. Santiago de

.arrain, Christina. 1982. Catrasto de organizaciones femininas de gobierno. lnstituto Chileno de Estudios Humanisticos. Document0 de Trabajo, A.C. 1982. Santiago de Chile.

Martinicy Sergio. 1979. Realidad poblacional: estudio exploratorio de la familia marginal Urbana. CIDE, Santiago de Chile.

Munizaga, Giselle. 1983. La mujer, el vecino y el deportisto en 10s micromedios de gobierno; un estudio sobre construcci6n de sujetos politicos a travb de1 discurso

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116 ROSA BRAVO and ROSALBA TODARO

oficial. CENECA, Santiago de Chile. Todaro, Rosalba. 1982. Sobre la investigacick-accidn de la Rosales. Osvaldo. 1979. La muier chilena en la fuerza de muier. Circulo de Estudios de la Muier, Document0

trabajo: particpacidn, empleo y desempleo. Document0 I&no. Santiago de Chile. de investigacidn No. 39. Universidad de Chile, Santiago Vives, CristiBn. 1983. Crisis en la familia popular y su de Chile. visi& de futuro. Centro Belarmino, Santiago de Chile.