Socialist Feminist Revival
If not now, when?
August 09, 2009
By Reihana Mohideen
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[Contribution to the Reimagining Society Project hosted by
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There is a revival of socialist feminism in Latin America, spearheaded
by the Venezuelan and Cuban revolutions.
I just returned from a workshop on gender-based violence organised by
the Ministry of Women's Affairs in Venezuela and the UNDP. Speakers at
the workshop included Maria Leon, Minister of Women's Affairs and Nora
Casteneda President of Banmujer or Bank for the Development of Women.
The two women explained the gains made by women as a result of
Bolivarian socialist revolution in Venezuela. A record which was truly
amazing in the attempts made in empowering women towards achieving
gender equality, reported candidly by both women, who also outlined
the challenges women in that country have as yet to overcome.
The Bolivarian constitution is the first in the South (and possibly
the world) to recognise women's housework as a legitimate economic
activity producing wealth and contributing to the social welfare of
the population: "The State will recognise household chores as an
economic activity that creates added value, produces wealth and social
welfare. Housewives have the right to social security according to the
law." (Article 88) As Maria Leon explained in Article 88 "the work of
all previous generations of women are also recognised and valued".
In March 2007 the right of women to live a life free of violence
became an organic law enacted by the National Assembly of Venezuela.
Now the law must be effectively implemented. This includes setting up
special courts or legal units to handle violence against women cases
across the country, with some 19 courts already set up covering all
regions. These courts were described as 'new institutions of the
Venezuelan state to eradicate violence against women'. The first
courts were on violence against women were set up in Caracas on June
27, 2008.
These courts have the authority to temporarily arrest perpetrators of
violence against women and prohibit them from leaving the country. The
first dates for the trial should be set ten to twenty days after the
act of violence, with sentencing on the same day with penalty and
fines. Appeals processes exist. These courts were also described as
'specialised organs on violence against women' and as 'weapons in the
struggle against violence against women'.
According to Maria Leon, "Talking is not enough. Laws are not enough.
Institutions are not enough. We need a cultural change in our views
and outlook." This required mobilising women to become "a real force,
a deterrent force, an army to combat violence against women and to
change the notion of women as battered victims and weak human beings".
To mobilise women some 25,000 'points of encounter' for women are
being set up where women have easy access to information and services
without cumbersome requirements and bureaucratic regulations. These
25,000 'points of encounter' will consist of at least ten women, who
will then organise more women to create "an army to combat violence
against women ... the point is not only to decrease violence against
women, but to eradicate it".
The Ministry for Women's Affairs and Gender Equality was set up on
March 8, 2009. One of the first activities of the new Ministry was to
organise a congress of women to consult women on the plans and work of
the Ministry. A key objective of the Ministry is to advice the
President on 'human development with gender equality' and the 'active
participation in the defence and guarantee of women's rights in the
revolutionary transformation of the country'. Linked to this a key
task of the Ministry is to 'design the criteria for allocating
financial and social resources and investments targeting women,
especially those who are marginalised and excluded, suffering
discrimination, exploitation and violence ... in order to promote a
socialist production model with gender equity in the socialisation of
the means of production'.
Maria Leon and other Venezuelan women speakers all emphasised the
importance of the local popular power structures, the commune
councils, in the mobilisation and empowerment of women. According to
Leon "Peoples power, popular power, is most important [and] 70% of the
commune councils are headed by women".
Nora Castaneda provided updates on the work of Banmujer. Banmujer is a
key political instrument of the revolution in the economic and
political empowerment of poor and ethnic minority women. Since 2001,
Banmujer has redistributed wealth of around US$179 million in 106,616
microcredits to poor women. In 2008 alone it approved a total of
13,689 microcredit loans worth US$35 million.
Meanwhile in Cuba pathbreaking proposals and measures are being
advocated and discussed amongst the entire population to advance
gender equality in relation to sexual rights, spearheaded by the
National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX). According to CENESEX
Director Mariela Castro this year's celebration of International Day
against Homophobia and Transphobia will be held in Havana on Saturday,
May 16. It will be dedicated not only to youth, but also to the
family, "so that fathers and mothers can better understand their
homosexual or transsexual children."
The National Assembly (Cuba's parliament) will include in its work
agenda an initiative to reform the national Family Code, which has
been effective in Cuba since 1975 and contains proposals on gender
identity and rights of "sexual minorities." The initiatives include
the legal recognition of the same sex unions, whereby they will enjoy
the same rights as consensually united heterosexual couples.
In June 2008 a resolution of the Ministry of Public Health leganised
the performing of sex change operations on transsexual persons.
Resolution 126 establishes the creation of a center for integral
healthcare for people who are transsexual, which will be the sole
institution in the country authorized to carry out total or partial
medical sex change treatments.
This is a far cry from the former Soviet project with its idealisation
of motherhood or anything in the experience of the Chinese revolution.
And it is a distinct trend in the opposite direction to what is taking
place in a number of industrialized countries in the West, the US and
Australia included, where the trend is to take away a range of even
formal rights won in gender equality and related sexual rights.
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