Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1998. 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. The way in which she frames the concept does not take gender as a simple bipolar social model of male and female, but examines the divisions within each category, the areas of overlap between them, and changing definitions over time. The use of oral testimony requires caution. The law was named ley sobre Rgimen de Capitulaciones Matrimoniales ("Law about marriage capitulations regime") which was later proposed in congress in December 1930 by Ofelia Uribe as a constitutional reform. Female Industrial Employment and Protective Labor, Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs, Pedraja Tomn, Women in Colombian Organizations, 1900-1940., Keremitsis, Latin American Women Workers in Transition., Mujer, Religin, e Industria: Fabricato, 1923-1982, Farnsworth-Alvear, Ann. In both cases, there is no mention of women at all. 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 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. This poverty is often the reason young women leave to pursue other paths, erod[ing] the future of the craft., The work of economic anthropologist Greta Friedmann-Sanchez reveals that women in Colombias floriculture industry are pushing the boundaries of sex roles even further than those in the factory setting. Sowell, David. French, John D. and Daniel James. 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. Like!! He notes the geographical separation of these communities and the physical hazards from insects and tropical diseases, as well as the social and political reality of life as mean and frightening.. While they are both concerned with rural areas, they are obviously not looking at the same two regions. Pedraja Tomn, Women in Colombian Organizations, 1900-1940., Keremitsis, Latin American Women Workers in Transition.. In 1957 women first voted in Colombia on a plebiscite. The Development of the Colombian Labor Movement, Pedraja Tomn, Ren de la. I specifically used the section on Disney's films from the 1950s. 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. They knew how to do screen embroidery, sew by machine, weave bone lace, wash and iron, make artificial flowers and fancy candy, and write engagement announcements. These narratives provide a textured who and why for the what of history. This reinterpretation is an example of agency versus determinism. The reasoning behind this can be found in the work of Arango, Farnsworth-Alvear, and Keremitsis. Dr. Blumenfeld is also involved in her community through the. It assesses shifting gender roles and ideologies, and the ways that they intersect with a peace process and transitions in a post-Accord period, particularly in relation to issues of transitional justice. Gender Roles in Columbia in the 1950s "They knew how to do screen embroidery, sew by machine, weave bone lace, wash and iron, make artifical flavors and fancy candy, and write engagement announcements." Men- men are expected to hold up the family, honor is incredibly important in that society. Gender Roles in the 1950s: Definition and Overview Gender roles are expectations about behaviors and duties performed by each sex. Using oral histories obtained from interviews, the stories and nostalgia from her subjects is a starting point for discovering the history of change within a society. 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. Only four other Latin American nations enacted universal suffrage later. Gender Roles In Raisin In The Sun. Since then, men have established workshops, sold their wares to wider markets in a more commercial fashion, and thus have been the primary beneficiaries of the economic development of crafts in Colombia.. Talking, Fighting, and Flirting: Workers Sociability in, , edited by John D. French and Daniel James. Her work departs from that of Cohens in the realm of myth. Friedmann-Sanchez, Greta. The book, while probably accurate, is flat. [9], In the 1990s, Colombia enacted Ley 294 de 1996, in order to fight domestic violence. could be considered pioneering work in feminist labor history in Colombia. The Rgimen de Capitulaciones Matrimoniales was once again presented in congress in 1932 and approved into Law 28 of 1932. This definition is an obvious contradiction to Bergquists claim that Colombia is racially and culturally homogenous. We welcome written and photography submissions. In the same way the women spoke in a double voice about workplace fights, they also distanced themselves from any damaging characterization as loose or immoral women. Other recent publications, such as those from W. John Green and Jess Bolvar Bolvar fall back into the same mold as the earliest publications examined here. According to the National Statistics Department DANE the pandemic increased the poverty rate from 35.7% to 42.5%. As Charles Bergquist pointed out in 1993,gender has emerged as a tool for understanding history from a multiplicity of perspectives and that the inclusion of women resurrects a multitude of subjects previously ignored. Raisin in the Sun: Gender Roles Defied Following the event of World War Two, America during the 1950s was an era of economic prosperity. Among men, it's Republicans who more often say they have been discriminated against because of their gender (20% compared with 14% of Democratic men). 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. This phenomenon, as well as discrepancies in pay rates for men and women, has been well-documented in developed societies. Activities carried out by minor citizens in the 1950's would include: playing outdoors, going to the diner with friends, etc. Women in Colombian Organizations, 1900-1940: A Study in Changing Gender Roles. Journal of Womens History 2.1 (Spring 1990): 98-119. Sibling Rivalry on the Left and Labor Struggles in Colombia During the 1940s. Latin American Research Review 35.1 (Winter 2000): 85-117. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997, 2. The use of oral testimony requires caution. Divide in women. Not only is his analysis interested in these differentiating factors, but he also notes the importance of defining artisan in the Hispanic context, in contrast to non-Iberian or Marxist characterizations because the artisan occupied a different social stratum in Latin America than his counterparts in Europe. She is able to make a connection between her specific subject matter and the larger history of working women, not just in Latin America but everywhere. Vatican II asked the Catholic Churches around the world to take a more active role in practitioners' quotidian lives. It is possible that most of Urrutias sources did not specify such facts; this was, after all, 19, century Bogot. Squaring the Circle: Womens Factory Labor, Gender Ideology, and Necessity, 4. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2000. This reinterpretation is an example of agency versus determinism. Both men and women have equal rights and access to opportunities in law. By the 1930s, the citys textile mills were defining themselves as Catholic institutions and promoters of public morality.. Virginia Nicholson. There are, unfortunately, limited sources for doing a gendered history. Caf, Conflicto, y Corporativismo: Una Hiptesis Sobre la Creacin de la Federacin Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia en 1927. Anuario Colombiano de Historia Social y de la Cultura 26 (1999): 134-163. Women's experiences in Colombia have historically been marked by patterns of social and political exclusion, which impact gender roles and relations. Bergquist, Labor History and its Challenges: Confessions of a Latin. The nature of their competition with British textile imports may lead one to believe they are local or indigenous craft and cloth makers men, women, and children alike but one cannot be sure from the text. Bolvar Bolvar, Jess. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1969. Paid Agroindustrial Work and Unpaid Caregiving for Dependents: The Gendered Dialectics between Structure and Agency in Colombia,. R. Barranquilla: Dos Tendencias en el Movimiento Obrero, 1900-1950. Memoria y Sociedad (January 2001): 121-128. 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? Not only could women move away from traditional definitions of femininity in defending themselves, but they could also enjoy a new kind of flirtation without involvement. "The girls were brought up to be married. Depending on the context, this may include sex -based social structures (i.e. Duncan, Ronald J. Arango, Luz G. Mujer, Religin, e Industria: Fabricato, 1923-1982. History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth. In the space of the factory, these liaisons were less formal than traditional courtships. Freidmann-Sanchez notes the high degree of turnover among female workers in the floriculture industry. This roughly translates to, so what if it bothers anyone? Franklin, Stephen. Women Working: Comparative Perspectives in Developing Areas. Women belonging to indigenous groups were highly targeted by the Spanish colonizers during the colonial era. Junsay, Alma T. and Tim B. Heaton. Women Working: Comparative Perspectives in, Bergquist, Charles. The small industries and factories that opened in the late 1800s generally increased job opportunities for women because the demand was for unskilled labor that did not directly compete with the artisans., for skilled workers in mid to late 1800s Bogot since only 1% of women identified themselves as artisans, according to census data., Additionally, he looks at travel accounts from the period and is able to describe the racial composition of the society. History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth. Friedmann-Sanchez,Paid Agroindustrial Work and Unpaid Caregiving for Dependents: The Gendered Dialectics between Structure and Agency in Colombia, 38. At the same time, others are severely constrained by socio-economic and historical/cultural contexts that limit the possibilities for creative action. Employment in the flower industry is a way out of the isolation of the home and into a larger community as equal individuals., Their work is valued and their worth is reinforced by others. Crdenas, Mauricio and Carlos E. Jurez. The decree passed and was signed by the Liberal government of Alfonso Lpez Pumarejo. Duncan thoroughly discusses Colombias history from the colonial era to the present. Indeed, as I searched for sources I found many about women in Colombia that had nothing to do with labor, and vice versa. A higher number of women lost their income as the gender unemployment gap doubled from 5% to 10%. They are not innovators in the world of new technology and markets like men who have fewer obligations to family and community. Her text delineates with charts the number of male and female workers over time within the industry and their participation in unions, though there is some discussion of the cultural attitudes towards the desirability of men over women as employees, and vice versa. Cohen, Paul A. Children today on the other hand might roll out of bed, when provoked to do so . The number of male and female pottery workers in the rural area is nearly equal, but twice as many men as women work in pottery in the urban workshops., In town workshops where there are hired workers, they are generally men. Arango, Luz G. Mujer, Religin, e Industria: Fabricato, 1923-1982. 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. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997. Bergquist, Labor in Latin America, 315. The interviews distinguish between mutual flirtations and sexual intimidation. Farnsworth-Alvear, Ann. [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. Drawing from her evidence, she makes two arguments: that changing understandings of femininity and masculinity shaped the way allactors understood the industrial workplace and that working women in Medelln lived gender not as an opposition between male and female but rather as a normative field marked by proper and improper ways of being female. The use of gender makes the understanding of historio-cultural change in Medelln in relation to industrialization in the early twentieth century relevant to men as well as women. 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. , where served as chair of its legislative committee and as elected Member-at-large of the executive committee, and the Miami Beach Womens Conference, as part of the planning committee during its inaugural year. The Early Colombian Labor Movement: Artisans and Politics in Bogota, 1832-1919. Unions were generally looked down upon by employers in early twentieth century Colombia and most strikes were repressed or worse. While there are some good historical studies on the subject, this work is supplemented by texts from anthropology and sociology. Explaining Confederation: Colombian Unions in the 1980s. Latin American Research Review 25.2 (1990): 115-133. This book talks about how ideas were expressed through films and novels in the 1950s and how they related to 1950s culture. In G. While most of the people of Rquira learn pottery from their elders, not everyone becomes a potter. Fighting was not only a transgression of work rules, but gender boundaries separat[ed] anger, strength, and self-defense from images of femininity. Most women told their stories in a double voice, both proud of their reputations as good employees and their ability to stand up for themselves. According to Bergquists earlier work, the historiography of labor in Latin America as a whole is still underdeveloped, but open to interpretive efforts., The focus of his book is undeniably on the history of the labor movement; that is, organized labor and its link to politics as history. In 1936, Mara Carulla founded the first school of social works under the support of the Our Lady of the Rosary University. Using oral histories obtained from interviews, the stories and nostalgia from her subjects is a starting point for discovering the history of change within a society. If the mass of workers is involved, then the reader must assume that all individuals within that mass participated in the same way. She is . These are grand themes with little room for subtlety in their manifestations over time and space. He looks at a different region and that is part of the explanation for this difference in focus. He cites the small number of Spanish women who came to the colonies and the number and influence of indigenous wives and mistresses as the reason Colombias biologically mestizo society was largely indigenous culturally. This definition is an obvious contradiction to Bergquists claim that Colombia is racially and culturally homogenous. Greens article is pure politics, with the generic mobs of workers differentiated only by their respective leaders and party affiliations. R. Barranquilla: Dos Tendencias en el Movimiento Obrero, 1900-1950. Memoria y Sociedad (January 2001): 121-128. In spite of this monolithic approach, women and children, often from the families of permanent hacienda workers, joinedin the coffee harvest., In other words, they were not considered a permanent part of the coffee labor force, although an editorial from 1933 stated that the coffee industry in Colombia provided adequate and almost permanent work to women and children., There were women who participated directly in the coffee industry as the sorters and graders of coffee beans (, Familial relationships could make or break the success of a farm or familys independence and there was often competition between neighbors. Russia is Re-Engaging with Latin America. The author has not explored who the. If success was linked to this manliness, where did women and their labor fit? This may be part of the explanation for the unevenness of sources on labor, and can be considered a reason to explore other aspects of Colombian history so as not to pigeonhole it any more than it already has been. She finds women often leave work, even if only temporarily, because the majority of caregiving one type of unpaid domestic labor still falls to women: Women have adapted to the rigidity in the gendered social norms of who provides care by leaving their jobs in the floriculture industry temporarily., Caregiving labor involves not only childcare, especially for infants and young children, but also pressures to supervise adolescent children who are susceptible to involvement in drugs and gangs, as well as caring for ill or aging family. This focus is something that Urrutia did not do and something that Farnsworth-Alvear discusses at length. Among women who say they have faced gender-based discrimination or unfair treatment, a solid majority (71%) say the country hasn't gone far enough when it comes to giving women equal rights with men. Latin American feminism focuses on the critical work that women have undertaken in reaction to the . 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. The body of work done by Farnsworth-Alvear is meant to add texture and nuance to the history of labor in Latin American cities. https://pulitzercenter.org/projects/south-america-colombia-labor-union-human-rights-judicial-government-corruption-paramilitary-drug-violence-education. [7] Family life has changed dramatically during the last decades: in the 1970s, 68,8% of births were inside marriage;[8] and divorce was legalized only in 1991. As did Farnsworth-Alvear, French and James are careful to remind the reader that subjects are not just informants but story tellers.. . . , (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1986), ix. This focus is something that Urrutia did not do and something that Farnsworth-Alvear discusses at length. 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. In the early twentieth century, the Catholic Church in Colombia was critical of industrialists that hired women to work for them. One individual woman does earn a special place in Colombias labor historiography: Mar, Cano, the Socialist Revolutionary Partys most celebrated public speaker., Born to an upper class family, she developed a concern for the plight of the working poor., She then became a symbol of insurgent labor, a speaker capable of electrifying the crowds of workers who flocked to hear her passionate rhetoric., She only gets two-thirds of a paragraph and a footnote with a source, should you have an interest in reading more about her. There is a shift in the view of pottery as craft to pottery as commodity, with a parallel shift from rural production to towns as centers of pottery making and a decline in the status of women from primary producers to assistants. Television shows, like Father Knows Best (above), reinforced gender roles for American men and women in the 1950s. . Bergquist, Labor in Latin America, 364. The historian has to see the context in which the story is told. Given the importance of women to this industry, and in turn its importance within Colombias economy, womens newfound agency and self-worth may have profound effects on workplace structures moving forward. Squaring the Circle: Womens Factory Labor, History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth. Feriva, Cali, 1997. Throughout the colonial era, the 19th century and the establishment of the republican era, Colombian women were relegated to be housewives in a male dominated society. This understanding can be more enlightening within the context of Colombian history than are accounts of names and events. They were taught important skills from their mothers, such as embroidery, cooking, childcare, and any other skill that might be necessary to take care of a family after they left their homes. Women's infidelity seen as cardinal sin. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997. and, Green, W. John. The law generated controversy, as did any issue related to women's rights at the time. 40 aos del voto de la mujer en Colombia. To the extent that . Bergquist, Charles. Aside from economics, Bergquist incorporates sociology and culture by addressing the ethnically and culturally homogenous agrarian society of Colombia as the basis for an analysis focused on class and politics. In the coffee growing regions the nature of life and work on these farms merits our close attention since therein lies the source of the cultural values and a certain political consciousness that deeply influenced the development of the Colombian labor movement and the modern history of the nation as a whole. This analysis is one based on structural determinism: the development and dissemination of class-based identity and ideology begins in the agrarian home and is passed from one generation to the next, giving rise to a sort of uniform working-class consciousness. Women Working: Comparative Perspectives in Developing Areas. As leader of the group, Georgina Fletcher was persecuted and isolated. 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 book, while probably accurate, is flat. Since the 1970s, state agencies, like Artisanas de Colombia, have aided the establishment of workshops and the purchase of equipment primarily for men who are thought to be a better investment. The reasoning behind this can be found in the work of Arango, Farnsworth-Alvear, and Keremitsis. [15]Up until that point, women who had abortions in this largely Catholic nation faced sentences ranging from 16 to 54 months in prison. Each of these is a trigger for women to quit their jobs and recur as cycles in their lives. What has not yet shifted are industry or national policies that might provide more support. According to French and James, what Farnsworths work suggests for historians will require the use of different kinds of sources, tools, and questions. Official statistics often reflect this phenomenon by not counting a woman who works for her husband as employed. Bolvar is narrowly interested in union organization, though he does move away from the masses of workers to describe two individual labor leaders. Death Stalks Colombias Unions. The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. A group of women led by Georgina Fletcher met with then-president of Colombia Enrique Olaya Herrera with the intention of asking him to support the transformation of the Colombian legislation regarding women's rights to administer properties. The assumption is that there is a nuclear family where the father is the worker who supports the family and the mother cares for the children, who grow up to perpetuate their parents roles in society. Junsay, Alma T. and Tim B. Heaton. Many indigenous women were subject to slavery, rape and the loss of their cultural identity.[6]. Familial relationships could make or break the success of a farm or familys independence and there was often competition between neighbors. Corliss, Richard. Historians can also take a lesson from Duncan and not leave gender to be the work of women alone. I am reminded of Paul A. Cohens book. The blue (right) represents the male Mars symbol. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989. Cano is also mentioned only briefly in Urrutias text, one of few indicators of womens involvement in organized labor., Her name is like many others throughout the text: a name with a related significant fact or action but little other biographical or personal information. The law's main objective was to allow women to administer their properties and not their husbands, male relatives or tutors, as had been the case. Eventhoug now a days there is sead to be that we have more liberty there are still some duties that certain genders have to make. At the end of the 1950's the Catholic Church tried to remove itself from the politics of Colombia. Consider making a donation! Gender Roles Colombia has made significant progress towards gender equality over the past century. In academia, there tends to be a separation of womens studies from labor studies. The men went into the world to make a living and were either sought-after, eligible bachelors or they were the family breadwinner and head of the household. Farnsworths subjects are part of an event of history, the industrialization of Colombia, but their histories are oral testimonies to the experience. Future research will be enhanced by comparative studies of variations in gender ideology between and within countries. Dr. Blumenfeld has presented her research at numerous academic conferences, including theCaribbean Studies AssociationandFlorida Political Science Association, where she is Ex-Officio Past President. Farnsworth-Alvear, Ann. If the traditional approach to labor history obscures as much as it reveals, then a better approach to labor is one that looks at a larger cross-section of workers. Soldiers returning home the end of World War II in 1945 helped usher in a new era in American history. Throughout history and over the last years, women have strongly intended to play central roles in addressing major aspects of the worlda? My own search for additional sources on her yielded few titles, none of which were written later than 1988. As never before, women in the factories existed in a new and different sphere: In social/sexual terms, factory space was different from both home and street. It was safer than the street and freer than the home. While most of the people of Rquira learn pottery from their elders, not everyone becomes a potter. Many have come to the realization that the work they do at home should also be valued by others, and thus the experience of paid labor is creating an entirely new worldview among them., This new outlook has not necessarily changed how men and others see the women who work. [12] Article 42 of the Constitution of Colombia provides that "Family relations are based on the equality of rights and duties of the couple and on the mutual respect of all its members. Working in a factory was a different experience for men and women, something Farnsworth-Alvear is able to illuminate through her discussion of fighting in the workplace. Dr. Blumenfeld has presented her research at numerous academic conferences, including the, , where she is Ex-Officio Past President. Urrutia, Miguel. French, John D. and Daniel James, Oral History, Identity Formation, and Working-Class Mobilization. In. According to Bergquists earlier work, the historiography of labor in Latin America as a whole is still underdeveloped, but open to interpretive efforts. The focus of his book is undeniably on the history of the labor movement; that is, organized labor and its link to politics as history. If La Violencia 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? As ever, the perfect and the ideal were a chimera, but frequently proved oppressive ones for women in the 1950s. (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2000), 75. As established in the Colombian Constitution of 1991, women in Colombia have the right to bodily integrity and autonomy; to vote (see also: Elections in Colombia); to hold public office; to work; to fair wages or equal pay; to own property; to receive an education; to serve in the military in certain duties, but are excluded from combat arms units; to enter into legal contracts; and to have marital, parental and religious rights. For example, a discussion of Colombias La Violencia could be enhanced by an examination of the role of women and children in the escalation of the violence, and could be related to a discussion of rural structures and ideology.