Women and Social Movements in Latin America Power from Below

A gendered analysis of the National Security regimes that dominated South and Central America in the 1970s and '80s reveals a pattern of abuse of women that failed to register in the public consciousness.... The evidence compiled by Stephen, a feminist ethnographer, from archives and interviews with women in grassroots movements in El Salvador, Mexico, Brazil, and Chile reveals the breakdown of the patriarchal bargain: men in power withdrew protection from women, and women rebelled against the male domination that crippled them and left them unfit to lead their own lives. (Choice)