Sofía Montenegro: Journalist and feminist activist, Nicaragua
Ortiz, Irene
How has the women's movement developed in Nicaragua? he women's movement in Nicaragua is today one of the strongest and most purposeful social movements in the country. It is also the...
...Women should increasingly assume positions of government authority...
...If the women of Nicaragua had never moved beyond mere protest, the revolution would have never happened...
...Years later, it is clear that feminism has gained legitimacy in Nicaragua...
...The progres- n the sive movement now consists of all of the organizations, individuals and ition, institutions that fight for the democin the ratization of life in general, as well as democratization of the political sysition, tem...
...There is a serious problem with the Catholic Church because the Cardinal and the hierarchy are very reactionary...
...The work of this group has allowed us to coordinate the actions of the Central American feminist groups and to facilitate communication among women in the region...
...We can also agree on women's rights to land...
...It is also the strongest women's movement in Central America...
...Can you tell us a little more about how the Nicaraguan women's movement is linked with other political movements, both in Nicaragua and in the rest of Central America...
...After a year of struggling together, this coalition has demonstrated its viability in Nicaragua...
...I think that the dismantling of the state is undermining traditional actors like trade unions and social movements...
...We have to rethink everthing in terms of macroeconomics and macropolitics, because if we do not, we will continue making changes at the micro level, but of the larger issues in terms of gender and politics...
...I refer to this process of democratization as "formal" democratization...
...Do you think there is a significant difference between women's participation now and their participation five or ten years ago...
...Although we have political differences as far as the party is concerned, we do not have large differences when it comes to the problem of the subordination and the rights of women...
...We are building different kinds of networks in Central 45VOICES ON THE LEFT America, such as networks of trade unions, of black and indigenous women, and a network of organizations interested in health issues...
...Not only has participation increased in numbers, but in quality as well...
...Feminists have also been fundamental to the development of the broader women's movement...
...The Sandinista front has itself acknowledged its obligation to feminists...
...We cannot stop to think or wait for a miracle to change the situation...
...Those of us who were once stigmatized within the "a is i revo Iu it grew revolt and has at an acc the differences and political antagonisms that still prevail in Nicaragua...
...It was born in the revolution, it grew during the revolution in the second half of the 1980s, and it has grown at an accelerated pace since the end of the Contra war...
...I think it is obvious that Nicaraguan feminism has its origins in the revolution...
...We prefer to associate with women from the base ecclesiastic communities or with the progressive sectors of the Church...
...I would like one day to have a woman as minister of finance or economic planning in Nicaragua, a woman who is sensitive and committed to our demands...
...It is obvious, however, that the gigantic economic crisis of the continent is working against these democratic processes, because it is not possible to think of democratic advances without economic democratization...
...Is the feminist movement part of the progressive movement in Nicaragua...
...Despite everything, we Cont can dialogue with those who continue to be activists and Sandinista representatives in the Assembly...
...Recently, those of us who come from the left have succeeded in dialoguing with women from the right or who lived in exile during the war...
...Otherwise, other people will always be making decisions without consulting us...
...We must think The fight for women's rights should be from within the system...
...We want more women to be in the places where the decisions that affect us are made...
...We reached a consensus that women in Nicaragua need political power more than ever...
...This is the conflict that has emerged at feminist meetings recently...
...There are no longer dictatorships in the region, and we are now governed by elected civilian regimes...
...What reality is demanding of the feminists at the end of the century is not the same as what was required when the first feminists were active...
...I think that protest without commitment, without taking the risk of making a mistake, does not take us anywhere...
...Surely...
...These dreadful plans for economic adjustment that are being applied throughout the continent pose a danger because poverty is a breeding ground for revolts and demagogic populism from both the right and the left...
...We need to discuss these larger problems, not just specific issues...
...Also, the crisis means that people have to dedicate more time to making a living just so they can subsist...
...We decided to keep it alive beyond the elections with the Nicar idea of analyzing the experience of these elections, and preparing our- femin selves to face future elections in a more organized fashion...
...How do you see the feminist movement in the Latin American context...
...It is clear, for example, that we can agree with them that it is not permissible for women to continue being beaten or raped...
...born It can be said that the feminist movement was a child of Sandinismo...
...These women had many prejudices against the left, but they have been as willing as we have to get closer to other women, despite VOL XXXI, No 1 JULY/AUG 1997 ra war...
...This has become necessary because, after the collapse guan of the grand ideological paradigms and the dismantling of the state, the ;m was role that political parties used to play has largely disappeared...
...Ninety-five percent of the women's organizations, including ones in which men participate, declare themselves feminist...
...Women on the left did not call themselves feminists five years ago, and now they do...
...that exist in the country, whether these conditions are based on ethnicity, gender or class...
...This is not accidental since it is women who are most affected by the economic crisis, and women who shoulder the burden of making ends meet...
...That is why I say that we have to stop thinking small and start thinking big...
...In the case of Central America, we have been building a program called "Rebuild the Current...
...There is a high level of feminist analysis in Nicaragua, which I think comes from all of the political training and the experience lived in that school of everyday life that the revolution created for everyone in the country...
...We need to encourage women to assume positions of public office in order to improve the situation of women 44 and to change the value system within the enormous economic and political crisis this country is going through...
...The agenda has become more complicated for us because the world has become more complex...
...We have begun a dialogue with women from the Protestant churches, and at an international level, we try to establish and maintain links through regional and global initiatives...
...We have succeeded in producing a minimal agenda that has been adopted by women of all political stripes, including women from social movements and from political parties, and women from the right to left of the political spectrum-from orthodox Sandinistas to Sandinista reformers, from radical feminists to Christians to lesbians, and even women who have historically kept their distance from party politics...
...This is our task...
...For example, in 1979 when the revolution triumphed, there were only 12 of us who declared ourselves feminists and who began to organize from within the FSLN...
...Is there still a Sandinista feminism...
...How would you evaluate the recent process of democratization that has taken place across the region...
...The Latin American feminist movement has grown not only in Nicaragua, but throughout the region...
...Nation states are being decimated by the process of globalization...
...The fight should be from within the system...
...Every day more people enter the informal sector of the this will not have an impact at the level of society as a whole...
...The democratization of life requires the transformation of the grown conditions of poverty and oppression elerated pace since the end of the party for being feminists are now on the outside...
...economy, leaving behind any security and benefits they may once have had...
...We have organized feminist conferences with leaders from each country, who we invite to assess current processes and to discuss the advances and potential pitfalls that the movement might confront in each country...
...Currently, we are participating in a proposal called the "Initiative for Nicaragua," which is an attempt from within Nicaraguan civil society to formulate a national project...
...Someone has to dirty her dress to open the way...
...Otherwise, other people will always be making decisions about our lives without consulting us, and we will remain stuck as an opposition that knows only how to protest, but not how to propose new alternatives...
...Some feminists-including myself-believe that we must continue developing strategies for social change for women and for society as a whole...
...We want total participation...
...There is an ecumenical women's group in Nicaragua, where Protestant and Catholic women meet around issues of gender and their faith in order to analyze reality and in some way contribute to the transformation of old ways of thinking and old values...
...I believe this puts the processes of democratization in Latin America at risk...
...Now that organization is one of many...
...Throughout the twentieth century, feminists have fought for rights that are specifically women's rights, like the right to vote...
...We have been generating new forms of participation for women, forms of organization that respond more to the needs, styles and work possibilities of women themselves...
...Necessity forces us to act, to think in a much more complex manner, to be more informed, and to prepare ourselves in areas we had previously neglected or considered were not important...
...Women's groups have succeeded in establishing ongoing spaces of dialogue with the state about national as well as bread-and-butter issues...
...We are one movement among many...
...Someone has to dirty her dress in order to open the way, even though she will be criticized for it...
...Now we are talking about macroeconomics and women's economic and property rights...
...In the era of the revolution, Nicaragua had just one huge women's organization...
...If there is something that we women owe to the revolution, it is the organizational capacity that we now have...
Vol. 31 • July 1997 • No. 1
