This weeks readings focus on the different groups that made up the new republics of Latin America and the struggles they undertook for citizenship and rights. The last two readings I will focus on because one is a direct rebuttal to the other and I believe they show very well a distinct battle of sorts being fought in Latin America.
The first written by Maria Eugenia Echenique is a manifesto of sorts directed at the women of Latin America. I would say that this work is directed in particular at middle class women. I say this because she speaks of women who need philosophy and education of a practical and sensible time. Education was at this time reserved for the upper and the newer middle classes. Maria likens women to slaves, slaves to the tyranny of men. I bring this up because it is a description in direct contrast to the description in the rebuttal. Maria believes that women are needed to help smooth the path of civilization and are necessary for civilization to advance in general. I find this statement remarkable in comparison to the thought of the period. The building of civilization was a male dominated act. Science, engineering, math, religion, these and many other "civilized" acts were lead and driven by men as was "right" as was set out by god. SO for someone, especially a woman, to declare that women were vital to the advancement of civilization must have been quite a shock and seen as absurd to many.
The rebuttal written by Josefi na Pelliza de Sagasta illustrates how absurd this idea was considered by many. Here is a woman who many would argue has the most to benefit from emancipation writing why woman should not be emancipated. Where Maria says women are slaves to mans tyranny, Josefi claims they are masters of their domain. However a domain defined and ruled in turn by men. She claims that the beauty and greatness of women comes from and is accentuated by the dominion of man above them. They have been placed in these positions by God and that to change so presumes too much. I believe that the rebuttal highlights the difficulty of the battle that many who desired the emancipation of women had to fight. It is not as simple a battle of women versus men, but also of women versus men and women who were quite content in their societal positions. Once again these documents show that history is not a direct linear progression with clear "lines of battle" between opposing forces. But much more blurry and difficult to define.
I agree that women were in a battle, but i do not think that the battle was necessarily directed at men or at women who did not agree with the side of emancipation for women, but rather a battle against the laws which oppressed them. Although it was men who created the laws, and almost all women probably reinforced these laws with their attitudes and behaviours, I think a desire for equality would not include the dominance over any group of people. As i write this i realize that it is difficult to say whether Josefi was quite content in her societal position or not. I think it could be possible that the social norms and values at that time were so strict that most people could not possibly imagine life any other way and that any questioning of this way of life was so unacceptable that it left many uncomfortable. Perhaps this could also be an explanation for the rebuttal. Maybe it wasn't her belief but rather fear that inspired her response. But, like it said, it is difficult to say. :)
ReplyDeleteYour post was fascinating and I agree with you! You mentioned that women and men who were "content in their societal positions" were less likely to support women's rights movements, which is completely logical. This aspect of the debate never occurred to me before, and I wonder if the women who fought for freedom had personal reasons as well as societal concerns that fed their hunger for equality. Were these women more oppressed? Were they in poor relationships, or overly controlled by their fathers or husbands? Were they in arranged marriages? I wonder if there is any correlation between these women's personal experiences and their views on feminism.
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