Hope you read it.
Bianka
FEMINISM IN BOLIVIA
Bianka B. S.
Is there
feminism in Bolivia? Bolivia is a diverse, multicultural country; we’re living
in a revolution process that implies a return to Bolivian authentic roots, a
decolonization process, however, the feminism is not accepted. As many
countries, feminism has been misunderstood, people conceive it as a radical
ideology of angry lesbian women who want to be like men (Hooks, 2000) and this
country is not the exception.
Sexism is
the main factor of feminism misunderstanding. For this purpose, it’s imperative to know the
meaning of this problem. Sexism is a way of repression to human beings, this
violence works through prejudices and segregations against men and women based
on gender roles. By the same token, sexism has clung from education, religion and
mass media. At school they teach us how to think in male and in female, the
Bolivian education trains students with determined roles, teaching boys to make
a chair and girls, to embroider a tablecloth. It’s interesting how school texts portray women, as
weak, who have to suffer because of their gender, they show mothers like a
sacrificed soul who had to kill all of their dreams. Religions all over the world have always had a
similar vision of women and the roles that they have to play; for example, some
Christians use the bible to repress women indicating that the bible says that a
woman has to be a virgin who must get married to have sex, a mother who has to
give birth many children, a wife who has to be subjected to her husband, a
hearer, not a speaker less a preacher. As well as education and religion are
part of sexism, mass media plays a crucial role on its development, for
instance, the television’s commercials, shows even the news objectify women,
it’s regrettable how those commercials associate them with meat or leather.
Mass media imposes the idea of beauty, exhibit voluptuousness in skinny bodies,
a fantasy of perfection that any of us will see in real life. Furthermore, mass media, through the
commercials, expose women as a mother who need in “mother’s day” a new dish
washer or a vacuum or maybe a new iron to iron her husband’s and children’s
clothes. Unfortunately sexism is rooted in our everyday life and most of the
people visualize it as a sacred law that anyone can break.
Adela Zamudio was a Bolivian writer of the XIX century, who fought for
the women rights in Bolivia, she wrote a poem called “Nacer Hombre” (Born man),
in which she talked about the segregation that Bolivian women were living in
that time, she was so sublime in her revolution that everybody could understand
that women are just as intelligent as men, that women can be writers and they
can think by themselves, however, her writings did not impact to Bolivian
people. In the late of XX century a movement called “Mujeres creando” (Women creating)
started to redefine feminism through riots, graffiti and fanzines, their leader
Maria Galindo have been a controversial figure in Bolivia, she is used to make
unusual protests that call the attention for few people, but not to the whole
Bolivians. Unfortunately she shows herself as the typical feminist cliché.
Mujeres Creando had made a great effort to the Bolivian feminist literature though
feminism is still considered as an angry radical ideology of crazy women.
It’s interesting how Bolivian people answer to you when you ask what
feminism is, they instantly relate it with “Mujeres Creando”, thinking that
feminism is for selfish women who try to be like men, who are vulgar, who
doesn’t have manners, who dress sloppily with lack of hygiene. As a result,
there is a huge mistake about the real meaning of feminism. Bolivian women are
in status quo, indeed some of them think are feminists just because they think
they are better than men, some of them think feminism is the same as machismo
by arguing that men and female are equal. The Andean world view proclaims the
nature duality, men and women together for the Pachamama (Mother Nature)
wellness, this world view think that feminism is colonialism, that is the case
of Andean people, who tout their love and protection to their women, but even
Andean women suffer the violence and discrimination.
Bolivian women suffer, who are the responsible? Women, men, sexism and
culture. As well as some men believe in
machismo, women themselves can be the most
fervent male chauvinists, they protect men from women, they think women have to
obey everything that men orders; there is a saying in the Bolivian culture: “A
woman should not make a man cry because men never cry” They support their
husbands’ violence against other women, at this point they are decoupling of their gender, they
defend this kind of protection by arguing that men are defenseless and they can
be manipulated by “some mean women”, by the same token, they consider them as enemies. As a result,
most of Bolivian men are chauvinists, they want a woman who has to be a lady, a
virgin to make his wife, a young girl that can be easy to manipulate, a homey
woman who can cook for him, raise his children and organize everything in the
house, they want a woman who speak less and smile more, they want to think for
them and be the only head of the family, on the other hand there are men that
fight for women rights and gender equity but there are only few of them.
Subsequently, sexism rules in Bolivian women suffering, even in the revolution
field think that women are weaker than men, that a woman has to be a mother and
she’s the only one who can make the family organized. Sexism still lives in
Bolivian people minds and because our lack of criticism we keep following all
the predetermined canons of how men and women have to be, for this reason,
women and men struggle with an unnecessary pressure just because absurd
impositions of the past. Thereby, we reach to the most difficult factor of
Bolivian women suffering which is Bolivian culture, no matter how hard you try
to change something in a culture sometimes you fail in your purpose, Bolivia is
multicultural, and it’s hard to make people understand that women is just as
equal as men, they can do hard work, they can be clever in mathematics , they
can take care of themselves, even they can be stronger than men, but that’s not
the case, the Bolivian woman is wonderful, intense and put all of her passion
in everything that she does. It’s an arduous work to make people understand
that a woman has the right to decide to get married or not, to have a family or
not. Some people think that if a woman is not a mother or a wife is not a woman
and that’s a wrong idea, a woman can decide which be or not be.
At the end of this written, all I can say is that there is feminism in
Bolivia, but it’s a new born who needs to be feed and caring. Bolivian people
have to work very hard to take sexism away, because it’s the most principal repressor
of the human being, it’s amazing how it has rooted to people’s mind, how many
lies about our nature had become part of our history. In most of the times you can’t fight against culture
but if you see that women suffer because of traditions it’s important to make a
change. And that change is through education, literature, internet, radio and
in everyday life. It’s time to make a revolution and not a show, it’s time to
make chaos in people’s mind, it’s time to make a unique and sublime revolution,
I know the journey would be full of obstacles but we have to try and try and
fight for a better place where women and men can be free just as they are.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
HOOKS, Bell
2000
Feminism is for
everybody: Passionate Politics, United States of America, South
End Press
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