How the Sandinista Revolution Changed Traditional Gender Roles in Nicaragua Before the Nicaraguan Sandinista Revolution had taken place in the late 1970s, male and female gender roles had been clearly and traditionally defined as to how one should behave and conduct one’s self. Men and women identified these ideal traits and behaviors for potential husbands and wives, or as guidelines in how to raise their children, and even so that the family order of gender role was not upset. Traditional male behavior had originally been based around the notion of machismo. In this way, they are meant to act aggressive, violent, dominant, sexually conquer and drink and gamble. Women on the other hand were expected to be soft spoken, obedient and caretaker of the household. Once the Revolution started, and as times were getting harder, the idea of the ideal New Man and woman had changed. “Two sets of values coexist, compete, and more than occasionally blur: the ideals of machismo, with its cult of aggressive masculinity, defined as a mode of sexual and physical conquest; and the ideals of the revolutionary New Man, who is envisioned as hard working, devoted and family oriented (Lancaster, 1992; pg. 40).” For women, her traditional role was in the household taking care of the children, cleaning, cooking and washing as would be expected. Furthermore, she was unable to voice her objections or opinions to her husbands’ sometimes abusive tendencies, and from that the New Woman had evolved also. Women started to lose faith in the war, growing tired as they were losing many husbands and sons to the war. Throughout Lancaster’s Life Is Hard, one can watch as the behaviors and society gender roles start to change as the Sandinista Revolution continue... ... middle of paper ... ...card and shouting “!Vive el Frente!” But now…this is bad, it is very bad (Lancaster, 1992; pg. 141).’ Since the revolution, men and women in Nicaragua had digressed from their traditional expectations and behaviors of gender roles. Moving away from machismo, men started focusing on bettering their country, helping themselves by getting an education are generous with his friends and even contributes towards the household chores which would have never been acceptable before the war; men did not believe in women’s work at all it. The traditional woman ended up changing more drastically. First, they began to voice their opinions and started becoming more aggressive as Dona Flora proved to us. They were forced into fitting men’s shoes by becoming the breadwinner of the family, while trying to be mother still. Bibliography: LIFE IS HARD by Lancaster, 1992
The book begins by explaining the roles that women in this time were known to have as this helps the reader get a background understanding of a woman’s life pre-war. This is done because later in the book women begin to break the standards that they are expected to have. It shows just how determined and motivated these revolutionary women and mothers were for independence. First and foremost, many people believed that a “woman’s truth was that God had created her to be a helpmate to a man” (p.4). Women focused on the domain of their households and families, and left the intellectual issues of the time and education to the men. Legally, women had almost no rights. Oppressed by law and tradition, women were restricted their choice of professions regardless of their identity or economic status. As a result, many women were left with few choices and were cornered into marriage or spinsterhood, which also had its limitations. As a spinster, you were deemed as unmarried who was past the usual age of marriage. Patronized by society, these women were left and stamped as “rejected”. On the other side, If the woman became married, all that she owned belonged to her husband, even her own existence. In exchange to her commitment, if a woman’s husband was away serving in the military or if she became a widower, she could use but not own, one-third of her husband’s property. This left her to manage the land and serve as a surrogate laborer in her husband’s absence. Needless to say, a day in a woman’s life then was filled with a full day of multi-tasking and as circumstances changed, more women had to adapt to their urban
However, it wasn’t an effortless process for these women to gain respect. These women experienced sexism and were often discredited for their work. During the El Salvadoran Civil War, sexism was prominent. The women working in groups such as the FMLN were trying to change these perceptions, and create a more equal life for the women in El Salvador. Although sexism was still very common, the FMLN and the women involved were working very hard and their contributions were beginning to be noticed.
? . . . it made no difference if they studied medicine or had the right to vote, because they would not have the strength to do it, but she herself [Nivea] was not brave enough to be among the first to give up the fashion.? (6, Ch 1) The women in this society are dependant on the dominant male figure to handle political and economical duties. This point of view is intended to mimic the older generation of women ad present a foundation for the growth of an enlightened generation. Allende uses this excerpt to present a foundation of structure to the novel by beginning with the extremes of opinion, which are followed in the novel through different generations. Alba for example, become a very outspoken activist by trying to attend the student protests and follow Miguel on his demonstrations, a sharp contrast to the indifference or shallowness found in her great grandmother.
Women had no choice but to follow whatever society told them to because there was no other option for them. Change was very hard for these women due to unexpected demands required from them. They held back every time change came their way, they had to put up with their oppressors because they didn’t have a mind of their own. Both authors described how their society affected them during this historical period.
The Women of Colonial Latin America serves as a highly digestible and useful synthesis of the diverse life experiences of women in colonial Latin America while situating those experiences in a global context. Throughout, Socolow mediates the issue between the incoherence of independent facts and the ambiguity of over-generalization by illustrating both the restrictions to female behavior and the wide array of behavior within those restrictions. Readers of varied backgrounds will come away with a much deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities that defined the lives of the diverse women of the New World ruled by Portugal and
When the war started, women had to take over the jobs of men and they learned to be independent. These women exemplified the beginning of change. Coupled with enfranchisement and the increased popularity of birth control, women experienced a new liberation. When the men returned from the war they found competition from the newly liberated woman who did not want to settle for making a home (Melman 17). This new class of women exercised a freedom that shocked society.
Marianismo and machismo are the traditional gender roles in Latin America. Marianismo is the aspect of female gender roles while machismo is the aspect of male gender roles. The key belief of machismo is that men hold supremacy over women. For the most part these gender roles conform to traditional understanding of sexuality, masculinity, and femininity. There is only one key contradiction I found when it came to traditional understandings of sexuality, masculinity and femininity. Some people may confuse the meanings of gender, sex, and sexuality. Gender is what a person chooses to define themselves as: masculine or feminine. Sex is biological: male or female. Sexuality is then defined as the expression of sexual interest. These three words connect to one another.
Growing up in a Latino base community there were numerous instances that metaphor,“si me voy con la Luna o el Sol”, which means either you choose the Sun (Dad) or Moon (Mother), was used just to see who the kids prefered .Therefore creating, the environment that children would be repeatedly asked to choose the ultimatum between parents. In the reading “Mamitis and the Traumas of Development in a Colonia Popular of Mexico City” by Matthew C. Gutmann and “Bad Boys and Good Girls: The Implications of Gender Ideology for Child Health in Jamaica” by Carolyn Sargent and Michael Harris correlations between class in their countries and how it impacts family developments. The Essay will focus on Gutmann’s reading on mamitis gender expectation, secondly how Sargent’s reading tackles the issue of
...as Mary Ann in the novel show that women can do so much more than sew and cook. Without women, all wars would have been a lot harder. Although men tend to keep a macho facade in order to calm others (such as the women in their lives), inside they may be like glass, easy to break. A society set on the ideal stoic, fearless warrior who acts ruthlessly and saves the damsel in distress (also showing that women are weak) obviously is one where doomed to sexism. Without the comfort and inspiration, men would have deteriorated in the face of death. All and all, women provided the needed comfort, nursing, “manpower”, and love that the soldiers of Vietnam need, something that helped them endure the havoc of war. O’Brien’s expert use of the feminist lens allows the reader to know that women indeed were a powerhouse in the Vietnam war, without whom, men would have perished.
Gender roles between men and women remains somewhat the same and never changing to the flow of the society. Women remains tvhe homemaker of the household while men continue to be the breadwinner of the family. With the continuation of stereotyping gender roles, women continues to lose grounds against men in this society. Even though women has secured a place within the society, they still remain responsible for their duties as daughters, wives, and mothers. The role of women and men remain constrain to the scope of the traditional gender roles and continues to be practice by families who continues to value traditional roles. However, the practice of traditional roles are old-fashioned and unfair to women’s individuality and should evolved into
In conclusion, Satrapi and Pilapa’s works come from two entirely different countries at different time periods while they both communicate the topic on gender roles through distinct methods. However, both the fiction and ethnography work from these authors, are similar in that they both use argumentative approaches to raise a point. Nevertheless, both works focus on gender roles and how changes within a society in gender role positions continue to be a big part of country’s culture. Nonetheless, both Satrapi and Pilapa were able to get across the differences between gender roles through two distinct methods thus allowing a whole audience to understand these cultures and why they behave in certain ways.
The idea that a woman’s job is to be a wife and mother is old-fashioned, but not completely out of style. Though these roles require a great deal of talent, resilience, patience, love, and strength, to name a few, they are often underestimated or depicted as simple. Especially in modern times, many women in the United States who stay home to raise a family are viewed as anti-feminists, whereas women in Latin America are not criticized for similar actions. In recent decades, more Latin American women have started to break the mold, daring to be both sexy, and successful in the workforce, while remaining pillars of domestic life.
Lope de Vega’s play touches upon several key components and ideas that were brought up in many of the other stories read throughout the semester. This included the role of gender and how men and women are viewed differently in the Spaniard town of Fuenteovejuna. Another topic included the importance of family, love, and relationships and their connection on loyalty, trust, and personal beliefs. The last major influence found in other literature and in Fuenteovejuna, were the political and religious references made throughout the play. Even though Lope de Vega didn’t make these views obvious, the reader could still pick up on their connotation and the references made towards these specific ideas. With all of this in mind, each of these components played an important role in each civilization read, and even over 1,000 years later it continues to be a social topic as well as a large part of the culture. The only difference a reader or scholar could make for this particular piece of literature is its authenticity and how it was based on a true event. Regardless, new views on power and how one obtain it become apparent through the dialogue between characters like Laurencia and the Commander.
This was the start of a new age in the history for women. Before the war a woman’s main job was taking care of her household more like a maid, wife and mother. The men thought that women should not have to work and they should be sheltered and protected. Society also did not like the idea of women working and having positions of power in the workforce but all that change...
In Latin America, women are treated differently from men and children. They do lots of work for unexplainable reasons. Others for religious reasons and family orders and others because of the men involved. Women are like objects to men and have to obey their orders to either be rich or to live. Some have sex to get the men’s approval, others marry a rich man that they don’t even know very well, and become slaves. An important book called Chronicles of a Death Foretold is an example of how these women are treated. Purisima del Carmen, Angela Vicario's mother, has raised Angela and her sisters to be good wives. The girls do not marry until late in life, rarely socializing beyond the outsides of their own home. They spend their time sewing, weaving, washing and ironing. Other occupations include arranging flowers, cleaning up the house, and writing engagement letters to other men. They also keep the old traditions alive, such as helping the sick, comforting the dying, and covering the dead. While their mother believes they are perfect, men view them as too tied to their women's traditions. The men are afraid that the women would pay more attention to their job more than the men. Throughout the book, the women receive the respect they deserve from the men and others around them.