Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-7nlkj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-26T16:39:24.490Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Long-Term Struggle for Violence against Women Legislation: The Guatemalan Women's Movement and the Politics of Patience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2021

Erin Beck Open the ORCID record for Erin Beck [Opens in a new window]
Erin Beck*
Affiliation:
University of Oregon
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A scholarly consensus depicts strong, autonomous domestic women's movements as critical for the passage of gender equality reforms, alongside openings in domestic and international political contexts. What, then, is a nascent women's movement seeking gender equality reforms to do if it lacks strength or a history of autonomous organizing? A long-term analysis of the Guatemalan women's movement's push for reforms to address violence against women demonstrates that one potential road forward is through a “politics of patience,” rooted in the pursuit of cumulative, incremental victories. Adopting a politics of patience allows nascent domestic movements in developing and post-transition contexts to achieve incremental victories that create future political openings while simultaneously building movement strength and autonomy over time. This finding highlights the temporal and strategic power of women's movements, as well as the iterative and potentially reinforcing nature of social mobilization and political reform.

Keywords

Violence against womensocial movementswomen's movementspolicy reformGuatemalaLatin America
Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , December 2022 , pp. 1043 - 1076
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Women, Gender, and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alvarez, Sonia. 1990. Engendering Democracy in Brazil. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Alvarez, Sonia. 1999. “Advocating Feminism: The Latin American Feminist NGO ‘Boom.’” International Feminist Journal of Politics 1 (2): 181–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Appadurai, Arjun. 2002. “Deep Democracy: Urban Governmentality and the Horizon of Politics.” Public Culture 14 (1): 21–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, Erin. 2017. How Development Projects Persist: Everyday Negotiations with Guatemalan NGOs. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Beck, Erin. 2021. “The Uneven Impacts of Violence against Women Reforms in Guatemala: Intersecting Inequalities and the Patchwork State.” Latin American Research Review 56 (1): 20–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berger, Susan A. 2003. “Guatemaltecas: The Politics of Gender and Democratization.” In Struggles for Social Rights in Latin America, eds. Eckstein, Susan and Wickham-Crowley, Timothy P.. New York: Routledge, 193–208.Google Scholar
Berger, Susan A. 2006. Guatemaltecas: The Women's Movement, 1986–2003. Austin: University of Texas Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, Marie E. 2018. War, Women, and Power: From Violence to Mobilization in Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzogovina. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowen, Rachel E. 2019. “Fighting Feminicide, Engendering Citizenship: Anti-Violence Activism in Central America.” Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Carrillo, Ana Lorena, and Chinchilla, Norma Stoltz. 2010. “From Urban Elite to Peasant Organizing: Agendas, Accomplishments, and Challenges of Thirty-plus Years of Guatemalan Feminism, 1975–2007.” In Women's Activism in Latin America and the Caribbean: Engendering Social Justice, Democratizing Citizenship, eds. Maier, Elizabeth and Lebon, Nathalie. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 140–56.Google Scholar
CLADEM (Comité de América Latina y El Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujeres). 2007. “Investigación Feminicidio: Monitoreo sobre femicidio/feminicido en El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Nicaragua y Panamá.” https://catedraunescodh.unam.mx/catedra/mujeres/menu_superior/Feminicidio/5_Otros_textos/22.pdf (accessed September 13, 2021).Google Scholar
Comisión de Esclarecimiento Histórico [Commission for Historical Clarification]. 1999. “Guatemala: Memory of Silence: Report of the Commission for Historical Clarification, Conclusions and Recommendations.” https://hrdag.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/CEHreport-english.pdf (accessed September 10, 2021).Google Scholar
Dahlerup, Drude, and Leyenaar, Monique, eds. 2013. Breaking Male Dominance in Old Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
England, Sarah. 2014. “Protecting a Woman's Honor or Protecting Her Sexual Freedom? Challenging the Guatemalan Patriarchal State through Reforms to Sexual Violence Legislation.” Latin American Perspectives 41 (1): 124–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferree, Myra Marx, and Tripp, Aili Mari, eds. 2006. Global Feminism: Transnational Women's Activism, Organizing, and Human Rights. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Franceschet, Susan. 2010. “Explaining Domestic Violence Policy Outcomes in Chile and Argentina.” Latin American Politics and Society 52 (3): 1–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, Elisabeth J. 1998. “Paradoxes of Gendered Political Opportunity in the Venezuelan Transition to Democracy.” Latin American Research Review 33 (3): 87–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, Elisabeth J. 1999. “The Effects of ‘Transnationalism Reversed’ in Venezuela: Assessing the Impact of UN Global Conferences on the Women's Movement.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 1 (3): 357–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, Elisabeth J. 2003. “Gendering the Agenda: The Impact of the Transnational Women's Rights Movement at the UN Conferences of the 1990s.” Women's Studies International Forum 26 (4): 313–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, Elisabeth J. 2009. “Re(gion)alizing Women's Human Rights in Latin America.” Politics & Gender 5 (3): 349–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godoy-Paiz, Paula. 2012. “Not Just ‘Another Woman’: Femicide and Representation in Guatemala.” Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology 17 (1): 88–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goetz, Anne Marie, and Jenkins, Rob. 2016. “Feminist Activism and the Politics of Reform: When and Why Do States Respond to Demands for Gender-Equality Policies?” Working Paper 2016-13, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. https://www.unrisd.org/unrisd/website/document.nsf/(httpPublications)/E155492F1554774AC125803E0034572B?OpenDocument (accessed September 8, 2021).Google Scholar
Goodwin, Jeff, and Jasper, James M.. 1999. “Caught in a Winding, Snarling Vine: The Structural Bias of Political Process Theory.” Sociological Forum 14 (1): 27–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Htun, Mala, and Weldon, S. Laurel. 2010. “When Do Governments Promote Women's Rights? A Framework for the Comparative Analysis of Sex Equality Policy.” Perspectives on Politics 8 (1): 207–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Htun, Mala, and Weldon, S. Laurel. 2012. “The Civic Origins of Progressive Policy Change: Combating Violence against Women in Global Perspective, 1975–2005.” American Political Science Review 106 (3): 548–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Htun, Mala, and Weldon, S. Laurel. 2018. The Logics of Gender Justice: State Action on Women's Rights around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, Melanie M., and Tripp, Aili Mari. 2015. “Civil War and Trajectories of Change in Women's Political Representation in Africa, 1985–2010.” Social Forces 93 (4): 1513–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaquette, Jane, ed. 1989. The Women's Movement in Latin America: Feminism and the Transition to Democracy. Boston: Unwin Hyman.Google Scholar
Jeffries, Fiona. 2007. “Resisting Fear with the Politics of Indignant Possibility: An Interview with Sandra Moran of Guatemala's Women's Sector.” Women's Studies Quarterly 35 (3–4): 38–48.Google Scholar
Johnston, Caleb. 2012. “The Political Art of Patience: Adivasi Resistance in India.” Antipode 44 (4): 1268–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keck, Margaret E., and Sikkink, Kathryn. 1998. Activists beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Lovenduski, Joni, and Norris, Pippa. 1993. Gender and Party Politics. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Luciak, Ilja A. 2001. After the Revolution: Gender and Democracy in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Mazur, Amy G., McBride, Dorothy E., and Hoard, Season. 2016. “Comparative Strength of Women's Movements over Time: Conceptual, Empirical, and Theoretical Innovations.” Politics, Groups, and Identities 4 (4): 652–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McBride, Dorothy, and Mazur, Amy G., eds. 1995. Comparative State Feminism. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Medie, Peace A. 2013. “Fighting Gender-Based Violence: The Women's Movement and the Enforcement of Rape Law in Liberia.” African Affairs 112/448: 377–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menjívar, Cecilia. 2011. Enduring Violence: Ladina Women's Lives in Guatemala. Berkeley: Univeristy of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monzón, Ana Silvia. 2015. Las Mujeres, Los Feminismos y Los Movimientos Sociales En Guatemala: Relaciones, Articulaciones y Desencuentros. Guatemala: FLACSO.Google Scholar
Monzón, Marielos. 2008. “Brutalidad Excepcional.” Prensa Libre, April 8.Google Scholar
Murphy, Patricia. 1997. “Domestic Violence Legislation and the Police.” Women and Politics 18 (2): 27–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nájera, Annabella España. 2009. “Party Systems and Democracy after the Conflicts: El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.” PhD diss., University of Notre Dame, Department of Political Science. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/bec1/468b6abbfc31beec1b391391b299f1d986b0.pdf (accessed September 10, 2021).Google Scholar
Palacios, Claudia. 2019. “Candidatas, El Techo Del Congreso Es de Cristal.” No-Ficcion, May 27. https://www.no-ficcion.com/project/candidatas-mujeres-congreso-guatemala (accessed September 10, 2021).Google Scholar
Prieto-Carrón, Marina, Thomson, Marilyn, and Macdonald, Mandy. 2007. “No More Killings! Women Respond to Femicides in Central America.” Gender and Development 15 (1): 25–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reilly, Niamh. 2007. “Linking Local and Global Feminist Advocacy: Framing Women's Rights as Human Rights in the Republic of Ireland.” Women's Studies International Forum 30 (2): 114–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roggeband, Conny. 2016. “Ending Violence against Women in Latin America: Feminist Norm Setting in a Multilevel Context.” Politics & Gender 12 (1): 143–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rottenburg, Richard, and Merry, Sally E.. 2015. “A World of Indicators: The Making of Governmental Knowledge through Quantification.” In The World of Indicators: The Making of Governmental Knowledge through Quantification, eds. Rottenburg, Richard, En, Sally. Merry, Sung-Joon Park, and Mugler, Johanna. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sagot, Montserrat. 2010. “Peace Begins at Home: Women's Struggles against Violence and State Actions in Costa Rica.” In Women's Activism in Latin America and the Caribbean: Engendering Social Justice, Democratizing Citizenship, eds. Maier, Elizabeth and Lebon, Nathalie. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 221–35.Google Scholar
Sanford, Victoria. 2008. “From Genocide to Feminicide: Impunity and Human Rights in Twenty-First Century Guatemala.” Journal of Human Rights 7 (2): 104–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solórzano, Ivonne. 2006. ¿Aliadas En Resistencia o Resistencia a Las Alianzas? Un Acercamiento al Movimiento de Mujeres En Guatemala. Guatemala: FLACSO.Google Scholar
Towns, Anne E. 2010. Women and States: Norms and Hierarchies in International Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tripp, Aili Mari. 2010. “Legislating Gender-Based Violence in Post-Conflict Africa.” Journal of Peacebuilding & Development 5 (3): 7–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tripp, Aili Mari. 2015. Women and Power in Postconflict Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trujillo, Hilda Morales. 2010. “Femicide and Sexual Violence in Guatemala.” In Terrorizing Women: Feminicide in the Américas, eds. Fregoso, Rosa Linda and Bejarano, Cynthia L. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 127–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valverde, Luis Diego Sánchez. 2013. Derechos de Las Mujeres En Guatemala Desde La Aprobación de La Ley Contra El Femicidio: Análisis de Coyuntura (2007–2009). Costa Rica: Universidad de Costa Rica.Google Scholar
Vásquez, Carolina Araya. 2008. “La Violencia Es Ambigua (1).” Prensa Libre, April 5.Google Scholar
Walsh, Denise M. 2012. “Does the Quality of Democracy Matter for Women's Rights? Just Debate and Democratic Transition in Chile and South Africa.” Comparative Political Studies 45 (11): 1323–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walsh, Shannon Drysdale. 2008. “Engendering Justice: Constructing Institutions to Address Violence Against Women.” Studies in Social Justice 2 (1): 48–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walsh, Shannon Drysdale. 2016. “Not Necessarily Solidarity: Dilemmas of Women's Transnational Advocacy Networks.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 18 (2): 248–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waylen, Georgina. 1994. “Women and Democratization: Conceptualizing Gender Relations in Transition Politics.” World Politics 46 (3): 327–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waylen, Georgina. 2007a. Engendering Transitions: Women's Mobilization, Institutions, and Gender Outcomes. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waylen, Georgina. 2007b. “Women's Mobilization and Gender Outcomes in Transitions to Democracy: The Case of South Africa.” Comparative Political Studies 40: 521–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Widener, Patricia. 2007. “Benefits and Burdens of Transnational Campaigns: A Comparison of Four Oil Struggles in Ecuador.” Mobilization 12 (1): 21–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yashar, Deborah J. 2005. Contesting Citizenship in Latin America: The Rise of Indigenous Movements and the Postliberal Challenge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Beck supplementary material

Beck supplementary material 1

Download Beck supplementary material(File)
File 28.9 KB
Supplementary material: File

Beck supplementary material

Beck supplementary material 2

Download Beck supplementary material(File)
File 37.6 KB
Supplementary material: File

Beck supplementary material

Beck supplementary material 3

Download Beck supplementary material(File)
File 23.7 KB