By Anna Loizeaux
This week we have continued to learn about not only the FMLN (Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front) in El Salvador but more importantly the role of women in the struggle. Their political and military lucha for a more just distribution of resources is especially important through the lens of feminist struggle. Although the majority of Salvadorans suffered from injustice, discrimination, and being altogether forgotten by their government, women suffered in a particular way. Not only did they have to endure the conditions of war, they had to fight stereotypes about women and endure various forms of sexual harassment and control.
On Thursday, we had the pleasure of hearing from Lucía Rayas, a Mexican woman who worked in solidarity with Salvadorans during the civil war. Her talk, titled “A Gender Analysis of Women in Guerilla Movements in El Salvador” looked at the specific experience of female soldiers in the FMLN. Because the lucha of the FMLN was so important, women’s identity as women came after their identity as soldiers. Although the FMLN’s struggle was not gendered focused at all on gender, it became clear to women in the struggle that this was a major flaw. If they were fighting for justice and fairness, how could they leave women’s struggles out? They decided that goals like better land distribution, health care, education, access to decent wages and work can (and must) be feminized. Because of the different ways that men and women are treated and experience life (due to social constructions and not differences in anatomy), social inequalities often harm women more. Generally women must not only care for themselves but also take on the burden of the entire family’s welfare. Similarly, when women do raise their voices against oppression, their voices are not always received as well as men’s (or at all). This all became even more complicated when women were fighting alongside men as soldiers and commanders in the guerilla army., as 60 Sixty percent of all collaborators and 30 percent of combatants were women and 30% of combatants.
Women, as we all know and as Rayas explained more in depth, have typically been excluded from warfare. Time and time again it has been proven that this is not because of women’s incompetence or unwillingness to fight. Instead, Not only does the historical view of women as nurturing contributes to thistheir exclusion, as do the but women’s bodies themselves as well. I agree with Rayas when she says that the fact that women’s bodies physically give life has been seen as a direct contrast and consequently a hindrance to women’s entrance into warfare where life is often taken away. In this wayBy participating alongside men, women in the FMLN were able to break stereotypes, not only in the social structure but also in relation to their sexuality. The previously held notion of women as virginal wives was obviously broken when women were expected to fight alongside menjoined the movement.
Although not all of us identify as feminists as I do, I think it’s encouraging and invigorating for us to hear about such women and their struggle to break stereotypes (though this was not their primary goal which was the social and economic liberation of the El Salvadoran people). Unfortunately, stories such as theirs are not highlighted in our history books so we haven’t grown up with them as examples. Hopefully, however, we will be able to share their stories and ours in order to shed light on facets of women that are often overlooked or consciously ignored.
3 comments:
I think the role of women is often marginalized in many cultures. It’s striking to hear about guerrilla movements in El Salvador, and the role that women play. It would be difficult to abandon the gender roles ingrained in our heads, for anything, but especially to live the life of a soldier. The role of women here in Thailand on the “battlefront” is a bit different. Thailand is not in a physical war rather there is a social war being waged against large corporations and government groups infringing on social rights. Women play a huge part in protesting. The women are the first to meet corporate men who come to “discuss” and try to persuade villagers to promote the projects through bribery. One NGO explained that women usually seem to connote a voice of reason, so they’re the first to meet with the adversary. But these women are strong. One group, the Iron Ladies, is especially fierce. This group is located in a community fighting a proposed potash mine in their community that could ruin their lands and water table. The Iron Ladies are a lot of older women, many grandmas, who stand their ground. They’ve tried talking, protesting, and sit-ins; they’ve even resorted to spitting their beetle nut (much like chewing tobacco) waste at their foes. It’s great to see women being active in their search for social justice whether it be on the field, or off.
The fight for women's rights have been prevalent in many countries throughout history. It is incredible to hear however, that in the mist of the guerrilla battles, there is still an awareness of women's place in all of the chaos and whether women should be acknowledged and not forgotten during the modern warfare. Here in Thailand, we have seen the opposite, in that both men and women stand hand in hand as the fight for rights, not necessarily in guerrilla warfare, but definitely in a battle against the social and political structures that control most of Thailand. Moreover, Isaan women (from Northeast Thailand) have historically held an higher status than men when it comes to inheritance and land rights. While men move out to settle in a new place with their wives, the youngest daughter typically inherits her mother’s land (rice paddies and farmland) as well as her house. Moreover, Isaan men usually do not make decisions without the consent of their wives, so at most community meetings, women sit on chairs and observe their husbands as they make decisions. No final decisions are ever made however without the consensus of the women group, especially if it deals with land. However, as development issues and problems force Isaan family structures to drastically change roles, women’s rights are continually at stake. In the next few years, it is questionable whether or not the women in the Isaan regions of Thailand will one day be fighting for their rights as many women throughout the world have already done and are already doing.
As you note, there are numerous reasons as to why women are traditionally not a part of warfare - in El Salvador and across the world. Its interesting to hear that they made up 30% of combatants in the guerilla movements, usually its a much smaller percentage. Women in the military as armed personnel or frontline combatants is also often a small percentage, despite there being more chance for 'office work' compared to a guerilla movement.
In contrast to El Salvador, women have had a pretty prominent role in Thai peoples' movements as my fellow CIEE Thailand students have said. However in general, the highly militarized political system of Thailand has helped to limit women's participation in government. While numbers of female members of parliament, etc are slowly going up, the presence of the military and the 'warfare' that it stands for is arguably a cultural deterrent.
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