The revolution within the
NICARAGUA of women with close ties to the Sandinista Front and was key in organizing women during the crucial years from 1977 to 1979.
Some analysts have pointed out that in Nicaragua much of the revolutionary activity took place in the reproductive, rather than productive, sphere. In other words, many of the mobilizations against the National Guard were at the neighbourhood revolution level, rather than concentrating in factories or other workplaces. The strategy of "a people in arms" that was so essential to the
Sandinista victory over the dictatorship depended on the mobilization of entire com-
IT HAS BEEN called the "second revolution" and the
"revolution within the revolution". In the last two decades, revolutionary movements throughout the world have broadened their conceptualization of what women's emancipation means and how it can be attained in a revolutionary society. In Nicaragua's case, one can trace a historical continuity from the first Sandinista political statements on women (1969) and their actions during the insurrectionary years, through the post-triumph period, including the new constitution and the Sandinista National
Liberation Front's (FLN) 1987 proclamation on women.
The importance of the Nicaraguan experience is that it gives us a model of women's rights being won, not in an adversarial position to the government, but as part of larger political and social changes taking place throughout society. Furthermore,
Nicaraguan women have made significant progress in improving their status in the last eight years, a remarkable feat in any context, but even more unusual given the reality of the ongoing contra war.
[This article first appeared in the December 1987 issue of
Envio; it has been cut for space reasons.]
HEN THE FSLN issued its
W first revolutionary political programme in 1969, one point referred specifically to the emancipation of women: "The Sandinista people's revolution will abolish the odious discrimination that women have been subjected to compared to men; it will establish economic, political and cultural equality between woman and man". On March 8,
1987, International Women's Day, the
FSLN presented its first "proclamation" on the status of women in Nicaragua to the
Third General Assembly of AMNLAE,
Nicaragua's association of women. These two documents demonstrate the consistency with which the Sandinista Front has addressed the issue of women's liberation and the very real gains that have been made as a result of the revolutionary process.
Many women who became politically active in the fight against the Somoza dictatorship in fact did so from an initial desire to protect their children. Though women have long been criticized as politically conservative and traditional in that they are primarily concerned with caring for their families, women in Nicaragua who wanted to maintain their families found themselves almost inevitably propelled into revolutionary activity. Women who took one initial step to defend their children and families soon realized that nothing less than complete destruction of the dictatorship could ensure that defence. Thus, the horrors of the dictatorship unintentionally gave birth to a tradition of revolutionary motherhood in Nicaragua.
In the 1960s, the short-lived Patriotic Alliance of Nicaraguan Women was formed by women within the Sandinista Front. One of their statements called for women to overcome the traditional timidity and restrictions that kept them from political activity:
"There are great strengths within us that we should use to push forward the revolutionary struggle, a struggle which is necessary to bring about an authentically popular government". In 1977, the Association of Women Confronting the National Problem, AMPRONAC, was organized by a group munities — and though it is not always stated precisely as such, that of course meant the massive participation of women, as the population was organized, barrio by barrio, against Somoza's Guard.
Since 1979, women's participation in many public arenas has increased dramatically as the revolutionary process opened up many areas long closed to women. In the legislative elections held in 1984, 13 women were elected to the National Assembly, all of them representing the FSLN. The Sandinista Front is the only party that has seriously analyzed women's issues and tak. en them into consideration inf the formation of its policies and plans. Women make up 31.4% of leadership positions in the government, 26.8% of FSLN regional committees, and 24.3% of the Front's total membership. Balancing work, domestic and political duties
Though these statistics are very encouraging, they demonstrate that domestic tasks and responsibilities are so demanding that many women, particularly those with restricted economic resources, have a hard time keeping up with heavy political responsibilities as well. The number of women in the FLN before 1979 - the time of the so-called "second promotion" - was 38%, and the drop can be attributed in large measure to this question of time and balancing work, domestic and political duties. Despite this, women's participation in the FSLN and in political life in general is greater than in other revolutionary societies where women are subject to the same pressures.
Women have made considerable advances in the agricultural sector as a result of legislation that recognizes their essential participation in that area. Both the ATC, the farmworkers' association, and UNAG, the union of small farmers and cattle ranchers, have task forces specifically devoted to incorporating more women into agriculture.
Women's participation in the agrarian sector has undergone several important transformations since 1979. First, the number of women involved in agricultural production has soared, referred to as the "feminization" of agricultural production. Women are now 35% of the year-round salaried agricultural workforce, and 45% of February 22, 1988 • International Viewpoint
NICARAGUA the seasonal workforce. The largest jump has been in year-round work, as women have traditionally worked mainly as seasonal labourers.
In addition, women are finding their way, little by little, into agricultural tasks long considered the exclusive domain of men. In some instances, the war itself has been the spur for women's integration into certain
In the industrial sector, women tend to be concentrated in traditional female occupations, principally textiles, where they represent 37% of the economically active population. According to a study by the government's Office on Women, women in the industrial sector are also concentrated in the lowest levels of the Ministry of Labour's national salary scale and, though they are the majority of workers in certain occupations such as textiles, men still occupy the bulk of the supervisory positions. Problems of absenteeism among women were found to be directly related to domestic demands — women missed work to care for a sick child, to do the week's shopping
Various studies have noted that women make up 80% of the population working in commerce (primarily in jobs that the Office on Women has described as public reproductive tasks — market women, food vendors and so on). In addition, they are 65% of the informal sector, and 50% of these women are heads of household. The high International Viewpoint• February 22, 1988 concentration of female heads of household in the informal sector is partly due to the fact that women have more control over their time, though they work extremely long and tiring hours.
During the last several years, more institutions have begun to take the problem of child-care seriously as an issue that must be dealt with at the institutional level. Some institutions employing a large percentage of women have child-care facilities at the workplace itself. In addition, the development of child-care centers in the rural areas is helping to ensure the continued high participation of women in agricultural work.
Lack of resources remains a serious obstacle to making even quicker advances in this
AMNLAE marks tenth anniversary
In September 1987, AMNLAE marked
10 years since its formation originally as
AMPRONAC. Since 1979, AMNLAE has been able to make the shift from an organization committed to overthrowing the dictatorship to a movement of women committed to consolidating their country's revolution, upon which their own emancipation as women is predicated. AMNLAE has undergone some fairly substantial internal restructuring over the past few years, changes which were institutionalized at their March 1987 general
AMNLAE representatives have characterized their activity since 1979 as falling into three essential periods.
In the first, from 1979 to
1982, AMNLAE's prime focus was on national reconstruction, rebuilding the country after the devastation wreaked by Somoza in the last year before his downfall.
Women were very active, as they continue to be, in the country's crucial educational and health campaigns, including the massive 1980 litenrolled in Nicaragua's schools, universities and training programmes in very
Child-care centers (CDIs)
began to be set up around the country to help facilitate women's continued participation or incorporation into the workforce. One of the most important things that happened after 1979 was that women started to become visible in Nicaraguan society
- for the first time taken seriously and given the opportunity to take part in pub-
The problematic that has always accompanied women's political involvement, not just in Nicaragua but throughout the world, resurfaced with a vengeance after the triumph. Women were being asked to give an enormous amount of time to their coun try and indeed wanted to do so, but they weren't given many tools with which to resolve the contradiction between political or productive work and all the domestic tasks that face them.
Nicaraguan women have had to deal with the harsh reality of a country lacking the economic resources that can help ease women's domestic chores. The war in Nicaragua has meant increasing lines for basic goods and foods. The "double day" faced by women throughout the world becomes a "triple day" in a war-torn revolutionary society like Nicaragua.
Additionally, domestic chores in Nicaragua are far more burdensome than in more developed countries. Laundry is backbreaking work, done by hand. Many women still cook with firewood or charcoal. Supermarkets and stores are closed by 5pm or 6pm, so a working woman must either take time off from work, or be able to count on someone else to do the job for her (a maid or family member, depending on her class status — but almost always another "As a woman, you are always split in two"
On top of all the domestic work, women now must try to fit in political work as well. One party activist described the situation
"As a woman, you are always split in two..."
As an organization, AMNLAE emphasized the importance of integrating women into production as a fundamental step towards their full incorporation into society as a whole. However, when they tried to bring women into the productive workforce, apart from the issue of time, conflicts often arose between women and their hus bands or compañeros, who did not feel that women should be working outside the home. The problem was compounded by the iealousies many men felt when "their' women were absorbed in AMNLAE meetings. One AMNLAE organizer characterizes the early practice of inviting only women to the meetings as : mistake since it created unnecessary misunderstandings and made it harder on the woma who chose to be
Another continuing problem that has confronted AMNLAE is the issue of where a revolutionary activist chooses to make her key political commitment. Most of the top AMPRONAC leadership fium before the triumph took up political tasks immediately afterward that were not specifically oriented towards "women's issues". In addition, many of the women who had been activists in AMPRONAC found themselves facing a post-revolutionary dynamic where their
work as members of a women's organization was not very clear.
The task at hand for the entire country was national reconstruction. As women, should they work in their neighbourhood committee (CDS) or AMNLAE? In their union or AMNLAE? One woman stated the long-standing question this way: "How can you have an organization made up solely of women when these women are also organized, and should be organized, in other ways and participating in the revolutionary process, which is our reality here?"
During the second period - spanning the years 1983-86 - AMNLAE (along with the rest of Nicaragua's mass organizations) was oriented primarily toward the defence of the country, with AMNLAE in many ways serving as a key "rearguard" organization. Some women were organized into reserve battalions and women throughout the country received military training.
After the draft law was passed in 1983, however, women were mobilized essentially as mothers - of the young draftees and later of fallen soldiers. This latter group, the "Mothers of Heroes and Martyrs" comprises women who have lost children at the hands of both Somoza's National Guard and the counter-revolutionary forces. AMNLAE's almost exclusive focus on mothers, and particularly mothers of combatants, during this second period meant that it was relatively isolated from a significant number of women. The question was how to broaden the base without losing this important focus, particularly important in
The war has meant a sharp, nearly total,
"Women's issues" as such thus had to take a back seat. Just as women who organized around women's issues before 1979 recognized that there could be no liberation for women until the dictatorship was destroyed, many women in this period of revolutionary struggle accept that all gains are predicated on the survival and defence of the country.
Discussion on abortion and domestic violence
Nonetheless, a number of issues came up in a formal way during this period and began to be talked about by women in AMNLAE, with a significant ripple effect on the rest of the country. Two of the issues, notable for the fact that they are often considered private, "non-political" issues, were abortion and domestic violence.
Nicaragua has a very high growth rate, particularly in Managua — a city already strained far beyond its capacity. Managua's population is nearing a million, up from some 470,000 in 1979. FSLN representatives from Nicaragua's Region III (Managua and surrounding areas have said that the need for a more concerted family planning programme is essential in order to even begin to deal with the many problems caused by Managua's burgeoning population. Women themselves, in the grassroots constitutional debates and in other forums, have made it clear that some type of programme is needed and in fact would be welcomed. To date, however, no integral programme has been implemented. Some women speculate that this may be due partly to fear of eliciting a backlash from the Catholic Church, while others point to a lack of understanding on the part of some men in key positions. "The revolution has dealt with many thorny issues"
Abortion is a much more problematic issue, still extremely divisive — but the number of women who die after attempting to carry out their own abortions has alarmed many women and members of the medical community. A round-table discussion of the abortion issue that ran for several weeks in Barricada in 1985 brought the issue out into the open as a legitimate item of political debate for the first time. In a recent all-day De Cara al Pueblo (Facing the People) meeting that President Daniel Ortega and a number of government ministers and officials held with women, a female psychologist raised the issue of the number of deaths and injuries resulting from selfinduced abortions: "I know it's a thorny issue," she said, "but the revolution has dealt with many thorny issues".
In 1983, AMNLA opened its first legal office on women, and began to deal with the problems of child support payments, domestic abuse and other legal problems affecting women. By opening the office, AMNLAE and the Nicaraguan government have said to Nicaraguan women that their concerns are concerns of the society at large and that they are not alone. A number of regional legal offices have been opened
The legal office has had to overcome women's traditional timidity and fear in publicly discussing problems that have long been considered exclusively "private" and better left unexamined. This has sparked a tremendous process of consciousness-raising among women. One of the principal issues dealt with by the legal office is domestic abuse. Since the office opened, domestic abuse has become, if very slowly, a far more acceptable topic of public discussion - in the newspapers, on the radio and at public meetings.
During the second period, AMNLAE had come to the realization that the rights they are struggling for as women fall into two essential categories: broad legal changes, transformations in the overall structure of education and health facilities and so on; and those that have to do more specifically with daily life. After a good deal of internal discussion based on the type of political activity that AMNLAE should be taking up, they began to make the transition from an organization to a movement, a transition ratified by the Third General Assembly of
NICARAGUA AMNLAE in March 1987.
According to AMNLAE members, they can be more effective as a movement with a presence throughout other existing organizations than as a separate or autonomous organization. They argue that because women are part of every sector of Nicaraguan society, it does not make sense to continue to function as a women's organization per se. AMNLAE's energy should rather be focused on raising women's issues in a number of areas, thus avoiding a "ghettoization" of their position. As one AMNLAE activist explained it: "We are a movement because we are not a social class, we are not a social sector, we are women of all classes and social groups, and we work in the context of this revolution, in all the different sectors, to achieve a better situation for women". Though this analysis seems essentially sound, it could be argued that AMNLAE runs the risk of seeing some important issues get swallowed up by this key organizational shift.
Another central issue not thoroughly addressed by this position is the fact that while women indeed come from a variety of social classes (classes determined by their relation to the productive sector), women do share the common denominator of being grounded in, and having primary responsibility for, the reproductive sector. That is to say, there are material issues -those having to do with reproduction — which are common to all women, even though the particular ways in which they affect women vary across class lines.
In any case, AMNLAE's shift is essentially pragmatic, as it is grounded solidly in Nicaragua's specific reality. It also addresses the fact that a tremendous amount of political work needs to be done and there is little sense in duplicating it. For example, AMNLAE alone could not have ensured that women's issues would be taken up by the key agricultural organizations.
In the current period, AMNLAE will thus continue to take up women's issues within the context of the country's larger political concerns, and its role will be to maintain an active presence in already existing organizations. AMNLAE representatives at the local and regional levels applaud this shift, and say they feel relieved that their work will now be more closely coordinated with other revolutionary work. The change for them is from isolation to integration.
US aggression and the daily struggle for survival
AMNLAE activists have characterized this new period as one that is defined by the US aggression and the accompanying daily struggle for survival. At the Third General Assembly, AMNLAE called for a focus on four strategic areas.
The first is the economic survival of the revolution, which for AMNLAE means supporting and facilitating women's cove 9 tinued incorporation into the productive February 22, 1988 • International Viewpoint
NICARAGUA SeCtOI.
The second area, child-care, is closely related to the first and illustrates the necessary linking of the productive and reproductive spheres. It is clear that the burden of time which today falls almost exclusively on women must be more equitably shared out. Some of that burden must be picked up by the state, but a significant amount must be taken up by men
AMNLAE describes the third focus as dealing with the "dignity of women". According to AMNLAE general secretary Lea
"Women's dignity can't only be attended to in campaigns on March 8 [International Women's Day] or May 30 [Mother's Day in Nicaragua] — it has to happen every day". Thus, AMNLAE calls for continued attention to the problem of domestic violence, as "an ideological problem that the revolution must directly confront". They link dealing with this problem to the creation of a strong family, with mutual respect between men and women. The Nicaraguan family is historically weak, in large part due to the country's economic development, and women feel they have a real stake in strengthening the
The fourth area is sexual education. There is an enormous lack of education, particularly among young people, and that, coupled with scarce access to contraceptives, has resulted in a very high pregnancy rate among young women. This area has thus been identified as vital for future
The legal arena is a prime area in which the struggle for structural change in women's status has unfolded since 1979, and since that time, an important foundation has been laid from which women will be able to make further gains. The Nicaraguan laws specifically addressing women are far more progressive than most in the
An important legal advance
One of the most important legal advances for women was the signing of the Nicaraguan constitution in January 1987. It overturns the historic legal discrimination suffered by Nicaraguan women and should serve as a catalyst to further social and political change.
After the triumph of 1979, a series of laws were passed in the Council of State (a provisional legislative body between 1980 and 1984) that were crucial in beginning to address some of the fundamental causes of women's oppression. One of the most important, the paternity law proposed by AMNLAE in 1980 as the "Law between Mothers, Fathers and Children", abolished the old concept of patria potestad, a direct inheritance from Spanish colonialism un10 ten had mily chand the father had ali maa. der which only children born in legal marInternat'onal Viewpoint • February 22, 1988 rights of property over his children. In Nicaragua, as in much of the rest of Central America, however, the agro-export economic structure that demanded a mobile and seasonal agricultural workforce in some of the principal cash crops, along with a lack of priests serving the rural areas, helped to institute a tradition of couples living together in consensual, rather than legal, unions. The issue of paternity and illegitimacy
Although there was not a great deal of social stigma attached to so-called illegitimate children, many women took on almost the entire economic burden for children and were not entitled to any help from the fathers unless they were legally married to them. Matters were complicated by the fact that (as is still common) many men had children with different women and often contributed nothing whatsoever to their social or economic welfare. In addition, many Nicaraguan women, particularly poorer women, commonly have eight or nine children. The 1980 law stipulated that men were responsible for children they fathered; paternity, not legal marriage, became the issue. There are still a number of problems with actual enforcement of the provisions requiring economic support (which varies greatly region by region), but it is nevertheless a significant and essential first step forward for women.
The political struggle around the passage of the law made it clear that women had a long battle ahead of them, most obviously in terms of breaking down a very embedded ideology of machismo. The women working on this law, as well as others, had to confront men from the right-wing political parties, and sometimes within the
In August of 1979, the law establishing equal rights for all Nicaraguan citizens was passed. This law mandated that women be given equal pay for equal work, and also provided for maternity leave. This law had particularly significant implications for the agricultural sector, as many women (and children) who worked were not formally listed as employees on an employer's roster, but were considered part of a "family wage" package.
In the Council of State, there was one important issue on which the FSLN and AMNLAE formally disagreed - that of women's military participation. In 1981, when the contra forces first began to present a serious military threat, AMNLAE was approached by the Sandinista Army (EPS), then in the process of forming new battalions to send to the mountainous northern zones of the country. The EPS asked AMNLAE for logistical help — with cooking and other maintenance tasks. AMNLAE responded by forming several all-female battalions. However, there were a number of problems, as a national AMN-
LAE leader explained in a 1981 interview:
*There were places where at first people said women were not capable of enduring the physical training. There were others where men refused to let their wives go. Then there were women who wanted to join the battalions, but who would take care of their children?... One thing we have noticed with the women's battalions is that the participants are not necessarily young, not necessarily students, but rather compañeras from the barrios, housewives, members of the Sandinista Defence Committees."
Then, in 1983, with the contra attacks on the rise as a result of their steadily increasing financial and logistical support from the United States, the EPS made the decision to implement a nationwide draft of all males between 17 and 25 years of age. When the law of patriotic military service (SMP) was debated in the Council of State, AMNLAE's representative argued at length that in light of women's military participation in the war of liberation, it would be unjust to exclude them from this new and crucial
As the debate came to a close, provisions were written into the law to allow for women as volunteers. However, though it was reported that a number of women volunteered to serve, the first women were not accepted until early 1986 — and then in explicitly non-combat positions (most working in communications in Managua). AMNLAE realized the delicate position in which the Front found itself and also recognized that for cultural reasons many families (including the young women themselves) would have been entirely opposed to sending their young daughters as well as their sons off to the military service.
Need for "consciously chosen motherhood"
Apart from the re-organizational steps taken by AMNLAE, 1987 has seen other path-breaking advances for women. Nicaragua's new constitution, signed into law in January last year, addresses itself to a number of issues essential to women's status in Nicaragua. The first constitutional draft, drawn up by a committee from the National Assembly, was presented to a number of cabildos abiertos, or open meetings, held by sector throughout the country. The June 1986 meeting held exclusively with women in Managua is pointed to by many women activists here as an important demonstration of women's participation in the ongoing revolutionary process. It was a highly charged meeting, with women representing all walks of life speaking out on the issues they felt to be most important. One that came up time and time again was that of una maternidad consciente, consciouslychosen motherhood. The need for sexual education and family planning was also brought up, as were abortion, domestic violence and the need for new family laws. The issue of divorce was specifically
addressed several times.
Some of the laws most favorable to women passed in the early days of the revolution were ratified as fundamental rights with the signing of the constitution. One of the most important sections of the constitution for women is Chapter 4, which deals with the family. Article 73 of Chapter 4 states:
"Family relations rest on respect, solidarity and absolute equality of rights and responsibilities between the man and woman. Parents must work together to maintain the home and provide for the integral development of their children, with equal rights and responsibilities."
Gap between law and
The chapter as a whole sets the tone for a new vision of the Nicaraguan family, one which will hopefully be translated into reality step by step.
Clearly, there is always a gap between law and reality, and the situation for Nicaraguan women lags far behind this ideal expressed in the constitution. Laws still date back to the 1904 civil code, but the National Assembly is expected to promulgate a new family code based on the constitution in the coming months, as well as making other legal changes essential to women's full incorporation into society, both politi-
Last March, the FSLN presented its long-awaited "Proclamation on Women". The proclamation continues the tradition begun in the 1969 political programme, but is a much more extensive document. It deals quite directly with the issue of machismo by identifying domestic tasks as the responsibility of both men and women. The proclamation is a unique document, as it commits the party to continue moving forward on women's issues and identifies, once again, the emancipation of women as an integral part of the revolutionary process as a whole.
Since 1979, a foundation — both legal and political - has been set in place that has the potential to affect significant transformations in the lives of Nicaraguan women. Yet, as always, one of the hardest parts is changing people's ideas, particularly with something as deeply-rooted as machismo. Some of the principal problems affecting Nicaraguan women are directly traced to lack of resources, while others are linked to long-held attitudes about women and their problems.
A facile separation between "revolutionary" and "women's" issues has often been made in other historical contexts, with people referring to the emancipation of women as a secondary, distinct element, which must always take a back seat to more "legitimate" revolutionary issues — historically those defined by men and having to do specifically with the productive sphere. But in Nicaragua today many women who
NICARAGUA identify themselves as revolutionaries see can Historical Institute, Intercultural Centhe situation as more complex. They are ter, Georgetown University, Washington, women and revolutionaries, and their polit- DC 20057, USA. ical response and analysis is based in these two, intertwined material realities.
A political programme which denied either reality would be unrealistic, and ultimately unsuccessful in Nicaragua. As part of the revolutionary process itself, women and men have been creating the tools they will need to ensure both the defence and survival of the new Nicaragua and the
The key burden of women's emancipation, however, will continue to be shouldered by women themselves. Their task will be difficult, in the context of scarce economic resources and a deep reserve of machista sentiments, even among male revolutionaries who recognize the need to change their attitudes.
"Without revolution real change is impossible"
At a public discussion sponsored by AMNLAE in celebration of its 10th anniversary, one woman emphasized the importance of bringing out the contradictions and complexities of the many issues affecting Nicaraguan women:
"They're not obstacles to the revolution, she noted, and called on women to be more aware, analytical and assertive, both in working for women's emancipation and in furthering the revolutionary process, because "without revolution, real social transformation is impossible".*
• Envío is published monthly by the Instituto Historico Centroamericano and is published in Spanish, English, French and German. The English language edition is available from IHCA, Apartado A-194, Managua, Nicaragua — write for subscription information. For US/Canada subscriptions cost $27 (individuals) $50(institutions and overseas) from Central Ameri-
February 22, 1988 • International Viewpoint