* Women and political organisations
The author is a full-timer for the Union of Education Workers in Rio Grande do Sul. This state, the size of France, has 130,000 education workers. About 87,000 are members of trade unions, including over 60,000 women. She is also a member of the state leadership of the PT, and of the Democracia Socialista current (Brazilian section of the Fourth International) within the PT.
The Union of Education Workers in Rio Grande do Sul can be reached at tel. 051/2215822, fax 2218642.
The Zapatista movement has enabled women to put forward a series of questions... • Traditionally, women have not been able to inherit the right to work the land which they cultivate. They work alongside the men, but are excluded from the division of land. Zapatista women have done a lot of work promoting the right of women to work on and inherit the land.
• Traditionally, women who left their husbands (or were thrown out) were priority. In the sense, we can talk of a female avant-garde in the EZLN. These women comrades do not just challenge the Zapatista leadership over issues of macho militantism. The essence of their work is their appeal to all the women of Mexico. • And the institutional framework for this work?
For the moment, neither of the [Zapatista-inspired] women's structures [Women's Assembly, National Convention of Women] actually meets. This is partly because some women follow their personal ambitions, rather than seeking consensus. And partly because the government's low intensity war has attacked all our structures and social 'spaces'. This has somewhat shaken our unity, particularly among the women.
What we must do now is rebuild these structures, and reclaim the 'spaces' we have created. This is one of the things those of us in Democracia Radical will be trying to do in the coming months. * obliged to return to their Women unionists in Brazil parents house. The conjugal home was automatically conferred Penny Duggan speaks to Rosa Molina of the Union of Education Workers in Rio on the husband. • Zapatista women also decreed a total ban on alcoholism in the base communities and the liberated zones. They justify this as a measure to protect themselves against the violence of drunken men. • As regards women's right to control their own fertility, the women of the EZLN have ensured that condoms are made available. Men in the EZLN have become accustomed to their use. We recommend women soldiers to avoid having children. Those who wish to do so usually leave the army, and return to their village. Once the children are old enough, their mothers return to their posts in the army.
The Women's Commission [in San Andres after October 1994]was the most radical part of our negotiations with the government. Women did not just insist on the people's right to the land they live and work on. They expanded the land question to include notions of territorial autonomy, and control over processes which threaten the environment. Women in the region are clearly the most conscious about the environment we live in, and ecological questions in general.
Of course, reality is far from perfect. Most of our male comrades were silent when a member of the Zapatista Commission was killed by her husband, a member of our Civil Assembly. But the new values we are promoting are being integrated into the movement. They are challenging the day-to-day practice of the men, the leaders, the peasants and the mestizos (non-Indians, mainly town dwellers).
The Zapatistas really put a lot of emphasis on women's struggle. They recognise women's strength. And women's ability not just to struggle for their specific demands, but for our global demands. This is why they give women's struggle such 18 International Viewpoint March 1996
Grande do Sul. • You are an organiser for an education workers' union. To what extent are feminist demands integrated into your general work? In a union like ours, the cultural and professional level of the members is obviously rather high. Nevertheless, the majority of education workers are not very politicised. Despite the exploitation which they face, this category of workers do not consider themselves as 'workers'. This obviously makes our work But it is obviously essential to develop political activity in this privileged area, the education system. If only because we have the opportunity to come into contact with the children, young people, and the parents. Mothers, are very present in the nursery and primary schools. This contact with the mothers enables us to understand the need to develop women's consciousness about their specific condition as women, because of the way perpetuate their own domination. Thirteen women in the union are responsible for this work for the whole state of Rio Grande Do Sul, which covers an area about the same size as France! Four of us are members of the leadership of the union. The work is very difficult, because of the sheer quantity of tasks. The trade union has a wide range of activities. We can't spend all out time on 'eminist questions, even if neo-liberal pressures on education [and their negative effect on women] are enormous. For example, the government recently approved a plan for privatising large parts of the education system. We are engaged in a very difficult struggle. We have to integrate the specific demands of women with the demands of the profession as a whole. • Women are underrepresented in the leadership of Brazil's trade unions and in the leadership of the Workers Party (PT). Is there much support for the implementation of quotas for women in union and party elections?
The 1994 congress of the CUT trade union federation (Central Unica dos Trabalhadores -Unitary Workers' Centre) approved the principle of a quota for women in the decision-making bodies of the organisation. In our own union, in Rio Grande do Sul, quotas are not the problem Seven of 13 members of the union's leadership are women. In the PT, there are a range of opinions about quotas. The majority sees it as a positive process, but many members, and many women members, express real reservations about quotas. Any evolution of PT policy on this question will be the fruit of a long process. The quota debate is, of course, to some extent an artificial problem. But it does make it possible for many women to take positions with responsibilities. And it obliges the men to think about their behaviour. You can't uproot deeply macho behaviour patterns just like that! At the last PT National Meeting, almost all the forums were chaired by men. The women on the platforms were"auxiliaries" rather than central players. PT Women should fight for their own space, quotas or no quotas! *