AMHERST COLLEGE
The Political Economy of
Gender in Latin America
Women’s and Gender Studies
Spring 2009
Professor Picq
Th 2-4h30 pm; Converse 208
SYLLABUS
The Political Economy of Gender in Latin America
Manuela Picq
542-5351; mpicq@amherst.edu; 105 Earth Sciences
Office Hours: Tuesday/Wednesday 2-5pm and by appointment.
WAGS 07
Th 2:00-04:30pm
Converse 208
Description
Latin America has the greatest extremes of wealth of any region in the world, and gender
is one of the most important factors leading to this inequality. The study of gender
therefore offers a valuable window into the socio-economic structures and political
systems of the region. Bringing together the disciplines of comparative politics, political
economy, and gender, this course proposes to analyze the gender implications of
economic and political reforms at large in Latin America, from the military dictatorships
of the 1970s through the democratization of the 1980s, the neoliberal reforms of the
1990s, and the New Left. We will also explore the history and geography of women's
rights in terms of political participation, agrarian reform, informal economics,
reproductive rights, welfare policies, migration, and human trafficking. Beyond women's
rights, the class offers a larger analysis of social movements and the politics of
contestation in Latin America, the movements’ interactions with state actors and the
impact of changing markets on women's empowerment.
Grading system
Class participation 15% - Students are expected to prepare and attend all class sessions
and participate actively in class discussions. Unexcused absences can result in reduced
credit.
Class presentation 20% - Once during the semester, each student will do a short oral
presentation (10min) about one of the readings (10%) and turn in a written analytical
essay (10%) to the professor via email before class.
Group Presentations: 20% - Students will do two group presentations (3 p. max) during
the semester. The first on Feb 19 will analyze economic disparities related to gender. The
second on Apr 9 will analyze the political and economic costs of gender-based violence –
and will be accompanied by an individual essay (see below).
Essay 20% - Each student will write two individual essays during the semester. This
exercise focuses on research and content as much as form and style. An analytical paper
(5p) about gender inequality in Latin America is due on Feb 5. Another individual essay
2|Page
is due on Apr 9 to accompany the group presentations on the political-economic costs of
gender-based violence.
Conference project 25% - At the end of the semester, each student will conduct a formal,
in-class presentation of individual research projects combined with a 7-10 page paper
(proposals to present final projects in a different format/support are welcome). This
exercise will simulate an academic conference or roundtable, in which scholars write a
paper and discuss ideas during a panel. We will discuss each student project individually
during the semester. Project topics are due in class on Mar 12 and a detailed outline is
due by email by Apr 16.
Course Readings (available on E reserve)
Every student must print and bring to class a hard copy of the readings
Book list (available at Amherst Books - 8 Main Street, Amherst - 413.256.1547)
Virginia Woolf (1929) “A Room of One’s Own”
Reading and Discussion Schedule
syllabus is subject to change
Part 1. Conceptual Approaches
Week 1. Jan 29 - Introduction
Course overview and introductions – Defining IPE and mapping gender
Week 2. Feb 5 - Measuring the gender gap in Latin America: poverty and inequality
Guillermo O’Donnell (1996) “Poverty and Inequality in Latin America: Some political Reflections,” Kellogg Institute for International Studies, Working Paper 225. [E]
Kelly Hoffman and Miguel A. Centeno (2003) “The Lopsided Continent: Inequality in
Latin America,” Annual Revue of Sociology 29:363-90. [E]
V. Spike Peterson (2005) “How (the meaning of) Gender Matters in Political Economy,”
New Political Economy, Vol.10, N.4, 499-521. [E]
International Poverty Centre (2007) “Poverty in Focus 11: the Challenge of Inequality,”
IPC: Brasilia. [E]
Mala Htun (1999) “Women in Latin America: Unequal Progress toward Equality”
Current History 98. [E]
Assignment - individual essays: gender inequality in Latin America (5p. approx)
Week 3. Feb 12 - Opportunities, Freedom, and Capabilities
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Amartya Sen (1999) Development as Freedom (chapters 1/2/6/7) [E]
Martha Nussbaum (2005) “Women’s Bodies: Violence, Security, Capabilities,” Journal
of Human Development, 6:2 [E]
Barros, Ferreira, Molinas Vega, Chanduvi (2009) “Measuring Inequality of Opportunities
in Latin America and the Caribbean” World Bank Report [E]
United Nations Millennium Project (UNMP) (2005) “Taking Action: Achieving Gender
Equality and Empowering Women” Task Force on Education and Gender Equality
(TFEGE) (Executive Summary, pp.1-26). [E]
Part 2. Economic Disparity
Week 4. Feb 19 - Economic inequalities: globalization and the informal economy
Kurt Lan Vee Beek (2001) “Maquiladoras: Exploitation or Emancipation? An Overview
of the Situation of Maquiladora Workers in Honduras,” World Development, 29:9. [E]
Sylvia Chant (2006) “Re-thinking the Feminization of Poverty in Relation to Aggregate
Gender Indices,” Journal of Human Development Vol.7. N.2 pp.201-220 [E]
Jasmine Gideon (2006) “Accessing Economic and Social Rights under Neoliberalism:
Gender and Rights in Chile,” Third World Quarterly, 27:7, 1269-83 [E]
Merike Blofield (2009) “Feudal Enclaves and Political Reforms: Domestic Workers in
Latin America,” Latin American Research Review, Vol. 44, N.1. [E]
Amy Bellone Hite and Jocelyn Viterna (2005) “Gendering Class in Latin America: How
Women Effect and Experience Change in the Class Structure,” Latin American Research
Review, Vol 40, N. 2 [E]
Week 5. Feb 26 – The economy of care and welfare
Nancy Folbre (2006) “Measuring Care: Gender, Empowerment, and the Care Economy.”
[E]
Lourdes Beneria (2008) “The Crisis of Care, International Migration, and Public Policy,”
Feminist Economics Vol. 14, N3, pp.1-21. [E]
Juliana M. Franzoni (2008) “Welfare Regimes in Latin America: capturing constellations
of markets, families, and policies,” Latin American Politics and Society. [E]
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Maxine Molyneux (2006) “Mothers at the Service of the New Poverty Agenda:
Progreso/Oportunidades, Mexico’s Conditional Transfer Programme,” Social Policy and
Administration, Vol.40, N.4 p. 425-449. [E]
Assignment: Discussion Final Conference Project
Week 6. Mar 5 - Property rights for human rights
Virginia Woolf (1929) “A Room of One’s Own” [B]
Carmen Diana Deere & Magdalena Leon (2003)."The Gender Asset Gap: Land in Latin
America," World Development, Vol. 31(6), 925-947, June. [E]
Bina Agarwal and Pradeep Panda (2005) “Marital Violence, Human Development and
Women’s Property Status in India,” World Development Vol. 33, N.5 [E]
Susana Lastarria-Cornhiel (2007) “Who Benefits from Land Titling? Lessons From
Bolivia and Laos,” The Gatekeepers Series 132, International Institute for Environment
and Development [E]
Elissa Branstein and Nancy Folbre (2001) “To Honor and Obey: Efficiency, Inequality,
and Patriarchal Property Rights,” Feminist Economics 7:1. [E]
Part 3. Political Resistance and Opportunities
Week 7. Mar 12 - Political rights and participation
Liesl Haas (2001) “Changing Women From Within? Feminist Participation in the PT”
Radical Women in Latin America
Mala Htun and Tim Power (2006) “Gender, Parties, and Support for Equal Rights in the
Brazilian Congress,” Latin American Politics and Society, Vol.48, N.4, pp. 83-104. [E]
Roseanna Heath, Leslie Schwindt-Bayer, Michelle Taylor-Robinson (2005) “Women on
the Sidelines: Women’s Representation on Committees in Latin American Legislatures,”
American Journal of Political Science, 49:2.
Lisa Baldez (2007) “Primaries versus Quotas: Gender and Candidate Nominations in
Mexico, 2003,” Latin American Politics and Society 49:3, 69-96. [E]
Merike Blofield and Liesl Haas (2005) “Defining a Democracy: Reforming the Laws on
Women’s Rights in Chile 1990-2002,” Latin American Politics and Society, 47:3.
Spring Recess
5|Page
Week 8. Mar 26 – Resistance and Contestation: women social movements
Helen I. Safa (1990) “Women’s Social Movements in Latin America,” Gender and
Society, Vol 4, N.3. [E]
Maxine Molyneux (1984) “Mobilization Without Emancipation?” Critical Social Policy
10, 4:7, 59-75. [E]
Veronica Montecinos (2001) “Feminists and Technocrats in the Democratization of Latin
America: A Prolegomenon,” Politics, Culture, and Society, Vol. 15, N1. [E]
Cathy Rakowski (2003) “Women’s Coalitions as a Strategy at the Intersection of
Economic and Political Change in Venezuela,” Politics, Culture, and Society, Vol. 16,
N.3 [E]
Barbara Sutton (2007) “Poner el cuerpo: Women’s Embodiment and Political Resistance
in Argentina,” Latin American Politics and Society, 49:3, 129-162. [E]
Assignment: research women NGOs in Latin America (3 examples per student).
Week 9. Apr 2 - Overlapping exclusions: gender, race, ethnicity
Sylvia Chant (2007) Women and health: poor women in cities suffer most. Habitat
debate, 13 (4). 7. [E]
Kia Coldwell (2008) Negras in Brazil: re-envisioning black women, citizenship, and the
politics of identity, Rutgers University Press (selected chapters). [P]
Manuela Picq (2008) “Gender Within Ethnicity: Human Rights and Identity Politics in
Ecuador” New Voices in the Study of Democracy in Latin America, Woodrow Wilson
Center Reports on the Americas 19. [E]
Mala Htun (2004) “Is Gender Like Ethnicity? The Political Representation of Identity
Groups,” Perspectives on Politics, Vol 2:3 [E]
Guest-speaker: Sonia Alvarez
Part 4. The Multiplicity of Violence
Week 10. Apr 9 - The (not so) hidden costs of violence
Bina Agarwal and Pradeep Panda (2007) “Toward Freedom From Domestic Violence:
The Neglected Obvious,” Journal of Human Development, Vol. 8, N. 3. [E]
Lori Heise, Jacqueline Pitanguy, and Adrienne Germain (1994) “Violence Against
Women: The Hidden Health Burden,” World Bank Discussion Papers 255. [E]
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Sally Cole and Lynne Phillips (2008) “The Violence Against Women Campaigns in Latin
America: New Feminist Alliances,” Feminist Criminology, Vol. 3, N.2. [E]
Nadirlene Gomes and Normelia Diniz (2008) “Males Unveiling the Different Forms of
Conjugal Violence,” ACTA, 21:2 pp.262-7. [E]
CEDAW: Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women and the Optional Protocol. [E]
Assignment - group presentations in class: reports on the political and economic costs of
gender-based violence in Latin America / case-study analysis. Individual essays to turn in
via email (5p. approx)
Week 11. Apr 16- From reproductive rights to sexual pleasure: abortion and beyond
Mala Htun (2003) Sex and the State: Abortion, Divorce and the Family Under Latin
American Dictatorships and Democracies, (chapters 1/6). [P]
Map “Abortion laws worldwide” [E]
Brief (1996) “An Overview of Clandestine Abortion in Latin America,” Alan Guttmacher
Institute. [E]
Latin American and Caribbean Women’s Health Network (2004) “Autonomous
Decisions, Sovereign Lives: Women’s Right to safe, legal abortion.” [E]
Sonia Correa and Richard Parker (2004) “Sexuality, Human Rights, and Demographic
Thinking: Connections and Disjunctions in a Changing World,” Sexuality Research and
Social Policy, Vol. 1, N.1. [E]
Susie Jolly (2007) “Why the Development Industry Should Get Over it’s Obsession with
Bad Sex and Start to Think About Pleasure,” IDS Working Paper 283. [E]
To watch:
“Vai pensando ai”
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=_GDsuSk1vdA
“O aborto dos outros”
www.oabortodosoutros.com.br
Week 12. Apr 23 - Migration, conflict, and trafficking
Clare Ribando (2007) “Trafficking in Persons in Latin America and the Caribbean,” CRS
Report For Congress [E]
Denise Brennan (2002) "Selling Sex for Visas: Sex Tourism as Stepping Stone to
7|Page
International Migration for Dominican Women" in Ehrenreich and Hochschild (eds)
Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy. [P]
Marina Tzvetkova (2002) “NGO Responses to Trafficking,” Gender and Development,
10:1 [E]
UNFPA (2006) “State of the World’s Population 2006: A Passage to Hope: Women and
International Migration” [E]
Film (2001) “En la Puta Vida” (Tricky Life) [E]
Week 13. Apr 30 - Institutional hierarchies and accountabilities: norms and practice
Emily Esplen (2006) “Engaging Men in Gender Inequality: Positive Strategies and
Approaches,” Institute of Development Studies, BRIDGE, N. 15. [E]
Institute for Development Studies (2008) “Politicizing Masculinities: Beyond the
Personal,” (Brighton: IDS). [E]
Caroline Moser and Annalise Moser (2005) ‘Gender Mainstreaming Since Beijing: A
Review of Success and Limitations in International Institutions’, Gender and
Development, 13:2, 11-22 [E]
Documentary: Lucinda Broadbent "Macho" (Nicaragua 2000) [E]
Week 14. May 7 - Conference projects
Final projects presented by students in class; peer-reviewing process.
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