Women rights in Latin America: abortion
Article: Argentina: Were I A Man ; 'I believe in defending the rights of women, but not under the label of "feminist".'
Author: Joseph Contreras.
Source: Newsweek. (International ed.). New York: Aug 22, 2005. pg. 35
In the first sight, it seems that there is a new trend of women liberation in Argentina. For example, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the first lady of Argentina, was not only a senator but also acted as the ambassador of the Argentina president.
In addtion, she also fight for the women right of suffrage and attacked the media's discrimination on women. Is it a good news for women in Argentina? Defintely, it is. Undoubtedly, Cristina is a feminist, who believe and struggle for equality between the two genders, although she tried to deny because of political reason. But is it enough? In my opinion, the answer is clearly no.
Similar to other feminsits in Latin America, Cristina is liberal and conservative. On one hand, she fight for women suffrage and protection of women rights. in the mean time, she oppose the legisaltion of abortion. From my point of views, it implies the main problen of women movement: the failure to ralize the real results of women subordination and suffering. In political realm, women movement is quite success. Legally, women suffrage began to spread in Latin America. Women politicans are common in Latin America. As the article suggested, one third of the congressman in two-house were women- i was impressed that it is much higher than some developing countries, even in Hong kong. However, this do not mean the real liberation of women in Latin America. The right of vote do not really mean women have the opportunity to refelcet their view. In her book "In the Land of God and Man", Silvana Paternostro pointed out that generally the men, either grandfather and father, in the family force the whole family to vote for the same candidate. Furthermore, women are sometimes not allowed to leave their home to vote. In the surface, women suffrage is a symbol of imporvement of women rights. In reality, it do not really imporve women living in Latin America, especially those living in rural area.
Even more worse, feminists like Cristina do not only ignore the real needs of women but, as Silvana Paternostro argued, tacitly approve the inequality between men and women. In this conservation with Joseph Conteras, Cristina oppose the legislation of abortion because she is a Roman Catholic. After i have read this sentence, several question arise in my mind. Is she also against the use of condom? What is her opinion on the spread of AIDS in Argentina? It clearly refelct the complexity of the issue of women liberation in Latin America. It is easy to change a law but not the people traditional belief. The women movement in Latin America, in the words of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, "there is still a long road to go."
Author: Joseph Contreras.
Source: Newsweek. (International ed.). New York: Aug 22, 2005. pg. 35
In the first sight, it seems that there is a new trend of women liberation in Argentina. For example, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the first lady of Argentina, was not only a senator but also acted as the ambassador of the Argentina president.
In addtion, she also fight for the women right of suffrage and attacked the media's discrimination on women. Is it a good news for women in Argentina? Defintely, it is. Undoubtedly, Cristina is a feminist, who believe and struggle for equality between the two genders, although she tried to deny because of political reason. But is it enough? In my opinion, the answer is clearly no.
Similar to other feminsits in Latin America, Cristina is liberal and conservative. On one hand, she fight for women suffrage and protection of women rights. in the mean time, she oppose the legisaltion of abortion. From my point of views, it implies the main problen of women movement: the failure to ralize the real results of women subordination and suffering. In political realm, women movement is quite success. Legally, women suffrage began to spread in Latin America. Women politicans are common in Latin America. As the article suggested, one third of the congressman in two-house were women- i was impressed that it is much higher than some developing countries, even in Hong kong. However, this do not mean the real liberation of women in Latin America. The right of vote do not really mean women have the opportunity to refelcet their view. In her book "In the Land of God and Man", Silvana Paternostro pointed out that generally the men, either grandfather and father, in the family force the whole family to vote for the same candidate. Furthermore, women are sometimes not allowed to leave their home to vote. In the surface, women suffrage is a symbol of imporvement of women rights. In reality, it do not really imporve women living in Latin America, especially those living in rural area.
Even more worse, feminists like Cristina do not only ignore the real needs of women but, as Silvana Paternostro argued, tacitly approve the inequality between men and women. In this conservation with Joseph Conteras, Cristina oppose the legislation of abortion because she is a Roman Catholic. After i have read this sentence, several question arise in my mind. Is she also against the use of condom? What is her opinion on the spread of AIDS in Argentina? It clearly refelct the complexity of the issue of women liberation in Latin America. It is easy to change a law but not the people traditional belief. The women movement in Latin America, in the words of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, "there is still a long road to go."
posted by So de Mexico at
12:06 AM
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