University at Albany State University of New York Spring 1992 GENDER AND CLASS IN LATIN AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Crosslisted: Latin and Caribbean Studies 403R Women's Studies 451 Professor Luz del Alba Acevedo Office: Social Sciences 350 Telephone # : 442-4894 Office Hours: Tu. & Th. 1:30-3:00 COURSE DESCRIPTION: Gender relations and the roles played traditionally by women in Latin America have changed significantly since World War II. This course examines the interplay of the cultural, ideological and structural factors affecting women's lives during the course of Latin America's growing industrialization, from the perspective of gender and class analysis. The key topics covered are: a) power and gender relations in the household and the process of socioeconomic development; b) the impact of development on women's participation in agriculture, paid work, and migration; c) the growth of female headed households; and d) women's participation in the new social movements. OBJECTIVES: 1- Introduce gender and class analysis to the study of development issues as an alternative approach to the study of development and/or women's experiences. 2- Expose the students to the complex realities and life experiences of "Third World" women and provide the historical understanding needed to view development issues as feminist issues. 3- Examine critically the goal of the "integration of women into development" and some of the sources of women's subordination in Latin America. 4- Question the existing social science models that often ignore or interpret the participation of women in economic, political and social change as an extension of stereotyped domestic roles. ASSIGNED READINGS: Required Books: Sen, Gita and Caren Grown, Development Crises, and Alternative Visions Third World Women's Perspectives. Monthly Review Press, 1987. "VISIONS" Nash, June and Helen Safa (eds.), Women and Change in Latin America. Bergin & Garvey, 1986. "WOMEN" Deere, Carmen Diana and Magdalena Lewn, Rural Women and State Policy. Westview, 1987. "POLICY" Jelin, Elizabeth (ed.), Women and Social Change in Latin America. Zed Books Ltd, 1990. "CHANGE" Required Articles: Mcfarland, Joan, "The Construction of Women and Development Theory," Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, Vol. 25, No. 2, 1988. "CONSTRUCTION" Evelyn P. Steven's, "Marianismo: The Other Face of Machismo in Latin America," in Ann Pescatello (ed.), Female and Male in Latin America. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1973. "MARIANISMO" Julia Filet-Abreu de Souza, "Paid Domestic Service in Brazil." Latin American Perspectives. Vol. 7, No. 1, 1980, pp. 35-63. Helen I. Safa, "Runaway Shops and Female Employment: The Search for Cheap Labor," in Eleanor Leacock and Helen I. Safa, Women's Work. Bergin & Garvey, 1986. "RUNAWAY" Lourdes Arizpe and Josefina Aranda, "Women Workers in the Strawberry Agribusiness in Mexico," in Eleanor Leacock and Helen I. Safa, Women's Work. Bergin & Garvey, 1986. "STRAWBERRY" Susan Tiano, "Maquiladora Women: A New Category of Workers?," in Kathryn Ward (ed.), Women Workers and Global Restructuring. School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University Press, 1990. "MAQUILA" Lourdes Bener!a and Gita Sen, "Accumulation, Reproduction, and Women's Role in Economic Development: Boserup Revisited," in Eleanor Leacock and Helen I. Safa, Women's Work. Bergin & Garvey, 1986. "REPRODUCTION" Recommended Readings: Ester Boserup, Woman's Role in Economic Development. Allen & Unwin, 1970. Fernandez-Kelly, Maria Patricia, For We Are Sold: I and My People. State University of New York, 1983. Humphrey, John, Gender and Work in the Third World. Tavistock Publications, 1987. Beneria, Lourdes and Martha Roldan. The Crossroads of Class and Gender. The University of Chicago Press, 1987. Draper, Elaine, "Women's Work and Development in Latin America," Studies in Comparative International Development. Spring 1985. Chaney, Elsa and Mary Garc!a Castro (eds.), Muchachas No More. Temple University Press, 1989. Nash, June and Helen I. Safa (eds.), Sex and Class in Latin America. Bergin & Garvey Publishers, 1980. COURSE REQUIREMENTS: Your final grade will be based on the following: 1- Class Attendance and Participation (10%) It is essential that you attend class on a regular basis. The final grade will be lowered for missing more than three classes. You are expected to: a) read and take notes on the assigned readings and lectures according to the course schedule; and b) contribute your thoughts, questions, and responses in class during the discussion periods and after lectures. 2- Midterm Examination (40%) This exam will assess your comprehension of the readings, lectures, and class discussions. It will consist of short essay questions. 3- Journal (10%) After reading the assigned material write the ideas, problems, and/or questions that come to your mind and explain the feelings that such readings provoke on you. Discuss how your experience is similar and/or different from that of the women you just read. This will be collected twice in the semester (see course schedule). 4- Analytical Paper (40%) Choose any book in the area of women and social change, and/or women and development in Latin America and write a 6 to 10 pages critical review of a book. This should include: a) the central thesis of the book; b) the main arguments about the thesis; c) your opinion about the thesis and how is it argued; d) your thoughts on how to improve the presentation of ideas or what ideas should be added in the book. COURSE SCHEDULE: *This schedule is subject to change. Please check with me to keep up with the sequence of assigned readings and schedule films. TH. JAN. 23: Introduction to the Course TU. JAN. 28: Theoretical Framework For The Study Of Women's Subordination in Latin America Reading Assignment: June Nash, "A Decade of Research on Women in Latin America," WOMEN Chap 1. TH. JAN. 30: Reading Assignment: Lourdes Beneria and Gita Sen, "Accumulation, Reproduction, and Women's Role in Economic Development: Boserup Revisited," REPRODUCTION Mcfarland, Joan, "The Construction of Women and Development Theory," CONSTRUCTION TU. FEB. 4: WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT: AN OVERVIEW Reading Assignment: Gita Sen and Caren Crown, Development, Crises, and Alternative Visions. Part I. VISIONS TH. FEB. 6: Reading Assignment: Part II, VISIONS TU. FEB. 11: Reading Assignment: Part III, VISIONS TH. FEB. 13: The Family and the Household Economy Reading Assignment: Evelyn P. Stevens, "Marianismo: The Other Face of Machismo in Latin America," MARIANISMO Frances Rothstein, "Producers and Reproducers: Andean Marketwomen in the Economy," WOMEN Chap. 4 TU. FEB. 18: Reading Assignment: A. Lynn Bolles, "Economic Crisis and Female-Headed Households in Urban Jamaica," WOMEN Chap. 5. Helen I. Safa, "Female Employment in the Puerto Rican Working Class," WOMEN Chap. 6. TH. FEB. 20: Open Discussion TU. FEB. 25: Rural Women and Agricultural Change Reading Assignment: Carmen Diane Deere and Magdalena Leon, Rural Women and State Policy. POLICY, Introduction. Carmen Diane Deere, "Rural Women and Agrarian Reform in Peru, Chile, and Cuba," WOMEN Chap. 10. TH. FEB. 27: Reading Assignment: Elsa M. Chaney, "Women's Components in Integrated Rural Development," POLICY Chap. 10. Cornelia Butler Flora, "Income Generation Projects for Rural Women," POLICY Chap. 11. TU. MAR. 3: Open Discussion TH. MAR. 5: Women and Migration Reading Assignment: Maria de los Angeles Crummett, "Rural Women and Migration in Latin America," POLICY Chap. 12 Julia Filet-Abreu de Souza, "Paid Domestic Service in Brazil," DOMESTIC TU. MAR. 10: MIDTERM EXAM TH. MAR. 12: Women and Industrialization Reading Assignment: Marianne Schmink, "Women and Urban Industrial Development in Brazil," WOMEN Chap. 8. Susan Tiano, "Maquiladora Women: A New Category of Workers?," MAQUILA TU. MAR. 17: Reading Assignment: Martha Roldan, "Industrial Outworking: Struggles for the Reproduction of Working Class Families and Gender Subordination," OUTWORKING. TH. MAR. 19: ** Latin American Women And The International Division of Labor Reading Assignment: Helen I. Safa, "Runaway Shops and the Female Employment: The Search for Cheap Labor," RUNAWAY **DUE DATE FOR JOURNAL TU. MAR. 24: SPRING BREAK TH. MAR. 26: SPRING BREAK TU. MAR. 31: Reading Assignment: Lourdes Arizpe and Josefina Aranda, "Women Workers in the Strawberry Agribusiness in Mexico," STRAWBERRY. TH. APR. 2: Open Discussion TU. APR. 7: Social Movements and the Political Mobilization of Women Reading Assignment: Lourdes Arizpe, "Foreword: Democracy for a Small Two- Gender Planet," CHANGE. Elizabeth Jelin, "Introduction," CHANGE. TH. APR. 9: Reading Assignment: Cecilia Blondet, "Establishing an Identity: Women Settlers in a Poor Lima Neighborhood," CHANGE Chap. 1. TU. APR. 14: Reading Assignment: Maria del Carmen Feijoo and Monica Gogna, "Women in Transition to Democracy," CHANGE Chap. 3. TH. APR. 16: Open Discussion TU. APR. 21: Reading Assignment: Thelma Galvez and Rosalba Todaro, "Chile: Women and the Unions," CHANGE, Chap. 4 TH. APR. 23: Reading Assignment: Elizabeth Jelin, "Citizenship and Identity: Final Reflections," CHANGE, Chap. 7. TH. APR 28: Open Discussion TH. MAY 30: ** Critical Assessment of Women's Incorporation into Development: A Feminist View **DUE DATE FOR ANALYTICAL PAPER AND JOURNAL -- --------------------------------------- * Susan Fitzgerald * * SFITZ@albnyvms.bitnet * * SFITZ@csc.albany.edu * * * *!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*