We welcome written and photography submissions. Thus, there may be a loss of cultural form in the name of progress, something that might not be visible in a non-gendered analysis. The way in which she frames the concept does not take gender as a simple bipolar social model of male and female, but examines the divisions within each category, the areas of overlap between them, and changing definitions over time. Womens work in cottage-industry crafts is frequently viewed within the local culture as unskilled work, simply an extension of their domestic work and not something to be remunerated at wage rates used for men. This classification then justifies low pay, if any, for their work. Friedmann-Sanchez, Greta. The use of oral testimony requires caution. The state-owned National University of Colombia was the first higher education institution to allow female students. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997. . Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1998. Womens role in organized labor is limited though the National Coffee Strikes of the 1930s, which involved a broad range of workers including the, In 1935, activists for both the Communist Party and the UNIR (Uni, n Nacional Izquierda Revolucionaria) led strikes., The efforts of the Communist Party that year were to concentrate primarily on organizing the female work force in the coffee, where about 85% of the workforce consisted of, Yet the women working in the coffee towns were not the same women as those in the growing areas. [15]Up until that point, women who had abortions in this largely Catholic nation faced sentences ranging from 16 to 54 months in prison. [10] In 2008, Ley 1257 de 2008, a comprehensive law against violence against women was encted. Latin American Women Workers in Transition: Sexual Division of the Labor Force in Mexico and Colombia in the Textile Industry. Americas (Academy of American Franciscan History) 40.4 (1984): 491-504. Friedmann-Sanchezs work then suggests this more accurate depiction of the workforce also reflects one that will continue to affect change into the future. Squaring the Circle: Womens Factory Labor, Gender Ideology, and Necessity. In The Gendered Worlds of Latin American Women Workers. The data were collected from at least 1000 households chosen at random in Bogot and nearby rural areas. Womens identities are not constituted apart from those of mensnor can the identity of individualsbe derivedfrom any single dimension of their lives. In other words, sex should be observed and acknowledged as one factor influencing the actors that make history, but it cannot be considered the sole defining or determining characteristic. Gender role theory emphasizes the environmental causes of gender roles and the impact of socialization, or the process of transferring norms, values, beliefs, and behaviors to group members, in learning how to behave as a male or a female. Duncan thoroughly discusses Colombias history from the colonial era to the present. The Development of the Colombian Labor Movement, 81, 97, 101. Women Working: Comparative Perspectives in Developing Areas. An additional 3.5 million people fell into poverty over one year, with women and young people disproportionately affected. Instead of a larger than life labor movement that brought great things for Colombias workers, her work shatters the myth of an all-male labor force, or that of a uniformly submissive, quiet, and virginal female labor force. The nature of their competition with British textile imports may lead one to believe they are local or indigenous craft and cloth makers men, women, and children alike but one cannot be sure from the text. Urrutia, Miguel. Not only is his analysis interested in these differentiating factors, but he also notes the importance of defining artisan in the Hispanic context, in contrast to non-Iberian or Marxist characterizations because the artisan occupied a different social stratum in Latin America than his counterparts in Europe. Green, W. John. The use of oral testimony requires caution. Green, W. John. Squaring the Circle: Womens Factory Labor, Gender Ideology, and Necessity, 4. Latin American Women Workers in Transition: Sexual Division of the Labor Force in Mexico and Colombia in the Textile Industry. Americas (Academy of American Franciscan History) 40.4 (1984): 491-504. Retrieved from https://pulitzercenter.org/projects/south-america-colombia-labor-union-human-rights-judicial-government-corruption-paramilitary-drug-violence-education. Rosenberg, Terry Jean. Womens identities are still closely tied to their roles as wives or mothers, and the term, (the florists) is used pejoratively, implying her loose sexual morals., Womens growing economic autonomy is still a threat to traditional values. Many have come to the realization that the work they do at home should also be valued by others, and thus the experience of paid labor is creating an entirely new worldview among them., This new outlook has not necessarily changed how men and others see the women who work. Paid Agroindustrial Work and Unpaid Caregiving for Dependents: The Gendered Dialectics between Structure and Agency in Colombia, 38. Freidmann-Sanchez notes the high degree of turnover among female workers in the floriculture industry. " (31) To the extent that . There is some horizontal mobility in that a girl can choose to move to another town for work. During American involvement in WWII (1941-1947), women regularly stepped in to . Yo recibo mi depsito cada quincena.. gender roles) and gender expression. This may be part of the explanation for the unevenness of sources on labor, and can be considered a reason to explore other aspects of Colombian history so as not to pigeonhole it any more than it already has been. The number of male and female pottery workers in the rural area is nearly equal, but twice as many men as women work in pottery in the urban workshops. In town workshops where there are hired workers, they are generally men. Farnsworths subjects are part of an event of history, the industrialization of Colombia, but their histories are oral testimonies to the experience. Using oral histories obtained from interviews, the stories and nostalgia from her subjects is a starting point for discovering the history of change within a society. Double standard of infidelity. Freidmann-Sanchez notes the high degree of turnover among female workers in the floriculture industry. war. The law was named ley sobre Rgimen de Capitulaciones Matrimoniales ("Law about marriage capitulations regime") which was later proposed in congress in December 1930 by Ofelia Uribe as a constitutional reform. The main difference Friedmann-Sanchez has found compared to the previous generation of laborers, is the women are not bothered by these comments and feel little need to defend or protect their names or character: When asked about their reputation as being loose sexually, workers laugh and say, , Y qu, que les duela? The variety of topics and time periods that have been covered in the literature reveal that it is underdeveloped, since there are not a significant number on any one era or area in particular. Paid Agroindustrial Work and Unpaid Caregiving for Dependents: The Gendered Dialectics between Structure and Agency in Colombia,. Given the importance of women to this industry, and in turn its importance within Colombias economy, womens newfound agency and self-worth may have profound effects on workplace structures moving forward. As did Farnsworth-Alvear, French and James are careful to remind the reader that subjects are not just informants but story tellers.. , (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1986), ix. As never before, women in the factories existed in a new and different sphere: In social/sexual terms, factory space was different from both home and street.. According to this decision, women may obtain an abortion up until the sixth month of pregnancy for any reason. In spite of a promising first chapter, Sowells analysis focuses on organization and politics, on men or workers in the generic, and in the end is not all that different from Urrutias work. Together with Oakley By 1918, reformers succeeded in getting an ordinance passed that required factories to hire what were called vigilantas, whose job it was to watch the workers and keep the workplace moral and disciplined. One individual woman does earn a special place in Colombias labor historiography: Mar, Cano, the Socialist Revolutionary Partys most celebrated public speaker., Born to an upper class family, she developed a concern for the plight of the working poor., She then became a symbol of insurgent labor, a speaker capable of electrifying the crowds of workers who flocked to hear her passionate rhetoric., She only gets two-thirds of a paragraph and a footnote with a source, should you have an interest in reading more about her. These narratives provide a textured who and why for the what of history. What Does This Mean for the Region- and for the U.S.? Bergquist, Charles. By the 1930s, the citys textile mills were defining themselves as Catholic institutions and promoters of public morality.. . A 2006 court decision that also allowed doctors to refuse to perform abortions based on personal beliefs stated that this was previously only permitted in cases of rape, if the mother's health was in danger, or if the fetus had an untreatable malformation. [11] Marital rape was criminalized in 1996. This roughly translates to, so what if it bothers anyone? The same pattern exists in the developing world though it is less well-researched. Unions were generally looked down upon by employers in early twentieth century Colombia and most strikes were repressed or worse. Dr. Blumenfeld has presented her research at numerous academic conferences, including theCaribbean Studies AssociationandFlorida Political Science Association, where she is Ex-Officio Past President. A 1989 book by sociologists Junsay and Heaton. This reinterpretation is an example of agency versus determinism. Each of these is a trigger for women to quit their jobs and recur as cycles in their lives. What has not yet shifted are industry or national policies that might provide more support. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. Most are not encouraged to go to school and there is little opportunity for upward mobility. Prosperity took an upswing and the traditional family unit set idealistic Americans apart from their Soviet counterparts. New work should not rewrite history in a new category of women, or simply add women to old histories and conceptual frameworks of mens labor, but attempt to understand sex and gender male or female as one aspect of any history. Assets in Intrahousehold Bargaining Among Women Workers in Colombias Cut-flower Industry, Feminist Economics, 12:1-2 (2006): 247-269. andPaid Agroindustrial Work and Unpaid Caregiving for Dependents: The Gendered Dialectics between Structure and Agency in Colombia, Anthropology of Work Review, 33:1 (2012): 34-46. Women Working: Comparative Perspectives in Developing Areas. Your email address will not be published. Dulcinea in the Factory: Myths, Morals, Men, and Women in Colombias. The press playedon the fears of male readers and the anti-Communism of the Colombian middle and ruling classes. Working women then were not only seen as a threat to traditional social order and gender roles, but to the safety and political stability of the state. Saether, Steiner. Leah Hutton Blumenfeld, PhD, is a professor of Political Science, International Relations, and Womens Studies at Barry University. Since then, men have established workshops, sold their wares to wider markets in a more commercial fashion, and thus have been the primary beneficiaries of the economic development of crafts in Colombia. There is a shift in the view of pottery as craft to pottery as commodity, with a parallel shift from rural production to towns as centers of pottery making and a decline in the status of women from primary producers to assistants. Death Stalks Colombias Unions.. . Friedmann-Sanchez,Paid Agroindustrial Work and Unpaid Caregiving for Dependents: The Gendered Dialectics between Structure and Agency in Colombia, 38. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997. Television shows, like Father Knows Best (above), reinforced gender roles for American men and women in the 1950s. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2000. Sofer, Eugene F. Recent Trends in Latin American Labor Historiography. Latin American Research Review 15 (1980): 167-176. At the same time, women still feel the pressures of their domestic roles, and unpaid caregiving labor in the home is a reason many do not remain employed on the flower farms for more than a few years at a time., According to Freidmann-Sanchez, when women take on paid work, they experience an elevation in status and feeling of self-worth. According to the National Statistics Department DANE the pandemic increased the poverty rate from 35.7% to 42.5%. The same pattern exists in the developing world though it is less well-researched. Miguel Urrutias 1969 book The Development of the Colombian Labor Movement is considered the major work in this genre, though David Sowell, in a later book on the same topic, faults Urrutia for his Marxist perspective and scant attention to the social and cultural experience of the workers. It assesses shifting gender roles and ideologies, and the ways that they intersect with a peace process and transitions in a post-Accord period, particularly in relation to issues of transitional justice. Eugene Sofer has said that working class history is more inclusive than a traditional labor history, one known for its preoccupation with unions, and that working class history incorporates the concept that working people should be viewed as conscious historical actors. If we are studying all working people, then where are the women in Colombias history? I have also included some texts for their absence of women. The research is based on personal interviews, though whether these interviews can be considered oral histories is debatable. The men went into the world to make a living and were either sought-after, eligible bachelors or they were the family breadwinner and head of the household. The number of male and female pottery workers in the rural area is nearly equal, but twice as many men as women work in pottery in the urban workshops., In town workshops where there are hired workers, they are generally men. subjugation and colonization of Colombia. Apparently, in Colombia during the 1950's, men were expected to take care of the family and protect family . The book, while probably accurate, is flat. By the 1930s, the citys textile mills were defining themselves as Catholic institutions and promoters of public morality., Policing womens interactions with their male co-workers had become an official part of a companys code of discipline. Men and women have had gendered roles in almost all societies throughout history; although these roles varied a great deal depending on the geographic location. It is not just an experience that defines who one is, but what one does with that experience. Some texts published in the 1980s (such as those by Dawn Keremitsis and Terry Jean Rosenberg) appear to have been ahead of their time, and, along with Tomn, could be considered pioneering work in feminist labor history in Colombia. The law generated controversy, as did any issue related to women's rights at the time. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992. While women are forging this new ground, they still struggle with balance and the workplace that has welcomed them has not entirely accommodated them either. Explaining Confederation: Colombian Unions in the 1980s., Labor in Latin America: Comparative Essays on Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, and Colombia. Many indigenous women were subject to slavery, rape and the loss of their cultural identity.[6]. It was safer than the street and freer than the home. French and James think that the use of micro-histories, including interviews and oral histories, may be the way to fill in the gaps left by official documents. She received her doctorate from Florida International University, graduated cum laude with a Bachelors degree in Spanish from Harvard University, and holds a Masters Degree in Latin American and Caribbean Studies from the University of Connecticut. The Development of the Colombian Labor Movement. Low class sexually lax women. The nature of their competition with British textile imports may lead one to believe they are local or indigenous craft and cloth makers men, women, and children alike but one cannot be sure from the text. Eugene Sofer has said that working class history is more inclusive than a traditional labor history, one known for its preoccupation with unions, and that working class history incorporates the concept that working people should be viewed as conscious historical actors., It seems strange that much of the historical literature on labor in Colombia would focus on organized labor since the number of workers in unions is small, with only about, , and the role of unions is generally less important in comparison to the rest of Latin America.. They are not innovators in the world of new technology and markets like men who have fewer obligations to family and community. They were interesting and engaging compared to the dry texts like Urrutias, which were full of names, dates, and acronyms that meant little to me once I closed the cover. It shows the crucial role that oral testimony has played in rescuing the hidden voices suppressed in other types of historical sources., The individual life stories of a smaller group of women workers show us the complicated mixture of emotions that characterizes interpersonal relations, and by doing so breaks the implied homogeneity of pre-existing categories.. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2000. Explaining Confederation: Colombian Unions in the 1980s. Latin American Research Review 25.2 (1990): 115-133. Before 1933 women in Colombia were only allowed schooling until middle school level education. [7] Family life has changed dramatically during the last decades: in the 1970s, 68,8% of births were inside marriage;[8] and divorce was legalized only in 1991. What has not yet shifted are industry or national policies that might provide more support. None of the sources included in this essay looked at labor in the service sector, and only Duncan came close to the informal economy. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989. She is . Even by focusing on women instead, I have had to be creative in my approach. Ulandssekretariatet LO/FTF Council Analytical Unit, Labor Market Profile 2018: Colombia. Danish Trade Union Council for International Development and Cooperation (February 2018), http://www.ulandssekretariatet.dk/sites/default/files/uploads/public/PDF/LMP/LMP2018/lmp_colombia_2018_final.pdf. It shows the crucial role that oral testimony has played in rescuing the hidden voices suppressed in other types of historical sources. The individual life stories of a smaller group of women workers show us the complicated mixture of emotions that characterizes interpersonal relations, and by doing so breaks the implied homogeneity of pre-existing categories. This approach creates texts whose substance and focus stand in marked contrast to the work of Urrutia and others. This classification then justifies low pay, if any, for their work. In the early twentieth century, the Catholic Church in Colombia was critical of industrialists that hired women to work for them. I am reminded of Paul A. Cohens book History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth. Farnsworths subjects are part of an event of history, the industrialization of Colombia, but their histories are oral testimonies to the experience. According to French and James, what Farnsworths work suggests for historians will require the use of different kinds of sources, tools, and questions. While there are some good historical studies on the subject, this work is supplemented by texts from anthropology and sociology. By law subordinate to her husband. R. Barranquilla: Dos Tendencias en el Movimiento Obrero, Crafts, Capitalism, and Women: The Potters of La Chamba, Colombia. Buy from bookshop.org (affiliate link) Juliet Gardiner is a historian and broadcaster and a former editor of History Today. Labor Issues in Colombias Privatization: A, Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 34.S (1994): 237-259. andLpez-Alves, Fernando. Soldiers returning home the end of World War II in 1945 helped usher in a new era in American history. Sowell also says that craftsmen is an appropriate label for skilled workers in mid to late 1800s Bogot since only 1% of women identified themselves as artisans, according to census data. Additionally, he looks at travel accounts from the period and is able to describe the racial composition of the society. Children today on the other hand might roll out of bed, when provoked to do so . Each author relies on the system as a determining factor in workers identity formation and organizational interests, with little attention paid to other elements. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1986. Women in Colombian Organizations, 1900-1940: A Study in Changing Gender Roles. Journal of Womens History 2.1 (Spring 1990): 98-119. With the growing popularity of the television and the importance of consumer culture in the 1950s, televised sitcoms and printed advertisements were the perfect way to reinforce existing gender norms to keep the family at the center of American society. I get my direct deposit every two weeks. This seems a departure from Farnsworth-Alvears finding of the double-voice among factory workers earlier. While pottery provides some income, it is not highly profitable. Latin American Feminism. New work should not rewrite history in a new category of women, or simply add women to old histories and conceptual frameworks of mens labor, but attempt to understand sex and gender male or female as one aspect of any history. family is considered destructive of its harmony and unity, and will be sanctioned according to law. Female Industrial Employment and Protective Labor Legislation in Bogot, Colombia. Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 24.1 (February 1982): 59-80. The assumption is that there is a nuclear family where the father is the worker who supports the family and the mother cares for the children, who grow up to perpetuate their parents roles in society. Each author relies on the system as a determining factor in workers identity formation and organizational interests, with little attention paid to other elements. There is some horizontal mobility in that a girl can choose to move to another town for work. Equally important is the limited scope for examining participation. Education for women was limited to the wealthy and they were only allowed to study until middle school in monastery under Roman Catholic education. French, John D. and Daniel James, Oral History, Identity Formation, and Working-Class Mobilization. In The Gendered Worlds of Latin American Women Workers (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997), 298. Female Industrial Employment and Protective Labor, Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs, Pedraja Tomn, Women in Colombian Organizations, 1900-1940., Keremitsis, Latin American Women Workers in Transition., Mujer, Religin, e Industria: Fabricato, 1923-1982, Farnsworth-Alvear, Ann. In a meta-analysis of 17 studies of a wide variety of mental illnesses, Gove (1972) found consistently higher rates for women compared to men, which he attributed to traditional gender roles. However, the 1950s were a time of new definition in men's gender roles. There is plenty of material for comparative studies within the country, which will lead to a richer, broader, and more inclusive historiography for Colombia. Squaring the Circle: Womens Factory Labor, Gender Ideology, and Necessity. In The Gendered Worlds of Latin American Women Workers. Male soldiers had just returned home from war to see America "at the summit of the world" (Churchill). A man as the head of the house might maintain more than one household as the number of children affected the amount of available labor. Not only could women move away from traditional definitions of femininity in defending themselves, but they could also enjoy a new kind of flirtation without involvement. Sowell, David. Farnsworth-Alvear shows how the experiences of women in the textile factories of Bogot were not so different from their counterparts elsewhere. In spite of this monolithic approach, women and children, often from the families of permanent hacienda workers, joinedin the coffee harvest., In other words, they were not considered a permanent part of the coffee labor force, although an editorial from 1933 stated that the coffee industry in Colombia provided adequate and almost permanent work to women and children., There were women who participated directly in the coffee industry as the sorters and graders of coffee beans (, Familial relationships could make or break the success of a farm or familys independence and there was often competition between neighbors. Gender Roles in the 1950's In the 1950's as of now there will always be many roles that will be specifically appointed to eache gender. Many men were getting degrees and found jobs that paid higher because of the higher education they received. While women are forging this new ground, they still struggle with balance and the workplace that has welcomed them has not entirely accommodated them either. They explore various gender-based theories on changing numbers of women participating in the workforce that, while drawn from specific urban case studies, could also apply to rural phenomena. Other recent publications, such as those from W. John Green and Jess Bolvar Bolvar fall back into the same mold as the earliest publications examined here. Liberal congressman Jorge Elicer Gaitn defended the decree Number 1972 of 1933 to allow women to receive higher education schooling, while the conservative Germn Arciniegas opposed it. (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2000), 75. The use of gender makes the understanding of historio-cultural change in Medelln in relation to industrialization in the early twentieth century relevant to men as well as women. The Early Colombian Labor Movement: Artisans and Politics in Bogota, 1832-1919. In the 1940s, gender roles were very clearly defined. Among women who say they have faced gender-based discrimination or unfair treatment, a solid majority (71%) say the country hasn't gone far enough when it comes to giving women equal rights with men. The Early Colombian Labor Movement: Artisans and Politics in Bogota, 1832-1919. My own search for additional sources on her yielded few titles, none of which were written later than 1988. For the people of La Chamba, the influence of capitalist expansion is one more example of power in a history of dominance by outsiders. Even today, gender roles are still prevalent and simply change to fit new adaptations of society, but have become less stressed over time. For example, the blending of forms is apparent in the pottery itself. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2000. is considered the major work in this genre, though David Sowell, in a later book on the same topic,, faults Urrutia for his Marxist perspective and scant attention to the social and cultural experience of the workers. According to French and James, what Farnsworths work suggests for historians will require the use of different kinds of sources, tools, and questions. The red (left) is the female Venus symbol. Bergquist, Labor History and its Challenges: Confessions of a Latin. In Colombia it is clear that ""social and cultural beliefs [are] deeply rooted in generating rigid gender roles and patterns of sexist, patriarchal and discriminatory behaviors, [which] facilitate, allow, excuse or legitimize violence against women."" (UN, 2013). ?s most urgent problem Gender Roles in Columbia in the 1950s "They knew how to do screen embroidery, sew by machine, weave bone lace, wash and iron, make artifical flavors and fancy candy, and write engagement announcements." Men- men are expected to hold up the family, honor is incredibly important in that society. They knew how to do screen embroidery, sew by machine, weave bone lace, wash and iron, make artificial flowers and fancy candy, and write engagement announcements. Labor History and its Challenges: Confessions of a Latin Americanist. American Historical Review (June 1993): 757-764. High class protected women. French, John D. and Daniel James. in contrast to non-Iberian or Marxist characterizations because the artisan occupied a different social stratum in Latin America than his counterparts in Europe. The assumption is that there is a nuclear family where the father is the worker who supports the family and the mother cares for the children, who grow up to perpetuate their parents roles in society. While most of the people of Rquira learn pottery from their elders, not everyone becomes a potter. Shows from the 1950s The 1950s nuclear family emerged in the post WWII era, as Americans faced the imminent threat of destruction from their Cold War enemies. French and James. Feriva, Cali, 1997. Dynamic of marriage based on male protection of women's honour. While some research has been done within sociology and anthropology, historical research can contribute, too, by showing patterns over time rather than snapshots., It is difficult to know where to draw a line in the timeline of Colombian history. The authors observation that religion is an important factor in the perpetuation of gender roles in Colombia is interesting compared to the other case studies from non-Catholic countries. Labor Issues in Colombias Privatization: A Comparative Perspective. Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance 34.S (1994): 237-259. Since the 1970s, state agencies, like Artisanas de Colombia, have aided the establishment of workshops and the purchase of equipment primarily for men who are thought to be a better investment. The reasoning behind this can be found in the work of Arango, Farnsworth-Alvear, and Keremitsis.