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by Amanda Diaz and Magali Krischke October 1978
Varna Bambirra is a Brazilian-born researcher. After the
coupd'etat overthrowing the government of Joao Gulart in
Brazil,Vania went to live in Chile, where she became involved
ininteresting and important academic and political activities.She
worked for several years at CESO (Centre for SocialStudies),
affiliated with the University of Chile. In that in-stitution, she
carried out important research, writing severalarticles on women in
the journal Punto Final. Other articlesrelated to Latin America
were written by Vania under thepseudonym Clea Silva. Among her
works, which form a strongcontribution to the study of dependency
in Latin America,the following books can be cited: La Revolucion
Cubarza:une reinterpretation; (Mexico); El Capitalism°
DependienteLatino American° (Siglo XXI, Mexico: 1974); Teoria de
laDcpendencia. Una anticritica (Ediciones Era, Mexico: 1978).
At present, Vania lives and works in Mexico (like many
otherresearchers from Latin America, she has had to request
politicalasylum after the Chilean coup d'etat in 1973) at the
UniversidadAutOnoma de Mexic6, Departamento de Economia.
Two Thirds: We would like to focus our conversation onthe
situation of women over the last ten or fifteen years, buthefore
that, Vania, we would like you to give us an idea ofyour own work
and experience in the field of Latin AmericanWomen's Studies.Vania
Bambirra: I acquired my first experience in Belo
lion te, Minas Gerais, in Brazil, while I was a student, withthe
"favelados" movement, which at that time had a tremen-dous
political importance. As you know, the "favelados"are shanty town
inhabitants. I was working with both menand women, and the women
showed a very great militantattitude. My second experience was with
women, in the or-ganifation of the first Peasant League in Tres
Marias, MinasGa.aiS. Wring my stay in Chile, had very few
contactswith poptilat sectors; I dealt mainly with University
people.I ‘l ii-tite a eutiple of articles on the situation of the
Chilean
woman from a Marxist point of view, which were publishedin the
magazine Punto Final.
TT: Do you think we can talk about the situation of womenin
Latin America in general, or should we focus on the prob-lems of
women in each country in particular?V.B.: I would tackle the
problem from an entirely differentangle. One can't deal with
women's issues in general. I alwaystry to specify class
distinctions when I deal with the situationof women. That is the
crucial distinction. There are as manycategories of women as there
are social classes; the situationof the bourgeois woman is
different from that of the peasantor working-class woman. "Women in
general" do not exist.It is easy to see that the working-class
woman is subject to atwo-fold exploitation, as a worker and as a
woman. She workstwo shifts; one at the factory and one at home.
TT: Maybe our point was not clearly made. When we askedyou if it
was possible to talk about the situation of womenin Latin America,
we were wondering if it would be better toconcentrate on the
situation of women in a specific country,or to make specific
distinctions for each country within ageneral framework, due to the
different cultural variableswhich exist in each place.
V.B.: I believe that the basic problems of the working
classwoman are the same, whether in Argentina, Brazil or
Mexico.This also applies to the petit bourgeois and bourgeois
women.Perhaps one can say that the Chilean woman is more
politic-ally conscious, has a greater militant tradition than the
Brazil-ian woman, and that this is due to a cultural difference.
Onthe other hand, I think that the Chilean woman is not as
ad-vanced as the Argentine woman; Chile has not reached thedegree
of technological development of Argentina, and thisreflects in some
ways on women's attitudes. In spite of allthis, I believe we should
take Latin America as a unit; thecommon problems are the most
relevant, in spite of the dif-ferences which exist.
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3T: What are the differences and sumuliniues in the situationof
women of the different social classes in Latin America''V.B to the
first place, a general similarity; the discrimin-
ii against women as such. Women tend to he subordinat-dependent,
not only in economic aspects but also in
notional and political ones. You can find this subordin-ation.
this dependence, this discrimination not only in theworking class
woman, but also in the petit bourgeois andeven in the bourgeois
woman. It is a general attitude. Never-theless, this similarity is
not important: I don't consider my-self a feminist.
.IT: In spite of recognizing that women are
discriminatedagainst, and subordinated, you say that you're not a
femin-ist. What do you mean by that?V.B.: What I mean is that the
subordination, the discrimin-ation, cannot be overcome by a
'woman's only' struggle,which in some cases becomes an anti-male
movement, whichis absurd. Women should be struggling against the
capitalistsystem which oppresses them, and that struggle should
beled by the vanguard of society, the working class. In this
con-text, woman's liberation concerns both men and women, andcan
only be achieved in a superior economic system, thefirst step of
which is socialism. The situation of women inSocialist countries is
much more favourable, but full liber-ation still has not been
achieved. It is only in a Communistsociety that this full
liberation will take place, with the in-dustrialization of domestic
economy. This implies an enor-mous development of the productive
forces, which demandsan urban and architectural revolution to
enable domesticwork to be undertaken in large units. Without this
it is im-possible to imagine the total liberation of women.
IT: Do you consider the anti-male aspect of the feministmovement
to be a first approximation, a transitory stage inthe
struggle?V.B.: 1 don't know if it is a transitory stage or not—I
havemy doubts. I think it depends can the sector of the move-ment-
there are sectors of the feminist movement with suchgreat
deformations that thy.may never advance towardshigher forms of
organization. I must also stress that thebourgeoisie tries to use
the movement towards its own ends.
Tr: What about sonic concrete situations faced by women.For
instance, how can one make the man share domestic re-sponsibilities
and also be conscious of his own responsibilityat home?
V.B.: I think that it is very important to make large
popularsectors conscious of the limitations of male chauvinism,
of-machismo", and its reactionary content. The political
plat-fotins of revolutionary parties, movements and
organizationsshould include women's rights as part of their program
ofthe people's struggle in general, and they should actively
in-corporate women in their movements.
TT: Do you think there have been changes in the situation
ofdifferent social classes in Latin America over these
but ten Veals?V.B.: Yes, at least in some aspects, because Latin
America hasdeveloped in the last ten years. Several countries have
becomemore industrialized. In spite of this progress, we have a
criticalsituation. The development of the productive apparatus
broughtabout a greater involvement of women in productive life.
I'mnot 'so sure this happened to'working class women, but the
per-Centage of petit bourgeois'Women in the Universities has
in-creased, and this is important. Nevertheless, although there isa
greater feminine presence in` several sectors, it is still an
ex-ception if one looks at Latin American politics in general.
Insome areas their participation is really limited; such is the
caseof cultural activities in general. There are not many women
actively prodtit:tsig anti Writing in the held or social
sciences,for an instance.TT: Ott what do you base this
opinion?V.B.: it has to do with women's general situation, with
theirsubordinate position in society. It is very difficult for a
wo-man to acquire her own identity, from a cultural, profession-al
or any other point of view. It all has to do with the back-ward
"machista" tradition of our peoples. Woman have tomake a double
effort to overcome the discriminatory bar-riers which exist against
her. All other things being equal, awoman always loses out to a
man, because competition tendsto relegate her to second place.
TT: You said before that women—above all working classwomen—were
exploited and discriminated against. If we ac-cept now that there
is a double exploitation in a male dominat-ed society, how can we
accept that men are going to give wo-men their liberation?V.B.: I
think that women should he twice as revolutionary,precisely because
they are twice exploited. They have doublereasons to struggle
against the system. It is not men who ex-ploit women, it is the
system of exploitation of the dominatedclasses by the dominant
class which affects the oppressed wo-men on a double count. That is
why the working class andpeasant woman, and even large sectors of
the petit bourgeoisie,can have this revolutionary perspective which
the bourgeoiswoman lacks. The bourgeois woman transfers the
substanceof her exploitation to other women, such as her servants.
Ifshe considers herself to be exploited by the system, it is onlyin
the sense of being discriminated against as a woman. Sheis not
subjected to a double exploitation, and in this sense,the bourgeois
woman and the working class woman areenemies. This is why I said
before that the whole questionshould be stated in terms of class
relations. The working classwoman cannot join forces with the
bourgeois woman, butshe can join forces with her mate, with her
fellow workers,with the people of her class. This is the reason why
1 do notconsider myself a feminist, in the same way as
DomitilaBarrios Chungara, Secretary General of the
Housewives'Committee of the Siglo XX mine in Bolivia, doesn't
considerherself a feminist, and her answer to the question is based
onintuition. Moema Viezzer wrote a book about
Domitila'sexperiences, titled "If you let me speak" ("Si me
permitenhablar", Ed. SigloXXI, Mexico.) Why does she say she is
nota feminist? Because she is a woman of the mines, strugglingside
by side with the miners, against dictatorship and oppres-sion in
her country.
TT: The bourgeois and petit bourgeois women in LatinAmerica
transfer exploitation to the domestic servant--some-thing which the
petit bourgeois woman in developed capital-ist countries can no
longer do in the same way. But thereare limits to this transfer, as
these women still have to carefor the children and supervise
domestic work in general.
V.B.: The feminine sector of our society which is most
over-exploited, whose function is even pre-capitalist and servile
intwine, is that of the domestic servant. I know that in
thedeveloped capitalist countries this no longer happens, or
atleast, it does not happen with the same intensity, but in
oursociety, bourgeois and petit bourgeois women exploit
domesticservice in the most heartless and savage manner. The
domesticservants, daughters of peasants or workers, have no right
to aprivate life. Those of peasant extraction have three
options;becoming worker-peasants, prostitutes, or domestic
servants.Those who choose domestic service do not earn even half
ofa minimum working wage. They usually work from 7 in themorning to
10 at night, and have no opportunities of develop-ing a private
life. They live in precarious conditions, in atticrooms, isolated;
they are not allowed to have children, be-cause if they do they
lose their employment. .Abortions are
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1.TOMEMIMITalk,
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7
cokumon practice, with all the frustrations which this typeof
life can bring. They arc treated as serfs, they exist only to
...obey. The petit bourgeois woman in Latin America is themost
sinister exploiter that has ever existed.
TT: Isn't the man an accomplice to this woman's exploit-ation of
the domestic servant? He also takes advantage of theservant's
work.V.B.: Yes, the man is an indirect accomplice of this
exploit-ation.
TT: We don't consider this type of struggle as incompatiblewith
the struggle of the feminist movement. If women donot participate
actively and organize themselves in society,they will be marginated
and relegated.V.B.: I can agree with that. I believe that women
shouldparticipate and organize themselves as such, but I make
adistinction between that and feminism. Let me explainthis further.
I believe that it is important. Domitila organizedthe miners'
wives; they didn't work in the mines themselves,but they organized
themSelves to fight alongside the miners,participating in their
strikes in defense of common interests.They were organized as
women, struggling side by side withtheir men. They organized a
housewives' committee—but itwas a political organization, which
included their demandsas women. This also is the way women are
organized inSocialist countries. In Cuba, the Federation of Cuban
Womendefends the specific interests of women, but the Federationis
related to the Party and to the whole social and revolu-tionary
process. It is not an isolated, particular struggle, be-cause the
main issue is the struggle for socialism and pro-letarian
revolution. In this context I cannot imagine a wo-men's movement
which turns against men. I find that theenemies are of another
kind, and I can't see any advantagein mixing the demands of the
working women with those ofthe bourgeois women; they are
qualitatively different. Butas long as this remains clear, I have
nothing against women'sorganizations.
TT: What changes have you noticed in the situation ofwomen in
Latin America?V.B.: It is difficult to generalize; one has to he
more specific.For instance, in Chile, during the Unidad Popular
period,the number of day care centres increased, and
women'sparticipation in all aspects of social and political life
increas-ed also. In the past 15 years, there has been a much
greaterincorporation of women to social struggle in Brazil, but
itstill remains a diffuse participation. Women's journals beginto
appear as opposition journals to the dictatorship. Suchis the case
of "Nos Mulhers. ", which in my opinion is ex-cellent. The Amnesty
Movement is led by women. I don'thave much information about
Argentina, but I understandthat there has been an increase in
feminine presence insocial struggles.
Ti': What elements have influenced these changes?V.B.: Firstly,
the process of cultural, economic and indus-trial development; and
secondly, the crisis of dependentcapitalist systems, which has
pushed women toward a moreactive participation. Domitila's case,
for an instance, showsthat the struggle for survival pushed women
to fight. InBrazil, the crisis has led women to organize themselves
inpractically all the states. Women are becoming more concern-ed
with issues such as democracy, the struggle for socialism,the
exploitation of workers, etc. To sum it up, the greatercultural
development and the profound crisis of dependentcapitalism is
leading sectors which did not participate verymuch to more intense
forms of participation.TT: Do you consider the fact that this
capitalist crisis allowsfor some participation of the feminist
movement as a stepfoi
V.B.: Of course,r,it is very important. One must he
careful,though, because the bourgeoisie has also understood this
andhas tried to use it to its own advantage. The most
importantsectors of the feminist movement in the U.S. are
dominatedby the bourgeoisie. This can be seen in the attempt to
pitwomen against men, to restrict the character of the move-ment,
and to present it as a broader, more political, moreunitarian
movement. Even the literature which has come outof the leaders of
the feminist movement in recent years istotally wrong. These
leaders are bourgeois or petit bourgeoiswomen, who try to use the
movement, disfiguring it, depriv-ing it of its revolutionary,
socialist content. In general, Imust say that there are important
things happening, butone must learn to be selective in one's
analysis.
TT: We would like to talk some more about the situation ofthe
working woman in Latin America, not only in her roleas a worker's
spouse, but as a worker herself. How does shevisualize her
work?V.B.: Obviously, she works to supplement her husband'ssalary,
but this does not mean that she does not struggle fora general
improvement in her working and living conditions.There are many
proofs of combative attitudes among work-ing women in Latin
America, which have become more pro-nounced in recent years. A new
period of ascendent socialstruggles is being outlined today in
Latin America, but thosestruggles have been and still are
suffocated by the presenceof military dictatorships such as the one
which has governedBrazil for the last 14 years. It is difficult for
both women andmen to express themselves under those circumstances.
Therepressive system in Latin America is very violent. In spiteof
this, Chilean women are struggling against the dictator-ship, by
means of hunger strikes and protests; they are outin the streets
again.
TT: What we notice is that many of the women's protestsare
related to their traditional role, in the family, but not somuch to
their own specific demands.V.B.: I don't think that this is the
case of the Chilean women;they are not protesting for their loved
ones alone; theyunderstand the political content of their actions.
Their de-mands have a much wider reach, especially in the
Chileancase, where three years of Unidad Popular government
achiev-ed a massive politicization. Of course, women's rallies
areoften related to affective and emotional aspects; we cannotdeny
this fact, which has to do with the "feminine" functionand has
roots in that strong cultural tradition which relegatesthe woman to
a docile, passive, dependent role. This doesnot exclude the fact
that many of these rallies show a muchdeeper degree of conscience
of women as part of popularsectors.
TT: When a woman goes out to work, she usually does be-cause of
her family's needs, and not for her own self-fulfillment. What do
you think of that?V.B.: Yes, it is an important aspect, but you
must also con-sider that when a young man goes to work in a
factory, hedoes not do so because he chose the job. He goes to work
inthat factory because he has a very objective need for survival,
,and has no opportunity to develop his potential, to studymore, and
to choose what he wants to be in life. The samehappens to a child
who begs in the street. Neither the worker,nor the child, nor the
woman are fulfilling their existence.Society frustrates and
castrates the majority of the people.The woman's problem might he a
bit more dramatic, but itis shared by the oppressed sectors in
general as the impos-sibility to choose, to develop socially. As we
said before, theworking class woman is discriminated against not
only be-cause she is a woman, but because she belongs to the
work-ing class, and this is important. The petit bourgeois
womandoes not need to work to supplement her husband's salary,
40
'IrVinagliaMak4 44,
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sO"she has a wider margin of choice and can look for
analternative which provides personal fulfillment, that is to
say,she can'an decide what to contribute - to.society, what
professionto take up. The working class woman can't. I insist on
thispoill it; the problem is more one of class discrimination
thanof discrimination against women in general. The situation
insocialist countries is different; if we consider the statisticson
wonien professionals in the Soviet Union, they arc im-pressive. If
my memory serves me, more than 80% of thedoctors in the USSR are
women. It is a sy stem which hasdeveloped in a much more
egalitarian fashion, in spite of thefact that the problem is far
from being solved, as it dependson a greater general development.
In any event, womenthere already have greater possibilities of
social participation.
TT: Although a Socialist revolution has already taken placein
Cuba, there still are problems there regarding the situationof
women. What do you think of the recent law establishingthe division
of responsibilities for domestic work betweenmen and women?V.B.: I
think it is a very important step toward a solutionfor Cuba, within
its material conditions as an underdeveloped.country, still very
poor, which has to overcome 400 yearsof backward heritage. We also
must not forget that "machismo"exists in Cuba, as it does in other
Latin American countries,based on a very strong cultural tradition
which even a revo-lution as radical as the Cuban one has not been
able to eradi-cate. This fact indicates the need for a profound
culturalrevolution.. .and to avoid being idealistic, we must say
thatthis profound cultural revolution, this change in mentality,can
only come about as the result of material, economic andindustrial
development. The changes implied by the new laware very important,
but they are only transitory, interme-diate steps. The Cuban woman
has only achieved a slightlygreater degree of independence. The
discussions on theConstitution in the Revolutionary Defense
Committees inCuba were very interesting. People said, 'If you don't
work,you don't cat.' Some pointed out that many women didn'twork,
and the women's answer was, 'Of course we do, wework at home.' One
must not forget that Cuban society isstill unable to incorporate
all women in the productivesystem, as it has nut been able to solve
the day care prob..lems yet. Although great advances have been
made, theCuban woman is still a prisoner of domestic activities,
evenmore so in this period of transition; for example, the
petitbourgeoisie cannot solve the problem by transferring
theexploitation to servants because there aren't any servantsleft
If thin MC line tips due to food scarcity. everybodyhas to stand in
line. On one hand, the women have tosacrifice a lot in this period
of transition, but on the other,they have become more respected and
independent. I hada very moving experience while I was in Cuba; I
talked tosome ex-prostitutes. Prostitution was eliminated very
quick-ly in Cuba; even during the democratic period there was
noprostitution left. One of the women I spoke to had
becomeintegrated into productive life; she had solved her
problem,and was even going to become a 'millenia'. It was
verytouching to see how her comrades treated her with respectand
affection.
Tr: Do you think that the changes which occur in a social-ist
society, for example, Cuba, have any influence on LatinAmerican
women?V.B.: Yes, in the sense that those experiences can serve asan
inspiration for the future, when we start to build social-ism; we
can look at the examples and know what road totake. Only in this
sense. I don't think there is enough in-formation about Cuba in the
rest of Latin America to justifytalking about any other kind of
influence. Just rememberthat 70% of the countries live under
military dictatorships.The people know very little of what is going
on in Cuba.Sonic intellectuals have access to the literature on
what is
happening there. But, even though we have the information,how
could we put it into practice here? Cuba is Socialist,here we have
dependent capitalism, and this type of influenceonly can serve as
an example for the future. Therein lies ourresponsibility as
intellectuals to study this experience,assimilate it arid spread
it, as we can serve as a bridge towardpopular sectors.
TT: Do you think that these changes may also have beeninfluenced
by the feminist movement in North America?V.B.: Certainly, both by
the North American and Europeanmovements. They both had a very
strong impact. Everythingthat goes on in the advanced capitalist
countries has an in-fluence on the dependent countries.
TT: Do you believe that within the framework of a capital-ist
bourgeois society, the changes brought about by thefeminist
movement contribute to - the struggle against thepresent social,
political and economic situation in LatinAmerica?V.B: That depends
on the movement's orientation. Inas-much as some sectors of the
feminist movement tend tofollow orientations which lead them to
defend particularinterests, divorced from more ample social
struggles, I don'tthink they are collaborating Harnercker's hook
"Cuba, Democracyments. This happens in many advanced capitalist
countries.Quite to the contrary, the contribution is even negative.
Themovement in Brazil, on the other hand, is playing a
veryimportant role, because the women there are
organizingthemselves in a struggle for democracy. That without
doubtis an important contribution.
TT: In the present critical situation, women are led to
workoutside their homes, and to study; at the same time, theyare
urged to maintain their traditional role. Who is interestedin the
conservation of this traditional role?V.B.: The system is
interested in that, because it has nopossibility of incorporating
women into the market. We areliving in a period of technical and
scientific revolution, andthere is a capitalist trend toward
structural unemployment.The last two crises of the system led to
unemployment figureswhich surpassed all previous counts; I'm
talking about countriessuch as U.S.A., France, and Germany, not to
speak of GreatBritain, where the situation is now very
deteriorated. Thesystem cannot massively incorporate women to the
productiveapparatus. This can only be done in a planned socialist
eco-nomy. Because of this, the system is interested in keepingwomen
subordinated at home; it cannot solve the problemany other way.
Front the point of view of capitalist ideology,there is nothing to
stop incorporating women into the pro-ductive system, but it cannot
be done, so the whole mother-hood and child care myth has to he
developed. The systemcannot solve this problem, arid what is more,
it becomes pro-gressively worse, both in the developed and the
dependentcapitalist countries. All the resources of the media,
publicity'and advertising are geared to the justification of this
situation.
TT: But, at the sabre time, women are stimulated to studyand
improve their training, in order to make more qualifiedlabour
available.V.B.: True, but then they have no opportunity to join
theworking force. This is a current problem for today's youthin
general. It is also one of the reasons for young
people'srebelliousness: they have no professional future. What
happensin Latin America for an instance, is that women's
particip-ation in the university increases, but they marry soon
afterand devote themselves to raising children because it is
sodifficult to get a job.
Ti': What are the developments in the power of decision
andpolitical participation of women both in socialist and
capital-ist countries?
41
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YAMARAIEN "AtatiEntianW4t -=Zitaitatslititzgattasaataz
Very important ones. For example, if one analysesthekilhan case,
women's participation at all levels of political
i)cen integrated with that of the whole people. Fromthe
Revolutionary Defense Committees, which are organizedin each block,
with massive participation, to the Popular PowerAssemblies, and the
recent discussions on institutionalization.I suggest you read
Martha Harnewrcker's book "Cuba. Democracyor Dictatorship?", where
all this is explained in great detail.
TT: You said before that Cuba was not able to incorporatewomen
massively into the productive process. Why do youstipulate women in
this context'? Isn't this a ease of discrim-ination against
women?V.B.: The problem is that Cuba has not been able to createthe
conditions which would enable women to leave home.The necessary
infrastructure of day care centres, popularrestaurants, collective
laundries, and so on will take years tocomplete; it implies an
architectural and urban revolution atall levels, and a solution to
the urban-rural contradiction.That is why I said that this could
only be achieved at a com-munist stage, which would imply a
tremendous developmentof productive forces.
TT: What is the Cuban woman's participation in Party life?V.B.:
It has increased drastically. If you take a look at theThesis and
Resolutions of the First Congress of the Com-munist Party of Cuba,
you will see the Party's preoccupationwith the massive
incorporation of women, and with makingthat incorporation
meaningful. This concern is very healthyand aims at finding better
solutions to the problem.
TT: You state that the incorporation of women into theproductive
process will depend on existing economic de-velopment. If in Cuba
today there is no infrastructure whichwill enable this development,
do you think that this maybecome an obstacle to the advancement of
the Cubanwoman's present situation; in other words, that the lack
ofjob opportunities may continue to relegate her, and lead herto
revert to her traditional role?V.B.: I was trying to point out that
the change cannot beaccomplished all at once. It is a relatively
slow process, butthere is an increasing trend towards a
consciousness that thisincorporation is necessary. On the other
hand, the develop-ment of industry, hospitals, factories and so on
in Cubanaturally help to create the conditions for this
incorporation,and the increase in accumulation permits the
assignment ofmore funds to the building of day care centres,
collectiverestaurants, and provokes the disappearance of line ups
for
31171011L711.136EDIMInameneacacass.s,
food, thus creating the required conditions for women'stotal
liberation. In Cuba today, the activist who discrim-inates against
his wife and does not collaborate at home, isexpelled from the
Party. But, as I said before, it is a gradualprocess; and although
women are not massively incorporatedinto the productive process,
this has not been an obstacle -to their involvement in the
political process, perhaps becausethis is also the result of an
important revolution.
TT: And what is women's power of decision and
ioliticalparticipation in the capitalist countries?V.B.: It is very
restricted, and only appears as the right tovote in those countries
where there is a representative dem-ocracy. It is interesting to
see that in many cases right wingpar ties arc elected on the basis
of women's votes. ChristianDemocracy in Chile and Franco in Spain,
were both electedon the basis of women's votes. Women tend to be
conserv-ative, and the left has always lost their vote. This is an
im-portant point for consideration. In any event, their
partic-ipation is limited to voting; there are very few female
MP's,Senators or politicians in capitalist countries.
TT: Is it legitimate to he concerned about the situation ofwomen
before a socialist revolution, or should one wait,devote efforts to
the revolution and then attend to women'sliberation?V.B.: The
struggle for woman's liberation should he takenup now, because it
is a very important component of thestruggle for a socialist
revolution. The best possible advantageshould be taken of this
struggle; it is an important revolutionarybanner.
TT: What form should our struggle and preoccupation aboutthe
situation of women take today?V.B.: I think that the struggle for
women's liberation shouldhe led by the working class and its
parties, and all women'sdemands should he made in the context of
that struggle,above all those of oppressed women, workers,
peasants, andimportant sectors of the petit bourgeoisie. To
conclude,women have an obligation to participate in the
people'sgeneral struggles, in pursuit of political and economic
dem-ocracy as pre-requisites of a socialist revolution. These
popularsectors should also show solidarity with women's
demands,advocating their incorporation into the productive
process,and their right of a wider political participation,
althoughthey know that this will only be possible when capitalismis
overcome.
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