Gender, Citizenship and Reproductive Rights in the Poblaciones of Southern Santiago, Chile
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University o f London GENDER, CITIZENSHIP AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS IN THE POBLACIONES OF SOUTHERN SANTIAGO, CHILE Ceri Willmott A thesis submitted to the Department of Anthropology, London School of Economics and Political Science, for the Degree of Ph.D, December 1998 UMI Number: U121134 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U121134 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 I V 75 %?sARy I* V |a>v ^r \ > ■ "o m4- X£o.JO>^ / 7 0 3 9 7 7 Abstract THIS THESIS is a study of the relationship between gender, citizenship and reproductive rights in thepoblaciones of Santiago, both in relation to the Chilean State and in terms of the categories of international human rights law. At a time in which there has been a great deal of debate about women’s international rights and new areas of rights directed at women have begun to be defined, this study seeks to draw attention to the need to consider how such rights operate in specific cultural contexts. In particular, it considers how dominant cultural discourses of gender are constructed and reproduced in the context of marginal urban communities in Santiago, Chile, and the constraints they may place on the conception and exercise of women’s citizenship. The thesis sets out to show the ways in which these discourses are embedded in state institutions and reproduced in its practices. It describes the ways in which the law operates in a discursive way to allow or disallow interpretations of events and thereby conditions and delimits women’s citizenship. Rather then depicting these dominant discourses as totalizing, the thesis aims to present a more complex picture in which women may on the one hand be seen to be complicit in their own subordination, but on the other to adopt alternative discourses, for example the new feminist discourse on human rights and the discourses emanating from NGOs which focus on concepts of freedom and autonomy. Women may be seen to reinterpret these discourses in the course of applying them to their own situations, accepting, rejecting and transforming them in the process. It draws on interviews with 89 women living in marginal urban communities, which investigate the exercise of citizenship and the variables affecting women’s capacity to operationalise their rights. The data aims to show how rights discourses, including human rights can play a transformative role in the content and practice of citizenship. The extension of the concept of citizen to incorporate new areas of rights such as reproductive and sexual rights, creates the potential for women to use these conceptual tools to challenge traditional gender discourse that discriminate against them and inhibit the exercise of their citizenship. The thesis lays out the theoretical debates in relation to gender and citizenship, the state, the universalist- relativist debate in anthropology and the feminist discourse on human rights and argues in favour of a perspective that incorporates a gendered analysis of the cultural factors influencing the operation of laws. Contents Note on translation and use of names iv Illustrations v Acknowledgements vi Chapter 1 — Introduction 1.1 The aim of the study 1 1.2 Fieldwork and the collection of ethnographic data 2 A note on ethics and methodology 2 Fieldwork 6 Mujeres pobladores 12 1.3 Research hypotheses and thesis structure 17 Chapter 2 - Theoretical perspectives 2.1 Introduction 20 2.2 Theoretical perspectives on the state and the construction of citizenship 20 2.3 Anthropology and the dilemma of universal human rights 31 2.4 Feminist theory and universal ethical standards 36 Feminist theories and international law 36 Feminism and difference 38 2.5 Developing a cross-cultural perspective on reproductive and sexual rights 43 2.6 Conclusion 46 Chapter 3 - Competing Discourses on Gender and Rights 3.1 Introduction 49 3.2 Marianisimo, machismo , motherhood and mythology: Dominant discourses of 50 gender roles and reproduction Catholic ideology and notions of maleness andfemaleness 51 The media 58 Popular mythology and the Catholic family 59 Sexuality, the Church and HIV 60 3.3 Women and international human rights 63 3.4 The discourses of NGOs 68 3.5 Conclusion 71 Chapter 4 — Gender and the state: the Interpretation of Women’s Citizenship 4.1 Introduction 72 4.2 Gender discourses on gender embedded in government projects: the examples of the Ministry of Health and SERNAM: 74 Case 1: The Ministry of Health’s Programa de Salud Materna y 79 Perinatal (Maternal Health and Prenatal Care Programme) Case 2: SERNAM and recent Ministry of Health programmes 80 Case 3: The Equal Opportunity Plan 84 i 4.3 Women’s legal status in Chile 87 4.4 Domestic violence 96 The new law against domestic violence 96 Theoretical perspectives and interpretation 99 4.4 The operation of the law against abortion 107 Legal cases concerning abortion 108 4.5 Conclusion 113 Chapter 5 - Participation in the Women’s Movement 5.1 Introduction 117 5.2 Women’s individual histories and experiences of participation 120 Case study I 121 Case study II 123 5.3 Changes in women’s lives brought about by participation 126 Case study III 137 Case study TV 138 5.4 Younger women 139 5.5 Relations between women in the women’s movement 140 5.6 Conclusion 141 Chapter 6 - ‘Accepted but not desired’: women’s reproductive histories 6.1 Introduction 142 6.2 The first pregnancy 143 6.3 Reproductive ‘decision making’ after the first child 148 6.4 Contraception and responsibility for preventing pregnancy 151 6.5 Abortion 156 Partner’s involvement in and views about abortion 167 6.6 Motherhood 169 6.7 Awareness about reproductive rights (los derechos reproductivos) 178 6.8 Conclusion 181 Chapter 7 - ‘Body absent, body present’: perceptions and experiences of sexuality 7.1 Introduction 184 7.2 Growing up 185 7.3 Common themes in women’s notions and expressions of sexuality 188 When do women believe their sexuality begins and ends? 188 ‘La culpa’ 189 Women’s relationships with their bodies 191 Experiences in relation to ‘la sexualidad’ 193 Mutual rape and saying ‘no ’ 196 Negotiation and ‘chantaje ’ 198 Homosexuality 199 AIDS 200 Awareness of sexual rights 201 7.4 The effect of participation in women’s groups on women’s sexual lives 202 ‘Dirigentas ’ and long term participants 203 Participants 209 7.5 Case studies of sexuality workshops 215 7.6 Conclusion 218 Chapter 8 - Conclusion 220 Appendix I: Questionnaire 228 Appendix IIA: The law penalising abortion 230 Appendix IIB: Domestic violence cases 232 Appendix III: Reproductive histories 248 Appendix IV: Original Spanish of testimonials contained in chapters 1 256 and 6 Appendix V: Women’s reflections on pregnancy, childbirth and 261 reproductive health Appendix VI: Case Studies of sexuality and bodily awareness workshops 270 Appendix VII: Declaration of Reproductive and Sexual Rights 322 Bibliography 325 Note on Translation and Use of Names All translations from Spanish are mine, unless otherwise stated. Spanish terms and quotations will appear in Italics. All longer quotations and some of the ethnographic descriptions will appear single spaced. Square brackets [] are used to indicate my additions to quotations. The original Spanish of longer quotations will be found in the footnotes or, in two cases, in Appendix IV. All names of persons have been changed in order to preserve the anonymity of informants. Illustrations Maps 1. Fieldwork Location 9 2. Approximate interview locations 11 Plates I. Cover of SERNAM promotional material in relation to its 83 programme for female-headed households II. Cover of SERNAM pamphlet on the new domestic violence legislation 97 III. Onces with the Taller Hehuen Domo (1996) 125 IV. The Queen of the Taller Millaray (1996) 125 V. and VI: March of the Coordinacidnes of southern Santiago, International Day Against Violence Against Women, 25 November 1995 130 VII. Painting a mural in San Joaquin, in celebration of International Women’s Day, 8 March 1996 135 VIII.The School for Women Leaders, run by Tierra Nuestra 135 Figures I. Age Composition of Sample of 107 cases (‘the Sample’) 103 brought under the new domestic violence legislation II. Relationship between Defendant and Complainant in the Sample 104 IILOutcome of domestic violence cases in the Sample 107 IV.Contraceptive usage in a sample of 89 women 153 V. Women’s views in relation to abortion in a sample of 89 women 161 VI. Ratio of Abortion to Live Births in a sample of 89 167 v Acknowledgements I thank the Economic and Social Science Research Council for awarding me a Research Studentship, which enabled me to go to Chile and conduct the fieldwork on which this thesis is based. I am very grateful to the London School of Economics for awarding me a Kahn Freund Award, Access Funds and a Malinowski Memorial Fund Grant. The Royal Anthropological Institute generously supported me with a Suntory-Toyota Award and additional financial assistance towards the end of writing up. At the LSE, Professor Henrietta L Moore, my supervisor, has been a source of constant inspiration and support and has shown remarkable patience reading and rereading my manuscript. Professor Christine Chinkin was most encouraging and provided useful comments on draft chapters.