The Growing Generations of Nicaraguan Women Understanding the Stereotypes and Family Structures of Empowered Women Through Their Voices

The Growing Generations of Nicaraguan Women Understanding the Stereotypes and Family Structures of Empowered Women through their Voices

Pauline Chryselyza Alvarez

A THESIS

submitted to

Oregon State University

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Bachelor of Arts in International Studies in History

Presented on [May 27, 2016]

i Commencement June 2017 AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Pauline Chryselyza Alvarez for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in International Studies in History presented on [May 27, 2016].

Title: The Growing Generations of Nicaraguan Women: Understanding the Stereotypes and Family Structures of Empowered Women through their Voices

Abstract approved: ______

This particular study focuses on the changes in the ideas and perspectives of Nicaraguan women throughout the span of several generations. With the gaining popularity and successful strides that women have made to advance the Women’s Movement in Nicaragua, the definition of empowerment, the ideology of stereotypes, and the manner in which family is structured have transformed. Through oral histories from a range of Nicaraguan women, empowerment, stereotypes, and family structure are analyzed to comprehend in what way these aspects have or have not changed. Through the interviews, women explained their personal beliefs about what they had interpreted based on their experiences. From their dialogue, empowerment connections were made with historical events based on ages. In relation to stereotypes, women had affiliated their perspectives with women’s actions, appearances, and purpose. Lastly, in regards to family structure, women had alluded to several different themes leaving the topic open for interpretation.

iii Bachelor of Arts in International Studies in History thesis of Pauline Chryselyza Alvarez presented on [May 27th, 2016].

Approved:

I understand that my thesis will become part of the collection of Oregon State University. My signature below authorizes release of my thesis to any reader upon request. I also affirm that the work represented in this thesis is my own work.

Pauline Chryselyza Alvarez, Author

iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

For all the encouragement and bravery of all Nicaraguan women that I had the privilege and honor

to work, to speak, and to build a relationship with…

Para todas las mujeres nicaragüense que tuve la valentía y el estímulo. Gracia para el privilegio y el

honor para trabajar, hablar, y crear una relación con usted…

Eimeel Castillo Eva Parrales

María Teresa Gómez Castillo Morealía Ramos

Norma Chavarria Verónica Ríos

Rosa Chavarria María Dolores Salgado

Carolina Corrales Josefa Dolores Salinas

María Eduviges Karla Sánchez

María Teresa Fuentes Mayra Sánchez

Magda Ivett Gómez González Aynn Setright

María Petrona Hernández Violeta Sarria Torres

Silda Leytón Hilda Alegría Vega

Nidia Diez López Jessica Azusena Ríos Vílchez

Yari Medina Marta Yadira

María Haydee Mora Karla Patricia Blandón Zamora

Aracely Alfaro Morales

v TABLE OF CONTENT

Introduction……………..……………………………………………………………………………………………………….03

Interpretation of Historiography……………..………………………………………………………………..04

During the Dictatorship………………………………………………………………………………..04

During the Revolution…..……………………………………………………………………………..07

During the Change……………………………………………………………………………………….09

Methodology.…………………………………………………………………………………………………………11

Managua……………………………………………………………………………………………………..11

Matagalpa……………………………………………………………………………………………………13

Demographics………………………………………………………………………………………………………..15

Empowerment…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..17

Transcripts……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..18

¿Qué es su definición del empoderamiento?...... 18

¿Usted cree que el Movimiento ha tenido un impacto en el empoderamiento?

¿En que manera?...... 22

Analysis………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….26

Final Thoughts……………………………………………………………………………………………………….30

Defining Empowerment……………………………………………………………………………….30

Impact of Women’s Movement on Empowerment………………………………………….32

Stereotypes……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….35

Transcripts……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..36

¿Usted cree que hayan estereotipos sobre las mujeres? ¿Qué son ejemplos?

¿Usted cree que hay un cambio en los estereotipos?...... 36

1 Analysis………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….42

Final Thoughts……………………………………………………………………………………………………….45

Example of Stereotypes………………………………………………………………………………..45

The Change in Stereotypical Perspectives……………………………………………………….48

Family Structure………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..52

Transcripts……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..53

¿Usted cree que haya un cambio en su estructura de la familia? ¿En qué

manera?...... 53

Analysis………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….58

Final Thoughts……………………………………………………………………………………………………….60

Change……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..63

Transcripts……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..64

¿Qué ha cambiado para las mujeres en su opinión?...... 64

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..69

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..71

Primary………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….72

Secondary………………………………………………………………………………………………………………74

INTRODUCTION

3 INTERPRETATION OF HISTORIOGRAPHY The “Interpretation of Historiography” represents a collection of anecdotes and my personal explanations about the experiences that Nicaraguan women faced throughout the generations.

During the Dictatorship

1850s-1950s

For women, living in a machista society meant that from the moment they are born they are told through societal norms who to be and what they cannot do to represent a persona that their society accepts. This ideology inhibits women to the home as housemaids, caring for children and catering head-to-toe to their male family members, and enforcing a certain hierarchal structure in their families.1 Women must petition to enter higher-level education and reflect a submissive persona to men. In the 1850s in Nicaragua, what a woman could and could not do began to change. The women in Nicaragua, like others in many other macho idealistic countries, no longer wanted to live a life that did not belong to them. While not every single Nicaraguan ascribed to the belief that women held less importance than a man, many did not recognize their strides for equality, which benefited Nicaraguan women and their cause. However, not until 1852, when

Josefa Vega petitioned the court for her right to attend a university and won, when women decided to follow her example and demanded their right to high-level education as well. 2 At first, women rallied behind Vega, in efforts to start the Nicaraguan Women’s Movement. However, not until a century later did women organize together to achieve their first, official political right.

By the 1930s, at the same time that the Somoza family began to overthrow the government with the control of the Guardia Nacional, women also began to construct collectives in order to

1 Steven F. White and Esthela Calderón, “Social Customs: Nicaraguan Women in a Sexist Society,” in Culture and Customs of Nicaragua, (Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2008), 58-61. 2 Josefa Vega was not dismissed like other women, because of her family background. Her father was a politician at the time of her petition, and her family had strong contributions with the Spanish and indigenous people of Nicaragua. Since her family had a political connection and strong influence in the Granada community, her petition was granted. Victoria Gonzalez-Rivera, Before the Revolution: Women’s Rights and Right-Wing Politics in Nicaragua, 1821-1979. (United States of America: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2011), 26.

4 fight for Women’s Suffrage. 3 Juanita Molinda de Fromen and Josefa Toledo de Aguerri led the feminist efforts at this time. Toledo de Aguerri shared a strong relationship with Luis Manuel

Debayle, their relationship later became leverage for the Somoza family to gain influence in the

Movement’s Women. 4 Nonetheless, Toledo de Aguerri envisioned specific needs for the suffragist. Her vision revolved around education, politics, protections, and work opportunities for all women of all classes. In 1955, with Salvadora Debayle de Somoza’s administration and both the

Conservative and Liberal Parties, women won the right to vote, and the Somoza family gained their support from a fraction of Nicaraguan women. 5

After World War II, Nicaragua reached an economic crisis of high unemployment, overcrowding, and wrongful land distribution which mostly affected women.6 With the unfair distribution of land in the countryside, women left for the city in hopes of finding jobs to support their families back at home, in the countryside. While the population doubled in Managua at this time, working women made up more than half the population.7 With the Somoza dictatorship in full effect, the Women’s Movement could only survive with their support. Somoza ripped the unity of the Women’s Movement in several directions. Nonetheless, “[s]omocista women as a whole backed the Somoza family and its Liberal Party in exchange for suffrage and increased political,

3 The Guardia Nacional was the Nicaraguan military defense that the Somoza family controlled to instill fear into the society. Often times, the Guardia was responsible for several tortures, beatings, murders, and many other crimes that the Somoza family would demand against the civilians. Aynn Setright, “Nicaragua, Yesterday and Today” (informal lecture given in class, Managua, Nicaragua, spring semester 2015). 4 Luis Manuel Debayle was son of Luis H. Debayle and brother to Salvadora Debayle de Somoza. Toledo de Aguerri shared a strong friendship with Luis H. Debayle, which later created a relationship with Luis Manuel and Salvadora. Salvadora was married to Anastasio S omoza Garcia, and highly active in women activism. As the friendship became stronger between Toledo de Aguerri and Luis Manuel Debayle, his sister used it as an advantage to promote Somoza influence. González-Rivera, Before the Revolution, 44. 5 Wife to Anastasio Somoza García (the father of the Somoza family) and Nicaragua’s First Lady during the first portion of the Somoza dictatorship. González-Rivera, Before the Revolution, 44. 6 During this time period, men did not have legal obligation to claim responsibility for their children. Often times, women took complete care of the children, in all aspects of life. When their children became old enough, the children would help their mother with the responsibilities of raising the younger siblings and financially supporting the household. Réne Guido Sánchez, “Literacy and Social Change in Rural Nicaragua: Members of San Pablo and El Provenir Communities” (informal lecture given during excursion, San Pablo, Nicaragua, spring semester 2015). 7 Gonzalez-Rivera, Before the Revolution, 7-8.

5 educational, and economic opportunities.”8 The Somoza family soon learned that their support no longer scared society into their totalitarian demands.9

8 Gonzalez-Rivera, Before the Revolution, 10. 9 The idea of “support” through the Somoza family is obtained in two ways; one by force and the other in return of something or bribes. If certain individuals refused the support they were hunted and killed or forced (by torture methods executed by the Guardia). Often times, if a personal opposed the Somoza family, they lived incognito or fled the country in hopes that they would not be caught. Setright, “Nicaragua: Yesterday and Today.”

6 During the Revolution

1960-1990s

Many women, when the Revolution started, remained undecided as to whether they should participate. Often, women questioned their place in the Revolution. Should they fight for a country that suppressed their rights? This began to change, as time passed in the Revolution, children became more involved and the mothers of Nicaragua knew that they could no longer stand by as their children suffered torture or even death. At first, women did smaller tasks involved with the

Sandinista National Liberation Front.10 They guarded safe houses, catered to soldiers in hiding, and transported weapons. Although not every woman took pleasure in their “small” jobs, and

Somoza and the Guardia Nacional soon learned the importance of women in the Revolution.

In Sandino’s Daughters Margaret Randall describes the interviews she conducted with women, who not only lived during the Revolution, but also, at this point, dedicated all their efforts to the Revolution.11 The Guardia Nacional held these women captive, tortured, and raped them for information about their involvement with the FSLN. The Guardia also interrogated women as leverage to find their husbands’ (sometimes even male family members) whereabouts. They suffered as much as their children did, if not more, but did everything to protect their families.12 A woman can only take so much before she begins to fight back.

While Randall speaks of the struggle for women in the Revolution, she also focuses on the achievements Nicaraguan women made through the Revolution. Take for example, Dora María

10 The Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional will be referred to as FSLN. This group (members were known as Sandinistas) opposed the Somoza dictatorship, and its influence came from Augusto Sandino. While Sandino had been assassinated (by the Guardia Nacional under the command of Anastasio Somoza) before the Revolution began, he started the Sandinista group to separate Nicaragua from Western influ ence (in particular the United States). After Sandino’s death, the Sandinistas continued Sandino’s mission to change Nicaraguan’s p olitical situation to one that represented the lower and working classes of Nicaragua. Setright, “Nicaragua: Yesterday and Today.” 11 Margaret Randall, Sandino’s Daughters: Testimonies of Nicaraguan Women in Struggle (Toronto: New Star Books, 1981). 12 Mothers involved with the FSLN often lived in difficult positions. They would stand for their rights with the FSLN, but often times worry about the possible dangers to their children. The Guardia would also have no problem using family members to make women talk, as the mothers were being tortured or raped. Often times, mothers would also be unaware of their children’s involvement with the FSLN until the Guardia came for them. The biggest moral issue that FSLN mothers faced was the decision to risk the security and safety of their family to fight against a society they knew needed to change. Randall, Sandino’s Daughters.

7 Tellez, one of the most respected female commanders throughout the Revolution and a well- known women’s activist. Randall explains the event where Tellez and other commanders stormed the National Palace having captured officials of the Somoza council. In exchange for their freedom, Tellez and her comrades demanded the freedom of their imprisoned soldiers. In the end, Tellez, her comrades, and the FSLN achieved the freedom of more FSLN members.13 In another case, Randall spoke to Nora Astorga who organized the death of Perez Vega.14 Equally important to her patience, her ability to play as a “double agent” assisted in Vega’s capture and death.15 For several months, Astorga worked with Vega. While Vega consistently tried to force himself on her, Astorga decided to use this vulgar action to her advantage. On March 8, Astorga lured Vega into her room, with other FSLN hidden soldiers ready to attack him, she unarmed him to secure Vega’s capture by the other comrades. However, the ending result terminated with his death, and Astorga was later blamed for the whole incident.16 Like Tellez and Astorga, these are the few cases which women fought for the FSLN and against the Somoza dictatorship in hopes to better their society. Their participation and contribution to the Revolution was more than what the

Nicaraguan society expected, and because of this, women began to realize one important factor: the women of Nicaragua deserved more, more for themselves, and more from their society. This changed after the Revolution.

13 Margaret Randall, “Mothers and Daughters,” in Sandino’s Daughters (Toronto: New Star Books, 1981), 184-203. 14 Perez Vega was said to be the worse Guard member within the National Guard. His tactics were brutal and pure torture. Vega wa s well known for his rapes, tortures, captivities, and murders. Astorga describes Vega in such a way that there are not even words to describe how horrible of a person this man was. Margaret Randall, “Nora Astorga—One March 8,” in Sandino’s Daughters (Toronto: New Star Books, 1981), 116-128. 15 Astorga was classified as a double agent, because of her career path and political stance. While Astorga was a prestige lawyer for a huge corporation, she also disagreed with the Somoza family and dictatorship. Since very few people knew of her involvement with t he FSLN, she was able to use her position as a lawyer to get close to Vega. Randall, “Nora Astorga”, 116-128. 16 Randall, “Nora Astorga”, 116-128.

8 During the Change

1990s-Present

With the Revolution put to rest, Nicaragua needed to change its government and politics.

However, what would a transformation in government mean for the women of Nicaragua?

For women, it meant re-organizing. While many women felt that their services in the

Revolution deserved recognition in their society, women still faced repression in certain aspects of their lives, although, they advanced from where they started. Take for instance, Diana Espinoza in the Sandino’s Daughters Revisited.17 She worked for El Caracol for eight years and within those eight years, she witnessed the most amazing transformations for company. She believed that with the proper planning, their company could continue to expand. When Espinoza began at the business, the owners left the building destroyed with many debts. However, the workers continued to work to fulfill the needs of their company to provide the support their families needed. The workers, both male and female (more women than men), risked their salaries in return for food.

When the company was out of debt, the workers began to earn their salaries back with an extra bonus.18 As more time passed, the company acquired a sufficient amount of funds to hire a doctor to work for the firm. The medical terms extended to worker’s children, pregnant women workers, and continued to provide their workers with the medical attention they needed.19 In Espinoza’s case, she and the workers at the firm created a business that fit their needs. This change for women did not affect every single Nicaraguan woman, although, many women from this company established a new industry and expectation for women within the labor force.

17 Margaret Randall, Sandino’s Daughters Revisited: Feminism in Nicaragua (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1994). 18 The necessity bonus was a basket of supplies that workers needed. Often times, the baskets were filled with soaps and food for themselves and their families. Margaret Randall, “The Only Way for Women to Fight for their Rights is if They Get Together and Do It: Diana Espinoza” in Sandino’s Daughters Revisited, (New Jersey, Rutgers University Press, 1994), 85-97. 19 Randall, “The Only Way,” 85-97.

9 Women began to experience changes beyond the labor force. Perspectives and attitudes of women evolved. A Nicaraguan poet and theologist, Michele Najlis, speaks with complete admiration of her daughter’s reactions to prejudice against her sex. Najlis tells a story of a time she remembers her daughter playing with her son. While she played with her brother, they got into an aggressive argument. He, then, made a comment about her being a girl, and not having a penis.

However, Najlis’ daughter yelled back, pointing out the fact that he was a boy and could not have a vagina. In the end, her son ran away and cried.20 Later, Najlis admits that if she encountered her daughter’s situation, she would have been the one running away and crying. As a child, Najlis felt that being a girl had so many restrictions, but with the revolutionary idea of women, her daughter would not live in the same Nicaragua that she had lived. Najlis’ daughter displayed the courage, bravery, and characteristics that Najlis lacked as a child. This reconstruction of ideology for women developed dramatic changes throughout the generations of Nicaraguan women. Society could no longer demand Nicaraguan women to conform to a certain way or dictate the actions of a woman.

Instead, the future generations of Nicaraguan women began to embrace what they used to suppress.

20 Randall, Sandino’s Daughters Revisited, 63.

10 METHODOLOGY

Managua

When I thought about how I would network this project, I felt the most logical way would be by asking the women whom I already knew through my study abroad program. While almost all of the women I knew lived in one community, I understood that la Máximo would be the beginning. I started the project sooner than expected, and chose to go door to door to ask for participation. However, since I chose to start sooner, having classes, assignments, and interviews all at one time, seemed a little more than I had anticipated. First, I asked the current host mothers in

Máximo Jerez. I felt that everyone, with one exception, would be willing to participate in my study.

Often times, they thought the interview needed to be right then and there, but I explained to them that we could schedule a time that fit better with their schedule. I did not want to interrupt their daily routine, so I thought that planning would work better for them. For the most part, having an unplanned interview was easier than having one planned. On several occasions, I showed up at their houses, and they would not be there. When this happened, the mothers contacted me through the program or I would find some way to contact them. In the end, the interviews happened, with an exception of one. From the beginning, I felt that this woman felt pressured to do the study, however, I could not deny her the right to participate. While she told me that she wanted to do the interview, she seemed to conveniently miss me the two other occasions that I returned to her house. Nonetheless, I was fine with it. I did not want to make her feel pressured or bullied into my study, which I often worried about while I asked for the host mothers’ participation. While the community Máximo Jerez is use to the SIT Nicaraguan students doing investigations in their community, I did not want them to feel pressured to take part in the study.

11 As the interviews began, the one thing I noticed was that each woman was aware of my background, in a sense of my purpose in Nicaragua and my knowledge of their culture. They told personal, detailed stories that I did not imagine I would hear. Each woman elaborated their stories in terms that they knew I would understand. They explained things in ways that they knew I could make sense of and comprehend, so I could repeat their stories. These women spoke with passion, heart, and knowledge. They saw the change in their own families and shared it with me. However,

I wonder if my involvement with the program influenced the women. SIT Nicaragua holds a strong relationship with Máximo Jerez, and while I used that to my advantage, I wonder if this relationship influenced their responses. The mothers of la Máximo have an extensive knowledge of the program and its students, and that makes me question if the relationship between the program and the mothers influenced their participation. These women became comfortable with me, and while that I am happy about that, while I am honored to have developed such a beautiful relationship with them, what does that mean for my study? I would soon learn that my experiences in Managua with the host mothers and women connected to the SIT Nicaragua program, would not be the same in Matagalpa.

12 Matagalpa

When I arrived in Matagalpa, I already knew that the environment for the Women’s

Movement felt different. Yes, people had told me, and I had some historical background that also proved the theory that the Women’s Movement was más fuerte in Matagalpa. However, it was more than that. In Matagalpa, there are signs of the Women’s Movement almost everywhere, each sidewalk had the female symbol and each wall contained feminist quotes or graffiti. While it had been impossible to escape piropos, they were also not as vulgar and common as the ones in

Managua. I often saw women walk the streets alone with confidence. Overall, I felt that the whole atmosphere for Nicaraguan women in Matagalpa strengthened them and their Movement, just as I heard.

Before leaving for Matagalpa, my main priority was getting interviews. I learned that I would not be able to get any on my own, because I did not have many connections with anyone in

Matagalpa. Two representatives from the SIT Nicaragua program helped me acquire interviews, but since five other students chose Matagalpa as their research area, the representatives could not dedicate their full efforts to one student. I often felt that I was imposing on their daily lives and jobs. However, it all worked out and I scheduled more interviews than I expected, but the process felt more arduous than what I experienced in Managua.

Since I networked my research out of Managua, I communicated with my participants directly without a middleman. In Matagalpa, the complete opposite happened. All of my communication was done through a second party, and often times, the representatives of the SIT program would schedule the interviews. With an exception of one interview, all of the interviews took place in the women’s organization where one of the representatives currently works. The advisor introduced me to the participant each time, and the mood of the interviews seemed different. While the women still spoke with the same compassion, their comfort and confidence

13 appeared after the first question of the interview. However, once the women became comfortable, their emotions and body language changed. Almost, as if I was in Managua talking to the host mothers again. These women gave me personal and specific examples of how the questions related to their lives. While most of the interviews in Matagalpa had been with younger women, I also realized that each woman addressed me in a more formal manner, as if my entitlement was “more important”. I wondered why; it could have been their common courtesies, maybe because they realized that I came from somewhere else and not Nicaragua. Whatever the case, the interviews in

Matagalpa felt, overall, more constructed and formal.

14 DEMOGRAPHICS

***Inconclusive data means that the participant chose not to answer or expressed special circumstances where their educational level could not be comparative to the United States’ understanding of educational levels.

Name Age Community Highest Level of Participation in Education Achieved Feminist Activism

Morealía Ramos 18 Limicto Secondary Yes

Verónica Ríos 24 Managua, Máximo Jerez University No (in progress)

Magda Ivett Gómez 25 Samulali University Yes Gonzáles (in progress)

María Teresa Gómez 27 Masaya Inconclusive Yes Castillo

Mayra Sánchez 27 Limicto Inconclusive Yes

Karla Sánchez 29 Matagalpa University Yes

Jessica Azusena Ríos 30 Pangasan University Yes Vílchez

Nidia Diez López 31 Waslala Secondary Yes

Karla Patricia Balandón 32 Matagalpa University Yes Zamora

Name Age Community Highest Level of Partiticpation in Education Achieved Feminist Activism

María Teresa Fuentes 39 Managua, Barrio Campo University No Bruce

Carolina Corrales 41 Managua, Máximo Jerez University No

Aracely Alfaro Morales 45 Estelí Inconclusive Yes

Yari Medina 46 Managua, Máximo Jerez University No

Violeta Sarria Torres 47 Managua, Máximo Jerez University No

María Dolores Salgado 47 Managua, Máximo Jerez University No

María Eduviges 48 Managua, Máximo Jerez University Yes

Silda Leytón 50 Matagalpa University Yes

María Haydee Mora 52 Managua, Máximo Jerez University Yes

Hilda Alegría Vega 53 Managua, Máximo Jerez Inconclusive Yes

Eva Parrales 68 Managua, Máximo Jerez Elementary No

María Petrona Hernández 76 Managua, Máximo Jerez Elementary Yes