Gender and Neoliberal States Feminists Remake the Nation in Ecuador1 by Amy Lind

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES 10.1177/0094582X02239204LindARTICLE / FEMINISTS REMAKE THE NATION IN ECUADOR Gender and Neoliberal States Feminists Remake the Nation in Ecuador1 by Amy Lind Ecuador’s recent history reveals some of the gendered contradictions of neoliberal reform in the context of nationalist politics. In August 1996, Presi- dent Abdalá Bucaram entered office on a populist platform. Bucaram had secured support for his election by promising to implement less severe eco- nomic policies and alleviate poverty, by identifying with the masses through (among other things) his musical talent (he produced his own CD while in office and performed publicly), and by handing out money to impoverished supporters as he toured the country. He appointed family members to key political positions and was therefore criticized for nepotism,2 but he also appointed the first female vice president, Rosalía Arteaga, and the first self- defined feminist labor minister, Guadalupe León. Once in office, Bucaram utilized a range of populist strategies, some of them laden with gendered contradictions. To maintain political support, one controversial and well- documented event was his formal support of Ecuadorian-born Lorena Bobbitt.3 After her trial in the United States, he invited Bobbitt to the Ecua- Amy Lind is an assistant professor of women’s studies at Arizona State University. She has pub- lished numerous articles on gender, development, and women’s movements in Latin America. The research for this article was conducted in April 1998 and August 2001 and through ongoing e-mail correspondence, telephone conversations, and analysis of media coverage of the 1997 political crisis throughout the past five years. It is an extension of research on women’s organizations and neoliberal politics in Ecuador that began in 1988. The author thanks Fulbright-Hayes and the Inter-American Foundation for their support of her 1992–1993 research and the Women’s Studies Program and the Latin American Studies Center at Arizona State University for their support in later stages of the project. In Ecuador, she thanks the students in her April 1998 Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) course for their contributions to the ideas presented in this article. She also thanks Gioconda Herrera, Rocío Rosero, Maruja Barrig, Virginia Vargas, Vivian Arteaga, and Sonia Alvarez for their input, Silvia Vega and Patricia Palacios for information on the Coordinadora Política de Mujeres Ecuatorianas, and Susana Wappenstein for her comments on an earlier version of this article. Finally, she thanks the reviewers and editors for their comments and suggestions. While many people have provided insights, all opinions expressed in this article are her own. LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 128, Vol. 30 No. 1, January 2003 181-207 DOI: 10.1177/0094582X02239204 © 2003 Latin American Perspectives 181 182 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES dorian National Congress and honored her as a national hero for having “cut off neocolonial relations.” During the same period he proposed legislation calling for castration of convicted rapists and child molesters. He made this proposal with little if any prior consultation with feminist state policy makers and activists despite the long history of feminist organizing and institution building in Ecuador (Rodríguez, 1994). These populist antics damaged relations between Bucaram and sectors of civil society including business and political elites, nonprofit and other private organizations, and the poor urban and rural sectors that had supported his candidacy in the first place. During this same period, Bucaram and other male appointees in his administration were charged with misogyny and—in at least one well- publicized case—outright physical abuse of female state employees.4 In addition, Bucaram did not follow through on his promise of milder adjustment measures; rather, his administration implemented a stricter set of adjustment measures than had the previous conservative administration of President Sixto Durán Ballén (1992–1996). As a result, he lost his primary base of support—the urban and rural poor—and ultimately, in February 1997, was forced to resign following an unprecedented, spontaneous mobili- zation of over 2 million Ecuadorians and a congressional vote to remove him for “mental incapacity” (see Báez et al., 1997). Bucaram’s term in office was short-lived but significant. His populist strategies and the political crisis that ensued during his time in office opened the way for a series of important national debates about reforming the political system. These debates culminated in the drafting of the 1998 constitution and in significant reforms in political parties and campaigns, including the introduction of a quota system for female candidates (see Rosero, Vela, and Reyes Ávila, 2000). What was at stake in these discussions was nothing less than the nation itself, and what was accomplished was nothing less than a “remaking” of the nation through a series of negotiations, disagreements, and compromises among state and civil-society actors. Significantly, the political crisis—Bucaram’s “unmaking” of the nation5—led to the further democrati- zation of civil society, at least as inscribed in law and policy, if not in practice. During the drafting of the constitution, indigenous, women’s, and other social movements were represented in the discussions alongside politicians and party representatives. Although their perspectives were not entirely incorporated into the final documents, they were nonetheless influential, and while these groups continue to be marginalized political actors their presence can no longer be ignored. The women’s movement is one example of a social movement that has worked for institutional change in this context. Women’s nongovernmental Lind / FEMINISTS REMAKE THE NATION IN ECUADOR 183 organizations (NGOs) and women working within the state, in rural and community-based organizations, and in political parties all participated in the national strike leading up to Bucaram’s removal from office. Four strands of women’s activism were influential during this period: feminists working within the state women’s agency, the Consejo Nacional de las Mujeres (National Women’s Council–CONAMU), the Coordinadora Política de Mujeres Ecuatorianas, a network dedicated to engendering6 all state and political institutions, the Foro Permanente de la Mujer, and the so-called autonomous feminists. Indigenous women also organized, although at that time primarily from their positions within the indigenous movement. While their leadership has since become highly visible in Ecuador,7 during the Bucaram period they were organized primarily on the basis of their ethnic/ racial status rather than on the basis of gender. This division reflects a long history of cultural tensions over ideas about ethnic/racial interests and gender interests, stemming from colonialist ideologies, Eurocentrism within the women’s movement, and sexism within the indigenous movement.8 In this article I address the political crisis of 1997 and the strands of feminist action that became visible during that period,9 which serve to illustrate some of the gendered contradictions of neoliberal reform in the context of nationalist politics. I demonstrate how social actors operating from locations as divergent as the Office of the President, CONAMU, NGOs, and community-based grassroots organizations have contributed to remaking the Ecua- dorian nation through new legislation, public political discourse, and direct protest. Their strategies operate in the context of transnational discourses about gender, nation building, and development in Ecuador.10 They utilize particular notions of gender and national identity to intervene politically in the public arena, thus invoking a form of “strategic essentialism” in an attempt to challenge the state and remake the nation (Fuss, 1989; Butler, 1990). Yet as they struggle they also help, however unwittingly, to institution- alize neoliberal state formation in Ecuador. I begin by addressing the gender dimensions of neoliberal reform in Ecua- dor and demonstrating how some women have become the new recipients of development. Next I analyze the Bucaram administration and the roles played by the four above-mentioned feminist strands. I go on to address the contradictory institutional position and practices of CONAMU as a way of understanding the contradictory position of feminist policy makers within neoliberal states. Finally, I draw out the broader implications of this case for research on women’s movements, nationalism, and neoliberal state reform in Latin America. 184 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES WOMEN IN NEOLIBERAL ECONOMIES: THE NEW RECIPIENTS OF DEVELOPMENT? As have other Latin American countries, since the early 1980s Ecuadorian governments have received loans and implemented International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank-inspired structural adjustment measures. In Ecua- dor these measures have included state downsizing, the privatization of state industries, trade liberalization, political decentralization, and, generally speaking, a move to insert Ecuador into the global economy by letting the “free market” work on its own. The Durán Ballén administration accelerated the process of restructuring through its “modernization plan,” a plan that included the reduction of trade barriers, the promotion of export-led development, and the privatization of key national industries. The administration also restructured

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