Women's seminar by Tatau Godinho*
THIS WAS THE FIRST MEETING OF THE SAO Paulo Forum to include a women's seminar and a discussion on gender relations during the plenary session of the Forum.
The two-and-a-half day seminar, which brought together some fifty women, discussed the effects of the international eco nomic situation on women and some of the problems which have a significant impact on women's daily lives such as health policy and the abortion situation in Latin America, sexist violence and domestic work. The 50 participants represented political parties and feminist groups from across the region, as well as some European and North American organisations which have solidarity work with Latin America.
In the 1980s, the women's movement in Latin America became significant force and organised around a broad platform of demands with the goal of changing the structural conditions of women's lives and fighting against different forms of discrimination. Although certain left parties generally incorporated some of these questions into their platforms, this inclusion was rather unequal and superficial. In the balance sheet of the gains and difficulties of these years we should underline the immense difficulty in changing the relationship of forces between women and men in the spheres of power. It is clear that, in this sphere, to break with the almost total exclusion of women, we must develop a strategy able to change directly the conditions for women's participation.
During the 1990s, the discussions and mobilisations aiming to broaden women's participation in the spheres of power gained strength. Within this dynamic, this seminar within the 6th Sao Paulo Forum constituted the first Latin American meeting of women in left parties. For the first time, we had a broad meeting of women within a framework that sought to involve the whole spectrum of left parties in Latin America and the Caribbean, despite the fact that there are ambiguities and limitations in the constitution of the Forum itself. Other networks of women in Latin America have a more limited character or lack any politicoideological definition.
The pre-Forum meeting and the broader discussion in the plenary session opened up the perspective of a broadening of feminist discussion on the left, inaugurating a channel of discussion and contacts between militants of left parties across Latin America.
The Seminar showed that, despite all that women have accumulated in terms of organisation and deepening of the feminist discussion, in many parties this has not been deeply assimilated. There is often a hostile atmosphere to the equal participation of women in the leadership. The interchange 28 International Viewpoint between militants with different experiences could be a strong element pushing towards change.