The current situation in Latin America and the Caribbean demands the urgent mainstreaming of feminist critical thought as an epistemic, political, and ethical strategy capable of simultaneously confronting the conservative onslaught of the right wing, the erosion of liberal democracies, the collapse of care systems, and the proliferation of structural and emerging forms of violence. This need stems from a praxis sustained by feminist movements, and in particular by our Working Group, as a situated response from the Global South to historical and contemporary forms of domination and discrimination that, as María Lugones (2008) argues, can only be understood through the synchronized operation of systems of racial, colonial, sexual, patriarchal, and economic oppression.

The neoconservative offensive sweeping across Latin America and the Caribbean seeks to reinstate normative regimes centered on traditional values ​​of the heterosexual family, private property, and authoritarian nationalisms that exclude diversity. Authors such as Ochy Curiel (2013) warn that these projects aim to dismantle feminist, anti-racist, and Indigenous advances, re-articulating the colonial matrix of power. This advance is combined with neoliberalism, which has become integrated into the thought patterns and subjectivities of a large part of the population and requires reinforcing hierarchies of gender, race, and class to sustain its forms of accumulation and extractivism. Silvia Federici (2004) has critically analyzed the labor relationship in the capitalist context, which is based on unpaid work, especially domestic and care work performed by women, which is fundamental for capital accumulation and the reproduction of the workforce. She argues that capitalism is not progressive, but rather based on the devaluation and exploitation of these activities, forcing women to sell parts of themselves and their lives. In this way, global capitalism is sustained by the exploitation of the reproductive labor of women, migrants, and marginalized communities. For her, liberation arises from collective struggle and community reorganization, not from individual economic autonomy.

In this context, decolonial and community-based feminist critical thought offers keys to understanding and transforming current conditions. Yuderkys Espinosa Miñoso (2014) emphasizes that it is not enough to simply include women or diverse groups in existing structures: it is necessary to dismantle the civilizational foundations that have sustained the coloniality of being, knowledge, and power. Along the same lines, Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui (2010) denounces how Latin American nation-states reproduce colonial logics even within progressive discourses, and proposes thinking about decolonization from the perspective of micropolitical and community-based practices that articulate body, territory, and memory.

On the other hand, the care crisis is one of the central themes where these reflections converge. The dismantling of states, the commodification of life, and the precarization of labor have deepened the feminization and racialization of care work. As Mara Viveros Vigoya (2016) points out, this social organization of care reveals the persistence of colonial hierarchies that assign racialized women the responsibility of sustaining life. Without a feminist and decolonial analysis, this collapse can be exploited by conservative discourses that promote authoritarian solutions through the moralization of gender roles.

The crisis of democracies in the region also demands renewed analytical frameworks. Citizen disaffection, institutional discrediting, and corporate capture have created fertile ground for authoritarian projects. In response, community feminism—as proposed by Julieta Paredes (2010)—suggests forms of radical, territorial, and everyday democracy, where political participation is built on relationships and reciprocity, not on elites. This perspective engages with Rita Segato's (2016) critique of the "mandate of masculinity" as structuring violence and patriarchal politics, inviting us to rethink democracy from an anti-patriarchal and community-based ethic.

Structural and emerging forms of violence—femicides, hate crimes, narco-paramilitary violence, militarization of territories—also require feminist frameworks. Sayak Valencia (2010) conceptualizes “gore capitalism” as a political economy based on the spectacularization of violence against feminized and racialized bodies. Meanwhile, Afro-Caribbean researcher Yvette Modestin analyzes the continuity of colonial racism in transnational violence against Black communities. These perspectives are articulated with the contributions of Karina Bidaseca (2011), who shows how global violence reproduces postcolonial inequalities in the bodies of racialized women from the Global South.

Mainstreaming feminist critical thought thus implies transforming educational, legal, and cultural institutions, but also decolonizing knowledge, questioning epistemic universalism, and recognizing the plurality of situated feminisms: Black, Indigenous, community-based, queer, and migrant. As Saba Mahmood (2005) argues, feminist analyses must attend to situated forms of agency, even more so when these do not align with liberal models of emancipation.

From the perspective of the Global South, feminist thought not only diagnoses crises but also offers horizons and practices for building more just worlds. Raquel Gutiérrez Aguilar (2017) emphasizes that feminist struggles in this part of the world constitute “practices of freedom” that emerge from collective self-organization. As Natalia Ochoa (2014) argues, thinking from bodies that bear memories of violence and from territories marked by dispossession implies an embodied and affective ethic that places life at the center.

In short, mainstreaming feminist critical thought in Latin America and the Caribbean is urgent to confront the conservative offensive, rebuild democracies, sustain life in the face of the collapse of care work, and resist multiple forms of violence. A decolonial perspective from the Global South enables this mainstreaming to break with the existing order and contribute to the creation of other possible worlds where life, justice, and community can flourish.

ARGUMENTS FOR MAINSTREAMING FEMINIST CRITICAL THINKING

The urgency of proposing the mainstreaming of feminist critical thought across the diverse contexts of our Working Group's activities stems from a regional scenario marked by political, economic, and social crises that exacerbate historical inequalities. This perspective not only allows us to interpret the structural roots of these crises but also offers analytical and practical frameworks for democratic transformation, social justice, and the guarantee of rights. Below, we develop three core issues that we propose as priority topics to shape our proposal for the 2026-2028 period. These issues highlight the need to integrate feminist thought into public policies, the mission and curricular structure of academic institutions, the action strategies of social movements, and community practices themselves.

1. Crisis of democracies, onslaught of the conservative right, resistance and construction of alternatives

Latin America and the Caribbean are experiencing a sustained deterioration of their democratic institutions, accompanied by a conservative offensive that encompasses both traditional political spaces and digital platforms. This advance of neoconservative and antifeminist movements has sought to delegitimize decades of gains in sexual and reproductive rights, feminist education, and equality policies (Correa & Paternotte, 2018). The digitization of these offensives—through disinformation, hate speech, and algorithmic manipulation campaigns—has amplified their reach, eroding public debate and disproportionately affecting women, LGBTQ+ people, and feminist activists (Tufekci, 2017).

Mainstreaming feminist critical thought allows us to understand how these offensives are sustained by patriarchal and colonial structures that seek to restore traditional social hierarchies. It also offers tools for building democratic resistance that promotes inclusive political participation, the defense of rights, and the consolidation of institutions that guarantee substantive equality. Experiences of regional feminist mobilization—such as those demanding the legalization of abortion, the "Ni Una Menos" movement, or anti-racist and community struggles—show that feminism is a democratizing force that articulates alternatives and transformative political projects (Mendoza, 2021). Integrating this perspective into educational, political, and communication spheres contributes to strengthening more egalitarian, inclusive, and participatory democracies.

2. Feminist economics, care, gender justice and global crisis

The region faces an economic crisis exacerbated by deeply entrenched gender inequalities. Hegemonic economic thought has historically rendered invisible the unpaid care work, predominantly performed by women, that sustains social reproduction and the functioning of economies (Federici, 2013; Pérez Orozco, 2014). According to ECLAC (2020), in Latin America women dedicate two to three times more time than men to domestic and care work, which limits their labor force, educational, and political participation.

In the face of global crises—climate, health, and financial—the feminist approach offers a structural critique of the neoliberal model and proposes alternatives centered on the sustainability of life, the fair redistribution of work, and the recognition of care as a right and a shared social responsibility. The development of comprehensive care systems, the incorporation of gender-sensitive budgets, and the promotion of community-based economies are actions that can only be fully consolidated if a feminist perspective is mainstreamed into public decision-making and institutions (ECLAC, 2020).

Feminist critical thinking allows us to question the logic of accumulation, exploitation, and precarity that disproportionately affects women, girls, racialized people, and impoverished communities. Its mainstreaming ensures that responses to economic crises do not deepen inequalities, but rather foster more just, collective, and life-centered development models.

3. Structural and emerging gender-based violence: political, digital, academic and others

Gender-based violence in Latin America and the Caribbean is a structural problem that manifests itself in multiple spheres: in domestic life, in public spaces, in institutional politics, in digital environments, and in academia. The region continues to register alarming rates of femicide, disappearances, sexual violence, and political violence against women and gender-diverse individuals (UN Women, 2022). Added to this are emerging forms of digital violence—harassment, non-consensual dissemination of images, surveillance, doxing—that seek to silence and discipline the public participation of women and feminist activists (Citron, 2019).

In academia, symbolic and institutional violence persists, manifesting as professional inequalities, harassment, epistemic exclusion of feminist and racial knowledge, and the reproduction of patriarchal hierarchies in universities and research centers (Lugones, 2008). These interconnected forms of violence require comprehensive approaches that recognize their systemic roots.

Mainstreaming feminist critical thought provides the conceptual and methodological frameworks to identify and transform these forms of violence from an intersectional, decolonial, and social justice perspective. Furthermore, it promotes the creation of institutional mechanisms for prevention, support, and redress; digital policies with a rights-based approach; and workplaces and educational environments free from discrimination.

Conclusions

Mainstreaming feminist critical thought in the contexts of action in Latin America and the Caribbean goes beyond an ethical imperative; it is, rather, a political strategy for strengthening democracies, building more just economies, and guaranteeing lives free from violence. Faced with the conservative offensive, the collapse of care work, the precariousness of life, and the persistence of structural violence, feminism offers analytical, methodological, and political tools to imagine and build transformative alternatives. Its integration into public policies, academic institutions, social movements, and community practices is fundamental for advancing toward more equitable, democratic, and sustainable societies.