Lights and shadows in the theme of gender

In the second installment of the “Dialogues” space on CLACSO TV, the Executive Secretary of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences, Karina Batthyány, brings together two personalities from the social sciences, media and politics of South America: Constanza Moreira and Beatriz Sánchez.

Constanza Moreira, from Uruguay, holds a degree in philosophy, a master's degree, and a doctorate in political science. She is a senator for Casa Grande, a faction within the Broad Front coalition. She was a pre-candidate for President of the Republic in the 2014 primary elections.

Beatriz Sánchez, in turn, is a Chilean journalist and politician who was a presidential candidate for the Broad Front in her country for the presidential elections of November 2017, where she reached third place with a percentage higher than 20% of votes.

Regarding the issue of gender, Karina Batthyány highlighted that “once again there are both positive and negative aspects; clearly, the positive aspects are the past 50 years, if we look back, and the progress made in terms of economic, social, political, and cultural rights, recognition for Latin American women, their integration into economic life, and the transformations associated with social and demographic factors. But we also find negative aspects. For example: the fact that Latin American women generally have a higher level of education than men does not translate into a diversification of occupations or professions, nor into equal pay; we still have wage gaps of around 30% in Latin America…”

Coincidentally, Constanza Moreira elaborated on the shortcomings and progress made in gender issues: “The two major shortcomings—and the left is largely responsible for this—are sexual and reproductive health. Legalizing abortion is a shortcoming; Uruguay has made progress, but it decriminalized abortion only under certain conditions. There are places where doctors practice widespread conscientious objection, making it very difficult to access services. We not only want to decriminalize abortion, but also ensure that women have the right to health services.”

For Beatriz Sánchez, “the feminist movement and the movement of young feminists has been the worst news for Sebastián Piñera’s government, the best news for the left in Chile.” She highlighted “the feminist wave we experienced in 2018, the feminist May, which was spectacular and culminated—I don’t say as an end point, but rather as something that took root in Chile—on March 8th of this year, 2019, when I believe that not since the end of the dictatorship had so many people been seen marching in the streets, as was the case with a million women marching in the streets.”