Marginalized groups
Jana Morgan’s analysis of voting preferences between men and women was very insightful. Throughout Latin America, we have seen the rise of women presidential candidates on the ballot. What really stood out for me in the article was when Morgan stated: “Women do not succumb to the negative stereotype that female leaders are not capable of dealing effectively with insecurity and are therefore not less likely to vote for a female candidate if they feel unsafe in their community” (21). Women have always been considered as the weaker sex because of traditional house roles, especially in Latin America, who is still for the most part, an extremely patriarchal society. When it comes to voting for a woman, I think it’s interesting that a man will think that a woman is incapable of dealing with crime just because she’s a woman and I think this can be associated with traditional gender roles. Why are men seen as the stronger and more important sex?
Following Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment in Brazil last year, many women thought that her impeachment was sexist and that her ousting would be like taking a step back on women’s rights. They were right. The new president, Michel Temor, made it illegal to have an abortion unless you were a victim of rape, which of course angered many women. Abortions will happen regardless and with Temor’s new abortion law, back door abortions are rising. I don’t understand why you would make it illegal. Some women in Brazil do not trust the government and they believe that with Temor’s ban on abortions, this is the government’s way of getting rid of women it does not care about. Having an abortion should be safe process and women should not feel marginalized if they do undergo this process. Why should women think that a male president should have a say on the legalization of abortion since they’re not able to reproduce?
Lastly, I believe that women are leaders of change. They not only fight for women’s rights, but also for marginalized groups like indigenous populations and the LGBT communities. Something that’s also important that we haven’t seen in the past, is that we are starting to see a the growth of a woman’s empowerment movement which will hopefully lead to more women participating in politics and fighting for equal rights.
Women definitely give a different perspective on a lot of social issues but they also fall to the same problems that male political leaders also fall to; whether that be corruption, scandal, or protests. And saying that Rousseff’s impeachment ultimately led to the new abortion law is not a reach but also may not be a direct cause, considering that the current abortion laws in Brazil are about to be repealed by Brazilian courts. A male or female president will always be checked by the other parts of an effective government.
I think this is an interesting take on the Brazil situation. I do think it is easy to attribute the new abortion laws to the ouster of a woman president and replaced by a male. I am not sure about the domestic situation there, but being a catholic country, it is realistic to perhaps attribute the new laws to residual Catholic conservatism
I agree with you that women should play an important role in social change movement. They are supposed to do that not only subjectively but objectively. With the development of society, the society today is no longer like ancient world based on men’s physical work but more on intelligent. There is no evidence showing women are weaker than men on intelligence. So women should fight for their rights, not only for themselves but also for the whole society. If women’s productivity has been liberalized, this society will be better and filled with better ideas.
It true that we have seen an increase in female representation in Latin American Presidential positions, although there are still serious patriarchal aspects of most, if not all, of the societies. I’m wondering what kinds of cultural differences have allowed for this but not in more ‘progressive’ societies like the US?
I agree that the value that the government puts on women’s health is greatly affected by if women are filling leadership positions, and the example you used really supports that idea. I don’t know if you can necessarily say that all women support LGBT issues and make other marginalized groups a priority, but I do agree that women can be very inclusive and can carry that into their work in government.