Women in Latin America and the Caribbean

Examining the role of women and gender ideology during the pre-contact and colonial periods in Latin America, Marysa Navarro looks at early indigenous societies along with the Spanish and the Portuguese who claimed the "New World," noting the interaction of race and class. She illustrates these dynamics through portraits of individual women, as well as an examination of their legal status and economic roles. Virginia Sanchez Korrol views the changing roles of women in Latin America and the Caribbean from the early decades of the nineteenth century to the present. She documents the part played by women in the struggles for national independence, their legal status in the new republics, and their quest for education; and shifts in women's roles in the period from 1880 to 1930 with the accompanying broader societal transformations. She shows how women, as political and social activists, have worked to eliminate double standards, exploitation, and inequality amongst class and ethnic groups in specific historical periods and geographic regions.