Based on qualitative research conducted in 1999 and 2001 with a group of single mothers in Matagalpa, Nicaragua, this paper examines the contradictory impacts of neoliberalism on work, based on the understanding that economic restructuring can generate both crisis and a space for changes in gender identities. By focusing on the broader picture of women's work and on the intersections between paid and unpaid work, it discusses what happens to these intersections in times of intense political and economic change. Despite the hardships caused by neoliberalism, it appears that work is a site in which gender ideologies can be challenged. The paper has four main sections. First, it explores the ways in which certain cultural processes are intensified under neoliberalism which affects the relationship between constructions of masculinity and femininity. Second, it assesses the impact of neoliberalism on domestic work and the implications of this for GAD (gender and development) understandings of the double burden and of how the balance of women's paid and unpaid work changes under neoliberalism. Third, it examines the ways in which hegemonic understandings of femininities and motherhood and revolutionary legacies can be resistant to the neoliberal present. Finally, it discusses how work under neoliberalism can be a site of female empowerment or self-esteem.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AcevedoL, 1995, “Feminist inroads in the study of women's work and development”, in Women in the Latin American Development Process Eds BoseC EAcosta-BelénE (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, PA) pp 65–98.
2.
AfsharHDennisC (Eds), 1992Women and Adjustment Policies in the Third World (St Martin's Press, New York).
3.
BabbF E, 1990, “Women and work in Latin America”Latin American Research Review25236–247.
4.
BabbF E, 1996, “After the revolution: Neoliberal policy and gender in Nicaragua”Latin American Perspectives23(1) 27–48.
5.
BabbF E, 2001After Revolution: Mapping Gender and Cultural Politics in Neoliberal Nicaragua (University of Texas Press, Austin, TX).
6.
BeneríaL, 1996, “The foreign debt crisis and the social costs of adjustment in Latin America”, in Emergences: Women's Struggles for Livelihood in Latin America Eds FriedmannJAbersRAutlerL (UCLA Latin American Center Publications, Los Angeles, CA) pp 11–30.
7.
BeneríaLFeldmanS (Eds), 1992Unequal Burden: Economic Crises, Persistent Poverty, and Women's Work (Westview Press, Boulder, CO).
8.
BeneríaLRoldánM, 1987The Crossroads of Class and Gender: Industrial Homework, Subcontracting, and Household Dynamics in Mexico City (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL).
9.
BrownE, 2000, “Still their backyard? The US and post-Mitch development strategies in Nicaragua”Political Geography19543–572.
10.
CabezasO, 1985La montaña es algo más que una inmensa estepa verde (Editorial Nueva Nicaragua, Managua); published in English in 1985 as Fire from the Mountain (Crown, New York).
11.
CameronJ, 1998, “The practice of politics: Transforming subjectivities in the domestic domain and the public sphere”Australian Geographer29293–307.
12.
ChinchillaN S, 1992, “Marxism, feminism and the struggle for democracy in Latin America”, in The Making of Social Movements in Latin America: Identity, Strategy and Democracy Eds EscobarAAlvarezS (Westview Press, Boulder, CO) pp 37–51.
13.
CloseD, 1999Nicaragua: The Chamorro Years (Lynne Rienner, Boulder, CO).
14.
CraveyA J, 1998, “Engendering the Latin American state”Progress in Human Geography22523–542.
15.
CupplesJ, 1999, “Families and feminism: Engendering public discourse in Nicaragua”Hemisphere9(1) 22–25.
16.
CupplesJ, 2002aDisrupting Discourses and (Re)formulating Identities: The Politics of Single Motherhood in Post-revolutionary Nicaragua unpublished PhD thesis, Department of Geography, University of Canterbury, Christchurch.
17.
CupplesJ, 2002b, “The field as a landscape of desire: Sex and sexuality in geographical research”Area34382–390.
18.
CupplesJ, 2004, “Rural development in El Hatillo, Nicaragua: Gender, neoliberalism and environmental risk”Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography25(3) in press.
19.
CupplesJKindonS, 2003, “Far from being ‘home alone’: The dynamics of accompanied fieldwork”Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography24211–228.
20.
DijkstraA G, 1999, “Technocracy questioned: Assessing economic stabilisation in Nicaragua”Bulletin of Latin American Research18295–310.
21.
DoreE, 1997, “The holy family; imagined households in Latin American history”, in Gender Politics in Latin America: Debates, Theory and Practice Ed. DoreE (Monthly Review Press, New York) pp 101–117.
22.
DyckI, 1990, “Space, time, and renegotiating motherhood: An exploration of the domestic workplace”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space8459–483.
23.
ElsonD, 1991, “Structural adjustment: Its effect on women”, in Changing Perceptions: Writings on Gender and Development Eds WallaceTMarchCOxfam, 274 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DZ, pp 39–53.
24.
Fernández-KellyP MWolfD, 2001, “A dialogue on globalization”Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society261243–1252.
25.
Fernández-PoncelaA M, 1996, “The disruptions of adjustment: Women in Nicaragua”Latin American Perspectives23(1) 49–66.
González de la RochaM, 1994The Resources of Poverty: Women and Survival in a Mexican City (Blackwell, Cambridge).
28.
GreenD, 1995Silent Revolution: The Rise of Market Economics in Latin America (Latin America Bureau, London).
29.
Hays-MitchellM, 1999, “From survivor to entrepreneur: Gendered dimensions of microenterprise development in Peru”Environment and Planning A31251–271.
30.
Hill CollinsP, 1994, “Shifting the center: Race, class, and feminist theorizing about motherhood”, in Mothering: Ideology, Experience and Agency Eds Nakano GlennEChangGRennie ForceyL (Routledge, London) pp 45–65.
31.
Hondagneu-SoteloPAvilaE, 1997, “I'm here but I'm there: The meanings of Latina transnational motherhood”Gender and Society11548–571.
32.
HurtigJMontoyaRFrazierL J, 2002, “Introduction: A desalambrar: Unfencing gender's place in research on Latin America”, in Gender's Place: Feminist Anthropologies of Latin America Eds MontoyaRFrazierL JHurtigJ (Palgrave Macmillan, New York) pp 1–18.
33.
KampwirthK, 1998, “Feminism, antifeminism, and electoral politics in postwar Nicaragua and El Salvador”Political Science Quarterly113259–280.
34.
LancasterR, 1992Life is Hard: Machismo, Danger and the Intimacy of Power in Nicaragua (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA).
35.
LaurieN, 1997a, “Negotiating femininity: Women and representation in emergency employment in Peru”Gender, Place and Culture4235–251.
36.
LaurieN, 1997b, “From work to welfare: Feminisation and the Peruvian state”Political Geography16691–714.
37.
LaurieN, 1999, “State-backed work programmes and the regendering of work in Peru: Negotiating femininity in ‘the provinces’”Environment and Planning A31229–250.
38.
LaurieNDwyerCHollowaySSmithF, 1999Geographies of New Femininities (Longman, Harlow, Essex).
39.
LawsonV, 1999, “Tailoring is a profession, seamstressing is work! Resiting work and reworking gender identities among artisanal garment workers in Quito”Environment and Planning A31209–227.
40.
McClenaghanS, 1997, “Women, work and empowerment: Romanticizing the reality”, in Gender Politics in Latin America: Debates in Theory and Practice Ed. DoreE (Monthly Review Press, New York) pp 19–35.
41.
McDowellL, 1999Gender, Identity and Place: Understanding Feminist Geographies (Polity, Cambridge).
42.
McDowellLCourtG, 1994a, “Missing subjects: Gender, sexuality and power in merchant banking”Economic Geography70229–251.
43.
McDowellLMcCourtG, 1994b, “Performing work: Bodily representations in merchant banks”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space12727–750.
44.
MetoyerC C, 2000Women and the State in Post-Sandinista Nicaragua (Lynne Rienner, Boulder, CO).
45.
MohantyC T, 1997, “Women workers and capitalist scripts: Ideologies of domination, common interests and the politics of solidarity”, in Feminist Genealogies, Colonial Legacies, Democratic Futures Eds AlexanderM JMohantyC T (Routledge, London) pp 3–29.
46.
MolyneuxM, 1986, “Mobilization without emancipation? Women's interests, state and revolution”, in Transition and Development: Problems of Third World Socialism Eds FaganR FDeereC DCoraggioJ L (Monthly Review Press, New York) pp 280–302.
47.
MontenegroS, 2000La cultura sexual en Nicaragua [Sexual culture in Nicaragua] (CINCO, Managua).
48.
Montoya TelleríaO, 1998Nadanda contra corriente: buscando pistas para prevenir la violencia masculina en las relaciones de pareja [Swimming against the tide: looking for ways to prevent male violence in relationships] (Puntos de Encuentro, Managua).
49.
MoserCON, 1993, “Adjustment from below: Low-income women, time and the triple role in Guayaquil, Ecuador”, in Viva: Women and Popular Protest in Latin America Eds RadcliffeS AWestwoodS (Routledge, London) pp 173–196.
50.
MurguialdayC, 1990Nicaragua, revolución y feminismo (1977–89) [Nicaragua, revolution and feminism] (Editorial Revolución, Madrid).
51.
Pérez-AlemánP, 1992, “Economic crisis and women in Nicaragua”, in Unequal Burden: Economic Crises, Persistent Poverty and Women's Work Eds BeneriaLFeldmanS (Westview Press, Boulder, CO) pp 239–258.
52.
Pérez SáinzJ PMenjívar LarínR, 1994, “Central American men and women in the urban informal sector”Journal of Latin American Studies26431–447.
53.
PhillipsL, 1998, “Introduction: Neoliberalism in Latin America”, in The Third Wave of Modernization in Latin America: Cultural Perspectives on Neoliberalism Ed. PhillipsL (Scholarly Resources, Wilmington, DE) pp xi–xxiv.
54.
PhuaLYeohBSA, 1998, “Everyday negotiations: Women's spaces and the public housing landscape in Singapore”Australian Geographer29309–326.
55.
RadcliffeS A, 1990, “Ethnicity, patriarchy, and incorporation into the nation: Female migrants as domestic servants in Peru”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space8379–393.
56.
RadcliffeS A, 1999a, “Latina labour: Restructuring of work and renegotiations of gender relations in contemporary Latin America”Environment and Planning A31196–208.
57.
RadcliffeS A, 1999b, “Race and domestic service: Migration and identity in Ecuador”, in Gender, Migration and Domestic Service Ed. MomsenJ (Routledge, London) pp 83–97.
58.
RandallM, 1992Gathering Rage: The Failure of Twentieth Century Revolutions to Develop a Feminist Agenda (Monthly Review Press, New York).
59.
RandallM, 1999Las hijas de Sandino: Una historia abierta [Sandino's daughters: an open history] (Anamá, Managua).
60.
RenziM RAgurtoS, 1997La esperanza tiene nombre de mujer: La economía nicaragüense desde una perspectiva de género [Hope has a woman's name: the Nicaraguan economy from a gender perspective] (Fundación Internacional para el Desafío Económico Global, Managua).
61.
RobinsonW I, 1998, “(Mal)development in Central America: Globalization and social change”Development and Change29467–497.
62.
SafaH IFloraC B, 1992, “Production, reproduction, and the polity: Women's strategic and practical gender issues”, in Americas: New Interpretative Essays Ed. StepanA (Oxford University Press, Oxford) pp 109–136.
63.
SeguraD, 1994, “Working at motherhood: Chicana and Mexican immigrant mothers and employment”, in Mothering: Ideology, Experience and Agency Eds GlennE NChangGForceyL R (Routledge, London) pp 211–233.
64.
SharpJ PRoutledgePPhiloCPaddisonR, 2000, “Entanglements of power: Geographies of domination/resistance”, in Entanglements of Power: Geographies of Domination/Resistance Eds SharpJ PRoutledgePPhiloCPaddisonR (Routledge, London) pp 1–42.
65.
SmithAPicklesJ, 1998, “Introduction: Theorising transition and the political economy of transformation”, in Theorising Transition: The Political Economy of Post-Communist Transformation Eds PicklesJSmithA (Routledge, London) pp 1–24.
Thornton DillB, 1988, “Our mother's grief: Racial ethnic women and the maintenance of families”Journal of Family History13415–431.
68.
TianoS, 1987, “Gender, work and capitalism”, in Analyzing Gender Eds HessBFereeM M (Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA) pp 216–243.
69.
TianoSLadinoC, 1999, “Dating, mating, and motherhood: Identity construction among Mexican maquila workers”Environment and Planning A31305–325.
70.
WardK BPyleJ L, 1995, “Gender, industrialisation, transnational corporations and development: An overview of trends and patterns”, in Women in the Latin American Development Process Eds BoseC EAcosta-BélenE (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, PA) pp 37–64.
