Barrio Women and Popular Politics in Chvez's Venezuela

Latin American Politics and Society, Fall 2007 by Fernandes, Sujatha

ABSTRACT

Since President Hugo Chávez came to power in Venezuela in 1998, ordinary women from the barrios, or shantytowns, of Caracas have become more engaged in grassroots politics; but most of the community leaders still are men. Chávez's programs are controlled by male-dominated bureaucracies, and many women activists still look to the president himself as the main source of direction. Nevertheless, this article argues, women's increasing local activism has created forms of popular participation that challenge gender roles, collectivize private tasks, and create alternatives to male-centric politics. Women's experiences of shared struggle from previous decades, along with their use of democratic methods of popular control, help prevent the state from appropriating women's labor. But these spaces coexist with more vertical, populist notions of politics characteristic of official sectors of Chavismo. Understanding such gendered dimensions of popular participation is crucial to analyzing urban social movements.

Since leftist president Hugo Chavez came to power in Venezuela in 1998, ordinary women from the barrios, or shantytowns, of Caracas have become more engaged in politics at the grassroots level. Given the use of images of black and poor women in Chavez's television campaigns; his creation of programs such as Barrio Adentro and Misión Ribas, related to concerns that affect women, such as health and education; and the general politicization of the population in this movement, it is not surprising that women from the barrios have become major protagonists in the current urban social movements in Venezuela. Most of the community leaders in the barrios, however, continue to be men. Chávez's programs are controlled by male-dominated bureaucracies. Indeed, many women activists still look to the president himself as the main source of direction and inspiration. What is the outcome of women's increasing political participation, which was, and continues to be, generated under male-directed and -initiated campaigns from above? What possibilities exist for poor women mobilized in the framework of state-managed programs in a revolutionary-populist state?

This study argues that the ability of barrio women in Caracas to build local "spaces" of political participation partly outside of state control has increased their power of negotiation in state-sponsored pro- grams, such as soup kitchens. Despite male leadership and authority, the growing presence of women in local assemblies, committees, and communal kitchens has created forms of popular participation that challenge gender roles, collectivize private tasks, and create alternatives to male-centric politics. Women's experiences of shared struggle from previous decades, along with their use of democratic methods of popular control, such as local assemblies, help to prevent the state's appropriation of women's labor for its own ends. But these spaces of popular participation exist in dynamic tension with more vertical, populist notions of politics that are characteristic of official sectors of Chavismo.

Understanding the gendered dimensions of popular participation is crucial to an analysis of the nature of urban social movements, especially how these movements differ from traditional forms of political participation, such as political parties and trade unions. Such an analysis is particularly important, given the recent upsurge of popular participation in the barrios since Chávez assumed the presidency. Although women play a key role in these social movements, most scholars have failed to incorporate gender into their analysis or to look at the specific gains made by women through their participation.

Drawing on theoretical frameworks developed by scholars of popular women's activism and those looking at gender politics in revolutionary and populist states, this study seeks to develop a specific analysis of barrio women's activism in Chávez's Venezuela, which can also shed light on debates about popular women's organizing in general. It begins with an overview of these various literatures, provides background to the Chávez government, and traces the rise in barrio women's participation since Chávez came to power in 1998. It then looks at experiences of local organizing in a popular sector of Caracas known as the Carretera Negra of La Vega.

The analysis is based on eight months of field research conducted in three parishes of Caracas: San Agustín, 23 de Enero, and La Vega, between January 2004 and February 2006. The study comprises individual and collective interviews with women activists, observations of local committee meetings and assemblies, and documents produced by the various community organizations. Residence in a popular barrio for the eight months moreover, allowed time to get to know the women and to accompany them to various official events and meetings.

URBAN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, WOMEN'S ACTIVISM, AND POPULISM

Urban social movements in Latin America have generated a large literature, some of which has addressed the predominant role of poor women in these movements. Surprisingly little literature, however, focuses on the gendered aspects of popular participation in Venezuela. The literature on urban popular movements in Venezuela tends to represent popular subjects as androgynous (Ramos Rollon 1995; López-Maya et al. 1999; Grohmann 1996; Ellner 2005).