Pobladoras, Indigenas, and the State: Conflicts Over Women's Rights in Chile

Rating:
Summary: More than gender divides Chilean women
Review: An incisive look at the women's movement in Chile. The context is Chile's ending of Pinochet's dictatorship in 1990 and the subsequent gradual emergence of a pluralistic democracy. In this society, it has now become possible for many groups to overtly assert their influence. Richards studies how various female social groups have fared.

The problem is that there is no simple pure gender issue that most Chilean women might agree on. Richards shows the complexity of their society. Many divisions overlay. The concerts of educated, middle class women might not fully intersect those of struggling urban working class women.

Ethnicity and race also intrude. Rural women might be indigenous, rather than of European descent. Richards especially devotes attention to the Mapuche and their dealings with the government. The Mapuche were the only South American tribe in the Spanish Empire that the Spanish never defeated. Richards interviewed many Mapuche female leaders to find their concerns, which she summarises and analyses for us.