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RE

REPRESENTATIONS, POWER AND CONTRADICTIONS: THE WOMEN’S
COMMUNAL MOVEMENT OF MORAZAN, EL SALVADOR

By
Roxanna I. Duntley-Matos

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY
1996

REFRESH“
COBML'N.

Stadie
gender equa
result of the
important a;
Eben in hm

This 1
Northern M
fmind the 13
Various thee
Pmiuced a

In61's. Twc

ABSTRACT

REPRESENTATIONS, POWER, AND CONTRADICTION S: THE WOMEN' S
COMMUNAL MOVEMENT IN NORTHERN MORAZAN, EL SALVADOR

By

Roxanna Duntley-Matos

Studies by Golden and others have seen an encouraging trend towards
gender equality in the women’s communal movements that have arisen as a
result of the war in El Salvador. Other studies however, have observed
important and patterned problems faced by women’s movements that have
arisen in times of political crisis.

This field study, set in the previously guerrilla controlled zone of
Northern Morazén, El Salvador, investigated these views inductively and
found the latter to be true. The findings were then analyzed in the light of
various theoretical models in order to understand and explain the forces that
produced a faster rate of demise of women’s organizations when compared to
men’s. Two models were created as a result of fieldwork observations and of
an analysis of the interpretations presented by the groups interviewed. They
include internal and external forces acting on the women’s movement as
well as the dynamic relations between them and the men’s organizations.
The interplay between the forces described in the models point to future
trends of development in the women's organizations, in which the negative

trends predominate.

COPYrisht by
ROXANNA DUNTLEY-MA
1996 -

To my two year old son, Daniel Alejandro Cubero-Matos,
the sunshine, hope and inspiration of my everyday.

iv

many
proble:
and I l

Challeng

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This thesis is a result of the inspiration, cooperation, and friendship of
many women of El Salvador who believed that their accomplishments,
problems, and concerns needed to be expressed. I thank them for their trust,
and I hope that this work contributes to further our understanding of the
challenges faced by women’s grass roots movements.

My research would not have been possible without Professor Leigh
Binford’s invitation to join his research team nor without his economic
support. My analysis of the data benefited from the honest, and valuable
advice of the following faculty members: Dr. Joseph Chartkoff (Michigan State
University, Dept. of Anthropology), Dr. Joseph Spielberg (Michigan State
University, Dept. of Anthropology), and Dr. Pedro Maligo (Michigan State
University, Dept. of Romance Languages). I would also like to thank Dr.
A George Mansour (Michigan State University, Dept. of Romance Languages),
Dr. Maligo, Dr. Spielberg, Dr. Chartkoff and Dr. Scott Whiteford (Michigan
State University, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies) for
believing in me enough to "scrounge" monetary support from the most
unimaginable places on campus, so that I could finish my graduate studies at
MSU.

Finally, in terms of the actual writing of my thesis I owe my fondest
and greatest gratitude to Prof. Maria Magdalena Matos Serrano (University of
Puerto Rico, College of General Studies), who, thanks to her great insight,
love, and faith in me (her daughter) patiently read and critiqued my thesis

V

more
littl

compz
the id
thank
and hr

more times than she would care to remember. Many thanks also go to my
little brother David K. Duntley Matos, who, not so patiently, labored on the
computer to copy my diagrams. I am grateful for his constant repetition that
the idea of a diagram is clarification and simplicity. I would also like to
thank my husband and friend Marvin Cubero-Chacon for his encouragement
and help in getting through the final details.

Th:
out the p
the obsez
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it'IhAdi

PREFACE

The field work experience which I undertook in El Salvador brought
out the problem of how to view the mutually transforming relation between
the observer and the observed, the ethnographer and the ”other". This
problem, central to anthropology and constantly experienced by field
researchers, is nevertheless seldom explored, probably due to the influence of
the much touted objective method of the natural sciences. The latter is
usually thought to be the sine qua non of all sciences. The following is an
account of how I experienced and dealt with this issue, offered both in order
to clarify my approach to the research at hand and in hopes of contributing in
some degree to the discussion of this important topic.

W

The first images that come to mind when I think of El Salvador are
enveloped in sensations of strangeness, confusion, and wonder. Upon
arriving in this beautiful country, I was immersed in contrasts and
ambiguities stemming from my own identity, from expectations created by
the literature about the country, and from the movies of violence that I had
seen. Somehow, I felt that I was part of this ”new, yet old world” while, at the
same time, I was alien to it.

My trip on the bus from the Capital to the zone of Morazan sent me into a
vortex of images of a time gone by. They were memories of Puerto Rico, my
homeland, but memories which I had not actually lived. Without realizing
it, I had internalized images from a late nineteenth century novel depicting

vii

 

my country
Salvadoran
wtile the c‘
barefoot or
to the b-otto
the bus and
question t7:
'l‘fho am I

Herc
ant'rmpolc
rather tha]
fragmenta
fragments:
the 1305511

In!
Ihave to
“3&1 wt:
Undersea;
Miran.
“Eh Pre:

“have

my country’s past. Zeno Gandia’s La_ch_a;ca filled my mind as I saw the
Salvadoran women scrubbing their clothing patiently against large boulders
while the clear foamy river water splashed against them. The women were
barefoot or wore rubber sandals and a slip that covered from their waist down
to the bottom of their knees. It is strange that as I looked down on them from
the bus and absorbed the reflections of the radiantly green vegetation, the first
question that came to my mind was not "Who are these people?" but rather,
"Who am I really?"

Here I began to grasp the spirit of Tyler’ s description of post modern
anthropology (1986). He defined it as an evocation of participatory experience
rather than representing the “Other”; as a return to common sense reality; as
fragmentation in style, reflecting the experience in the field which is itself
fragmentary and, by elimination of the ”subject-object nexus", as a rejection of
the possibility of dominance of one over the other.

In my field work as well as in the current process of writing this thesis,
I have found myself struggling to understand the women I have interacted
with without ”normalizing” and dominating them. In the attempt to
understand them, I realized that while I was in the field many things seemed
frustratingly fragmented and even disappointing, yet during that whole time
I felt pressured to make sense, to find patterns and explanations of what I saw.
. Whatever I learned always seemed to result in a self evaluation as well as an
evaluation of the people I interacted with. This continuous combination of
“self” and ”other” has made the analytic process quite confusing and difficult.

The specter of ”Normalization of the Other” (Pinney: 147),
characterized by comparison, differentiation, hierarchization,
homogenization and an ultimate exclusion of the “other” has followed my

every step in the ethnographic experience. The risk of transforming their

 

‘otlmess" W
has always bet"
Many l
because I felt
what ”it" wa:
conversation
to an import
until that n
concerns, nc
and ears. '
student of
satisfied un
now, but
inherently

Putting the

”othemess” into a ”sameness’ defined by my interpretations and experiences
has always been dangerously present.

Many times, after the interviews, I was disappointed with myself
because I felt I was not quite ”getting it” even though I did not really lmow
what ”it” was. After pushing to the back of my mind certain interactions and
conversations which I considered of little relevance to ”my interests” I came
to an important realization. The reason I was not satisfied was that I had not,
until that moment, really sat down to listen to the women and to their
concerns, not mine. Suddenly, a different reality opened up before my eyes
and ears. This is probably the most important lesson I have learned as a
student of culture thus far: my agenda as an anthropologist could not be
satisfied unless I put their agenda and concerns first. This all seems obvious
now, but it has made me understand that the role of investigator is
inherently plagued by a certain detective-like arrogance that results from
putting the ”other” on ”the spot” to answer questions.

In spite of care not to impose my views on the informants, I found
that by ignoring many things that they were telling me (and which I should
have realized they wanted me to ask them about), I was in fact doing what has
been so criticized of our discipline: the creation of a culture that the
anthropologist wishes to see, rather than the description of one that the
informants and the people wish me to engage with.

At times, I have questioned the power that has been attributed to
- anthropology in representing the ”other" because to some extent it ignores
the power and agency of the men and women it describes. I, for one, often
felt powerless before these people as I was being transformed by them. I also
began to shed what I now interpret as my own inclinations of seeing the

women as helpless and needy. In other words, I was engaging, at least in my

ix

 

 

way of thin}
criticized in
ease when T
interaction :
we both see
My 1

way as it
informatio
in their 5
excluding
1'1le polio
numerous

ability to

t13mg to

they be '1

Slightly r

(the germ

ditPUtes.

way of thinking about the women, in the paternalistic attitude that I have
criticized in the other foreigners. However, after some time, I felt more at
ease when I realized that the women and I had a mutually manipulative
interaction as well as one of mutual admiration. The interesting part is that
we both seemed very aware of the other’ 5 attempt to manipulate.

My manipulation of them was based on forming questions in such a
way as to get the information I wanted from them, even when that
information might make them uncomfortable. Their resistance was revealed
in their silent smiles, overly general comments, whispers to each other
excluding me from their interactions, long monologues of party rhetoric, or
just polite agreement to whatever I said. They had already undergone
numerous ”interviews” with foreigners and seemed quite competent in their
ability to handle themselves. Their manipulation of me stemmed from
trying to get funding, gifts, or my loyalty to their particular interests, whether
they be individual or factionaL I resisted by telling them I was a poor and
slightly miserable student, who was economically dependent on Dr. Binford
(the general Project Director), and I added that I could not take sides in
disputes.

The effect we had on each other as we interacted was really quite
interesting. It was clear that the women considered me a weakling, and
frankly after a while, I started wondering myself. For example, there was one
time when I went to see the work the women were doing on their ”new
vegetable plot”. When I began to help them one of the women noticed I was
sweating and panting more than everybody else. Then she came out with the
prodigal comment ”Roxanna, it’ s not the same thing to lift a pencil as it is to
lift a shovel, is it? All the women gave a hearty laugh and I had no choice but

 

to ‘grin" (5&1

that they han:
It was

began to per;
time, I noticr
pmiously ti
rachismo bi
aperienced
The v
curious wa}
and at othe
flied why
time went
1003181 on:

the Office,

to ”grin” (sarcastically) and, pretending to feel pride and strength, demand _
that they hand me the shovel. Of course, I didn't last long.

It was thanks to these women, their stories and life experiences, that I
began to perceive my own past as a Latino woman differently. For the first
time, I noticed a machismo exercised towards them, a machismo that I had
previously thought was only exaggerated ”ferninist rhetoric”. I had heard of
machismo before meeting them, but I was unaware of ever having personally
experienced it. .

The women also seemed to have been affected by my presence in some
curious ways. At times they expressed a wish for me to be more like them,
and at others they seemed to want to imitate me. For example, they often
asked why I never wore skirts, and told me how nice I would look. Yet, as
time went by, they began complimenting me on how well certain slacks
looked on me. Later, some of them began to wear pants when they went to
the office, and showed me pictures of themselves wearing jackets and jeans
when they went to represent the WCM in Mexico. It seemed to be a sign of
. status for them and possibly one of achieved women’s liberation as well.

My cultural immersion was also difficult and entailed various steps of
integration because of the sensitive political and historical nature of the area.
I sensed a general atmosphere of distrust for any newcomers who had not
participated in the twelve year revolution either directly or through
international solidarity programs. To make matters .worse, I could not even
claim (as most other foreigners in the area could) to be in a ”project” whose
purpose was to improve the educational, hygienic or technical level of the
combatants and civilian population.

The fact that my identity seemed confusing to them also made it
difficult for me to gain their confidence. They did not seem to think of me as

xi

 

 

a ”gringa' ye
research tear:
feel uneasy
involved in 1
other countr
automaticall
feelings tow;
The f;
project whic
allowed us .
I ended u
arrangemen
My u
to integrat:
foreigners r
interesting
Sal'adoran
each other
consider t:

upon my 5

a ”gringa” yet they saw how I could speak like one when involved with the _
research team. They knew I was Puerto Rican, and that in itself made many
feel uneasy because of the reputation that Puerto Ricans have of being
involved in the US. Armed Forces when their government decides to invade
other countries. As a foreigner interested in women’s organizations, I was
automatically pegged as a feminist and had to deal with their ambivalent
feelings towards the concept.

The fact that Dr. Binford brought some money to support a corn mill
project which was non-existent whern we arrived (and later never developed),
allowed us to have some clout and to stay temporarily in the WCM building.
I ended up staying there permanently and Dr. Binford made other
arrangements for himself.

My unknown status in the town led me to decide that the quickest way
to integrate with the organized women would be to associate with the
foreigners who were doing actual projects for the different organizations. An
interesting interaction developed between the internationals and the
Salvadorans. It was not unusual to see the internationals trying to outdo
each other irn helping the Salvadorans and, in so doing, assuming what I
consider to be a false possessiveness and paternalism over them. In fact,
upon my arrival, I was more carefully scrutinized and interrogated by the
internationals (mostly educators) than by the Salvadorans. Yet, it was thanks
to these solidarity group members that I was able to attend the first few WCM
meetings, and to begin socializing with, and interviewing the women.

The Morazanian women were used to foreigners representing them for
others and in fact they seemed to welcome it since that was the way to get
funding from intemational aid organizations and solidarity groups. I am not
sure if they thought they were handing over their power to internationals by

XII

 

 

asking the:
ultimately i
not altogetl'
in practice,
was going tn

For t
less about t
refrain fro:
circumstanc
by some in
broadcast a
me to do 1:
strove for "
degree Of a;
them and h

critical min

asking them to represent them. Actually, because of the way the women
ultimately handled their affairs, it seems more likely that they felt they were
not altogether, powerless since the Women's Council was the one to decide,
in practice, in practice, where and how the little money it actually received
was going to be used.

For the women, it was puzzling to realize that in many ways I knew

less about women’s issues than they did, and that I made a strong attempt to
refrain from advising them as to actions they should take under particular
circumstances, or from representing therrn publicly. At one point, I was asked
by some foreign women to speak about the WCM for a Spanish radio
broadcast and I turned down the invitation. This was not an easy thing for
me to do because, professionally, I felt pulled in two directions. In one I
strove for ”objectivity” even though I knew it could only be achieved to some
degree of approximation. In the second, I was pulled towards wanting to join
them and become an activist. Many times it was difficult for me to keep a
critical mind and not revert to justifications of everything that did not seem
to be working according to their (my?) social ideals. I encountered this
difficulty even after I left El Salvador, while analyzing the data. How I finally
tackled this problem is presernted in chapter II under Methodology.
In keeping with the observations made here and in terms of the style in
whichthethesisiswritten,Ihavechosentousethefirstpersontomakeit
clear to the reader that the anthropologist is not an all-knowing, omnipresernt
force. Rather, I am an individual trained in anthropological methods derived
from North American perspectives that inevitably form part of the
ideological and cultural baggage that I carry. It is from this perspective that I
am undertaking this analysis.

 

 

Clapters:
ONE. lntrodu

N0. Methocl
A. Gen

B. Data
C Prot

Time. Brief

Won
A. El
B. The,

C- The
FOUR Ren'e

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapters:
ONE. Introduction

TWO. Methodology
A. General Framework, Interview Objectives and Methods

B. Data Analysis
C. Problems In Data Analysis

THREE. Brief Historical and Social Antecedents: El Salvador and
Women's Roles Before and During the War

A. El Salvador Before the War

B. The War: Events In Moraza’nn

C. The Problem: Women Before and During The War
FOUR. Review of The literature

Community Development Theories

FIVE. Brief Summary of Women’s Organizations In The
Popular Movement of El Salvador

A. General Historical Background

B. The Organized Women of Morazan and the WCM
Before July 1992.

SD(. The Situation of The Women’s Communal Movement
From July 1992 to February 1993.

A. The WCM’s First Assembly Meeting During My
Fieldwork

B. The WCM's Revision of Goals Meeting: Main Topics
and My Subsequent Visits to The Projects Discussed

xiv

11
13

16

16
19

37

63

82

82

94

 

 

Topic

Topics:
1. Reorganization of the WCM Board of Directors

2. The WCM Evaluation of Their Communal
Garden Plots

Our Visits to the Various Garden Projects
a. Arambala
b. Villa El Rosario.
c. San Fernando: Azacualpa
d. Mozote

e. Torola.

3. The WCM Evaluation of The Community Stores
and Jelly Projects in The Zone of La Montana

Our Visits to the Various Store and Jelly Projects
irn the Zone of La Montana.

a. Carrizal

b. Nahuaterique
c. Caiman

d. Zancudo

e. Galera-

SEVEN. The WCM Council: Its Obstacles and Social Context.
EIGHT. Exposition and Analysis of Theories Dealing With The

Women's Movement

NINE. Conclusions
Epilogue
Bibliography

Interviews with Representatives of Different Organizations
During 1992

XV

94

94

99
99
101
102
105
113

117

122

123
125
129
131
134
140

174

204
207

209
214

 

Figure

Figure .‘
Figure 3
Figure 4:
Figure 5:
Figure 6:
Figure 7:

Figure 8: '

 

 

Figure 1:

Figure 2:

Figure 3:
Figure 4:
Figure 5:
Figure 6:

Figure 7:
Figure 8:

LIST OF FIGURES

"Opposing Leftist Women’s Organizations Coordinators" 56
"Women’s Orgarnizations In Northern Morazén". 80
"Garden Projects According to WCM Meeting” (Beans) 96

"Garden Projects According to WCM Meeting" (Vegetables) 98
"Store Projects According to WCM Revisions of Goals Meeting"118
"Jelly Projects According to WCM Revusion of Goals Meeting" 119

The "Change Of Spheres and Change of Roles Theory" 178
The "Extension of Spheres and Roles Theory" 190

xvi

 

of a bro
politicai
Sflvado
hunory
muflyze
theu’”9
and CO
hubruu
Commu
Worked
been th.
nonheh
intEmatj

WQmEnI;

h0ped 1
Col-15d 011
“id “.he

of the In

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

This study, carried out from July 7 to January 1, 1993, is an integral part
of a broader research project by Dr. Leigh Binford, which focused on the socio-
political history of the guerrilla-controlled zone of Northern Morazan, El
Salvador, during the last 20 years. The goal of his research was to study the
history of peasant organizations in that geographical area. He wished to
analyze the effect that the war experiences of the peasant might have had on
their ”social consciousness so as to make possible new forms of organization
and cooperation” (Birnford 1992a: 5). In order to gain the necessary
information, Binford focused on the Development Council of the
Communities of Northern Morazén and San Miguel (PADECOSMS). I
worked on the Women’s Communal Movement (W CM). PADBCOSMS has
been the umbrella organization of Moraza’nn in charge of representing the
northern Morazanian civilians before the government, the army and
international relief organizations (Binford 1993: 12). The WCM was the first
women’s communal movement of Morazan.

My research on the WCM followed similar lines to those of Binford. I
hoped to find out if there had been a significant change in gender
consciousness as a result of the war among the women who had organized,
and whether this consciousness or lack thereof was affecting the development
of the movement as a whole. I also expected to analyze the structural factors

1

 

 

that facilii
basis of th
future de'
struggle fr
My
important
literature
America.
right to be
in the age
groups the
been unde
in the revc
su13130“ 1

represent:

the OPPOSI'.
needs, and
1981): the
emphasize
while the
discriminant
sUbordinat
addTESSed t
for demOCr

The
COntradicfir

2
that facilitated or impeded the organization’s growth. Furthermore, on the .
basis of this analysis, I expected to be able to make projections about possible
future developments of the movement and its effects on the larger class
struggle for democratic participation.

My interest in this subject has been sparked by contradictory views and
important unexplored aspects regarding gender presented in anthropological
literature about community movements and women's organizations in Latin
America. The issues about women's place in society, their needs, and. their
right to be acknowledged as equal participants have seldom been prominent
in the agendas of the broader revolutionary movements, or of the women’s
groups the Left has organized (Sargent 1981). The struggle for democracy has
been understood as applying only to a class struggle. Women's participation
intherevolutionhasbeenwarrantedinsofarasitwasneeded forstructural
support and in so far as the women would limit their participation to
representing a subordinate economic "class" that crossed gender lines.

This situation implies, erroneously, that women have been equal to
‘ the opposite sex within their class in terms of their social value, participation,
needs, and acknowledgment. As expressed by Hartmann and others (Sargent
1981), the socialist movement is based on Marxist principles, which
emphasize class conflict in socio-economic terms ignoring gender issues
while they perpetuate and manipulate gender differentiation and
discrimination. This movement has not taken into. consideration women's
subordinate status and socio-economic burden within society nor has it
addressed the issue of how their subordinate status can affect the class struggle
for democracy and social justice in the long run.

The Salvadoran Revolution, however, has been depicted as

contradicting the more usual patterns of gender subordination. Many leftist

 

 

 

 

researchers
because of i
implementi
"Local Popt
cooperative
participator
the peasant

In s;
representat
largely cer
between th
diSintEgrati
Women's 0
0f E1 Salva
on COmmu

Ada
Various Sh
Prevented

3
researchers have looked at the Revolutionary movement with great hope .
because of its innovative ways of constructing democratic institutions and of
implementing a social democratic model of alternative development called
"Local Popular Power". This model appeared to be based on the creation of
cooperatives and communal organizations characterized by a highly
participatory and decentralized democratic system and operated within and by
the peasant sector (Binford 1993).

In spite of this, the latest research on the communal organizations
representative of this model has revealed, contrary to the expectations, a
largely centralized political system, a less than effective communication
between the base and the boards of directors, and patterns of organization
disintegration. In the search for clues to causes for the difficulties faced by the
women's organizations in Northern Morazan, the Northeastern community
of El Salvador chosen for this study, it became necessary to review literature
on community deve10pment and the obstacles that tended to undermine it.

Adams, Foster and Wolf (in Adams 1962; Spielberg 1968) published
various studies which revealed mechanisms in community organizing that
prevented long term associations. Notwithstanding their important
contributions, I found an essential factor missing in their analyses. The
gender-based hierarchy and power that exist within a community, and the
mechanisms which allow for their continuity, affect the organizations which
are created within this hierarchy differentially. There was no mention in
these works about this issue, and therefore, the questions of why and how
gender-specific organizations are created and how they are affected by their
position within a gender-stratified society, were ignored.

The creation and deveIOpment of organized women's groups which

have sprung from revolutionary movements in Latin America have tended

 

 

 

to foll-
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to em;
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prohibi

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16, 199
slow a
WOU‘LEI
Power:
Farabt
8? 011p:
near- 6

FPO!“
The 1;
lSSUQS
Tnmu

make

equili
that h
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the ah

4
to follow certain patterns in their conception, purpose, structure, and
activities Oelin 1990: Sargent 1981). For the most part, their concern has been
to emphasize the struggle for human rights, to protest violations by the
government military forces, and to act as clandestine couriers across
prohibited borders .

The twelve year Salvadoran revolution was fought to achieve
economic and social equality among all Salvadorans. Certain aspects of the
concern for social equality, such as land agreements, disarmament and
human rights violations were the object of lengthy debates after the January
16, 1992 Peace Accords. In dealing with these issues, however, it has been a
slow and painful process to take into consideration or even define the place of
women in the Salvadoran society as one characterized by inequality and
powerlessness. There is the widespread belief in the zone controlled by the
Farabundo Marti National liberation Front (FMIN), and among solidarity
groups, that women, because of their participation in the war, have achieved
near- equality with the men. There is also the belief that they were given the
opportunity to develop technically and educationally as much as the men.
The literature about socialist . movements and their awareness of women’s
issues mentioned previously throws doubts on the validity of these views.
Through the study of women’s organizations in Northern Morazan, I hope to
make a contribution in this area.

The purpose of this thesis is to scrutinize the assumptions of gender
equality and to find out if and how such a feat has been achieved in a country
that has been described by many of its own members as extremely "machista".
Given the force of "machista"or patriarchal ideology, my hypothesis was that
the attainment of gender equality was at least doubtful and, at most, incipient.

 

Since ma
Morazén is of :
People's Revol
seventies, to be
four revolution

This is
This region 1e
determine if
participatory c
from the priva
and Roles thee

The see
Communal M

1. How

the l

I Wha

3. Has
ideol

why

4. Wm

the f

In Old(
Portion of .I
ZOne of Nj

 

l

summed to.

Olganued v

 

5

Since machismo is notoriously prevalent in the military, this zone of
Morazan is of particular interest because it was under the directions of the
People’s Revolutionary Army (ERP) and was known, at least during the
seventies, to be more militarily and less politically oriented than the other
four revolutionary organizations of the FMLN (Binford 1993: 8-9).

This is also the birthplace of the Women’s Communal Movement.
This region lent itself particularly well to carrying out research so as to
determine if traditional patriarchal ideology had truly given way to
participatory democracy in the women’s ranks, thanks to their displacement
from the private to the public sector, as suggested in the Change of Spheres
and Roles theories. These theoretical constructs will be analyzed later.

The specific questions that I will explore with regards to the Women’s
Communal Movement in Northern Morazan are the following:

1. How much sway did patriarchal ideology have before the creation of

the Women’s Communal Movement?

2. What led to the Movement’s creation and affected its functioning?

3. Has it been an effective agent in limiting or making patriarchal

ideology inoperative and in addressing women's concerns? Why or
why not?

4. What can we expect from the women's movements of Morazan in

the future with regards to strategies for participatory democracy?

In order to answer these questions, I will examine the social role and
position of the organization as it developed in the previously Controlled
Zone of Northern Morazan, and the outside influences that it has been
subjected to. I will analyze the causes and factors affecting the situation of

organized women and the purpose of the creation of the Women’s

 

 

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6
Communal Movement as well as its current interaction with the male
directors.

In this undertaking, I have found the Social Ideology Approach to be
the most appropriate for understanding what I believe to be essential gender-
specific forces that could explain the differences as well as the similarities
between the problems facing the women’s and the men's organizations.
According to Bourque and Warren (1981: 76-77), this approach attempts to
explain why women’s subordination has not been

ameliorated by women's acquisition of economic positions
traditionally defined as masculine, and will not necessarily
disappear in social experiments working towards alternatives to
class based capitalist society. This approach seeks to understand
sexual hierarchy as a product of culturally created social
ideologies and the material conditions of women’s and men’s
lives.

This approach asserts that, although both men and women are
exploited in class-based systems, the women within a particular class are
subordinated to the men of that same class. Gender differences persist
through class, ethnic, and racial distinctions. This is why gender should be
accorded equal importance with the previous factors when analyzing cultural
change. i

As such, the Social Ideology approach focuses on the beliefs which
mold peoples’ perceptions of the world and the society in which they live.
Moreover, it takes into consideration the social institutions created by these
beliefs and which, in turn, help to empower and perpetuate them.

I found this theory particularly effective in explaining the gender
inequities that my research revealed and which went beyond class
considerations and the uprootedness and chaos produced by the twelve year

war.

 

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As previc
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As previously stated, the focus of my thesis is to determine if indeed
the women’s organizations of Northern Morazan have engaged in truly
participatory democracy, overcoming patriarchal ideology as a result of the
war, and to explore the causes and effects this situation. The five questions
presented previously framed the specific aspects of the problem that I wished
to pursue.

Morazan offered an ideal testing ground for various anthropological
and ”native” theories which had attempted to understand communal
movements in general and women’s organizations that emerged from
revolutionary movements in particular. According to the Change of Spheres
theory, for example, the extreme conditions of war seemed to have propelled
women from the private sphere of family and domestic duties to the public
sphere of political and military action. This, in turn, seemed to have created
the necessary conditions to promote and maintain women’s movements on
an equal footing with men's. My study, however, contradicted the last view
by observing, among other factors, a faster rate of disintegration in women’s
organizations than in men’s.

The characteristic that made Morazan a fitting region for the testing of

these theories was the fact that it had been a revolutionary-controlled zone

7

duri
retained e1
the test m
relatively
would
eventually
order to a1
Primarily
considerat
women's 1
study in 1
movement
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give me
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In

8
during the war and that as a military zone it was likely to have

retained elements of the traditional machista or patriarchal ideology put to
the test under the extreme conditions of war. The fact that Morazan is a
relatively isolated area, however, posed a methodological problem since I
would

eventually have to place my findings within a wider context than Morazan in
order to analyze the larger theoretical implications. This problem was tackled
primarily in two ways: by enlarging the outer scope of the study through the
consideration of the socio-historical background of the war and of other
women's movements in El Salvador, and by widening the inner scope of the
study in Morazan so as to include, among others, women in the base of the
movement, leaders of the WCM, male combatants, male leaders, and women
outside of the WCM. The analysis was further expanded through the review
of the literature and the analysis of the theories in the last chapter.

With regards to other women's movements in El Salvador, I took
account of the accomplishments, problems and structure of other Salvadoran
women’s organizations. The problems faced by these organizations would
give me clues as to what I could expect of the WCM which had fewer
economic resources and was integrated by members with less formal
education. For the organizations in the Capital I employed structured
interviews focusing on their origins, purpose, problems, and
accomplishments. The view of women and the role of feminism in the
revolution as described by these organizations was of special importance since
it gave me some insight about the current tendencies in ideology in the
country and their possible effect on the WCM.

In order to study the Women’s organizations in El Salvador, I first

gathered information about some FMLN-related women’s organizations

whose Oiiii
organizatiO
the strong
Associatior
women’s l
RV; the l
ERP and j
for Femir
devoted
women i
A1

engaged
informa
Situatio:

comm

9
whose offices were centered in the Capital. I chose the following four ,

organizations: CONAMU S, described to me by other organizations as having
the strongest ties to the FMLN, especially the FPL; the DIGNAS (W omen’s
Association for Dignity and Life) who were described as being the most radical
women’s organization of socialist inclinations, and who originated with the
RN; the AMS (Association of Salvadoran Women) which represented the
ERP and preceded the Women’s Communal Movement; and the CEF (Center
for Feminist Studies). The CEF was not an organization but rather a center
devoted to giving seminars on feminist theory and on the situation of
women in the country.

After my encounter with members of the organizations in the Capital, I
engaged in participant observation and structured interviews to gain
information and insights about the life histories and socio-economic
situation of the women in the WCM as well as of other women of the
community. The interviews dealt with the following themes:

1. Life histories of campesina women

2. Religious beliefs and structure

3. Women’s political involvement

4. Women’s economic information

5. Women’s socialization

6. Women’s health problems

7. Life histories of female combatants

8. History of the WCM and its problems

10. Hopes and dreams of the women

11. Male perception of women

12. Female perception of the WCM

10
Women of Morazan outside of the WCM organization were .

interviewed to gain a wider spectrum about the women's situation outside of
the organization office. I wish to compare their sense of gender
consciousness, their view of the role of women, and their economic situation
to that of the organized women. Interviewing female combatants allowed me
to tell whether or not those women actually felt that they had been on an
equal level with men during the war, and whether their accomplishments
had been acknowledged and rewarded as much as-the men's. Members of the
Congregation of Christian Mothers and women who were employed by the
PADECOSMS office either as health workers or as cooks for the public
"comedor" or dining hall were also interviewed by me. My goal was to see if
there was a difference in the level of consciousness about women’s issues and
rights and about their ability to exercise those rights depending on the
organization they were affiliated to or worked for.

Finally, I interviewed men and women about their perception of
women’s roles and treatment during the war, and about their opinion of the
‘ Women’s Communal Movement. I hoped that this information would
reflect the current ideology concerning gender differences and would show
whether or not there had truly been a change in the way women are viewed
and treated in this "new society" and the way they now see themselves. I
wanted to make sure I would get something other than the limited positive
public discourse prepared by the organizations and leaders for international
solidarity members who were being brought in for monetary and political
support.

For interviews of members in and out of the office, I often had to hike
to their homes and stay overnight since many were over a couple hours

walking distance. I did not live with a family for an extended period of time,

 

and this limit
residence in l
profound inSié
their abflity to
their techniqu
and for coord
patterns of de]
the WCM by
these constrair
I emph
collected the
mitten survey
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been dialogue
and answers.
quantify the r
Once the rese
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Sttidied. Th'Lc

 

on very deta

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l l
and this limited my ability to observe family life first hand. My long term

residence in the organization building, however, gave me a detailed and
profound insight of the Organization's work patterns. I was able to observe
their ability to program and carry out activities, their ability to delegate work,
their techniques for conflict resolution, their ability for internal coordination
and for coordination with other organizations. I was also able to observe
patterns of dependency towards foreign solidarity workers, constraints put on
the WCM by other town boards and organizations, the WCM's response to
these constraints and its accessibility to its own social base.

I employed the ethnographic method because I could not have
collected the type of information I needed through the sole use of a pre-
written survey instrument. Many of the nuances, subtleties and ambiguities
of the women’s experiences would have been lost. There would not have
been dialogue, only a sterile and very culturally-biased schedule of questions
and answers. I believe the survey instrument is of value to fine-tune and
quantify the results of a previous ethnographic encounter. This could be done
once the researcher has attempted to understand the history and particular
cultural context of the people who are participants in the problems being
studied. This can only be accomplished through a careful investigation based
on very detailed observation, note taking, and by checking, as much as
possible, the information attained through interviews with different
informants.

B. W

My analysis of the data will proceed inductively and will be based on a
content analysis of the interviews done during my field work and the
observations of the women’s interactions in their day-to—day lives. In order to

answer the questions posed in the introduction, I will focus on the

12
informants’ accounts of the situation of women in the zone and the

relationship between the different women's organizations to that of
PADECOSMS with emphasis on the WCM. I will use the accounts of six
different sectors of the population to gain a general and hopefully more
accurate picture of the situation of women in Morazan. These are:

1. unor ' women

2 female combatants

3. organized women

4. women in leadership positions in PADECOSMS

5. male combatants

6. religious representatives
The real names or personal information of those informants who did not
wish to be identified will be omitted for their own protection.

For contextual purposes, I will take into account a historical framework
descriptive of the situation of women and of their participation during the
war, as well as the achievements and problems faced by women's
organizations that preceded the WCM. I will base my assessment of the
WCM’s level of "success" on a comparison of their stated goals and their, as
well as other informants', descriptions of the organization's
accomplishments and progress in fulfilling these goals. My observations of
the level of attendance and participation at their meetings, and their ability to
accomplish short term goals will also be included.

Based on the information analyzed, I will construct a theory of the forces that
constrain and guide the functioning of the WCM. This theory intends to
explain why the women's organization seems to be approaching its demise. I
will also include trends of women's empowerment that have developed in
spite of the ideological and structural constraints affecting the WCM.

 

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C. W

In the process of analyzing my data I have already run into
methodological problems. An interesting dynamic within the interviews
became apparent when I listened to the recordings for the purpose of content
analysis. The tapes revealed that, as the interviews progressed, there was a
tendency for the informant to change the answers, or come . up with
exceptions that contradicted a generalization given at the beginning. This
raises several possibilities. The inconsistencies within the interview could be
a result of a growing sense of ease and trust towards me on the part of the
informants as the interview went along, and they felt it was safe to be honest.
However, it might also be that the informants were completely honest to
begin with, but changed previous responses in order to give information that
they thought would be pleasing to me. Another possibility is that the
questions asked by me during the interview had the effect of making the
informants reevaluate or reinterpret the situation that was described at the
beginning of the interview.

Although I have no way of ascertaining which or what combination of
these possibilities is responsible for the internal inconsistencies of the
interviews, I tend to believe that the first hypothesis is the strongest with
some effect from the third. Most of the contradictions arose from a contrast
between the party rhetoric about the value of women within the revolution,
and the concrete examples of how women were actually treated. A good
example of this is the "Responsable’s" interview which will be quoted in this
paper. An example of the third hypothesis is an interview that I did with a
relatively new combatant who had only participated in the revolution since
the General Offensive of 1989. She said that she believed women were treated

equally to the men and with fairness. However, when I asked her if she

 

thought that
and compens
said "no” and
herself those
Althou
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responses by
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1 4
thought that the women had been given as much credit, acknowledgment,

and compensation as the men now that the Peace Accords were signed, she
said "no" and she was unable to explain why. I asked her if she had asked
herself those questions before and she answered negatively.

Although I did not take a representative sample of the population
(statistically speaking), I believe I was able to check the consistency of the
responses by interviewing different people from the six sectors mentioned
earlier about the same issues. I have attempted to include lengthy quotes in
the thesis so that, at least to some degree, I can let the informants speak for
themselves. My personal comments usually precede or follow the quotes so
that the readers can have the opportunity to come to their own conclusions.

In the cases where contradictions have been present in the interviews, I
have made an effort to reveal them rather than to chose only those parts that
could more clearly and directly prove "my point". Nevertheless, it should be
understood that I have made the choice of including some interviews over
others, and within the interviews I have also chosen specific excerpts. Bias is
inherent to writing for as a text is chosen and created, so is a "reality" which
only reflects the way a certain cultural being attempts to understand a world
that is unfamiliar to her or him. This is a problem inherent to any analytical
endeavor and the most we can hope for is to be honest about our limits and
to believe that we can increasingly reach some sort of consensus and mutual
understanding about the effects of our interactions in a global and gender
specific social-economy.

My analysis will entail the incorporation of theories of subordination,
power, social structure, and anthropological interpretive theories. For
example, I will discuss Ielin's and Hartmann’s descriptions of women's roles

within socialist revolutionary movements and organizations that arise in

 

situat

obser‘

l 5
times of socio-economic crisis. For an understanding of women's groups I

will also incorporate Bourque and Warren's theory of the Social Ideology
approach of female subordination because of its importance for the
understanding of women’s present role in society. In addition, I will include
the political and economic theories of the ex-commander of the FMLN
(Joaquin Villalobos). This will enable us to better understand the place of
women within the Salvadoran Revolution and their place in society in the
near future. My projections will be based on evaluations expressed in the
FMLN political framework, the observations the women have made of their
situation, the depictions of women's situation by men and my own

observations.

Max.
linen
Whrc

Cit: 5

land

CHAPTER THREE

BRIEF HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL ANTECEDENTS: EL SALVADOR
AND WOMEN'S ROLES BEFORE AND DURING THE WAR

A. W

El Salvador, the smallest country in Central America, just recently
terminated a twelve year civil war that devastated the land and lives of its
already impoverished people. The roots of the conflict derived from a history
of peasant exploitation and repression which spans more than one hundred
years. By 1881, the creation of an agro-exporting middle class began to take
place (N avas Turcios 1987: 57-72). Peasants and indigenous populations were
thrown off their lands so that it could be used for the cultivation of export

products such as coffee and sugar cane. Communal property was destroyed
- and laws were created to favor private property. The result was a huge mass
of landless salaried workers who lacked a constant income (Op. Cit.: 5).

In 1932, approximately 30,000 peasants were slaughtered by general
Maximiliano Hernandez during an uprising which protested the massive
unemployment in the countryside and the extreme poverty of the population
which was drastically worsened by the world economic crisis of the 19303 (Op.
Cit.: 56).

In 1954, there was a renewed wave of peasant expulsion from their

land as cotton, a new capital intensive export product, was cultivated. The

16

17
result was an increase in the exploitation of the rural labor force even though

cotton and coffee sales decreased by 1959 (N avas Turcios: 56-57).

The 19603 were marked by the creation of the Central American
Common Market whose goal was to spur industrialization. The result was
the consolidation of the Salvadoran middle
class. This decade was also marked by a number of industrial strikes, the rise
of new political parties and the beginning of the influential pro-peasant role
which part of the Catholic Church (based on Vatican 11) would take. This
sector of the Church played an important role in the creation of peasants’ and
laborers’ awareness of their repression (Op. Cit.: 58-59).

By the 19703, the economically dominant class of the country felt a need
to tie the Salvadoran market to the world market through the "installation of
'maquiladoras' and agro-industries that would facilitate the introduction of
foreign capital”(Op. Cit.: 60-61) The latter ”demanded an agrarian reform
which caused a schism in the dominant economic class” (Op. Cit.). The Law
of Agrarian Reform was promoted by the industrial middle class and clashed
with the agro-exporting oligarchy. The oligarchy blocked the law and
prevented the reform from taking place. This caused the economic and social
crisis to become even more severe.

In the 19703, the percentage of families without land grew dramatically
(Op. Cit.: 63). Whereas in 1961 they only made up 19.8% of the population, by
1975, 41% of the population was landless. This decade was characterized by
the rise of popular and political military organizations which opposed the
oligarchy. The situation resulted in increased military repression and in the
increased activation of a government-sponsored paramilitary organization of
the 19603 called ORDEN. Many disappearances, tortures and assassinations
were attributed to the latter. In 1970 the Popular Forces of Liberation (FPL),

 

year
Was
den

pol

dec;

Po}?

the
but
the r

18
led by Cayetano Carpio, were created from a division in the Salvadoran

Communist Party. The same year the Popular Revolutionary Army (ERP)
came into existence and, in 1975, it too experienced internal problems which
resulted in the death of Roque Dalton, one of its leaders. Consequently, the
Armed Forces of National Resistance (RN) was formed by disenchanted
members of the ERP. The FPL, ERP, RN, and PCS had various political and
military confrontations with the Salvadoran Government during the 703 (Op.
Cit.: 71).

By 1979, repression in El Salvador had increased dramatically as a result
of the popular movements’ stated efforts to institute a democratic
government (Op. Cit.: 72-79). During that year the Central American workers
Party (PRTC), which had close ties to a new mass organization called the
P0pular Liberation Movement, was formed (Shenk 1982: 155). The PRTC
joined the other four political military organizations to form the Farabundo
Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN) in October 12, 1980. During this
year the FMLN joined with the Democratic Revolutionary Front (FDR) which
was integrated by a ”coalition of political parties, unions, and other
democratic forces” (Op. Cit.: 81) making the ties between the popular and the
political military organizations evident (Op. Cit.: 72).

According to the publication W (1992: 2), the FMLN
decided to start the revolution in 1981 after realizing that all the forms of
popular resistance against the repression had been exhausted. Beginning in
1982, the FMLN proposed various negotiations to end the armed conflict but
the government would not agree to do so. In 1984, a dialogue was initiated
but it was not until 1989, after the FMLN’s General Offensive, that through
the mediation of the United Nations, ”the real negotiations” for a peace treaty

W€I€ ac

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19
were accepted by both sides. The negotiations ended on December 31, 1991,

and the final Peace Treaty was signed on January 16, 1992 in Mexico.
Wm

Morazan, one of the poorest regions of El Salvador, became the
”principal rearguard for the People's Revolutionary Army" (Binford 1992c: 2).
The origins of the political transformation which took place in this zone, go
back to 1973 when Father Miguel Ventura’s excursions into the zone (with
the purpose of setting up Christian Base Communities) helped the peasants to
become conscious of the injustice of their social conditions (Op. Cit.: 3). In
1975, Rafael Arce Zablah (the ERP leader) helped to politicize and mobilize
people from the communities to engage in armed opposition against the
repressive government military forces.

In 1981, the US. trained Atlacatl Battalion of the Salvadoran Army
applied the Vietnam-style scorched earth tactic and massacred over 1,000
inhabitants - - mostly women and children. The purpose of this attack was to
weaken FMLN resistance by ridding it of its social base. In this way the
combatants would be deprived of food, informants, and couriers on which
they depended for survival. During my interviews, many peasants described
the particular viciousness of this massacre as having been characterized by
women being raped, and forced to watch in pain and terror as their wombs
were slit open and their fetuses were dismembered. . There were also vivid
descriptions of how children were flung into the air and bayoneted, or
thrown into bread ovens to be burnt alive. The informants did not specify
whether they witnessed these events personally, whether they saw the bodies
after the massacres, or whether they heard about these events from witnesses.
However the archeological findings of El Mozote by the international

Forensic Anthropology team found ample evidence of this massacre.

. “to
Bic-l

1110‘

20
The intensification of the repression from 1980-82 resulted in a

country-wide migration of people who were fleeing for their lives. However,
a third of the population of Northern Morazan remained in the zone thanks
to the FMLN’s presence. (Binford 1993: 6). By 1983, the FMLN had gained
control over the zone. Peasants were able to begin forming small
cooperatives and became officially affiliated to the FMLN. At the same time,
they strove to achieve a legalized standing before the government in order to
hide their true allegiances (Op. Cit.: 10-11) and to get international support.
The relative stability resulting from the FMLN’s protective role in the zone
resulted in larger participatory spaces for the "population to seek collective
means of survival and fulfillment" (UNICEF 1991: 14)

The emerging community organizations were heralded as an
innovative experiment in participatory democracy in the controlled zones.
Binford described the creation of cooperatives and communally-based

movements in the following way:

These experiments. . .consisted of agricultural and fishing
cooPeratives; a broad network of primary and secondary health
care ranging from young, peasant health promoters with
rudimentary training. . .and literacy circles and schools teaching
both adults and children to read with methods pioneered by
Paulo Freire. Popular Assemblies elected officials and
disseminated information, local representatives of Production,
Health, Education, and Organization Committees participated in
sub-zonal and zonal organizations and collaborated in
implementing ever more elaborate plans (Binford 1992c: 1-2).

This ”Local Popular Power” was a grass roots movement,
representative of the Salvadoran peasant communities, which attempted to
change the class hierarchy and social structure from the base up. Its
spokespeople in the popular combat forces and political fronts argued that it
also advocated gender equality (Golden 1991: 10, 15). Researchers such as
Cagan and Cagan (1991: 88) and Radford Ruether (in Golden 1991: 10) felt that

not
van
wh:
the

int:

SOC

21
in the bumpy road to community organizing, and of military, social, and

political participation, women had, to a large extent, achieved an equal level
with men. A close scrutiny of these positive views, however, shows that

certain important aspects of gender equality have been overlooked:

Social equality between men and women in Colomoncagua was
most evident in public life, and public life centered around
work. Most jobs were done equally by men and women,
although some tended to be assumed largely by one or the other
gender (Cagan and Cagan 1991: 88).

Here, the last sentence is particularly intriguing since the author does
not seem to take into account that the jobs which are gender-specific tend to
vary in importance according to the value that is given to the gender as a
whole or vice versa. For example, housewives are socially valued less than
their husbands because the former’s work is not remunerated. A vicious
cycle is created when a specific gender and a job are understood to have an
intrinsic relationship especially if that job is believed to be marginal in its
social value. The following quote also espouses the idea that equality had
been achieved, but this time among combatants:

In the Salvadoran people’s army there are women fighters too,
the comandantes-muchachas-alongside the muchachos.. Here
the equality is less of a sham [than in other revolutionary
movements]. The women really do shoulder the risks alongside
the men (Radford Ruether in Golden: 10).

This quote assumes that because a woman carries a weapon and combats
alongside a man she is given the same value as the man and treated with
equal respect. I do not see how one thing follows logically from the other
since other elements such as interpersonal and social power relationships
have an important bearing on the question of gender equality. The quote
mentions that women are also able to become ”comandantes" but in it there

is no consideration of tokenism and other patterns which may result from

the use of Vt
[git Women
lihether eqi
war will be
C Hillel

Conu
also surprh
nine years
women we
gender ine

Wor

l'ESp
muc

22
the use of women in socialist movements (see Lydia Sargent’ 3 article "New

Left Women and Men: The Honeymoon Is Over" in Sargent 1981: xi-)ooci).
Whether equality between men and women was actually achieved during the
war will be discussed in relation to the data gathered in the field.
(2. WWW

Comments such as those of Cagan and Cagan, and Radford Ruether are
also surprising in view of earlier published accounts on the subject. Only
nine years earlier, a female combatant expressed her view that although
women were becoming more conscious of their worth, there were still clear

gender inequalities in the Salvadoran Revolutionary Movement:

Women really have to struggle a lot in the popular groups to be
respected as equals. Like, your political opinion, is it worth as
much as the political opinion of the compar‘iero sitting next to
you?? It really was a struggle. And it still is a struggle (Latin
American Working Group 1983: 35). . . .Another thing that
sometimes happens is that you’ll find that women do not have
”the right” to be pregnant in the fronts and outside of them as
well. At one meeting, one companera came who was pregnant
and many people harassed her because of it— - women and men.
She had become pregnant during the time of war, and she had
been charged with very high responsibilities, which she never
let down, despite her pregnancy (Op. Cit.: 36). . . .Why do we not
have a chance? I mean all of the commanders, all of the great
companeros, have a family, but the women do not. Most of the
outstanding women, mainly, are alone or have had to make this
kind of sacrifice in order to cope with political work (Op. Cit.: 39).

This combatant’s observations of the inequalities practiced towards
women within the revolution became another link in a chain of female
devaluation and repression long established before the war.

There are also various descriptions of the daily life of the peasant
woman in Salvadoran society which date from before to the beginning of the
revolution when female combatants and peasants were being interviewed by

foreigners who supported the revolutionary cause. The following description

comes
represe
Exchar

to face

23
comes from a 1980 talk given in England by a Salvadoran woman who ,

represented the Democratic Revolutionary Front ("Women’s International
Exchange" 1980: 1-2). It depicts the hardships that women faced and continue

to face at the present time, especially in the countryside:

For a woman in the countryside the day starts very, very early.
Even before the sun has risen they get up from their rough
bundle of a mattress and, trying not to wake their husbands or
step on their children, go outside their little shack and start
grinding up maize into flour tortillas. . . .Grinding the maize is
really hard work because its' still done by hand, and it gives you .
muscles like rock. By the time she’s finished, the children and
her husband will be up. If the children are old enough she’ll
send them off to get some water, but if not she has to go herself. .
. .Once she’s got the water the family breakfast on tortillas and
coffee, then if its harvest time, everybody goes off to work on the
big plantations picking the crops.

Sometimes, women have to give birth on their own. I
remember once when I saw a woman cutting her umbilical cord
herself. She’d given birth then and there. . . .Well, I went home
with her and, do you know, she cooked the dinner and sent the
kids off to play before she lay down!

There was a census in 1971 which said that there were
three doctors and 17 hospital beds for every 10,000 people. You
can imagine how many women die in childbirth and how high
the infant mortality rate is as a result. Women have an average
of six to eight children but often have twice as many

pregnancies.
Many women don’t even have a manifundio [small piece
of land] to live on so they. . . have to make their living as

migrant laborers. . .when she has to travel caring for her
children all the while. . . .Even more are migrating now because
the repression is horrific. Some find work as empleadas and,
unless they’ re very lucky, they end up exploited as workers and
as women. Its just expected that an empleada' will service her
boss and the sons of the family sexually as well. . . .The social
structure in El Salvador is inhuman. It’s important to say this
because, yes, machismo, is a real problem, but nothing’ 3 going to
change until we have the basic necessities of life; economic
security, health and education. . . .We must join with our men
who suffer too, as well as fight for our specific rights.

The 1:
over again l
(Op. Cit: 4-9

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24
The problems expressed by this FDR woman are repeated over and

over again by other Salvadoran women as revealed in the following quotes

(Op. Cit.: 4-9,19, 25-26):

Unemployment in the countryside hits women the hardest. The
women work in the three migration periods of the coffee, cotton,
and cane harvests. This creates a difficulty in permanent love
relationships resulting in an increase in the numbers of single
mothers who are solely responsible for raising their families.
The migrant workers do not have any rights to medical
insurance or social security and they lack schools.

For domestics there is no minimum wage, they have no
right to unionize and no right to severance pay and they are
allowed no more than one day off weekly or in some cases bi-
weekly according to the whim of the employer, and all of their
household duties must be completed before they may take any
day off. . . .Pregnant women are denied jobs. . .Those women
who have the privilege of studying are employed as secretaries,
nurses, sales women, at wages which do not cover a family’s
needs. Very few Salvadoran women reach professional level.

Carolina Castillo, another woman quoted in W
Exchange, vividly portrays the role of women in the Salvadoran agrarian

economy as contrasted to that of men:

In 1980 women made up 53% of El Salvador’s population yet
because of their gender they were doubly exploited and doubly
oppressed: their capacities are underestimated, while men’s
capacities are over exploited. . . .Women in the countryside
earned wages which are a third less than men’s and only men or
heads of household are officially under contract so only they
have a right to payment at the end of the week. The women and
their children have no such rights, since they are not officially at
work: in this way the landowners increase their profits. Illiteracy
is twice as prevalent among women as it is among men. (Op.
Cit.: 7).

As dire as the situation has been for women in El Salvador, it was not
their specific Oppression that led them to take a stand. Rather, women began

participating in the popular struggle because of the repression and

disappearance l
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25
disappearances of their family members. In 1977, it was mostly women’s

organizations that emerged and:

struggled for the liberty of political prisoners: the Committee of
Mothers of Political Prisoners, and the Committee for the Liberty
of Political Prisoners and Disappeared. These groups called for
hunger strikes, demonstrations, sit-ins, and they laid their case
before international tribunals, in order to gain the freedom of
their unjustly retained relatives (Op. Cit.: 8).

According to Cecilia Criollo, there were no women’s organizations that

existed in El Salvador during the 1980s which concentrated solely on

women’s issues or demands: 'Wfiddfid (my underlining) that
at this time it is most important to change the society and only after to
demand new roles and places in the new society” (Op. Cit. ).

Carolina Castillo stated that this was a decision made by women even

though she admits that:

As a woman, if you are suspected of political activity I think that
torture and punishment take on a special vengeance. I believe
there’s a special sexual hatred that takes place. . . it seems they’ re
even more vicious with women than they are with men. (Op.
Cit.: 19).

A good example of this is Ana Guadalupe Martinez’ (ERP chief in Eastern
Zone) account of her capture by the military (Op. Cit.: 25-26). Tying up her
arms and legs, they cover her head and face with a cloth and throw her to the

floor of the car, beating and insulting her:

"Y a know why we picked you up you whore. . . You’re Norma
Guadalupe Martinez and we’re going to fuck you. Look at ’er.
Some ass she’s got. Let’ 5 take her to the river bank. That’ s where
we’ll screw you, ya whore . . . It'll be better for you if ya tell us, if
not you’re going to end up with black and blue tits”

In the case of women, sexual abuse, the constant pawing,
and the threat of rape are among the principal ways used by the
repressive apparatus to demoralize. The mere fact of feeling an
assassin’s hands on your body causes revulsion and anguish.

a
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26

Even though I had known all this would happen, it was a brutal
and horrible experience.

Obviously these psychopathic killers who take pleasure in
human pain cannot possibly understand that dignity and honor
reside in our respect for revolutionary struggle, that all physical
pain caused by them can be transcended by our dignity and our
determination to sustain principled struggle at all times.

Ana Guadalupe’s account is doubly horrifying for it not only reveals
the pathologic mental state of a few individuals, but of a government-
sponsored military institution which, ideally, is supposed to safeguard the
moral values of society and the dignity of its members. Her final comment
also has a familiar ring. As we have seen previously and will see again, the
objective of the struggle by women is the Revolution first and women
second, even though as expressed by Carolina Criollo, and by Ana
Guadalupe’s own account, the repression towards women is especially
vicious.

Their accounts, however, have the effect of leading the observer to the
conclusion that because the forces which oppose the Revolution have been so
sadistic and brutal towards women, and because these women seemed to
have gained an awareness of their oppression within the society there would
be a clear effort to combat these ills within a revolutionary movement that
seeks social equality.

The following quote is an excerpt from an interview that I did with a
”Responsable” of the ERP who had been a combatant during the 12 years of
the war. I will reproduce it in order to allow the reader to follow his feelings
and train of thought without analytical interference. This ”Responsable"
entered the revolutionary movement at the age of sixteen and later was given
the recognition and responsibility of being in charge of a squadron of men

during the cease fire agreement preceding the demobilization of the FMLN

27
combatants. His account is of special interest not only because he was in a

leadership position, but because of the fact that he was a participant in the war
throughout its entirety. Therefore, he was socialized to see and treat women
in a certain way within the revolutionary forces. He was also exposed to the

FMLN’s modifications of its official rhetoric regarding women as the war
progressed.

How would you describe the relations between men and women
combatants?

the FMLN promoted camaraderie of men towards women. It
strove to form a society which encompassed the rights of men as
well as those of women.

Did many women become pregnant during the war?

The FMLN required women not to become pregnant. It was an
error for her to think about having children if she wished to
participate in the revolutionary process. This was more
common in the beginning of the war. There were cases of
women who never had children in order to continue with the
struggle. You see, when the war started there was usually only
one woman in the squadron and she tended to be a medic or a
communications personnel so their responsibilities were of
crucial importance.

Was sexual education imparted to both men and women?

Sexual education was more directed towards women. If she
became pregnant, the responsibility was almost always attributed
to her because she did not want to take precautions. But the
education we received was mostly military in content. . . . Many
women really wanted to be part of the struggle, but sex during
the war was a way to get relief from the tensions of the war. It
was really the only way of distancing yourself from the war. To
have an affair was the ”only way out”. The type of contraceptive
used by the women was optional. If none were used, there was
the risk of losing our medic or communications personnel.
Maybe the most loyal to the cause never had children, well,
maybe the others did because they forgot to take the pill, I don’t
know

28
Were the men aware of the different types of contraceptives?

Maybe not. For example, I never received classes about how to
avoid pregnancies. . . . There were a few tendencies within the
organization of women- -around 1986, I think- -that began to
struggle for women’s issues, and would orient the women in the
proper use of contraceptives. But I think that they were causing
some problems of liberalism. We felt this was going to cause
some problems. There was the case of a woman that would
have sex with whichever man she liked. She was free in that
sense. But she had a "compafiero" who wasn’t fond of the idea.
She was clear with him and told him that if he wished to be with
her, he would have to accept that she would sleep with
whomever she liked and he had no reason to tell her anything.
She told him that if he didn’t agree with that, he should leave
her alone. Well, maybe he was in love with her and he agreed.
But there came a time when he found her with another
combatant and he killed her, then he killed himself. It almost
always ends that way. The man will kill her, and then he will
kill himself.

You told me that the women had been badly advised and that’ 3
why the group was dissolved. Who dissolved it?

The directive of the ERP, because the organization wasn't
advising the women correctly. The women were confusing
liberation with liberalism. So the organization was suspended. .
. .You see, we had a policy of agreement. All the relationships
that I know of during the war were informal. It was rare to see a
particular couple always together. Because of the war, couples
almost always had to be separated. They tended to be casual
relationships. . . . In fact, there were cases where women should
not find a permanent partner because if they did, they wouldn’t
be able to satisfy the needs of many other combatants because
there were so few women. For every 50 men there were 2
women. So, in that sense, there was a greater tendency for
sexual relationships. Well, it was a necessity. Every one saw it
that way. There were women who did not have a stable
relationship and they would have sex with many combatants.
These were not harmful relationships. In fact, they helped lift
morale. There were men who criticized the women and called
them prostitutes. But that was wrong of them because those
men would take advantage of them and then would talk about
them behind their backs. Once the FMLN incorporated more
women, this situation diminished. But a squadron or platoon
leader could have, for example, six women and he could get

29

more than a mere combatant could. If I wasn’t in charge, the
women would ignore me even if I had good intentions. But if a
commander came along, the woman would go with him. It’s
always been felt that women are easily influenced and they don’t
perceive the true value of a man, his principles or his simplicity.
. . his humbleness because as they say 'you’re worth as much as
you’ve got'. I feel machismo has changed little during the war

How about women, have they changed much?

The women who have been combatants might see those who
didn’t participate in the struggle as inferior. I know of cases
where a female combatant would say 'Ya see, that bitch let
herself get pregnant by an old fart so she wouldn’t have to fight
in the war'. The combatants are also different in that they can
defend themselves from men. They feel they have learned a lot.
Many don’t want to return to their homes to grind corn and take
care of children.

Do you think women's organizations are important?

I think they’ re important as long as their ideology doesn’t go
against men. In other words, to put all the responsibility on the
men. For example, a director of a women’s organization should
not have had a frustrated life in her personal relationships
because this will cause her to make mistakes. She won’t act in a
just way towards the problems of men. She would probably
attack the individual and not the problem. But it’s a good thing
for women’s organizations to exist so they will help women
develop in their way of thinking. For, example, they should
teach them how to do things, how they should help men, you
see. They should learn to deal with problems through a
dialogue. They should acquire a capacity to discuss with men.
And the organizations should also find a way to take the
message to the men as well, and not only to women. Men
should be taught to recognize the rights of women and the rights
that men have.

According to your own view, which do you think are the rights
and value of women?

Women’s rights are many, you see. They aren’t all defined
because I still don’t understand that stuff. But for me, the rights
of women concern the political question above all. So that they
may govern, so they may be mayors, and military personnel.

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30

Everything that a man can be. It’s to have the opportunity to be
what she wants to be.

This interview reveals a man who has had to deal with the
contradictions of a rhetoric which espouses the value of women, for
whatever the purpose, versus the reality of the treatment, view, and place of
women within a social system that sees them as fulfilling a necessary, but
merely utilitarian role. Their value is appreciated only in so far as they fulfill
the roles that the men in the revolution and the women influenced by them
find necessary. For the woman to act as the men have historically acted,
which is to engage in sexual activity with many members of the opposite sex,
is considered libertinistic and problematic. But it is only problematic if there
are enough women to go around for the men. If there were few women,
then, for them to engage in sex with many men was seen as a harmless and
necessary behavior because it would lift morale and relieve the tensions
caused by the war. However, ”Free Love” is not considered libertinism when
applied to the men, rather, it is a condoned and even promoted conduct for it
reinforces the stereotype of the overly fertile and virile ”macho”.

The result is the responsibilization of women for their pregnancies
and for the rearing of their children. As the Responsable stated, it was mostly
women who received some sort of sex education and it was women who
”were not serious about the Revolution” if they did not take precautions. To
make matters worse, the women also had to feel inferior for becoming
pregnant and were punished through pressure to abort and reprimands for
having gotten pregnant in the first place. Their pregnancy was viewed as an
irresponsible attitude and lack of concern for the priorities of the

revolutionary struggle, even by other women combatants.

 

va

Wt

ho

31
It seems clear that women were getting their self worth according to the

values and conditions prescribed by the men. As in times of peace, their self
worth depended on how well they submitted to the ideal stereotype of a good
housewife, mother, and Christian. But even those women who fit the
”ideal” were devalued because they ”must be taught how to have a dialogue
with men”. This implies that in general, it is emotional outbursts that
women use for communication rather than rational discourse. Once they are
taught to have a dialogue the purpose is so they can ”learn how to do things,
how they should help men, you see”.

The answers to the first and last questions of the excerpt quoted appear
to contradict the other responses and to express a genuine aspiration for
women to reach equality with men. This is ironic in so far as taken in their
totality, the responses reveal an ignorance of the true meaning of equality. At
this point I cannot help but remember an insightful comment made by
Binford after observing the work patterns of peasants who were supposed to
take turns working on communal land. In the attempt to explain why some
peasants were fulfilling their ”quota” while others never showed up, he
realized that although the time allotment might have been distributed
equally, it was not equally fair. A woman with eight young children should
not be expected to work the same amount of time on the land as a woman
with two children because the former would obviously have less time.
People who do not have equal structural-economic conditions are being
treated unfairly if these inequalities are not considered when allotting work
responsibilities.

The same logic applies to the thoughts of the ”Responsable". He
answers the last question by stating that he really does not understand "that
Stuff" about equal rights for women and he ends by stating that he believes

32
equality would be that they can be whatever a man can be. Rather than taking

into consideration that women are not men, and therefore have certain needs
that differ from men’s which must be met for them to achieve ”equality”, he
ignores (or is ignorant of) this problem and sees them as filling the public role
which men have traditionally filled. For him, this is sufficient to fulfill the
”equality” requirement. The danger with this kind of logic is that tokenism
may (and in many circumstances has) become a reality. Women have been
placed in traditionally male roles only for them to resume with an agenda
that continues to follow the priorities set by the male majority. This majority
persists in its efforts to exclude women and ignore their particular needs.
That a woman, and not a man, fills a traditional male position, is used as
”evidence” that women have achieved equality. Therefore, following this
logic, in order for a woman to be equal to a man, she must stop being a
woman.

Unfortunately, a country-wide perspective of the situation of women
only provides stronger evidence of the severe oppression and disregard for
them and their needs. According to a UNICEF report (1991: 14) on women
and children of El Salvador, by 1991:

more than 40% of Salvadoran families [were] exclusively headed
by women, this figure increasing to 57% for displaced families.
[These] adverse conditions . . . forced hundreds of thousands of
Salvadoran women in all levels of the society to assume

economic and social responsibilities to a larger extent than in the
19703.

The report adds that the cost of living quadrupled during the decade of
the 19805 and increasingly ”large sectors of the population [were] trapped in
non-formal or self developed activities, high unemployment rates, under

employment and increase of an urban non-formal sector mainly integrated by

WC

de‘

33
women”(Op. Cit.: 10). In the rural areas the situation is even more

devastating since they are unable to take care of their basic needs.

During the period of 1985-1989, the differences between the
family income and the basic food cost were negative, disclosing
extreme poverty conditions prevalent among families in the
rural sectors (Op. Cit.: 64). . . . The most directly affected
individuals are women in extreme poverty, suffering from lack
of water and appropriate technology within an adverse cultural
context which discounts and diminishes their social role, as well
as their work, placing upon them the burden of obtaining water
(collection, transportation, storage and distribution). This heavy
task places a toll on their health, is not remunerated, but is
certainly basic to fulfill their own and their families’ needs (Loc.
Cit.: 64).

As depressed as the situation of women is in El Salvador, an even
more impressive problem is the lack of information about them, indicating
even further their undervalued status in the country. The same
UNICEF report claims that there is insufficient information on the

nutritional state of women and that

abortion indicators are practically non-existent in the country,
primarily due to the deficient information resulting from the
scarce coverage of maternal health care [only one maternal
hospital in the country located in the Capital] and to the illegal
status of induced abortions (Op. Cit.: 42).

However, the report adds a positive note mentioning the collective

means by which part of the population was able to insure its survival:

Armed conflict gave rise to the constitution of new
organizations integrated by displaced families, repatriated
relocated groups, relatives of confined or missing persons,
refugees living in other countries, parents of affected children,
persons disabled through violence , and other groups. . . . The
majority of these groups is assisted by private non-govemmental
‘ organizations, which channel external funding to philanthropic
assistance and community development projects (Op. Cit.: 14).

These are the organizations which so impressed researchers such as

Binford, Cagan and Cagan, and Golden, and that led to the comments quoted

34
earlier heralding gender equality within the organizations and the

revolutionary movement. The positive descriptions of women’s
participation, however dubious, might lead one to expect that the
characteristics of ”Local Popular Power” (LPP), as described previously by
Binford, would also apply to the new Women’s Communal Movement
(WCM) which the LPP spawned. One might anticipate that if the process of
democratization had been unusually innovative and effective in instituting
democratic values and participation, the WCM would differ from the patterns
of disintegration and temporary existence that had been observed in other
Latin American women’s groups described by Ielin (1990: 6). In other words,
one might expect the Women’s Communal Movement to be an integral part
of the mechanisms of ”Local Popular Power”, to be more involved in
participatory democracy, and to be more committed to women’s issues than
the women’s organizations of other Latin American countries as represented
in Ielin’s anthology. There was the matter of "machista" ideology, however.

Once the interviews were over, it became evident that the WCM was
turning out to be another example of short term organizing. It was unable to
put into practice participatory democracy, to work in a decentralized structure,
and tend to the needs of the women who composed its social base. The male
headed organizations were also having difficulty implementing the model
(Binford, fieldwork notes; Villalobos: 29), but the women’s organizations
seemed even further from carrying it out. They were much less focused and
were disintegrating much more rapidly.

In light of the evidence contradicting my expectations, it became
necessary to analyze not only the reasons for the disintegration of the
women’s movement, but the accelerated rate that they exhibit when

compared to the men’s. Therefore, it is important to determine the extent to

35
which the WCM’s trends towards disintegration can be aptly explained by

merely looking at the problems that the larger male dominated organizations
have faced. Second, if this approach is unsuccessful, other gender-specific
forces that can account more adequately for the disintegration rate of the

Women’s Movement need to be explored.

CHAPTER FOUR

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

In order to understand the forces that are taking place in the Women’s
Communal Movement of Morazan, it is necessary, first, to review some of
the literature that has been written on mechanisms and problems of
community organizations as a whole. It was the community organizing
experience during the war that provided the model for most of the people
who are participating in the present communal organizations. According to

Richard Adams:

Peasant communities have been defined as those which are not
self-sufficient and in which there is a semi dependence upon
employment and commercial facilities within a larger society
(Adams 1962: 418).

The peasant communities, which arose during and after the
Salvadoran Revolution, differ from the concept of ”traditional communities”
in that they are relatively recent and are a result of chaotic social
circumstances which have brought individuals together from previously
destroyed communities. A better term for them, then, might be ”repopulated
communities”. For example, the long lasting bonds of kinship and
"compadrazgo" relations typical of traditional communities were very
difficult during the war.

In essence, the communities of the controlled zones of the FMLN have been
highly permeable and open. In spite of this, the characteristics which Adams

36

3 7
ascribes to the concept of community do apply, to a certain extent, in this case. _

Even though the ”semi dependence upon employment . . . within the larger
society” became almost impossible during the war, this dependence was
merely transferred onto international aid organizations that were supporting
the revolutionary movement. In addition, the people depended on each
other for services

which would benefit the community such as distribution of resources and
the organization of work groups.

Because research on community organizing has traditionally focused
on male participation, the review of literature based on female movements
and organization trends is indispensable. This will allow for the examination
of forces that specifically affect the female gender and its ability to organize.
The literature review will begin with a summary of Richard Adams’ article
on community development, followed by Golden’s characterization of the
”sense of community” she found in the controlled zones of El Salvador.

C 'l D l | I] .

It is a peculiarity of modern social anthropology that an
ethnographer may describe a society or community with some
degree of accuracy and then arrive at a theoretical formulation
which need have little relationship to his own empirical data.
This seems to apply to the qualities ascribed by Redfield to the
community (Adams 1962: 446).

In this quote, Adams was referring to the mythical aura that has been
ascribed to the social structure called ”community”.- For more than three
decades now, community development research has been of utmost interest
to social scientists. According to Adams (Loc. Cit.), at least up until the 19603
the community was looked upon by anthropologists and sociologists as ”a
battery of stored energy for action and development, a dynamo of

potentialities” (Op. Cit.: 409-410).

3 8
Communities were perceived to be stable and long lasting structures of

cooperative and communal relationships. Nonetheless, after reviewing the
literature, Adams concluded that rather than holding true to these idyllic
values, they showed evidence of being mostly characterized by a strong
individualistic ideology. He argued that ”community work for community
benefit [should be] sharply distinguished from . . . reciprocal or collective
work for individual benefit” (Op. Cit.: 420). As an example he used the classic
case of communally- owned land that is worked as if it were individually
owned (Loc. Cit.).

Adams used this example to demonstrate that development would not
occur within ”a community simply because it [was] a community.” First, it
was ”necessary to create the appropriate social relations and kinds of behavior
which [would] permit development to take place” (Op. Cit.: 426). In order for
individuals to form social relationships, there had to be a problem that
needed to be resolved. Once the crisis was over, the relationships would also
terminate (Op. Cit.: 423). The internal dynamics that prevented long term
associations were characterized by factionalism based on differences in
political or religious beliefs, differences between ethnic groups and/ or
territorial divisions. It was the reactive rather than the proactive nature of
community organizing that prevented Adams from accepting the metaphor
of the community as a ”battery of stored energy”.

Following Adams’ lines of thought, more research was devoted to
analyzing the nature of communities and communal organizations so that
the power struggles which were causing a disruption of cooperative relations
and of communal development could be understood. Social scientists such as
Foster advocated the theory that community size, and the type of dyadic

relationships (formal-legal, or informal) among its members affected the

3 9
cohesiveness of the community (Spielberg 1968: 241). Wolf argued that

peasant communities would arise when faced with restrictions from a
dominant group which minimized or prevented access of the minority group
to economic or social resources (in Adams 1962: 428). In the literature of the
peasant organizations of El Salvador, various references have also been made
to the individualistic nature of the peasants before the war. In fact, one of
Binford’s main concerns was how this individualistic ideology had been
overcome (Binford 1992a: 5). In dealing with this concern he described the
many accomplishments of PADECOSMS during the war. In his proposal,
Binford stated that it developed programs:

based on a self management model that emphasizes
collectivization, regionalization, and sustainability (Binford
1993: 17). . . . PADECOSMS, in collaboration with other
organizations, provided an unprecedented level of popular
representation to thousands of historically marginalized
peasants and workers in Northern Morazan, raised their
combativeness before government and military repression, and
disseminated a message of collective as opposed to individual
solutions to shared problems (Op. Cit.: 21).

However, Binford concluded that lately

attendance at meetings was decreasing, and the leadership was
being accused in some quarters of being out of touch with the
base . . . the culture and values of Northern Morazanian
peasants, . . . did not change as much as regional activists claim . .
. Now, after years of war, many peasants in northern Morazan
desire little more than a return to peace so they can pick up the
threads of their lives. They are not particularly interested in
participating actively in grandiose, long term social experiments
unless they can see good possibilities for an immediate pay off.
And while they are no friends of the Salvadoran State and the
oligarchy it serves, they are suspicious of collective endeavors.
Here PADECOSMS butts up against entrenched peasant attitudes
that may require generations to alter (Op. Cit.: 22-23).

Could it be, as suggested by Wolf, that the cohesiveness of the

community was merely a result of the repression and restrictions that the

4 0
peasants were submitted to by the military forces? Binford seems to believe

that the ”entrenched individualism” which he mentioned in his proposal is
still a destructive force within the organizations especially now that the
repression is less visible.

Perhaps, Adams and Wolf would have predicted these results. But
Golden described a cohesive force in her analysis of Salvadoran peasant
communities which encouraged us to believe that communitarian ideals
were not so easily swayed by the diminution of external violence. The
creation of appr0priate relations and behaviors which Adams mentioned
were accomplished in the ERP Controlled Zone thanks, to a large extent, to an
unusual mechanism: Liberation Theology. Unlike many other socialist
movements which have been atheistic, this one made ”a pact with God”, and
thanks to this Christian ideology, the traditionally Catholic peasantry was
mobilized. In describing her own experience Golden stated:

Those of us who traveled to El Salvador and encountered
community (comunidad), sustained primarily by women, have
discovered a new possibility for social life . . . Salvadoran
community is created by the base, those who in US. culture are
the most marginalized and ignored . . . Comunidad is neither
anarchic nor mystical but highly organized, disciplined and
democratic (Golden 1991: 15) . . . To understand the Salvadoran
”comunidad” as both embodiment of spiritual liberation and an
effective counterinsurgency tactic requires the language and
inspiration of ”mistica” (Op. Cit.: 26) . . . Democracy, as a political
formation, grew out of the ”campesina” construction of
”comunidad” the social practice of becoming people spiritually
and nationally (Op. Cit.: 70) . . . for women resistance has meant
a refusal to let community die (Op. Cit.: 191).

Is it sufficient, then, to look solely at the forces mentioned by Adams,
Foster, and Wolf in order to understand not only the creation and
disintegration of communal organizations but their rate of demise as well?

How can the faster rate of disintegration experienced by the women’s

4 l
organizations, their smaller constituency, and lesser amount of power be

explained by these theories when the women have been a numerical majority
during and after the Revolution, have been advocates of the revolutionary
socialist ideology, have participated as combatants, and most importantly,
have been the main uplifters and organizers of the community through a
Christian ideology to which Golden seems to attribute permanence?

Communal organizations have been analyzed as if they were
homogeneous in terms of their gender, implying that the forces that affect all
of these organizations will be the same in nature. For this reason many social
scientists have remained at a very general level of analysis and have not been
able to discern important differences in the relations, not only within
organizations, but between organizations, that inevitably affect their nature
and continuity.

It is just as erroneous to think that internal factionalism and
individualistic attitudes are the only major forces affecting the organizations
as it is to believe that the attitudes that generate these two forces are equally
characterized across gender lines. For example, when dealing with
factionalism we should not presuppose that the characteristics of each faction
are in fact what caused the division. There may be outside forces playing on,
and manipulating those internal differences with the purpose of causing
strife and disintegration. Genders have historically played very different
social roles in Western society and have had, in conjunction with these roles,
different stresses and value systems applied to them which should be taken
into account in the analysis of an organization.

For this reason, before beginning a general review of the history of

women’s organizations in El Salvador, and a description of the WCM, it is

4 2
important to turn to literature that has focused on the analysis of women’s

organizations which have sprung in times of crisis.

The following summary of women’s organizations in El Salvador will
help us discern some of the outstanding problems and contradictions which
they have faced, and the achievements which they have made in spite of
many obstacles. This review should give us a historical context of the WCM
by allowing us to examine the patterns of development in women’s

organizations prior to the formation of the WCM.

CHAPTER FIVE

BRIEF SUMNIARY OF WOMEN ’S ORGANIZATIONS IN THE
POPULAR MOVEMENT OF EL SALVADOR

AGeneraLHistoricaLBackgmund

The Fraternity of Salvadoran Women (FMS) was, according to
Thomson (1986: 93-94), the first Salvadoran Women’s organization to be
concerned with women’s rights. It was formed in 1957 ”under the influence
of the Salvadoran Communist Party” and had an active role in the protest
against the Lemus regime from 1956-60. The FMS sought nursery care for the
children of market women as well as improvements in the buildings in
which they were working. In spite of its sponsorship by the Communist
Party, the FMS was forced to deal with resentment from fellow male party
members. Liliam Jimenez, the founder of the organization observed that
there were ”men who were renowned working-class leaders but would beat
up their wives if they got in late from one of [the] meetings (Thomson 1986:
94). The FMS seems to have disbanded around 1968 due to government
repression against the women and also because of political schisms within the
Communist Party.

Meanwhile, in 1965 the National Association of Salvadoran Educators (called
ANDES 21 De Junio) protested a law which forced them to extend their
retirement date by a third before being eligible for pension. Thanks to its 1972

strike, ANDES was able to achieve three months maternity leave as well as

43

4 4
equal pay for female and male teachers. ANDES membership has been 90% ,

female, and the organization’s first general secretary was Mélida Anaya
Montes, who later became Commander Ana Maria for the FPL branch of the
FMLN (Op. Cit.: 72-77). According to several testimonies, she was
assassinated in 1983 due to the orders of Cayetano Carpio, founder of the FPL.

Even though ANDES is mostly made up of women, its objectives have
focused mainly on improved working conditions for teachers in general, and
better educational and nutritional programs for children. In an interview
with a combatant published in 1983, the combatant expressed Mélida Anaya
Montes' views on the incorporation of women’s issues into the popular
struggle:

Ana Maria of course, is also a very loved person in El Salvador. And
she often told the teachers, the women teachers in ANDES, that this was not
the time for women’s issues - - she was very clear about that. There were
other things to fight for. She said we would just have to face it. Like many
other women in El Salvador face the issue—it just is not the right time
(CentraLAmricanflomen, 1983: 39)-

The ”things” that Mélida was referring to were the protection of the
family members from government-sponsored assassins and the prevention
of the destruction of their land. The issues which had to wait were such
things as the struggle for the social realization that women were being kept in
a subordinate, devalued, and unequal position when compared to men.
Women would organize but only to continue with their traditional
nurturing roles based on motherhood and Christianity. As the repression
intensified in 1977 (Golden 1991: 108), the Committee of Mothers of the
Disappeared was formed as a result of Monsignor Romero’s encouragement.

The Mothers gained international support when they began protesting the

4 5
disappearance of their relatives and demanding information from the

government.

.In 1978, four members of the defunct FMS decided to create another
women’s organization (the Association of Women of El Salvador—AMES)
which would focus more on women’s issues. Due to the increased
repression, however, the organization was not able to get started until a year
later. They began speaking to women who were ”active in their local
Christian communities” and were able to organize them around specific
”immediate basic needs” (Thomson: 94-97). Thomson states that AMES
became the ”largest of the women’s organizations [to] support the FDR-
FMLN” (Op. Cit.: 95). Its leadership was primarily concerned with the
struggle against the exploitation of subordinate classes even though they
were also asking the FMLN to ”adopt a Minimum Women’s Program as part
of its published manifesto” (Op. Cit.: 96).

AMES advocated shared responsibility in domestic work, and sex
education programs. It also sponsored non-traditional teclmical training for
women such as shoe making and munitions workshops (Thomson: 125). But
rather than prioritizing women’s issues, AMES believed that the priorities
during the war were to end the civilian massacres and to fight for national
liberation (Op. Cit.: 96). Surprisingly, however, in 1981 at the First Latin
American Research Conference on Women AMES gave a paper stating that
the left, by focusing on class struggle, had ignored the problems of women
altogether. The left saw the struggle of women as something separate from
the class struggle to be dealt with after the Revolution (Golden: 110-111).

Later AMES experienced internal problems especially in areas outside
of the controlled zones. According to Corina, a founder of the National

Coordinator of Women of El Salvador (CONAMUS), AMES ceased to exist

4 6
around 1983 due to the intense repression (Op. Cit.: 113). On the other hand, a

spokesperson of the Institute of Feminist Studies argues that AMES

arose from the FPL’s need to organize women for the
Revolutionary Struggle. Once the party felt they were no longer
necessary, it [AMES] ceased to exist. In the First Offensive of '81,
political fronts like AMES passed on to military fronts and their
structure weakened. In 1981 it ceased to exist in San Salvador. It
remained in Chalatenango up until 1985. Then it remained in
the US. and Mexico (CEF, interview notes 1992).

By 1984, women who were still in the country, and who had not joined
the guerrilla forces, began to participate in popular organizations. Many
women joined the Christian base communities which ”preceded the
formation of national women’s organizations” (Golden: 71) such as
CONAMUS (National Coordinator of Women of EL Salvador), AMS
(Association of Salvadoran Women), MSM (Salvadoran Women’s
Movement), and ADEMUSA (Association of Salvadoran Women).
According to the same CEF spokesperson, these are the oldest women’s
groups that have attempted to incorporate both a class and a women’s issues
agenda. They each represent an organism of the FMLN and find themselves
in a difficult and contradictory situation. They all deny that they are an
instrument of their political party, even though in practice they obey the
party’ s commands and they always end up giving priority to the class struggle
(CEF interview notes, 1992). ”They all have problems with the party but they
don’t discontinue their relationship and they respect their authority, up to a
point” (CEF interview notes: 1992).

Rosa, a current representative from the directive of CON AMUS, stated
that her organization was created in 1986, and it took them two years to define
their objectives. They decided that their goal was to promote women in an

integral manner and to create projects according to the needs of the different

4 7
groups with which they worked. However, the war was a time of crisis which

demanded that women tend to the priorities of the moment, mainly

survival:

Originally, we didn’t have a clear concept about women’s issues,
so more than anything we were tied to the ideas of our political
parties...They organized us because we are a majority in the
population and if we are organized we can help in the process.

But why did they organize you as women rather than organize you

with the men?

Because there is a lot of resistance, well, now it's not that much,
but in those days, in the unions the participation was minimal
because the men didn’t want their women to socialize with
other men. 80 it was a lot easier if only women would organize.
Also, the enemy wasn’t prepared for a women’s organization.

So, in those days, none of the women’s organizations were
created as a result of the women’s own initiative?

No. . . but now its different. Even though there may be an
affinity between an organization and a certain party, we were not
created as a result of the initiative of our compafieros. At least

not all of us. .9 . In our specific case we have never been
dependent on the party. . . we have always been totally
independent.

In Rosa’s quote, the contradictions between what is expected of them as
revolutionaries versus the ideal goal of a women’s organization (which is to
serve women), are clearly revealed. Women were organized because they
were a majority of the population. They were organized separately from men
so their husbands wouldn’t become jealous and to surprise the enemy. They
were not organized so that the women would develop a consciousness of
what it meant to be a woman in their society in that particular historical
moment. This is ironic considering that AMES had criticized the left for its
lack of interest in the situation of women five years before the resurgence of

CONAMUS. However, Rosa does admit to an affinity with the party but

4 8
denies that the organization’s second resurgence was a result of the party’ s

initiative and she also denies a dependency relationship to the party. In order
to strengthen her argument, she stresses that during 1985 CON AMU S was
thought of as the most feminist leftist organization, and she lists its
accomplishments.

CON AMU 5 went so far as to print T-shirts which said ”CONAMUS
Adelante: Soy Feminista”, because they wished to rebel against the campaign
that was defaming the concept of feminism. Currently, CONAMUS has
created health and literacy committees. It has a health center which serves 52
communities and consists of 162 organized groups of 9-25 women.
CONAMUS also offers credit for production, it has a shelter for abused
women, and offers them legal advise. CONAMUS is a member of The
Women’s Organisms Coordinator (COM) which encompasses the four FMLN
related women’s organisms mentioned earlier.

Unfortunately, however, Rosa does not explain how CONAMUS was
finally able to prioritize women’s issues. Because of the firm control the
. FMLN had over its organizations as revealed in Rosa’s own account, this
leads me to believe one of two possibilities. The first is that the women
became so determined to defend their rights that the party was forced to come
to a realization that they had to let the women continue on the road to
feminism. The second is that, through five or six years of war, the party was
able to become more aware of the social inequalities pertaining to women and
decided that women’s issues had to be considered as one of the priorities of
the Revolution. However, when we contrast the CONAMU S with its rival
organization (DIGNAS—The Women’s Association for Dignity and Life),
Rosa’s argument loses strength as a result of the objections which are posed
towards the latter.

4 9
The Women’s Coordinator (WC) is another ”women’s umbrella

organization” which encompasses organizations and individuals who claim,
openly, to have broken the structural ties with their political parties. The WC
is the main rival of the COM. According to the spokesperson from the Center
of Feminist Studies (CEF), and to representatives of the DIGNAS, the main
member organization of the WC, the COM deals with gender issues but gives
priority to political and party issues. The DIGNAS, however, are thought to
be radical feminists and are looked upon negatively by the COM, which has a
stronger affiliation to the FMLN political parties.

The DIGNAS was created by women who had belonged originally to
the Women’s Association Lil Milagros Ramirez (AMLMR), formed in 1980-81
by the National Resistance Party (RN). Ironically, the AMLMR was described
by Rosa of CONAMUS as the most ”pro-party/anti-feminist” women’s
organization of its time. But once it disintegrated, some of the women were
strongly encouraged by the RN, to form another women’s organization. The
organization was created and, again, met up with the RN ’s manipulation and
control. The following excerpt is part of an interview where a representative
of the DIGNAS describes the problems FMLN women’s organizations have
had to face. She also recounts the hurdles which the DIGNAS had to

overcome in their own development:

I don’t know if Violeta spoke to you about some differences
between the women’s organizations. For example, each
organization arose at a different time. And most of them were
created because of a need to support the struggle for survival and
political demands during the war. And so, each women’s
organization existed only in terms of or because of, as a
subsidiary of its political organization, and not as a way to solve
[women’s] own problematic issues. In most organizations, for
example: CONAMUS, ORMU SA, the WCM which is part of the
AMS, [the women] have petitioned for funds to carry out
projects, but at the end it’s the political structures which in some

50

clandestine way have benefitted from them . . . . There are
women who are trying to change their situation and that has
caused them conflict. Many of them have been thrown out of
their organizations. The organizations that are in the COM are
ones that still resist working for themselves . . . . Historically, the
members are women who have been participating in popular
organizations and who have assumed very difficult tasks They
have never been recognized, yet they continue to assume those
responsibilities . . . . In no way, have they seen themselves as the
conductors of their own work, it has always been others. . . .
There have been conflicts and polemics because the political
organizations of the FMLN are afraid that the women will
become autonomous and they are seeing this happen in many
organisms.

Violeta re-enforces Rosa’s statement that the women’s organizations
were formed to support the revolutionary effort. They were not created
because of the party’s understanding that the cause of women needed to be
advanced. In fact, Violeta argues that the women’s organizations were an
important source of funding for the revolutionary institutions. In spite of
this, the work that women had struggled to accomplish as representatives of a
women’s organization was not recognized. Rather, women were punished
when they began to demand that their accomplishments be given their due
and that they be allowed to work for their particular issues. Organized
women were not even allowed to make their own decisions about their
priorities as is demonstrated in the DIGNAS quote: ”In no way have they
seen themselves as the conductors of their own work”.

In an effort to verify Rosa’s comment that the DIGNAS had separated
too suddenly from their party instead of making a stronger effort to negotiate
and come to an agreement with it, I asked a DIGNAS representative how and
why this supposed rupture had taken place. The following excerpt of my
interview with her reveals an attitude of rebelliousness towards the FMLN

based on how some of its female representatives were treated.

51

I was told in the CONAMUS that you are the organization
which broke off most abruptly from its party, and that they
believe that women’s transformation should proceed more
slowly under the present political conditions of social repression.
Do you agree?

Well, not in such a vertical fashion, and it wasn’t easy. Each one
of us had to go through a process and a time of political
participation that does not disappear. Each one of us had her
own individual political militancy. But what we said from the
beginning is that we didn’t just want another women’s
organization in the popular movement. If we had found the
need to form a women’s organization, it was to struggle, in the
first place for women’s needs, which in turn would become a '
struggle for the needs of a particular zone and then of society.
We are an organization of women with pluralistic ideas. We
have women of many political inclinations. The women’s
movement has a lot of perspective and all the other sectors are
trying to capitalize on us. We do not want to see ourselves as
something that is just in vogue. We want to work with the
popular movements but we are no longer willing to share
everything or to be dependent on them. We will integrate with
them only as they incorporate our particular issues. We cannot
incorporate into them while they continue to ignore our efforts

.Many of [the women of the COM] have participated in
activities where we have spoken about these issues, but when it
comes down to actually doing something about it they are afraid
they will be thrown out. -

How did your organization deal with that fear?

Well, look, our first year was pretty exhausting. This was in
1990. We arose from a meeting of women where more than 600
women from eight or nine different departments participated.
Before this meeting we would engage in retreats and reflections
because we were given the idea that we had to form a women’ 8
organization. [We were supposed to] put women at the head of
the organization who would. .be public figures and would
offer a discourse that would strengthen the political
organizations which had weakened economically after the
offensive [of 1989]. At first, we said 'yes'. . . Then they told us
how much money they were going to give us since they were
going to solicit some funding for projects. Then we got together
with women from different zones and we began asking
ourselves 'Why do we want this women’s organization? What
are we going to do with it? How are we going to work? They tell

52

us to work this way. Is this good or not?‘ Ideas began to surface
and we talked about the problems that we face in our families
and in the popular movement. This made us become more
conscious of our situation . . . There were many women who
said that while being in the popular movement they were
sexually harassed. [The men] would laugh at their work and
would tell them that they were not good enough to do things
well. And the same things would happen in their homes. The
women would be beaten and told they were lazy even though
they were doing a great number of tasks. We told the men that
this is work that exhausts us and doesn’t help us develop. This
allowed us to see that we needed to make an effort [to organize
for different reasons]. When they saw: that our ideas were
changing, [the commanders] told us 'you will no longer get
funding from us for your work because you are getting out of
line'

In this excerpt the DIGNAS representative repeats her argument that
women were organized for tokenistic and fundraising purposes. The fact that
women were sometimes sexually harassed, that their work was ridiculed and
that they suffered physical abuse when they returned to their homes is
evidence of a real lack of concern for the problems and needs of women.
Women were made to understand that they had their ”place” and their
purpose, which were not to be defined by themselves. As a result, the
DIGNAS have tried to do what they feel other FMLN related women’s
organizations have feared to do. They have told the FMLN that they would
integrate with the FMLN only in so far as they incorporated women’s
particular needs.

These comments led to some inconsistencies with a majority of
the literature which characterized the work and value of Salvadoran
women within the Revolution as seen by the FMLN. I found statistics
claiming that 40% of the "comandantes" (see Golden: 191) were made
up of women, especially intriguing after listening to the previous

interview. In order to better analyze what I felt were strong

5 3
contradictions, I asked the DIGNAS representative to explain the role

that the female comandantes had played in the organizations of

women and in the defense of their issues.

Were there also female commanders who were telling you this
[that you were getting out of line]?

No, but we would try to speak to the female commanders so that they
would take a stand for us. But they were afraid because there were only
one or two and they were outnumbered. So the men wouldn’t even
invite them when they met with us

How did these women become commanders?

Assuming the same roles as the men. It was difficult because
they had to withstand the bribes, the harassment, even sexual
harassment. But the women who have been able to achieve
these positions have done so because they have become, in their
way of acting, just like the men. Women who dominate other
women. Women that don’t take into account the decisions of
other women— they only impose their own. And whoever is
the most "machista" is the one who will stand on firmer
ground. It’s the same as our Legislative Assembly, there are
women who are representatives but every one of them is
assuming the role of their party and not of women. That is the
situation we don’t agee with. Some of us say 'If we have lived
through such difficult times, we don’t want to return to the
same thing'.

These quotes reveal a bleak picture. The female commanders felt
outnumbered and afraid that they would be ridiculed or disregarded. In other
words, their elevated position within the revolutionary hierarchy did not
protect them from the devaluation which organized women had also felt and
were asking them to correct. Instead, the women who aspired to become
"comandantes" had to take bribes and to endure sexual harassment. They
had to ”assume the same roles as the men”. This reminds us somewhat of
the Responsable’s assessment of women quoted and analyzed earlier in this
thesis. The reason for the female "comandantes" hesitance in standing up for

women is revealed in their real lack of power.

5 4
According to Violeta (another DIGNAS representative), the problems

confronted by organized women as revealed in these interviews, are the
reason why the DIGNAS had to take such a radical stance. She claims that
their principal objective is the organization of women. At the time of the
interview they had not created a platform for their organization as yet . They
were receiving funding from many international organizations and they had
begun projects of self management for the women of the repopulated and
marginal zones of Cuscatlan, Chalatenango, Cabanas, La Libertad and
Usulutan. They had set up popular stores, child care centers, mills, and they
had a progam for teaching gender theory to the representatives of women’s
directives who, once trained, would in turn train the women of their
community. The main problems the DIGNAS has faced, as the following

quote demonstrates, have involved the communal directors:

Often directors only one or two are women and some [directives]
don’t have any. The women have strong feelings of respect and
submission towards the men. Even with these obstacles we
have been able to form some women’s committees. The men
believe we are trying to steal their social base. We tried to
explain how the community was going to benefit by valuing
their women and through the sources of work for women that
were going to be introduced. But the men wanted to have
control over everything that was done in the community. It’s
important that women gain the power of decision over what
they do (V ioleta, my notes: 1992).

This quote reveals how the communal directors, who were known to
be well-versed in the revolutionary issues, were not very well instructed in
the need for social equality between genders even though the FMLN
propaganda has stated otherwise. Instead, the communal directors saw
women as a threat to their established order and made every effort to protect
the power of decision and economic control they had always had. The

dynamics of fear and jealousy evident in the men’s strong efforts to control

5 5
are similar to those expressed by the other DIGNAS representative in the

quote about the FMLN:

There are conflicts and polemics because the political
organizations of the FMLN are afraid that the women will
become autonomous and they are seeing this happen in many
organisms (Lil M. Ramirez, my notes: 1992).

As we have seen, the women’s organizations which have been
involved in the popular movements and who were created by the FMLN as
supports for the war efforts, have undergone geat difficulties in dealing with
the specific needs of women (see Figure A). Both, the Women’s Organism
Coordinator (COM) and the Women’s Coordinator (WC), represent powerful
opposing forces within the leftist women’s movements. The differences
between them lies not in one’s lack of interest towards women as compared
to the other’s, for they both have created very useful projects that have
benefited women who have been historically the most marginalized: abused
women, prostitutes, market women, and peasant women. They differ mainly
in the issues they seem to prioritize when their party’s agenda and the

women’s agenda come into conflict.

56

- W

/ THE WOMEN'S ORGANISM COORDINATOR

 

 

 

COW-MUS AMS. M ADEMUSA
(National Coordinator of (Association Of (Salvadoran (Association of
Women of El Salvador) Salvadoran Women's Salvadoran

[Main COM Representative] Women) Movement) Woman)

:5;

rm

[ THE WOMEN'S COORDINATOR-REBELIOUS TOWARDS THE FMLN ]

DIGNAS
Women for Dignity and Life
Other Women's Individuals not
Organizations and Study Representing Any
Grmps Organization

Figure 1: Opposing Leftist Women's Organizations Coordinators

5 7
Of the COM, the CONAMUS has been described to me as the most

powerful organization of the four members. It is wealthier, has more
resources and has claimed openly to be feminist when some of the other
COM organizations (i.e. AMS) would prefer to disassociate altogether from
the term. Of the WC, the DIGNAS would be the major representative
organization. They are also quite wealthy and have begun many important
and well coordinated projects. But these are organizations that have the
advantage of being located in the Capital, and are better able to tap into the
resources available to them there. For example, the membership of their
councils is largely made up of either college or high school educated women.
The DIGNAS have many international investigators and feminist supporters
who work from their offices doing research which benefits them. These
supporters also council them on organization and current feminist theory.
The opposing ideological views represented by the WC and the COM,
as well as the problems they have had to face in their development begin to
clarify the power hierarchy based on gender differentiation. The cooptation of
women as individuals and as goups by the male-dominated revolutionary
structure has created factions in what could have been a very strong women’s
movement for and by women. The strength of the manipulative ability of
the male structure is more and more evident as the women’s sophisticated
ideological rhetoric begins to clash ever more starkly with their lived
experiences and with the actions that they are expected to take. A good
example is the DIGNAS representative’s statement that they were forced to
separate from their party when they realized that they had been organized for
propagandistic purposes only. Their funding was cut because ”they were
getting out of line” . Ironically, both the women of the COM and those of the

WC are women who are undergoing the same struggle and have the same

5 8
needs of recognition and support. The pattern of conflict and acquiescence ,

revealed by the history of women’s organizations in the capital leads us to
wonder how the peasant women of Morazan fared in their organizational

endeavors.

 

These women are famous for performing some incredible feats. In
1985, the Congegation of Christian Mothers-the first women’s organization
to be formed north of the Torola River—managed to break a military cordon
that had prevented food from entering the zone. The women consider their
achievement as a major accomplishment and transformation of their
reactions before they were organized.

Miriam, the current leader of the Congegation of Christian Mothers,
described the devastating and dehumanizing effect that the repression had on
interpersonal relations before the Christian base communities were formed.
For example, she mentioned the case of two young girls who walked by their
mother’s corpse on the road without looking at it and acted as if they did not
_ know her. Miriam added that:

Up until 80-81, the women were not organized and had no way
of protecting themselves or their loved ones. Once they
organized they were able to demand that the authorities let their
family members and friends go. But before that, people would
be killed and often, if family members went to claim their bodies
they would also be taken prisoners and killed. They would often
find out about the death of their relatives because neighbors
would find their naked tortured bodies in the middle of town.

Margarita, a current WCM member and ex-Christian Mother
acknowledged that before the existence of the CCM people only tended to
their individual needs and would not even look out the window if they
heard a neighbor in trouble because they feared for their own lives. Being

part of an organization helped them to change this.

5 9
Pasita, one of the original founders of the CCM explains that the origin

of the organization lay in the Christian base communities composed of men
and women. But, since the majority of the members were women, they were
encouraged by Father Rogelio Ponceele and several catechists to form a CCM.
This new organization was mostly Catholic but included a few Adventists
such as Pasita and Margarita.

Pasita stated that it was difficult to unite people of both religions
because most of the Evangelicals refused to participate in political struggles.
Farah, a representative of the WCM directive of San Fernando, who was once
also a coordinator of the CCM, noted that the issues that were dealt with in
the organization were mostly political rather than religious. She was never
pressured to become a Catholic in the CCM. The coordinators of the CCM in
each town were not elected democratically. They were chosen by the General
or Zonal Coordinator of the CCM. Farah’s job entailed working with five
women organizers to teach the people about the CCM’s struggle: ”It was
necessary to recogiize the struggle of the FMLN . . . they would direct us”
(Farah, my notes 1992).

Unfortunately, when the CCM was able to implement projects for the
benefit of children such as the project of bread and milk, internal problems
affected the organization. The coordinators began accusing each other of
stealing milk containers. Later that project became a tailor shop even though,
according to Farah, they would spend more than they could earn. The shop
then passed to CEBES Christian Base Communities of El Salvador) but she
heard that they were also having problems with the coordinators, and that
the cloth and garments were being ”lost”. This last project was about six
months old at the time of the interview and most of the women involved

were new. Although the bread and milk project was terminated because its

6 0
funding was discontinued, the problems mentioned have had a strong

repercussion on the current size and strength of the CCM. It has weakened
because of lack of membership and power. Recently, CEBES has taken over
all CCM productive projects and has instructed the women to devote
themselves to religious activities and discussion goups.

The CCM is of primary importance in the history of the women’s
movements of this zone, however. According to many of the women who
belong to different organizations and to Golden (1991: 96), it was thanks to the
courage of the CCM that men were mobilized into forming the community
councils which later coalesced to become PADECOSMS. The women are not
shy about stating that they were the first to organize for the benefit of their
communities.

The first attempts by the ERP to deal with women’s issues occurred in
the early part of 1987 and involved a goup made up of female combatants.
One of the organizers of this women’s goup (Mariana-pseudonym), has
recently been appointed General Coordinator of PADECOSMS. She left
Mexico while working towards a BS in Biology in order to become a
combatant in the Salvadoran Revolution. She had been exposed to
communist theories from her early youth and joined discussion goups on
the same topic as an adolescent. Before acquiring her position in
PADECOSMS, she was honored with the rank of Sub-Commander of the ERP
for her outstanding work as a radio operator with Radio Venceremos and as
an organizer of various committees within the Revolution. Before
discussing the women’s goup of the ERP, however, an excerpt of the first
interview I had with Mariana will provide a synopsis of her views of the
place of women in the ERP and it will also give us some context to

understand her description of the ERP women’s discussion goup:

61

The Party’s political position regarding women has always been
one of total equality. In the ERP’s directive there are now four
women. Ana Guadalupe Martinez, Mercedes del Carmen
Letona, Ana Sonia Medina, and Marisol Galindo. There are also
many women in other levels of direction. There was never an
attitude of ”machismo” at the political level and women had the
same opportunities to achieve a leadership position. It was a
question of ability.

At the concrete level, in the urban guerrilla, there were
many women who became ”Responsables”-Clelia, Mariana, Tita
and others. In the countryside there was a different situation.
The fact of being a woman permits you to camouflage better. It’s
easier for women in the city, but in the countryside the
conditions demand more of you. In practice the women are less
efficient than the men in battle because of their physical
conditions such as menstrual periods, and pregnancy.

A traditional division was made. In practice, women had
more ability than the men to make tortillas. Men more
commonly occupied the position of combatants and military
leaders. Most women were not combatants. I don’t know what
the ratio was of women to men in the radio and health
divisions, but men were the ones fitted for combat. Women’s
physical resistance was more limited than the men’s even
though some were as good as the men. Machismo made it
difficult for women to lead a troop. The all-women’s troop
[Silvia Battalion] lasted little because it was better to mix them
with the men so the battalion would have a better fighting
capacity.

The party wanted to break with the trend that only
women made the tortillas and it demanded that the men make
tortillas for a day. This didn’t work out because they didn’t have
the ability. The Party had wanted to break with the attitudes of
machismo so that it would be realized that everyone could
perform the different tasks. But it didn’t last long, it was only a
test. In practice to try to get people to take on tasks that they
hadn’t been raised to do was a double effort for the guerrilla.
Realistically it was necessary to take advantage of the capacities
of each one. We wanted to break the [the ”machista”] mentality
without forcing things.

In this interview, Mariana begins to reveal the idea that women are
basically physically inferior to men because of their reproductive ”burden”.
This causes some suspicion as to the Party’s alleged policy, at least at the

6 2
political level, of encouraging ”total equality” among men and women.

Another point in her argument that makes me question the desire for real
gender equality is the speedy one day experiment of having the men make
tortillas. It seems more like the Party was trying to convince the women that
they should stick to cooking because after all that is what they were good at.
The following interview with Mariana is of interest because it serves as
a contrast to the interview done with the ”Responsable” quoted earlier, and
who referred to the same ERP women’s group. But, more importantly, it
gives us an honest portrayal of the forces and pressures a woman in the ERP
hierarchy has had to contend with as she organized a women’s discussion

goup and attempted to integrate two ideologies that were conflictive:

You also asked me about the experience of organized women
within the FMLN, before what became the women’s
organization in the civilian population. I’m not sure if the
organization was promoted in 86 or 87. But it was really a goup
rather than an organization. It was a goup made up of militants
and combatants of the interior of the FMLN. Its purpose was to
have a series of discussions, exchanges and trainings about
women’s rights.

Who promoted this group?

The party promoted it precisely in order to develop some aspects
about women that were considered important. For example, the
difficulties and concerns of women became more evident when
they had to deal with problems that are specific to women like
sexuality and the conception of a child. Planning, you see. We
wanted to give women gynecological help but our resources
were very limited. . . The work of the medical brigade was not
sufficient to counsel the women. Rather, there were many
concerns that were important for the women to share among
themselves. In 1987 there was the initiative to organize the
female squadron leaders or ”Responsables” such as Libertad
from the medical brigade, Altagacia who worked in the school
and Yanira who worked in explosives workshop. I also worked
with them but I was located in Iocoaitique at the time.

Well, we began trying to discuss topics concerning women
and we collected some biogaphies about women leaders of the

63

FMLN. We hoped to motivate the women and to give those
leaders who had been killed the recogiition they deserved. For
example we were able to write the biogaphy of our comrade
("Compafiera") Virginia Pefia Mendoza, of another comrade
Arlen, of comrade Lil Milagos Ramirez, of comrade Ana Maria
and of a few others. The idea was to make a pamphlet and to
distribute it so that others could learn about these women.

We tried to begin a kind of training session that was very
participatory. A teacher would deal with the topic of sexuality,
would show them pictures and the women would ask questions.
We hoped women would become more aware, feel more at ease
and gain a better understanding of these topics. The problem is
that women were very shy and there was a lot of taboo about the
subject. Well, it wasn’t easy because the women felt very
uncomfortable and they would barely speak.

The problem began when the groups were no longer
made up of 5-10 women but of 30-40. This began calling the
men’s attention and they asked themselves 'What are those
women planning? What might they be thinking?‘ The men
thought it was a conspiracy against them. They always felt
uncomfortable with the group and some even spoke negatively
about it because they thought they were not going to be favored
by these discussions. The reason is that men sometimes feel that
the purpose of women’s organizations is to struggle against men,
to affect them in some way. But we wanted to teach women
about sex education, how to prevent venereal diseases and
unwanted pregnancies, women’s issues. We also strove to
strengthen women’s self-esteem, but in those days we didn’t
have a command of this kind of vocabulary. But we understood
that there was a real need for women to value themselves,
because as we know, in our countries women suffer a lot of
subordination, especially in the rural areas. The role of women
is really devalued and women themselves have a low self
esteem.

Our goal was not to struggle against men, but against
machismo. But we didn’t want to get into a confrontation with
them. We wanted to find a method that the men themselves
would understand. However, we were not able to accomplish
this because the military attacks prevented women from getting
together. This made it difficult for us to continue our work and
the goups began to disintegrate. There were always other
priorities and so we lasted very little, only a few months.

64

Can you give me some concrete examples of the problems you
had to face when you were organizing the women?

One thing that impressed me was that women knew so little
about their own bodies. For example, it didn’t matter how well
the medics taught the women about the use of contraceptives,
they would keep using them incorrectly. Sometimes they would
only take the pill the same day they had sex and only then . . .
That’s how many women get pregnant and this causes many
social conflicts. Not only does the woman suffer but the man
and the children do also. The man sees himself tied to a family
which he did not wish to have. This situation of couples or of
women who have children with one and then with another is
very common here. This causes geat instability in the family.

Another thing is that even though everyone knew that
there was a method the problem was that during the conflict we
didn’t have the best resources for it. Many times we had to rely
on donations of contraceptives that were easier to get a hold of.
Some so called 'pearls'. They were stronger and made the
women sick and more uncomfortable. This obviously caused
some of the women to refuse to use them. Sometimes it was the
men who would tell them not to use the pill and they would
also refuse to use condoms because of taboos. There were cases
where the men did not use condoms, the woman would cure
her venereal disease and he would re-infect her. It was not easy,
but our goal was to teach people to ask questions, to become less
fearful, and to get to know their bodies. We wanted to tell them
that it was not a sin.

We tried to tell women that they were not there to serve
men which is a common belief. But we tried not to cause
conflicts and clashes that would create a crisis and rejection. The
idea was not to change everything suddenly. We didn’t want to
cause disruption.

Did you ever try to explain to the men what the talks were
about?

We tried to, because a clash was being generated and there was a
lot of unease. We tried to explain [to the women] that it was
unfair that men could have many relationships yet if a women
was caught doing the same thing she could be exposed to
beatings by her lover. We were not trying to promote these
kinds of ['free—love'] relationships . We were just trying to make
a point. However, of course, this caused conflicts and clashes
when women began becoming aware of their situation and of
the machismo they were exposed to, so they began to try and
change things. But the way the change is created can be

65

problematic. Or it can be assimilated. That’ s why if the women
had decided to stop cooking all of a sudden it would have been a
serious mistake and a geat problem. . . . But as I said before, no
one discontinued the groups, it was the military attacks that
prevented us from continuing.

In this excerpt, a relatively clear picture of the situation of female
combatants in the ERP is revealed. The majority were generally ignorant
about their bodies and had a low self-esteem that prevented them from
participating actively in discussions. Ironically, the women organizers also
appear to have been ignorant, or blind to the situation of the female
combatants because after five years of war the organizers were still impressed
by the women’s igiorance of themselves.

Mariana’s response to my first question ('Who sponsored the goup?'),
is particularly revealing of the ultimate purpose of the discussion goups: to
increase the labor and fighting capacity of the women by decreasing the
pregnancy and sick leave rates. According to the interview, the party
promoted the goups because women had to be taught about problems which
were ”specific” to them like pregnancy, sexuality and venereal diseases.
These issues were somehow not seen as relevant to men.

Mariana could sense the women’s suffering as they were instructed to
use oral contraceptives which in the end were harmful to them. She was also
aware that they kept getting re-infected with venereal diseases because the
men refused to wear condoms. The women’s fear of being confrontational
prevented them from taking the men to task for their own responsibility in
these problems. The men were only spoken to when they began to feel
threatened by the goup. They were never the focus of the discussions.
Women were blamed for having had ”children with one and then with
another” and for causing ”family instability” because of it. Mariana

acknowledges that women, men and children suffered as a result of the

6 6
individuals’ various sexual encounters. However, her sentence seems to

give equal or more importance to the suffering of the men: ”The man sees
himself tied to a family he did not wish to have”. This is ironic since the
men have had a reputation of ”wandering of ” as soon as the women got
pregnant, and of leaving them with the sole responsibility of rearing the
children.

In Mariana’s and the Responsable’s interviews, it is evident that the
party was trying to reach a goal whose purpose was disguised under the rubric
of ”women’s rights”, but was in reality, an ideology based on women’s
subordination. The ultimate goal was not to elevate the intellectual,
personal, and hygienic level of the women because they were thought to
deserve it. Rather, the goal was to make a more efficient, potent, and
cohesive military force by eliminating obstacles such as unwanted births and
diseases. The strength and lack of foresight of the party’ s ideology regarding
women is seen in its exclusion of men, and in the attempt to resolve
problems of which they have equal or more responsibility than the women.
For example, women can only get pregnant once every nine months whereas
men can impregnate numerous women in the same amount of time.
Nevertheless, women were the ones blamed, if not in the theory they were
taught, at least in the practice of teaching them. In this way, the
unconsciously held, but pervading ideology about the nature and functions of
women aborted the efforts that were initiated, at least by the women
organizers, to improve the situation of female combatants.

The result of these ambiguities in goals and ideology was an incipient
self-awareness of the women as capable individuals, and a feeling of
impending threat and resistance on the part of the men who had been

excluded from the group activities. For example, when the organizers tried to

6 7
explain that they were not promoting promiscuous behavior in the women,

the men remained unconvinced. The problem was not only that the
behavior in itself was proper of men and not of women. The real problem
was that allowing women the same rights would cause jealousies and
conflicts among the men. Again, in the end the place of women as such in
the whole debate was not a priority or even considered.

As we recall, the Responsable said in his interview that the goup was
terminated by the party because the women were being instructed
inappropriately and they were engaging in sexual ”liberalism”. Mariana
denies that the party terminated the goup but acknowledges that ”there were
always other priorities, that’ 5 why the goup only lasted a few mon ”. She
adds that it was the military attacks that prevented [them] from continuing.

I cannot say for sure whether the goup ceased to exist because of a
direct order from the party or if it was just allowed to dwindle. It seems clear,
however, that it did not continue because of the problems it caused among
the male combatants. Notwithstanding the good intentions and the insights
that the female organizers had about their ”compafieras”, their guiding
ideology and the structure of the ERP command always demanded that the
Revolution be prioritized over the lack of equality of women. As I
understand it, ”the other priorities” mentioned by Marianita refer to
maintaining the status quo, as unjust as it may have been, so there would be
”peace” within the lines and a united front against the enemy. The little
awareness of women combatant’s state of knowledge about female
physiology, the lack of inclusion of the male combatants in issues concerning
romantic relationships, and the speed of disintegration of the female
combatant discussion goup demonstrate the low priority women’s issues had
for the ERP during the first half of the revolution.

6 8
Since the early 19803 a trend which intensified in 1987 was initiated by

the different parties of the FMLN to form national women’s organizations
such as CONAMU S which were made up of civilians. The ties between the
FMLN and the organizations, however, were kept a secret and vehemently
denied. In the latter part of the same year the ERP followed the example of
other FMLN parties and encouraged the formation of the Association of
Salvadoran Women. In the following excerpt Mariana reveals why such an
effort was made by the ERP especially after its previous experience with the
female combatant discussion goup.
Were you one of the first to promote the AMS?

Well, yes but those who promoted it most directly and concretely
were the 'compafieros' of CEBES with the Congegation of
Christian Mothers. When they promoted the AMS
organization, a 'compafiera' named Patti was one of the most
active in promoting it concretely, you see.

And the idea?
More than the idea it was the actual participation.
But where did the idea come from?

The idea came from the fact that at the national level it was
thought, well, we used to say, you see, that we had an ample
social base but we lacked a clear projection for the future. So the
work existed but it was a little dispersed. An attempt was made
to give it more structure and projection. Then the formation of
the AMS at a national level was proposed. It was supposed to
have a more or less federated character and to bring together
other women’s organizations that already existed. It was
supposed to promote even more the organization of women.

So, it was, lets say, an idea of the party [ERP], of a
'companera' Luisa and of Marisol. That’s how the discussion of
the topic began, you see.

Was it difficult for the party to accept the idea of organizing the
women for things other than the defense of human rights and
for religious activities?

69

I don’t think it was difficult to accept. The thing is the concrete
practice of it, you see. The problems are the setbacks that have
occurred, the difficulties and maybe the slightly traditional
mentality of some of the 'compafieros' It’s possible that there
wasn’t a lot of enthusiasm about the idea, you see. Because at
certain times there were some who rather than actually
opposing the effort, they just didn’t see any future in it. Because
the argument they make is that women already participate in the
revolutionary process. That women were never. . . well,
marginalized from participating. They had a pretty intense and
ample participation. But an organization, like you say, primarily
devoted to the struggle of women and to promoting their rights,
well that’s something else.

I at least, and many others, do believe that [the
organization] has been important, necessary and correct. But
perhaps, because it [the party] was immersed in the need for
structural changes, national changes concerning social justice
and the search for democracy, all of that, its like the priorities
were those changes and not specifically those of women or
anything having to do with the rights of women. It’s that it has
to be an effort that has to go side by side with the struggle. It has
to be a joint effort. But there were 'compafieros' who thought
that, well, it [the struggle] had priority and to a certain extent
they were right in that everything can’t be done at once, and that
a stronger effort was needed to get ahead in [the revolutionary]
process during the conflict. It was necessary to join efforts.

Perhaps [the trouble] is that there hasn’t been a tradition of
feminist struggle and also because the social problems in El
Salvador are so acute. The economic and political problems
caused [the struggle] to be seen as something [men and women]
had in common: the joint effort of the genders, rather than a
separate effort so that, for example, the respect for women’s
rights could be achieved. In order to achieve the development
of women the attempt was to transform the society as one. To
create [appropriate] conditions. So the opinion was a little
divided between those who said that the struggle for structural
and national changes had to come first and all that. And then,
you see, it would be possible to advance towards the other issues.
I’ll tell you that for me it has to go hand in hand. It’s true that
[the appropriate] conditions must be created but if the struggle
doesn’t include [women’s] specific rights, against, let's say, the
marginalization or of the backwardness, those limitations in
development are never going to be overcome, you see.

70

So, from the beginning, the idea was to struggle for the rights of
women?

It was like that at the beginning but it had to go along with their
participation in the [revolutionary] process. Because the
conditions forced the women to work for the structural changes.
[The women] were already doing that but primarily from a
religious perspective. The AMS was more like an effort to form
a broader organization. One that would integate not only
peasant women but urban ones as well. That was the idea, but in
practice it hasn’t been easy, you see. Also, to be honest and
realistic, the motivation to promote the organizations was
principally, to give the work we already had [with the social base]
some direction. Because, sometimes, let’s say, solidarity
members from international organizations would arrive with
the concern of whether or not we had any women’s
organization. They were interested in channeling their support
to women’s organizations. So the idea was to create a referent
[organization] so we could channel through them the support of
people who were interested in directly promoting the rights of
women, you see.

The interview begins with her statement that the AMS was promoted
by the ”compafieros” of CEBES with the help of the Congegation of
Christian Mothers. As the interview progresses she states that the idea was
actually the result of the international solidarity’s expectations that women’s
organizations would be created so that financial support could be channeled
through them. However, even though the funds were needed for this
struggle, the idea of creating an organization whose focus was the
advancement of women was less than heartening to the men: ”They didn’t
see any future in the effort . . . because women already participated in the
revolutionary process”.

At this point in her argument, Mariana asserts that the two things
should go hand in hand, but then she backtracks and says she understands
why the party had to give priority to things such as ”structural changes,

national changes concerning social justice and the search for democracy”. She

7 1
adds that ”to a certain extent the ”compafieros” were right in that everything

[couldn’t] be done at once”. She does not seem to realize that by justifying the
party’s priorities she is accepting the false premise that women’s participation
in the struggle was sufficient to qualify their treatment by men as that of
equals. She also implies that the subordination of women and their devalued
position, especially among rural women, is not an issue which concerns or
falls within the Revolution’s struggle for structural changes, or for social
justice and democracy.

Later, however, Mariana tries to understand the lack of effort by the
party to prioritize the problem of women and to see it as intrinsic to the
struggle for social justice. She concludes that the reason was the lack 'of a
feminist tradition. Again, however, she falls into inconsistencies when she
asserts that by making a joint effort, as they had done thus far for the
Revolutionary priorities, women’s rights would somehow be achieved even
though earlier she had stated that the priorities had ”nothing to do with the
rights of women”. Nevertheless she subsequently stated that ”In order to
achieve the development of women the attempt was to transform the society
as one which contradicts the earlier statement that women were not even an
issue".

Her final statement, reveals that she had been exposed to some
feminist rhetoric, possibly from the international organizations, or that she
had pondered about the so called priorities when she adds that ”. . . . If the
struggle doesn’t include women’s rights. . . those limitations in the
development are never going to be overcome”. But even here she tags on the
idea that in order to include the women ”conditions must be created” first.
This ”tag” reinforces the traditional revolutionary position that the cause of

women cannot be advanced until the other priorities have been achieved.

7 2
The systematic use of the passive and reflexive voices, of pauses and .

hesitations, of the lack of specific agents performing the actions in Mariana’s
answers, of the subordination of women’s actions to external forces, and of
logical inconsistencies, betray the conflict she faced in answering my
questions. Mariana represents two conflicting identities; one as a leader of the
ERP and of PADECOSMS who must prioritize the goals of the Revolution,
and the other as a woman who realizes the subordinate position of women in
general. ‘

It is through the interview, while trying to explain her position as a
women and as an organizational leader to a stranger, having to examine her
thoughts and feelings from the outside, as it were, that Mariana becomes
aware of the inconsistencies in her argument and feels the need to justify
them. On the one hand, these are caused by the power of an unconsciously
held but pervading masculine ideology which dictates that women’s issues
are of lesser importance or even irrelevant to the social struggle, and
therefore can be postponed indefinitely. On the other hand, Mariana is
_ pressured by her individual observations about the reality and immediacy of
women’s issues and the unlikelyhood of their solution in the future if not
promptly addressed.

In 1987, the Association of Salvadoran Women (AMS)-the association
that preceded the Women’s Communal Movement of Morazan (WCM)-
opened its main office in San Salvador. The brochure of the AMS describes
the organization’s origins as arising as an initiative of the CCM, and of the
women’s committees of San Miguel and Morazan in October and November
of 1986. The effort was directed at unifying the different independent
committees to form a national women’s organization. The directive of the

AMS was finally constituted in January of 1987. The brochure refers to the

7 3
AMS as a response to the urgent need of dealing with the problems which

affect women specifically. The subordinate role of women and the lack of
recognition of their rights which have resulted in their marginalization,
exploitation, underemployment, and domination are given as examples.

The goals of the AMS are to:

Organize women so they will actively participate in the change
and development of their society. To collaborate in the
formation and training of women so they are better able to deal
with daily problems. To struggle for women’s and children’s
rights and for women’s participation and expression in the
national arena. To collaborate in solidarity with the most
affected communities of the country as a result of the military
conflict.

The brochure ends by stating that the AMS has promoted productive
projects, has given technical assistance training, and has begin literacy and
health progams for women. Currently, the AMS has a progam which gives
prostitutes legal advice and protection.

These have been the ideal goals of this organization, and perhaps, they
have begun a process of achieving them to some degree. However, during
my stay in San Salvador, I attended a workshop on gender theory given at the
main office of the AMS. Contrary to the brochure’s statement of the origin of
the AMS, many women argued that the it was formed by the FMLN in order
to deal with the political and economic repression of the time, and not
because there was an interest in the plight of women. Once in the
organization, the women have been able to look forward to their own
advancement and have come into conflict with the ERP to which they are
affiliated.

However, the women still give priority to the socio-economic issues of
the country and to the demands of their political party. In fact, one of the
members stated that when she incorporated into the AMS she realized that

7 4
the women there knew nothing about women’s development and that they

were very ”machista”. She felt that up to that point they had not achieved
anything as and for women. They had only dealt with the political situation.
The speaker of the workshop argued that in the late 70$ women’s issues were
in ”style” and El Salvador was in a serious economic crisis. Therefore, all of
the leftist political movements decided that women needed to be organized to
bring in funds and to help organize women for the war effort. Even though
the AMS is a member of the COM, and appears to be much less oriented
towards feminism than CONAMUS, it is interesting that their comments
resemble the DIGN AS assessment of why women were organized by the
FMLN .

The AMS of Morazan was formed on March 8, 1987, four months after
the AMS in San Salvador. According to Pasita, there was a need to create a
women’s organization without religious overtones so that they could be
more active in the war. The public image of the Christian Mothers as martyrs
and pacifists prevented them from getting involved in more bellicose
activities. In order to create the AMS, leaders of the CCM were recruited for
the new directive because of their extensive experience in organizational
work. In 1989, the main office of the AMS in San Salvador was burned by the
military and the members who did not join the guerrilla as combatants were
continuously persecuted by military sponsored death squads. During this
time the AMS lost contact for six months with its satellite organizations such
as the one in Perquin, Morazan. The women of Perquin became isolated and
lost their work agenda since they had always depended. on the main office for
instructions and projects. Many of the women of Perquin’s AMS became
combatants and others feared for their lives and ceased to work: the military
had discovered that the AMS worked with the FMLN (based on interviews

7 5
with Pasita—ex-member of the AMS, and Gloribel current vice president of

the AMS).

In December of 1990, the Women’s Communal Movement was formed
by PADECOSMS— the largely male dominated umbrella organization of
Morazan. According to Pasita and Blanca (current president of the WCM), up
to that point, PADECOSMS only dealt with men’s organizations. The effort to
form the WCM was intended to re-organize the women who had belonged to
the AMS and to recruit many more. According to a member of the
Congegation of Christian Mothers, this created some conflict between the
CCM and the WCM because the CCM feared that the WCM was going to take
over the role that had been played by the Christian Mothers in organizing
women, and it was also going to have the effect of dividing the women, and
of weakening the organization (CCM representative, my notes).

PADECOSMS and CEBES organized an assembly of approximately 200
women and a vote was taken to decide who the executive council members of
the WCM were going to be.‘ Three presidents were elected. Once the council
was formed, the women, with the help of a North American solidarity
worker, wrote up their platform and began to create directives throughout the
zone.

The WCM’s platform begins by describing the situation of the women
of Morazan which "constitute more than 55% of the population" (Platform:
1). It asserts that women, thanks to their participation in the war have begun
to ”break down the barriers to their own development" and "have begun to
assume a more active role in society". Nevertheless, their reality continues to
be one of illiteracy, of single mother-headed households, lack of economic
assistance, and of lack of health care. According to the platform, it was the

women themselves who came up with the idea to form a women’s

7 6
communal movement as a result of their previous experience in other

organizations.

The objectives that they strive for are quite ambitious considering the
high rate of illiteracy and lack of consciousness of gender issues among the
population. The following are the objectives which to me seem to be the
most difficult to achieve and somewhat culturally alien to the women:

Open an office of Human Rights of Women and Children,
which will also have a program of solidarity and aid for
mistreated women.

Organize courses about forms of communication in the family.

Seek ageements with PADECOSMS in which single mothers
will be given priority for job posts in the different projects.

Promote a law dictating that household items will be jointly
owned, regardless of whether [couples are] married or living
together.

Motivate young women to continue studying in the schools and
set up a scholarship progam for high school studies.

Promote a housing progam for widows and single mothers.

Promote a reforestation progam which will also provide jobs
for women.

Investigate and promote the use of alternative means of cooking
which burn less wood, such as the Lorena stove.

Investigate and promote the use of appropriate technology such
as windmills, compost latrines, bicycle driven corn grinders, etc.

These goals seem to have come directly from a solidarity worker’ s
mind. It is hard to believe that with the experiences women have lived, and
the priorities which all other women’s organizations have had to make, that
the WCM would have given thought to these issues. Rather it is more likely
that they would have focused on those things that are more apparent and

have a more immediate and palpable effect on them.

7 7
The most common response I got from the women when I asked how

men could be taught to treat them differently was:

We should tell them that they should get up and get their own
cup of coffee because we are also tired from working all day...but
we should do this over a long period of time and in such a way
as to avoid confrontation because these things take time.

This statement, like Mariana’s interview, clearly shows a continued
feeling of submission and fear of confronting the men in an assertive and
determined way. Also, the thought of women coming up with a scholarship
progam for high school when most girls do not even finish elementary
school, is a bit hard to believe. Another example, was the goal of creating
courses of forms of communication in the family. This goal seems slightly
ironic when we observe the council members’ interaction with their children
and their husbands. Husbands commonly communicated with their wives
and mothers with, their children, by means of orders and screams. The wives
and children, on their part, responded with quick obedience. Reforestation
progams were never mentioned to me as a concern by the women. Neither
were progams dealing with the construction of special housing for widowed
or single mothers. This is not surprising because most of the female
population in the zone was described to me as fitting this category. The only
appropriate technology they seemed interested in was anything having to do
with agriculture and organic fertilizers. Regardless of the inconsistencies of
the platform and the goals and needs the women actually voiced, the
platform gained substantial international support and funding of projects,
because of its impressive and sophisticated goals.

Some of the more plausible objectives that could have very well been
defined by the women themselves are the following. All of the objectives on
page 3 of the platform, especially

78

The development of greater levels of consciousness in the
women about their problems as women.

The improvement for women and their families . . . through
their participation in self management.

The promotion of education and technical training for women.

On pages four and five, some of the goals which were actually or

indirectly voiced by the women I interviewed were:

Study, contribute to, and participate in the economic
development plan of PADECOSMS.

Propose and carry out economic projects, and train women in
these.

Promote laws against violence and aggression against women
and children.

Promote a law in which the mother and father each must
recogrize and economically sustain their children.

Create child care centers so that children can have adequate care
while their mothers are working.

Motivate women to participate in the literacy campaign for
adults of PADECOSMS.

Promote training courses for women of the zone in different
areas: guitar, typing etc.

Promote a law guaranteeing women the right to pregtancy leave
with salary before and after birth.

Organize talks about sex education for men and women, and
talks about family planning, and provide access to methods of
family planning.

Unfortunately, I am unable to say whether the women voiced some of
these concerns as a result of a project which they carried out, or because of the
solidarity workers’ own ideas. However, I noticed that the four council

members were the only ones to voice most of the previous concerns. The

7 9
women who belong to the WCM’s social base (its town directives) only ,

mentioned one reason for organizing as women: "To get jobs". When I asked
them why they could not accomplish this by organizing together with the
men (in other words, why organize as women), they answered "A saber"
(Who knows?).

The structure of the WCM created to accomplish the goals of the
platform was a direct imitation of the structure of secretariats used by
PADECOSMS, with the exception of the election of three presidents (see
Figure 2). The platform states that at the time of its creation there was an
active participation of 300 women out of a total of 6,000 who inhabited the
zone. Fifteen of 30 communities had a WCM directive with eleven being the
largest communities in the zone. The leaders of the directives were said to
have been elected democratically and could be removed by the same means if
they did not work appropriately. There were supposed to be regular meetings
of the directives and a meeting once or twice a month of the council with
delegated representatives of each directive. The "areas of responsibility",

_ similar to those of PADECOSMS, were defined by eight secretariats:

Secretary of Relations Secretary of Finances
Secretary of Communications Secretary of Production
Secretary of Education Secretary of Health

Secretary of Culture General Secretary

80

Women's Organizations In Northern Morazan

l

Congregations of Christian Mothers
(1985-Present)
Religious-FMLN Affiliated
9_rganization

 

Association of Salvadoran Women

Non Religious FMLN Affiliated
Organization Derived From the

(UV!

 

Women's Communal
Organization-Fm Affiliated
Women's Communal Movement
Derived from CCM, AMS
and Created by PADECOSMS

* 1987 Female Combatant Discussion Group was not included
in this figure because it was not an actual organization nor
did it descend directly from other women's organizations

Figure 2: Women's Organizations in Northern Morazan

At the time of the platform, the WCM council as well as the boards of
directors were made up of volunteers and its work was supposed to be
coordinated with PADECOSMS-"the organization which coordinates the
global plans for the social-economic development of the zone" and for the

A.M.S.

The [WCM] enjoys the full support and back-up of PADECOSMS
. . . and in the [WCM’s] work [of national character] it is affiliated
with the Association of Salvadoran Women (W CM Platform: 5)

81

CHAPTER SIX

THE SITUATION OF THE WOMEN’S COMMUNAL MOVEMENT
FROM JULY 30, 1992 TO FEBRUARY 28, 1993

 

On July 30, the first WCM assembly meeting since my arrival took
place. A Spanish solidarity member (J osefa) was invited to attend so that she
could include the organization in her plans to write up projects for child care
centers. Up to this point the few meetings that had been held in the
organization building involved the five Council .members who made up the
entire Council. These meetings were always held behind closed doors and
any one who was not of the Council, the boards of directors, or of a solidarity
goup, was asked to leave the room and was excluded. This had happened to
me several times so I felt that it was better not to force my presence on them.
The Spanish woman, however, informed me that a large assembly meeting
was going to take place and that the representative of the AMS (Association of
Salvadoran Women) was going to be there to advise the women of the WCM
on their organizational tactics and to evaluate their progess thus far. She
explained that an assembly meeting differed from the more frequent
meetings in that it was supposed to take place about once a month. It was also
supposed to include a representative or two of each one of the organization’s
boards of directors (usually the presidents) in order to discuss their progess
and to decide on new goals. After I explained the purpose of my study to

82

83

Josefa, she invited me to join her at the meeting. This was my first
opportunity to observe the women at work.

The meeting was delayed two hours which was not unusual since
many walked or took buses from relatively distant places. By 10 am. all the
women began arriving at the WCM’s organization building which consisted
of three floors. The first contained a garage used to store wood and gas tanks
for cooking. The second floor had a hallway which separated the Council’s
meeting room from the room used for typing and crafts lessons. At the end
of the hallway to the left there was a wood stove kitchen and to the right
there was a large concrete sink used to wash clothes and dishes and as a wash
room for the women who stayed overnight. The latrine was located further
to the right hidden from plain view. The third floor consisted of two rooms
which the women had added after receiving funding from a solidarity
organization. The smaller of the two was used as a sewing room and meeting
room and the larger one was used as a bedroom for guests and for one of the
Council members and her child who, at the time, was living in the
organization premises.

By 11 am. the women were guided up to the third floor to begin the
meeting. The chairs had been positioned in circular fashion and whoever
was left without one sat on the stairs leading to the other room. At this point
Josefa and I sat down on the stairs and the room became very quiet. Because
of my seating location I was viewing the women from the bottom up. I could
not help but notice that many of them had patches of lighter skin and blisters
on their legs. Most of the women were staring at us and some were
whispering into each other's ears. One of the women, the only one with
short hair besides Josefa and myself, was carrying a one year old baby whom
she began to breast feed as the meeting progessed. With the exception of

84

Josefa and I, everyone was wearing a skirt and a blouse. Some of them began
smiling and paying attention to the child who had been put on the floor by
her mother. She was playing with some old batteries and putting them into
her mouth as the President of the WCM welcomed everybody and began to
read the organization’s objectives:

Our objectives as a women’s organization are to contribute to the
transformation of Salvadoran society so that it will be more just
and will allow for the full development of women’s abilities. To
contribute to the new political, economic, and social process of
alternative development. To help women achieve a geater
level of consciousness about their situation as women. To
improve the living conditions of women and their families
through self-help projects. To promote technical training for
women.

Following the enumeration of the objectives, the woman with short
hair, who turned out to be the representative of the AMS, began to speak with
great charisma and strength ‘ in her veice as she fed her baby, switching ‘ her

from side to side and bouncing her on her knee.

We must always keep our objectives in mind because they are
the base of our organization. Our struggle is only half started
and we still have a long way to go. Our struggle is for us and by
us. But our principal struggle is for our children. As long as we
know our objectives no one will be able to stop us. We must
make our objectives a reality. It’s not sufficient to have them on
paper. If we don’t put them into practice we won’t accomplish
them and then we will ask 'Why are we organizing?‘ We must
make concrete plans.

All the women began nodding in ageement and saying "Asi es"
(That’s right). Then Brenda, the WCM secretary, began to read the minutes
from the last Assembly meeting as rain began crashing down on the room’s
tin roof making everything anybody said barely audible. The organization

proposed a training program on accounting.

We’ve had problems with our stores. Only a few of us have any
experience in business administration and most of us cannot

85

even do simple math. The training took place from July 6-9 and
representatives from Carrizal, Nahuaterique, Cueva del Monte,
San Fernando and Jocoaitique were invited. Most women did
not show up.

Then Blanca, the president of the WCM began to speak about other
problems they had encountered:

We asked the PADECOSMS technician to collaborate with us for
the accounting workshop but the women were disorganized.
We arrived at different times and many communities were
unable to send representatives. We are going to reschedule the
workshop to see if we can train the women. The typing course
was not followed up. The women do not seem to be very
interested in the course. We only have one student from San
Fernando and our own secretary Brenda, even though the
course lasts three months and is permanent.

Gloribel, the representative of the AMS asked the WCM directive
representatives that had participated in the accounting workshop for their

impressions. After some silent smiles, and exchange of glances two women
began to spealc

Those of us who participated are, very satisfied. All of us women
have a low cultural level and that is why we need more
workshops. I feel that my mind has awakened a little. As
women we need to discover more things. We have been able to
get training through our own efforts.

Gloribel followed up their answer by emphasizing the
importance of the workshops: We want to achieve a better
standard of living through these workshops. Our fundamental
objective is that the women who make up the base will be clear
about the objectives so that they can give workshops in their
own towns. Accounting is very important since the stores in
our communities are hard to handle because most of us can
barely count to ten.

Following Gloribel’s words, Blanca stated that plans and dates had
been set so that CEBES MCM and PADECOSMS would choose land for the
child care centers. However, the plans were not carried out during the six

months I was in El Salvador. The next topic discussed was the trip that two of

86

the WCM representatives had taken to Mexico for an international meeting _

of organized women:

About 125 women attended the ten day meeting . . . There were
many feminists and we told them that we didn’t want to be
feminists. They took us to see what the ancient Indians did. We
felt at home. It was beautiful to see how the women valued
themselves. We were the only two peasant women there. The
others had a much higher level than us. But the presentation of
El Salvador was the best one. We spoke about our 500 year
history to the present. El Salvador’s history was the most
moving. We mentioned all the insurrections in the 500 years
and we spoke about the 703 and the popular organizations, and '
of the 808 and the FMLN. We had to tell them what women’s
life is like in El Salvador. We spoke about the women who have
been in the most conflictive zones. We didn’t have a place to
live, [there was an] economic crisis, everything was destroyed.
All the women in the audience began to cry.

I think all the women in the world are struggling. The
war for political change is going to be of the women. We think
we accomplished something in Mexico because there are many
rich North American women who have made our problems
theirs. Brazil sent 23 women, each Central American Country
sent two women. We were the only ones that didn’t take visual
aids such as posters and videos.

Here we are not going to implement feminism as in other
countries. They are more radical than us. Our struggle is against
a system that affects men and women. Our struggle is to create
schools, clinics, education, better homes, and food. It’s necessary
that we as women be taken into consideration and that they
learn how we feel. How do I know what our next struggle is
going to be about? Their struggle is that of gender because the
situation in their country is different from ours.

Again, the other women responded with smiles, nods, and ”Asi es”.
When the problems of the organization were discussed they remained
straight faced, looked down, and did not engage in eye contact with each
other. They responded positively to any comments which defined what they
were supposed to be doing as an organization, or that gave them some
semblance of order. They all ageed with the WCM representative who stated
very clearly that they did not wish to be feminists and that their problems

87

were different from those of more industrialized countries. However, the
women never questioned the significance of the same representative’s
comment that they be taken into consideration ”as women”, nor was
feminism ever defined. It was only implied that it was negative, culturally
alien, and that it caused conflict between men and women.

The women’s struggle in the WCM was described as one for
socioeconomic equality between classes. From the AMS representative’s
point of view, the ultimate purpose was to struggle for the children. Gender
was not mentioned as an issue, rather, it was considered to be too radical and
mostly irrelevant. The clearest evidence of the women’s lack of
understanding about the concepts that they used so often—that they be taken
into consideration "as women"- is revealed in the WCM representative’s
comment that she had no idea what their struggle was going to be about once
their need for a better education, health clinic, homes, and food was achieved.
Her perception 'that men and women shared equally in their social
marginalization and deprivation is evident. Also, the women’s continued
low self-esteem, even at the institutional level (WCM), emerged as they
stated repeatedly that they had a very low cultural level. They seemed to
attribute their problems in organizing and their low level of participation to
their own lack of education, to their lack of interest, and to their lack of
responsibility.

The final topic of the meeting was organizational tactics. Gloribel told
the women that they had to write down the names of the women who
attended each activity and the number of women that took part in them.
They had to make note of the dates and what was discussed. She said that the
questions the different boards of directors should ask themselves were "What

are we going to do?" and "How are we going to accomplish it?" But the

88

problems of the organization should be discussed at the level of the board and
not the base since the base could become demoralized because of internal
problems. She explained that it was important to be aware of the profits and
losses of each project: "After the base is informed what is expected of them,
they should be asked for their opinions and comments. But the boards of
directors must be structured before imparting tasks." Gloribel added that
what made the women’s organization communal was that the board would
tell the Council what had to be done and not the other way around. This was
ironic in so far as she was telling the WCM how to run things. She ended by
stating that from now on the WCM should have meetings every eight days
and that the treasurer should give her report to the boards of directors.

Even in Gloribel’s suggestions to improve the organization,
inconsistencies were revealed in her view of the importance of the full
participation of the WCM social base. Ideally the base is supposed to inform
the Council what is needed. That is, after all, what participatory democracy is
supposed to be about. However, she advised the Council not to discuss its
internal problems with the base for fear that it might become demoralized.
This paternalistic attitude reaffirmed the stereotypic notion that, because of
their "low cultural level", peasant women were unable to analyze critically
and to help resolve the problems that were affecting those they had chosen to
represent them before international agencies. How was the base supposed to
decide whether to eliminate a Council member from her position or to reelect
her if they had no notion of what was going on in the Council? Yet, not a
single woman questioned or took exception to any of the comments or
instructions imparted by the Council members or by the AMS representative.

When the meeting ended, all the women went to the first floor and
were given refreshments by the WCM cook, who had not been present in any

89

of the meetings. There seemed to be an atmosphere of general satisfaction
with the exception of the WCM Council members. I suspected that the
Council members’ discomfort derived from the fact that most of the meeting
had been led by the AMS representative and not the WCM President. Later,
during my stay, I was to hear many WCM Council members' complaints and
suspicions that PADECOSMS had sent the AMS representative to spy and to
direct the WCM so that PADECOSMS could control their activities instead of
helping them improve the women’s organization. This was not stated
during or immediately after the WCM assembly meeting because the AMS
representative was staying overnight. However, conflicts with PADECOSMS
were revealed.

When the visiting women left, I took the opportunity to interview one
of the Council members. Marcela was 32 years old and she told me she had
been one of the first to join the popular combat forces. In 1991 she decided to
join the meetings of the WCM and after going five times she was elected to be
the Secretary of Finance of the Executive Council.

Marcela began telling me about her involvement in the revolutionary
struggle and about the creation of the WCM. Then the AMS representative
joined in the conversation. They both explained that even though the WCM
was an offshoot of the AMS, their mutual coordination had diminished as
the WCM became more autonomous. The problem, as they expressed it, was
that the AMS and the WCM did not have knowledge of their ”mutual
realities”. When the AMS was unable to take care of its satellite
organizations it decided that the branch of Northern Morazan was stronger
than in other zones and should not be eliminated or merged with other
communal organizations or cooperatives. This is how the WCM was formed.

In subsequent interviews with other WCM members, the following

90

descriptions were made of the relationship between PADECOSMS and the
WCM:

Here in Perquin the WCM was very well organized and they
didn’t want to be represented by PADECOSMS. The zone of
Morazan is unique in that [we women] defend ourselves.
PADECOSMS is marginalizing us and using us but we are not
getting anything out of it. The only organization that we have
with PADECOSMS is to organize workshops. But women need
to acquire this ability so that they can request and design their
own projects. The problem is that many times we don’t know
who we are or what we are looking for.

The strong relationship between PADECOSMS the AMS, and the
WCM is established in the latter’s Platform. However, contrary to the
opinions expressed in my interviews, it was described in a very positive an
supportive way. The structure of the WCM Secretariats which imitated those
of PADECOSMS is even stronger evidence of the ties between them. In order
to understand how the WCM actually worked I asked the Council members
to describe the functions of the Secretariats which were not mentioned in the
Platform.

Marcela was not sure what the General Secretariat was for, but she
stated that originally three women. had been elected to fill the positions.
Juana, another Council member, said that its main purpose was to organize
and advise the women, and that four members had been elected. The
purpose of the Relations Secretariat was to speak to the different agencies, to
mail out letters, to receive members from international agencies and to take
them to the communities. According to Marcela, one person was elected for
this task whereas Juana mentioned two. The job of the two women elected to
be part of the Finance Secretariat was to elaborate projects, to keep control of
the funds, and to keep track of the WCM stores because they did not have an

administrator at the moment. Two women were elected to be part of the

91

Propaganda Secretariat. Their task was to desigr posters, banners, and to
distribute bulletins and to act as activists.

The Health Secretariat was made up of one woman and her job was to
get medication for women even if they were not members of the WCM.
Marcela explained that sometimes the Council would not buy paper for the
office so they could buy medication. But the members of the WCM were
guaranteed free health care if they would go with a stamped letterhead to the
town clinic created by PADECOSMS. According to Juana, talks on preventive
care were given to the women by the WCM. However, the women have
never had a health project because they were never given the opportunity.
There was little work that could be done by this Secretariat. The Education
Secretariat was also supposed to be made up of one woman, but at the time
there was not a specific function for her. She was supposed to coordinate
with PADECOSMS. Juana stated that at the beginning many plans were made
but none were accomplished.

The Secretariat of Recreation and Culture originally had six women
and it worked with children and teenagers. At first they had ”Happy
Afternoons” where talks about the role of women were given to teenagers.
They had sports activities and they began to teach them dancing lessons but
they were never completed. The ultimate purpose was to motivate people.
Thus far this Secretariat had made efforts to organize workshops for the
women through PADECOSMS. The last Secretariat was the one in charge of
production. These women were supposed to control the productive projects
such as the Mora Jelly project located in the zone called La Montana, the bean
project located in San Fernando, the vegetable garden project initiated in
Arambala, and the Stores project made up of three stores in the zone of

La Montana—Cueva del Monte, Nahuaterique, and Carrizal. According to

92

Marcela, the board of WCM directors of each community was in charge of its
particular projects.

Each communal board of directors was also divided into the same
Secretariats as the Council and had their own president and vice-president
who were in charge of organizing the women. They also had a treasurer and
a secretary. Marcela added that the organization worked by having the board
of directors consult their social base and then the Executive Council would
receive information from the different boards of directors through an
Assembly Meeting, and would attempt to generate self help projects that
would meet the women’s needs.

However, I was told that the WCM was experiencing serious problems
in Council-Base coordination: " When the organization was formed the
Council devoted most of its energies to struggle against the military and the
communities were rarely visited. The WCM’s active participation with the
FMLN and in the Peace Accords resulted in community [social base] neglect" (
my notes, 1992). Also, as I mentioned in the earlier part of this section, the
Executive Council only had five members instead of the original twenty two
stated by Juana. The fifteen communities indicated in the Platform were not
all represented at the assembly meeting.

According to Juana, Perquin and San Fernando used to have two WCM
Boards of Directors of 40-50 women each. Now San Fernando is left with one
and Perquin has none. Only the Council remains in Perquin. The
Secretariats were not functioning and the five Council members were taking
on the task of project write ups, of visiting a few of the communities, of
directing workshops at the organization building, and of attending specialized
workshops and PADECOSMS meetings if and when they were invited. The
Council members often expressed that they were overburdened. By the end

93

of my stay there were only four Council members left. Most of the WCM .
organizations had disintegated. .

Juana stated that the Secretariats only remained fifteen days after the
Peace Accords were signed. She attributed their disappearance to the decrease
in enthusiasm and to the fact that the WCM had gained a bad image. She felt
that the strongest cause, however, was the return of individualistic attitudes:
once the accords were sigred the communitarian ideals were forgotten.

Considering that Marcela was a Council member, her doubts as to the
actual function of some of the Secretariats, and the inconsistencies as to the
number of women elected for each one, their rapid disappearance, the
decrease in number of the WCM Council and social base membership,
brought into question the real reason for the creation of the WCM and for its
structural imitations of PADECOSMS. Was Juana’s evaluation of the reasons
for organization disintegation complete or were there other factors besides
the return to individualism that accounted for it? If her analysis was correct,
how did the WCM expect to combat the entrenchrnent of an ideology that the
_ Revolution had tried to eliminate during 12 years of war? In order to answer
this, it is necessary to analyze the function and relationship of both internal
and external forces as well as the women's awareness of them.

Before setting off to visit the different communities, I asked the
President of the WCM and Angelita (another Council member) to give me an
overview of the Organization’s concrete goals, its projects and its difficulties.
Blanca ageed and invited me to their Council’s Revision of Goals Meeting.
' Their short term goals involved the creation of communally owned garden
plots for the women of five different communities. Torola, San Fernando, El
Mozote, Jocoaitique, and Arambala. The Council also hoped to evaluate the
WCM communal stores which already existed and wished to create a new one

94

in San Fernando. The following section describes the WCM’s Revision of
Goals Meeting and my excursions with a WCM Council member in charge of

organization into the communities where the WCM had existed.
3.1] lilCll’R .. ES 111 |°

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For the purpose of clarity, I will divide the information of the meeting
into two sections or topics so that I can give an account of the communities
and projects which were referred to in the meeting. The WCM’s purpose in
the visits to the communities was to reorganize and stimulate the women
who had belonged to the different Boards of Directors. Recently, the WCM
was offered organic fertilizer workshops, technical assistance and free seeds by
The Salvadoran Foundation for Workers Self Management and Solidarity
(FASTRAS), in order to start communal vegetable plots in the different
towns. One of the Council members (Angelita) attended the workshops and
began visiting the communities to train other women. In fact, these
workshops became the Council’s new ”trigger” for attempting to re-organize
the women. The WCM Council also hoped to evaluate the women’s projects
that had been created in each community. My purpose was to find out why
they had organized in the first place, why they had disbanded, and what
techniques the Council members were using to get them started again.

.. ' Iu- A u --,!'| . Ir um i... .. or. ' n.

In 1991 the Archbishop of San Salvador gave the women 15,000 colones
to be distributed equally in the communities of San Fernando, Jocoaitique,
and Arambala for the creation of bean plots. In San Fernando the project
ceased to exist because, according to the Council members, the women did not
know how to defend their land and the previous owner took it away from

them. In Jocoaitique, a change in the President of its Board of Directors

95

caused some setbacks. The first President became a Council member and an
apparently unmotivated new President was elected. This resulted in the
structural demise of the bean project. Subsequently a dining hall was created
in Jocoaitique with the earnings of the previous bean project, and 1,500
colones of credit given by the Council. However, the dining hall also fell
because rather than remaining communal, it ”became a family project which
was administered badly”. At the time the loan given by the Council had not
been reimbursed. Later, the cooking utensils, and the furniture of the dining
hall were appropriated by the Council in order to start a cafe in San Fernando
(see Figure 3).

Now with the help of FASTRAS the WCM hoped to make another
attempt at creating garden plots that would increase the nutritional content of
the food being consumed. Another objective was to create a surplus so the
women could sell it and earn additional money for their day-to- day expenses.
The vegetables to be planted were tomatoes, carrots, chile peppers, cabbage,

cucumbers, beans, pipian, and onions.

96

Bean Project
Year: 1991 Agency: ArchbishopIunds: 15,000 colones

Communities

t

Arambala: 5,000 colones Jocoaitique: 5,000 colones San Fernando: 51000 colones

Earned a profit Some profit Some profit
Long duration: Short duration Short duration
Had pump, irrigation pipes Board disorganimtion Land taken away
and money left over

WCM Board of Director's Dining hall set-up with Store (topic #2)
lack of interest in Bean Project profits and 1,500 set-up with Bean
Vegetable Garden Project colones: credit from council Project profits
of 1992 Short duration:
because of corruption

Cooking implements WCM Board of Directors'
appropriated by Council substancial interest in
to start cafe in Vegetable Garden Project
San Fernando of 1992

WCM Board of Directors' lack
of interest in Vegetable Garden
Project of 1992

Figure 3: Garden Project According to WCM Revision of Goals Meeting

97

However, Angelita’s report of her attempts to get the women
mobilized was not very promising (see Figure 4). In Torola the women were
not able to reach an agreement with the cooperative directors who
coordinated the land distribution. These cooperatives were headed by men
who were not enthusiastic about giving the women a share. Therefore, the
women of Torola were unable to organize and meet with Angelita.

The WCM Board of Directors of El Mozote ageed to create the garden
plot. They set a date for November 1 in order to begin the training on organic
fertilizer. The irrigation of the plot would be done through plastic pipes
which the Council had to purchase. According to Angelita, the WCM of
Mozote had plenty of water available and the land was ready to go. The seeds
were going to be donated by the Appropriated Technology Office of
FASTRAS. The women would have to begin collecting chicken droppings,
cow manure, ashes and weeds. A nylon cover also had to be bought.

In San Fernando, the plot was also ready for planting. The women had
already made the fertilizer and they had the plastic irrigation pipes. They still
needed a wire fence to keep the animals out and they had to be taught what to
plant and how to do it. In Jocoaitique, the women had not searched for the
land. Angelita felt that there was little interest in that community because
she had already visited them three times with no results. The women had
met as an organization but they had not made any efforts to coordinate with
the town cooperative. Angelita believed that the problem was that
Jocoaitique’s WCM President was very timid. Blanca - the Council President-
promised to visit them in order to motivate them and to set a date for the
training on organic fertilizer. This meeting was continuously postponed.

In Arambala, the women said that they were not willing to work any more

because it was a waste of time. Blanca stated that two women of the Arambala

98

directive discouraged the others. She added that the two women had only
become WCM members to stay out of the war and to take advantage of the
bean projects which had existed. Ironically, the earlier bean plot created in
Arambala was the only one to earn enough to reinvest in another garden

plot.

Vegetable Garden Project

Year: 1992 Agency: FAST'RAS Assistance: Workshops, Technicians
and Seeds

E ..

,i' '1' 730:4. 0_.PJL‘-.~1u~ ' J‘ u 'L‘ t 0.11M;

1

Arambala Jocoaitique Mozote Wade Torola
Lackofinterest littleinterest Landisavailable Landisavailable Interestin

' a. u ‘0' 1...;

in projects but in project: no for planting for planting project but no
land available land asrmm land W
with Men's Board with Men's Board
of Directors of Directors

Figure 4: Garden Project According to WCM Revisions of Goals Meeting

99

Therefore they still had land, irrigation pipes, an insecticide pump, and
money left over from the old project. Arambala never experienced a loss of
revenues. They still had 12 quintales of beans that had not been sold.
However, the women said they were not interested in the project .
Nevertheless, Blanca and Angelita stated that the new garden plot project
would begin in November in all the communities mentioned. The Council
members also hoped to create a WCM Board of Directors in Ocotillo because
there was fertile land and plenty of water in that area. They scheduled a
meeting for the third of November which did not take place (see Figure 4).

QIC°°|IIIII°EIE°I
a. Arambala

On October, 1992, I accompanied two WCM Council members to the
town of Arambala. The President of Arambala’s Board of Directors (Carlota)
also occupied the position of WCM Council member but was on maternity
leave for three months. The purpose of our visit was to regroup the WCM
Board of Directors, to invite them to take advantage of the organic fertilizer
program offered by WCM and FASTRAS, and to convince them to start a
communal vegetable garden. As we recall from the Council’s Revision of
Goals Meeting, Arambala was the only town to have a head start in
gardening equipment and funding because of its previous profitable bean
project. However, it was also the town that Angelita had described as
showing no interest in communal work.

After an hour-long walk down a winding road full of pot holes and a
galloping ride from Doctors Without Borders (accurately labeled "Doctors
Without Brakes" by the population, we arrived at Carlota’s place. She was
living in a house that had been abandoned by its owners during the war and
she had started her own little store. Carlota had just given birth to her ninth

100

child a month before our arrival. After offering her some guayabas we had .
picked on our way over, we asked her where the rest of the WCM women
were. She answered that she was not able to call them so she told another
Board member to alert them about the meeting. In our search for this Board
member we were forced to walk down some mud trails. After getting mud
up to my ankles I noticed that my companions had somehow managed to
keep their new shoes sparkling clean.

We finally found Venecia as she was washing a huge pile of clothing.
She said the women had not shown up and that it was not surprising because
every one was still dealing with lunch at one pm. on a week day. We decided
to go back to Carlota’s to say goodbye and set up a date for the following week.
Carlota said it was very hard to get women to come to meetings. They were
tired of organizing for the sake of organizing. They needed to see results and
projects. Angelita suggested another communal project and Carlota replied
that she did not think it would work because the last communal bean project
did not work. The women stopped working even though they were getting
_ paid. The last women to work were the WCM board members and of those,
the last was Carlota.

When we got back to Perquin, I helped Angelita type the notices for the
next meeting in Arambala. Carlota said people were more likely to show up
if they had written notices. I had a hard time understanding this because I
was told most women could not read or write, but the results were positive. I
was informed by Angelita that over twenty women came to the next meeting
and that they seemed more enthusiastic about the project. However,
Arambala’s Vegetable garden was not begun before my departure from the
country. The visit to this community verified the Council mambers'

comments about Arambala women’s lack of interest in organizing, but more

101

importantly it revealed some problems in the Council’s organizational
tactics. After a year of organizing women, the Council members were still
setting up meetings at times and dates when women were the busiest. There
was also an ambiguous and weak organizational structure that resulted in an
inefficient chain of communication and made it difficult for the Council and
the community Board of Directors to carry out their goals.

b. Wm

On October 14, Angelita, the AMS representative (Gloribel) and I had
made arrangements to meet up with another WCM woman (Carmen) at a
bus stop in order to visit the women at a town called Villa El Rosario which
lacked a Board of Directors. After waiting for a half an hour we decided to
depart without Carmen and we set out on a one-way two-hour walk under
the scorching sun. This walk was particularly difficult because the pine trees
had been felled and there was no shade on the seemingly endless winding
road. Gloribel tried to keep our spirits up by telling us some of her and other
women’s war experiences. Later she began to tell me how expensive it was to
raise children. For example she stated that she could never get all of her
children clothing at the same time because she never had enough.

As we were approaching the last third of the trip and having visions of
cold water spewing from the mountain side, Carmen met up with us and
ended our delirium. She said she had missed us some how but that she had
already made it to Villa El Rosario. Unfortunately there was no one there.
The women had not organized. Rather than continuing we headed back on
another two-hour walk and caught a ride at a crossroad. When we arrived at
the WCM building in Perquin, we told the President what had happened and
she promised to revisit the community. However, she never made it because

the walk was too long and she had not been able to find a ride.

102

c. WW2:

On October 27, Angelita and I took a bus to San Fernando and walked
about forty five minutes through trails until we reached Azacualpa, located
within the boundaries of San Fernando. There we met up with a little boy
who ran to alert the women that we had arrived. We continued walking into
a large soccer field and found a log to sit on. The women began arriving in
twos and threes and sitting down on adjacent logs. The meeting began with a
total of eight women plus Angelita and myself. However, I was told that the
Board was actually composed of about twenty women and that its social base
was made up of four women. When I asked Angelita how it was possible that
the Board was larger than the Base, she explained that all the women that
were members of the WCM were also members of the Board. The other four
women just gave support in some activities but did not wish to have any
constant responsibilities. Following this conversation, Angelita introduced
me to the women and proceeded to giVe me some background on the San

Fernando Board of Directors:

The San Fernando WCM worked well when they had the bean
project but once I [Angelita] joined the Council, there was no one
left to motivate the women and the Board of Directors fell. In
May, Carmen [S.F. WCM President] and I were able to reorganize
the Board. Carmen was able to motivate them. But the women
don’t see the need to organize if there aren’t any projects.

During the meeting, two topics were discussed: the vegetable project
and a chicken farm project. Some women had already received the organic
fertilizer workshop from Angelita and they were able to mix the fertilizer and
spread it on the land. However, the women were forced to find another piece
of land because the owner was returning to claim it. They decided to ask
Carmen’s father to let them use some of his. One of the women suggested

that it would be better if one WCM member would speak to his wife first

103

because ”It’s easier if one woman speaks to another”. The women had
already made arrangements for a man to build the seeding boxes and they
agreed to pay another man to clean out the land.

The second topic discussed was the chicken farm project. The women
felt this kind of project would be profitable and easy to manage because it was
”only a matter of feeding the chickens". They said that many times it was
difficult to get chickens because sometimes there was no one to sell them.
Angelita instructed them to write a proposal so that the Council could send it
to an agency for monetary support. The women became nervous at this
suggestion since none of them had any experience writing proposals.
Angelita told them to ask the head of the school of agriculture to give them a
workshop on proposal writing. She added that the Council could not do it for
them because then it would be accused of forcing unnecessary projects on the
women. It had to be an initiative of their own. The women were
enthusiastic because they thought that once the project got started and gave
results, other women would automatically become interested in becoming
WCM members and would be willing to lend a hand in the projects. The fact
that the Agricultural School already had a chicken farm and that the women
might benefit more from starting a project that did not already exist was not
mentioned.

A few weeks later, Angelita and I revisited San Fernando with two
agronomists (Xenia and Pedro) from FASTRAS who had made an
appointment to give the women a workshop on planting. Only two San
Fernando women showed up for the workshop. After revealing her dismay
at the lack of participation, Xenia explained that the purpose of the project
was to cover the needs of the Zone with the vegetables and to sell whatever

was left in other areas. The vegetable project would cover five zones (San

104

Fernando, Villa El Rosario, Laguna, Mozote, and Torola). This workshop was
supposed to have representatives from each one of these communities but
the women did not arrive. It was also supposed to cover three topics:
training in organic fertilizer, farming techniques based on the peasant
women's own experiences, the acquisition of loans or credits, and the
commercialization of the products. Following the overview of the project,
Xenia proceeded to give the two women notebooks, pencils, and a summary
of the workshop. Then she decided to take a look at the seed beds and the
land that had already been prepared by the women thanks to a visit she gave
them a week earlier.

When we arrived at the vegetable plot we found another six women
(including the President of the Board of Directors), two men and some
children working on the preparation of the land. In their enthusiasm to get
the project started, those women who were working had forgotten to go to the
workshop. It turned out that most of the people working on the land were
immediate family members of the San Fernando WCM President. The
agronomists, the Council member, the two workshop women and myself
picked up some tools and began to, help the women plant until night fall.
Since we were too exhausted and terribly hungry, the agronomists and I
stayed over night at the Agricultural School. The next morning Xenia spoke
to the Head of the school and asked him to check on the women’s project
periodically and to give them advice until she could return. I was told by one
of the women that the Head of the Agricultural School had waited too long
to check on them, and by the time he arrived the crops had already perished.

Even in Gloribel’s suggestions to improve the organization,
inconsistencies were revealed in her view of the importance of the full

participation of the WCM social base. Ideally the base is supposed to inform

105

the Council what is needed. That is, after all, what participatory democracy is
supposed to be about. However, she advised the Council not to discuss its
internal problems with the base for fear that it might become demoralized.
This paternalistic attitude reaffirmed the stereotypic notion that peasant
women because of their ”low cultural level” were unable to analyze critically
and to help resolve the problems that were affecting those they had chosen to
represent them before international agencies. How was the base supposed to
decide whether to eliminate a Council member from her position or to reelect
her if they had no notion of what was going on in the Council? Yet, not a
single woman questioned or took exception to any of the comments or
instructions imparted by the Council members or by the AMS representative.
d. Mozote

Following the first San Fernando visit, we took a bus to the outskirts of
the town of Mozote known for the massacre of its population by the
Salvadoran Military Forces (Atlacatl Battalion). Their purpose was to create a
WCM Board of Directors from scratch since there had not been one in this
area. Our first visit to the town was fruitless. There had been a
misunderstanding about the. rendezvous point and we never found the
women.

On November 1, we returned to the town with an agriculture
technician. Apparently, Angelita had told the women to bring their children
so they could break a "pinata" donated by the Council. This activity was
supposed to help attract the women. However, children were not brought
because it was too far to walk. Angelita had also invited the Men’s Board of
Directors so that ”they could learn about the WCM's objectives”. Before
arriving at the meeting place we stopped by Oneda’s house (Mozote’s
provisional WCM President) so that she would accompany us. Oneda was

106

one of those people who had survived the Mozote massacre by disobeying the
military’ 3 orders to congregate in the middle of town. She told us how she
was able to hear the gun shots and screams as the people were murdered and
to see the smoke filled sky as the bodies were burnt. She recalled that it was
very difficult to breath as the air filled up with smoke and ashes.

When we arrived Oneda was very frustrated. She was complaining
that the Men’s Board had not organized for the organic fertilizer workshop
because they had been drinking all night. A woman that was run out of
another town had just moved to Arambala and was selling home brewed
liquor there. It seems that the women of the other town had dismissed her
because the men spent their days getting drunk. Now this was also
happening in Mozote. Only six women and two men from Mozote and its
surrounding areas showed up at the meeting, which took place in the patio
of an adobe house belonging to one of the women. The excuse for not having
more men was that they were watching a soccer game. Oneda added that the
lack of women was probably due to the fact that they were discouraged
because of the aborted meeting with Angelita the previous week.

At the beginning of the meeting, each woman stood up and introduced
herself. The men remained seated when they spoke and one of them fell
asleep during the discussion. After introducing herself, the agriculture
technician and me, Angelita asked the women whether or not they were
going to form a Board of Directors. The women started fidgeting in their
chairs some saying that they wanted to be part of the WCM but they did not
want the responsibility of being a Board member. They were asked if they
wanted the workshop on organic fertilizers but no one spoke. Angelita
proceeded to explain the goals of the organization and read a shortened

version of the WCM’s Platform and objectives. There were empty gazes and a

107

heavy silence from the audience. She asked if there were any questions and j
the women just answered "Everything seems all right" and continued to sit
and stare aimlessly.

In an attempt to break the vicious cycle of silence and boredom,
Angelita suddenly turned everybody’ s attention to me and told the women I
was there to ask them a few questions. Feeling a little startled by this sudden
turn of events, I came up with a question which was apparently inappropriate
at the time. I asked the women why they wished to organize as women.
They answered ”We want to work”. I replied ”Is that all?” They said ”Yes”. I
followed up my awkward first attempt by asking them how they would try to
convince me to join them if I told them I had no time. They said they would
tell me I should join because it was ”interesting”. Then Angelita, noticing the
perplexed expression on my face, took the opportunity to speak about the
situation of women in an attempt to liven up the discussion. The following

is a verbatim transcription of what went on in the rest of the meeting:

Angelita: We have the same abilities as the men. The problem
is that sometimes we are repressed in our homes. Women have
more work in the household. Women are the heads of
households.

Hector: ”Asi es” [”That’s right” was the low response of an
elderly man who was sitting slouched on a chair as he stared at
the floor].

Angelita: A man says ”only I can do this”, but no, women also
have participation. That’s why I want you to. tell me how you
see things.

Women: We understand [two answered].

Oneda: [Provisional Mozote Board President-tall slender
woman with a firm voice] Since we have never received any
explanations, sometimes we don’t understand. Not everyone
who lives here has the necessary conditions to subsist. It's
important to struggle to get something.

108

Osorio: ”Asi es” [Soft answer from a man in his thirties who
was leaning against a post].

Oneda: It’s the men who have all the rights. A man will go out
into the street but he will not permit the women to leave the
house. But we must understand that women also have the
same rights.

Angelita: It’ 3 good to say what one feels so one will not be led by
someone else's ideas. That is why we wish to give you
participation and not just have you listen to me ramble on blah,
blah, blah. -

Crista: The struggle that I have is to find work to improve
myself. To work anyway I can. My sister and I know how to do
many things. She works on he 'milpa' and in agriculture. We
just arrived in this area from the Department of La Libertad. But
before coming here we made hammocks. But since we moved
we haven’t been able to get the materials. My sister knows how
to do many things. She can make bread and she can sell.

Maria: Let’s see if we can progress a little. There have been
women coming to my land for two years now trying to form a
women’s organization so that we can get work, but the other
women don’t want to come.

Oneda: I have been invited to meetings in Arambala many times
now. But the women of Mozote would not go because it’ 8 too far
away. We have to organize here. That way if we all unite we
will trust each other more and we will gain more strength.
Everything is voluntary. The invitation was also for the men so
that they would understand our struggle.

Crista: It’s a good thing to have a women’s board of directors
because we can plant between all of us. The board of directors is
the one that decides why people are going to be brought together.

Osorio: Women have more work than men. It’s good to have a
women’s board of directors but you see the scarce participation
here.

Oneda: In Arambala no one wanted to form the board. The
women thought that they were going to be given more work
than what they had during the war. Other women have small
children and that’ 3 why they can’t come.

C pgn

(V.IL1LL.Itl1t!

 

109

Crista: I would say it's important to organize so that we can
prosper. When you are left out of the organization you are
alone. If people are interested they will agree, if not they won’t.
When the women are told that there is a meeting to form a
Board of Directors it is worse. They say ”I’m not going”.

Angelita: They say ”What? Me, President? Go see who else you
can find”.

Crista: There are people whom you have to beg to get them to
participate. "Come on, It’s interesting". At first I didn’t want to
go but people kept inviting me and sometimes they would scold
me. But when I went, I liked it.

Oneda: I’ve almost always visited all the houses. I ask the
women if they took their children to get vaccinated. It’s
important to motivate the people. In this area many children
have not been vaccinated. That is why the organization is good,
because you earn their trust. My understanding is that the need
is dire in this place. If we are organized we can find out what
the families’ needs are. There is a great need for education. That
worries us. The first thing the internationals ask is ”Where do
the children go to school?” We have invited the Men’s Board to
come to our meeting but they already had an engagement to play
soccer.

Osorio: That is why today was not a good day for this meeting.

Angelita: First we should have met with the men and women to
see if the men are preventing the women from meeting or
what? Are you willing to work in the vegetable project?

Sarah: We are but where would we do it? This is too far for us.

Angelita: If many women work it will be easier because one
woman won’t have to come every day and she could even plant
a home garden if she liked.

Oneda: Yes, because we had already collected all the ingredients
for the fertilizer. The chicken droppings, the ashes. I know that
its for the good of all of us, but only we [three women] did the
work.

Ana: [Owner of the large house where the meeting was taking
place]. I think this meeting is good. But, me, it’s that I can barely

110

help out because I have too much to do. I’ve got my kids in
school. To say ”yes” is not hard, but to come through is another
thing. One has to take care of her home and then leave. It’s a
commitment and it must be kept. Because if you don’t do your
part our 'compafieras' will get upset. I’ve been invited to
Arambala but I haven’t been able to go because my children are
in school.

Angelita: But if there is interest one can make time. But as we
said earlier we do not force anyone. It has to be voluntary. I
don’t know how you see it. People must decide whether or not
they want the vegetable garden.

Oneda: We think that it is necessary so that whoever wishes to
do so can plant a home garden. If people don’t want to do it
communally then let them plant for their own families.

Angelita: If we come to teach you the other women can also
come and learn.
Crista: Iagree.

Juan: [Peasant trained in appropriated technology]. I think that
the presentation hat the 'compafieras' have given has been very
good. I work in organic fertilizer and appropriated technology.
People think that this is going to be hard work but in the end it is
going to be very beneficial. It is important for us peasants to
identify our raw materials and to know how our communities
will benefit from them. If this works out here and you are able
to collect the materials between all of you, it will benefit you all.
This plant you have here is called ”mariposita”, it is used for
fevers. All these plants are good for the organic fertilizer. And
that is very important. This helps us begin to solve the
economic problems of our own society. You don’t need a large
number of people. All you need is the will to begin. It’s better to
start with a few and to make concrete steps. This will be concrete
proof for your neighbors and for the rest of the community. You
can analyze for yourselves if it is going to be beneficial. You
won’t have to buy floral fertilizer which costs twelve colones.

Crista: Let’s agree on what each one is going to collect so we
won’t all get the same things.

Angelita: Our next meeting will be next Sunday.

Sarah: If one woman does it she can teach others.

111

The interaction at Mozote was especially revealing in that, unlike the
other communities visited, it had never had a WCM organization. It gave
me a comparative perspective which I had been lacking thus far. It provided
clues as to what the original women’s organization attempts were probably
like when women, who were victims of the dislocation of the war, lacked an
understanding of their subordinate position within a gender stratified society.
In this meeting there were women who had participated in other
organizations during the war and became discouraged with the work
overload and lack of results in terms of their own needs. The women
expressed one main concern: to get a job. They were generally ignorant about
any other purpose for an organization of women, even after listening to the
WCM Platform and to Angelita’s and Oneda’s inspiring words.

The women’s facial expressions, body language, and silence revealed an
immunity to baseless rhetoric or ”hype” without results which they had
apparently been exposed to for many years. The women’s form of
presentation as opposed to the men’s intimated the former’s position of
subordination in an authoritarian structure. The women would stand up
before they spoke and sit down immediately after they finished, as if they had
been programmed the way children are in very authoritarian schools. The
men, however, maintained their relaxed sitting positions without paying
very serious attention to what was going on. The men’s lack of support and
interest in the problems and goals of women were stark. Their manipulation
of the women was also revealed in Osorio’s insinuation that even though the
organization was a ”good idea”, it wasn’t going to work because the poor
attendance of the women demonstrated that only a few were interested. He
also blamed the women for the poorly attended meeting since they planned it

on a day when a soccer game was going on. In this way, he insinuated that

 

 

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112

the women’s priorities were all wrong.

Attitudes resulting from economic differences in the women also
emerged. The homeless and penniless women were desperate to organize so
they could find a support network to subsist. Yet, the more economically
stable women were less enthusiastic. For example, the owner of the house
where the meeting took place argued that she had no time to participate
because she had her children in school and too many chores to do. Ironically,
a direct correlation seemed to emerge between increased economic stability
and a stated decrease in available time to organize.

The conflict between communal and individualistic ideologies was
also present during most of the discussion of the vegetable garden, as the
women debated whether to make a private garden or to work together for the
benefit of all. Oneda’s interpretation of the reason for the conflict was that
there was a lack of trust, implying that after all the years of communal
development projects in the Zone the women still felt they would be taken
advantage of if they shared their work with others.

The confrontation mentioned in previous interviews between a
pervasive ideology that instructs women to put their own cause aside and the
ideology that espouses the injustice of a system that does not take both
genders into account simultaneously is exemplified in the different styles
used by Angelita and the Technician. Angelita’s stricter and more
confrontational style in convincing the women to work communally for
their own benefit as women was met with resistance. Most did not respond
or comment on her assessment of women’s subordinate status nor did they
seem convinced that the project was truly voluntary. It was not until the
technician brought up concrete examples which were devoid of gender

related themes that the women became inspired to work together. The

 

 

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113

women’s attitudes revealed the prevailing ideology that has been expressed in
most of the interviews: that women must struggle for the good and cohesion
of the community as a whole rather than fighting for a truly just social system
which admits that women have been relegated to an inferior status and will
try to change their situation. The idea that women experience a double
subordination because of their gender was not assimilated as a reality by most
of those present at the meeting. Of all the patterns already discussed during
the meeting in Mozote, this is the most important one.
e. Torola

On November 8, another Council member (Sonia) and I took a forty
five minute bus ride to Torola, one of the most destroyed towns of the Zone,
to meet with the WCM Board of Directors and make arrangements for the
vegetable garden workshop. Unfortunately PADECOSMS arrived in their
pick up truck shortly afterwards and began reconstituting the town board so
the women were unable to meet. Sonia was annoyed because PADECOSMS
had not coordinated with the WCM Council, causing this ”clash of activities”
as she put it. A female~ PADECOSMS representative told Sonia that they had '
tried to coordinate with the WCM but that PADECOSMS had already made
up its calendar of activities. Sonia angrily replied that if WCM had been told
in time they could have arranged to work together.

The coordination of the Town Directive election was performed by the
main leader of PADECOSMS. There was also a female representative of
PADECOSMS standing beside him but she never spoke. When I asked Sonia
why she commented that this was always the case. The elections began with
most of the men standing in the middle of the room and the women circling
them from behind. When the PADECOSMS leader asked for nominations

for President all the nominees were men including those proposed by

WOlTlEJ
for the
They t
of Tor
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114

women. The women did, however, gather the courage to nominate a woman .
for the Secretary position. She had an overwhelming mixed gender support.
They tried to elect another woman [who had been in the PADECOSMS Board
of Torola for four years] but she refused to run. She told Sonia and myself
that she felt a lot of resentment because she had worked on the Board for a
long time and they never took her seriously or into account. She added that
she did not have any more ”time to waste". Sonia arranged another meeting
for the fertilizer training but she never showed up.

On December 18, I revisited Torola because I needed to interview the
women and the WCM Council member had not made anymore efforts to
organize them there. I was received by three Board of Directors’ members
who began the conversation by asking me why the Council had not revisited
them. Following this, question, Marta, one of the Board members began

describing women’s situation in Torola:

We have worked very hard here, but after the work is done they
don’t even turn around to look at us. In Torola, the women of
the WCM are also members of the CCM (Congregation of
Christian Mothers). Today neither of the organizations has
meetings. Before the 1989 Offensive, the CCM met but it was
difficult because there was a lot of jealousy coming from the
outside. The project of Bread and Milk lasted four years. Here
everyone worked very well. Later there was a tailor shop project
which lasted eight days. Two sewing machines were brought
and we got the shop itself from the Men’s Board of Directors.
Three women began to work but no one else was invited. No
one knows what happened to the machines. Later the CCM
women were invited to join the WCM. About twenty women
joined. They told us women would be able to work. An AMS
representative and a solidarity worker came to organize women.
There was an election and then the President of the new Torola
WCM Board of Directors went from house to house and
gathered about eleven women. ‘

Ten months ago PADECOSMS made a bakery in Torola,
but the WCM hasn’t had any projects. Our Board of Directors
President was the only woman from Torola that would visit
Perquin [town of WCM Council]. She would have to use her

Org

CC

115

own money for transportation or she would have to walk four
hours to get to the meetings. We never received any training or
workshops.

Last month about eight women met in a Council
Assembly Meeting and they only spoke of work. The Council
told us that they were going to start a vegetable garden project.
But the Men’s Board of Directors hasn’t told us a thing about the
land. The President of the CCM also told us she was going to
meet with us but she never arrived. We feel that the vegetable
garden project would be a good thing because otherwise a
pound of tomatoes costs us four colones. But we have a
problem with irrigation.

The situation in Torola is very bad. There are many
undernourished children here. All of the women are going to
PADECOSMS’ Maternal Infant Care Program but we haven’t
received any counseling on family planning nor on women’s
health problems. Here it costs us two colones to see a doctor.
But most people here are very poor and don’t even have money
to buy food. In Torola, there are about one hundred women—
many of them alone and with children. Many of them have to
cut and carry wood in order to sell a third of a cord for two
colones. Our biggest problem here is malnutrition and lack of
jobs. , .
The Vice President of the Torola WCM Board of Directors
has gone to live in another community with a very jealous man
so she hasn’t come to any of our meetings. I think that the
WCM women do not really want to work. They aren’t willing to
wait until there are earnings. We already know where the
garden is going to be but the men have not handed it [the land]
over yet and the actual owners ore going to return soon.

A WCM Council member called a meeting with our
WCM Board of Directors to plan the work on the garden but
only three Torola women came and the Council member never
showed up. The other Torola women didn't come not because
they don’t want to work but because they want to be paid for
what they do. The WCM Council told us that we would have to
wait until we harvested and sold the vegetables in order to get a
profit. The Council could not give us any money. About fifteen
women would be willing to work if they got paid. But only three
are willing to wait.

Torola, unlike Mozote for example, had a history of women’s
organizations. The same women of the WCM had originally belonged to the
CCM and continued to do so with an apparently stronger allegiance to the

 

latte
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Tor

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116

latter. They were older women with a strong organizational experience, an
yet they faced some the same problems revealed in Mozote. The WCM
Torola women were more relaxed and confident in their manner of
presenting themselves. They were aware that they had struggled and
achieved a great deal in their participation during the war. However, they felt
frustrated because they were faced with social problems such as a town full of
malnourished and impoverished women and children, and they were not
only lacking support from the Men’s Board of Directors but from the different
women’s organizations as well.

The WCM women expressed a feeling of powerlessness before the
Men’s Board of Directors which had control over the land needed for the
vegetable garden, and a feeling of confusion and abandonment as a result of
the WCM Council’s and the CCM’s lack of initiative in visiting and advising
the Torola Board 'of Directors. Regardless of the Torola women’s participation
during the armed conflict, the PADECOSMS election activity revealed that
women were viewed as secondary in importance and that there was still a
prevailing ideology among most men and women that stressed that only
men were fit for leadership positions.

After finishing my interview with Marta, I returned to Perquin and
spoke to a woman (Iris) who, in the past, had been involved in recruiting
women for the WCM. I asked her why the WCM of Torola was also the CCM
when in other towns the two were completely separated and even had some
conflicts with each other. She answered that Torola was one of the most
destroyed towns in the Zone and that the women with the most
organizational experience had been CCM members. The FMLN and
PADECOSMS believed that they would be the most useful in recruiting
women for the WCM.

 

 

 

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117

Iris acknowledged that it was possible that because of the Torola
President’ s religious inclinations, the organization which was supposed to be
non-religious, took a different turn. She added that the two women who had
organized the WCM Boards in the various communities stopped going to
Torola because ”women were not given importance in that town. In fact,
Torola’s WCM President would go to the Council Assembly meetings but she
wouldn’t inform the other Torola women what had occurred there” (my
notes, Torola). She recalled that in the first meeting with PADECOSMS and
the WCM in Torola, only the WCM Board of Directors would speak while
most of the other women just sat and listened. Iris added that PADECOSMS
wanted to organize the women to have them accessible for activities where
they needed cooks or people to clean up. That is when the two women
organizers (Salvadoran, and North American Solidarity Worker) encouraged
the WCM Council to come up with a platform that would stress the struggle
for women’s specific needs. However, Iris felt that the women of Torola had
forgotten the platform because they devoted most of their time to the CCM
and confused the issues.

.. - u-‘qu ._._.... .- ....._.. oqc.go

E . | . I] Z E1 1 I | h

After discussing the vegetable garden project in the Revision of Goals
Meeting, the WCM Council President (Blanca) and Angelita began to evaluate
the WCM store projects (see Figure 5). According to Blanca, San Fernando
had previously had a WCM store that belonged to the community and the
earnings were distributed among the women. This store was created with the
profits that were left over from the bean project that had existed previously.
But the store also lasted very little because of faulty administration. Now the

WCM directive of San Fernando is supposed to reimburse the Council with

118

the money that was lost (2,700 colones).

 

 

 

: . .
San Fernando Carrizal Nawaterique Cueva del Monte
Used Profit 5.000 grant 5,000 grant 6,00) grant
fromBean 1,400profit 000 fit 1700 ft
Project. Short 2' pm ' pm 1
duration. Faulty
administration.
Owes Council
2,7000 colones

April-No accounts April-Lost money

to evaluate progress No profit

Figure 5: Stone Project According to WCM Revision of Goals Meeting

According to the previous WCM Council President (Wanda) who
started the stores and jelly projects (see Figure 6) in the zone of La Montana
with the help of an international solidarity worker who put her in contact
with different agencies, the original funding for these two projects (16,000
colones) came from the Parish of Roses in May of 1991. The purpose was to
use the revenues to lower prices in order to help the community and to help
the elderly and orphaned children. By the third month the store in Carrizal
had made 1,500 colones in profits after paying the attendant 160 colones a
month and the woman who bought the merchandise 200 colones a month.
The store earnings were reinvested in the store.

The store of N ahuaterique was the first to be established and the men’s
Board of Directors was employed to build it. PADECOSMS constructed the

shelves without charge. 5,000 colones were invested and 2,000 were earned in

119

profits after paying two women 200 colones a month. Six thousand colones
were invested in the store of Cueva del Monte because they had to pay the
men’s Board of Directors to construct the shelves and a table. This
community also had a greater need. The Seventh Day Adventist church,
located in the center of town, agreed to move the congregation to a private

home and donated its premises so that the store could be built there.

Year: 1991 Agency: Help to El Salvador

Funds: 16,000 colones
Women paid 15 colones a day for 12 months

Zancudo . Galera
No profit No profit

* 1992: Council borrows 16,000 colones from a reforestation project
and invests in the Jelly Project. No records of accounts or knowledge
of profits or losses exists. Problems in administration

Figure 6: Jelly Project According to WCM Revision of Goals Meeting

After two and a half months the store attendant became pregnant and
the solidarity worker that was counseling them assigned the President of the
Board of Directors to take on the task of saleswoman. According to Wanda,
Blanca (the current WCM President) later became the President of the WCM
Council and created a new Board of Directors in Cueva del Monte because
there were rumors that the President of the Board of Directors was stealing
money. Blanca appointed a woman from CEBES to be the new Cueva del

Monte WCM President and eight days later the store was moved to her

120

house. According to Wanda there is no longer a communal store there
because it has become a personal business of the President of the WCM Board
of Directors. Before the Board of Directors was changed, there were 1,700
colones in profits and 200 of these were used to buy a needy child some milk.
But now the women owe 2,000 colones in loans.

During the WCM Council’s Revision of Goals Meeting, Blanca
explained that the money that had been given to the women who were going
to manage the stores was not accompanied with any sort of workshop in
business administration. This created problems in keeping track of the
revenues. At first they worked well; Cueva del Monte had earned 6,000
colones in six months, N ahuaterique had earned 2,700 colones in six months
and Carrizal had made 1,700 colones in the same amount of time. But, Blanca
argued that when she revisited the communities the earnings of Cueva del
Monte had disappeared. N ahuaterique kept a constant rate of earning for a
while but by April it was losing money. In Carrizal The Council has not kept
track of the revenues but they were aware that there were problems. The
Council had not asked for money from any of these three community stores.

The Jelly projects received 16,000 colones in 1991 from agencies of help
to El Salvador. At this time Blanca was not the President. The Council
decided to start the project in the Zone of La Montafia and a government
institution (MAC) interested in ecological protection helped in the training
of the women. Thirty women from Perquin, Jocoaitique and La Montafia
were trained. Later the Communities of Zancudo and Galera were chosen for
the jelly project. The idea was that each woman working in the project would
be paid fifteen colones a day for the duration of the Mora berry season (two
months). The President of the Board of Directors was given money to buy
the necessary materials such as pans and sugar. In 1991 the project did not

121

make a profit but neither did it lose money. The problem was that there was .
very little funding to begin with.

In 1992, the Council borrowed 16,000 colones from a reforestation
project so that the Mora jelly project could continue. Blanca expressed that
they were unable to get involved in reforestation because trees could not be
planted in the summer. The agency of help To El Salvador that had
originally funded the jelly project threatened to demand the return of the
funds if the project ceased to exist. So the jelly project was continued with the
idea that the Agency could be paid back in the future. The Council members
were unaware of the revenues of the jelly project but they knew there had
been many problems and many expenses. One of the coordinators who was
being paid 200 colones a month was dismissed because of irresponsibility.
The other coordinator left and now the project did not have any one
overseeing it or keeping records of the accounts. Blanca informed me that at
the time jelly was being sold in San Salvador (CIAZO, FASTRAS, DIGNAS,
The Clementina Guest House, The Archbishop), in San Miguel (PADECOES),
in Perquin (W CM) and in Segundo Montes. They hoped to sell some in the
dining hall of PADECOSMS and in the WCM store of SAN Fernando that
was being built.

In 1991, the WCM received financing of 45,000 colones from an
Australian Agency to create a store in San Fernando . The earnings from this
store were supposed to go to pay for the Council members’ salaries,
administration costs and the salary of the store clerk. Unlike the other WCM
stores, the revenues were not going to stay in the community. However, the
prices were supposed to be lower so that the community would derive some
benefit. The Council members began to sell cooking gas and invested 14,000
colones. So far they had invested another 12,800 in the other merchandise to

 

 

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122

be sold such as vegetables, bread, sanitary articles toys and candy.

The Revisions of Goals Meeting revealed a pattern of extreme difficulty
in coordinating and continuing self-management projects. Accounts were
neither kept by the Council nor by the boards of directors. The causes of the
problems were mostly attributed to some coordinator’ 3 irresponsibility, to the
lack of education of the women, to internal power struggles, and to the
resistance of the men in sharing their control over land. Nevertheless, there
was a clear impression that the different boards, although full of internal
strife, were still numerous. The Council also seemed to have a genuine
interest in developing projects for the women in the different communities.
The Council’s numerous attempts to create projects for the women and the
patterns of lack of interest and scarce participation raised important questions
which could not be answered without speaking to the social base who had
actually been involved in the development of the WCM organizations and its
projects.

In the following descriptions I will comment at the end of each specific
visit because the WCM Boards of Directors of La Montana revealed an
incredible commonalty in their origin and development which would make
my previous style too repetitive. Rather, I will delay my comments and
observations until the end of the whole section in order to summarize the

patterns I observed in a more organized way.

 

During the month of December, Angelita Gloribel (AMS rep.) and I got
on the back of an empty cattle truck to visit what had been described to me as
the most beautiful region of North Eastern El Salvador. This Zone also
happened to be where most of the store and all the jelly projects of the WCM

were located. La Montafia along with other areas was recently ceded to

 

 

 

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123

Honduras by El Salvador’s President Cristiani. It had been a point of
territorial dispute between the two countries for over a century. Many
Morazan inhabitants believed that Cristiani ”got rid of the territory” because
most of the people there were FMLN supporters. This event was a big blow to
PADECOSMS which had formed many organizations in the area. At the time
of my visit PADECOSMS had representatives in a Bi-National Committee
which were struggling so that the La Montana inhabitants would be given
double nationality and would be allowed to keep their cooperatives and
organizations.

Angelita’s and Gloribel’s purpose in visiting the WCM Boards of
Directors in the Zone was to evaluate their projects to express their support at
least in the way of counseling and they were also going to inform them that
the structural ties between the WCM Council and the La Montafia Boards of
Directors would have to discontinue because the La Montana residents were
no longer on Salvadoran territory. The towns visited were those which had
the store projects (Carrizal, Nahuaterique, Cueva del Monte) and the
communities which had the Mora Jelly Projects (Zancudo and Galera).

a. Carrizal

The small store in Carrizal was attended by an eighteen year old
woman (Rosa) who had also been elected to be the WCM Board of Directors
representative in the Council Assembly Meetings. Rosa attended a three day
accounting workshop given by the WCM Council and taught by a
PADECOSMS accountant. She was being paid 200 colones a month for her
assistance at the store. She had only been to the Council twice and she knew
little about the accounts and information of the WCM projects. She could
not even say whether the store had any profits. However, she had noticed
that the WCM Board of Directors had not met for many weeks and when they

 

 

 

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124

did meet, only a few women would attend.

Rosa argued that a possible reason for the lack of participation was that
there were rumors that the Board of Directors President and Vice President
were taking funds from the store revenues. It was their responsibility to buy
the merchandise for the store and to pay her salary. She said, however, that
she had always been paid on time. Originally the President and Vice
president were earning 200 colones each for their work in getting the store
articles, but they decided to give up their salary when they were accused of
corruption. Rosa added that many pe0ple said that the WCM was supposed
to help the community, but in reality they were just "opportunistic old hags
who did not do anything".

Later, we spoke to another woman in Carrizal who was an inactive
member of the WCM. She gave us a short history of the development of
women’s organizations in the town and reacted very positively towards the
accomplishments of the AMS (the organization that preceded the WCM).
She said the AMS began helping them with a "milpa" project (mixed
vegetable garden, mostly corn and beans), and would keep them informed
about the current political issues. "That’s when I began to think that women
should not be slaves and that we have rights" she added. When the 1989
Offensive came, The AMS recruited the women so they would participate in
armed conflict. This informant felt that women were able to progress because
they were given the opportunity to engage in combat. The husbands,
however, were furious that the AMS had taken their wives away. Later the
women dispersed as they returned to their individual homes ( my notes,
Carrizal).

After the Offensive, the WCM Board of Directors of Carrizal was
created by PADECOSMS with the help of a North American solidarity worker.

 

 

 

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125

Women were told that they would benefit from different productive projects
and that organized women had a better capacity to work. In Carrizal the
WCM set up a store and the organization was strong until March because the
Council would meet with the women. But then the Council stopped sending
representatives and the Carrizal women lost their faith in their own board of
directors president and vice-president because they had sole control over the
store.

Gloribel told the informant that if there were complaints about the
Council they should be expressed because "the Base has the right to criticize
its leaders". Angelita assumed that the resentment resulted from the
Council's unkempt promises of visiting the communities. The informant’ 3
final concern was that Honduran women’s organizations were trying to
recruit Salvadoran women even though the Honduran Colonel promised to
respect the existing organizations. Gloribel answered that he could only keep
his promise if he was faced with a strong and structured women’s
organization that included all women.

b. Nahuaterique

Our next stop was the town of N ahuaterique. We had been walking for
many hours up and down rock and dirt trails. The sun was just going down
and the sky was filled with intense orange, red and blue swirls that emerged '
out of the black contours of the pine trees and mountain tops. We finally
arrived at night time and woke the town WCM President (Remigia) so she
would let us sleep over. She was startled by our presence because ever since
Nahuaterique became Honduran territory there had been thefts and no one to
guard and keep control of the town (my notes, N ahuaterique). Before lying
on the hard mud floors with only a thin hay mat to keep us from getting
dirty, Remigia made us some fried eggs and hot chocolate for supper. She was

 

 

 

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126

one of those rare Salvadorans that did not drink coffee.

The next morning I almost jumped out of my skin when I felt
something large walking on my face. As I shook and shot my head up, I
heard loud clucking and wing flapping sounds. There was this incredibly fat
chicken that decided I should be removed. Fortunately, Remigia whacked
and chased it out of the house with a broom as her children, Angelita and
Gloribel were laughing to the point of tears.

Since Remigia had run out of eggs, and so had the WCM store she
managed, we went to another store to get what we needed. After breakfast,
she told us that it would be difficult to get all the women because it was coffee
picking season and the women had expected us to have the meeting the day
before. Seven of ten Board Members finally arrived while Gloribel and
Angelita were elsewhere getting ready. A curious thing happened while I was
waiting for them to return: when I sat next to the Board members in the
front yard, they got up and entered the house. When I went into the house,
they walked out the door and sat back outside. I decided it was better if I
stayed inside the house until Angelita returned.

The meeting began with Remigia and the Vice-President’s description
of the WCM of Nahuaterique. Ever since the town had been ceded to
Honduras, the women had stopped meeting. Before that they only met
seldom. The few women that were present were unmarried and with the
exception of the President and the Vice-President, they were young and had
only recently become WCM members. The WCM had been a victim of
vandalism: their banners were ripped and their store was robbed. As a result
the husbands of its members prohibited them from meeting (my notes,
Nahuaterique).

 

 

 

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127

Gloribel told Remigia that men felt they were important because they
thought they supported women economically. She added that maybe a store
was not the solution and that there were more productive things that women

could do:

The men’s organizations will not be as productive without the
help of a women’s organization even if they do not take women
into account when they participate. But if you are organized,
your presence will force them to recognize you. You should
form your own organization but you need representation in
other organizations as well. When you confront the Honduran
authorities you must pressure them to give you support with
productive projects. You have to show them that you are really
organized.

Gloribel reminded the women that she and Angelita were there to
learn about their situation and help in any way they could but the women
had to tell them what the problems were. When Gloribel asked the younger
women or "Vocales" who were seated around her how they saw things, they
turned their backs to her and covered their smiling faces. Remigia explained
that these women had little organizational experience and were still very shy.
Gloribel encouraged them to dare to speak and she told them how she had
also struggled to overcome her fear because she was a peasant like them.
Seeing that the women would not answer, Remigia continued the
conversation and told us that the Nahuaterique WCM Board of Directors was
set up by PADECOSMS with the help of a North American Solidarity Worker.
A secretary, president and vice-president were elected out of twenty eight
women and the Secretariats were set up. However, when I asked Remigia the
functions of the Secretariats she answered:

The men didn’t tell us what the function of each Secretariat was
supposed to be. Now only the Board of Directors is left— the
President, Vice-President and the Vocals. We no longer have a
Secretary or a Treasurer. No one gave us any counseling. We
didn’t know what the hell we were going to do. The women

 

 

 

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128

elected for the Secretariats no longer work. They only
participated for one year. They were elected by the men. And
when these women left, the men elected others. Since I was the
one that went to most of the meetings, the WCM Council told
me I was going to be the Nahuaterique President.

Of the workshops given by the Council only the President and Vice-
President of Nahuaterique attended. They received a workshop on health,
accounting, and gender theory but they never passed the information they
had learned to the other WCM women of their town (my notes,
Nahuaterique). The purpose of the accounting workshop was to help them
manage the store which was set up with the help of the solidarity worker after
PADECOSMS organized the WCM Board of Directors. At the time of our
meeting, Remigia and the Vice-President were the only ones working in the
store. The women argued that they did not know math so they would be
useless in the store. The original quantity given to the WCM for the project
was 5,000 colones which were supposed to be returned. However,
PADECOSMS charged them 150 colones to transport the food, which the
women found to be outrageous. As a result, they began carrying the articles
~ on horseback.

This store was the first in town and it was built so the residents would
not have to travel to Gotera to shop. But since then other stores had been
built by private owners who had their own cars and were better able to supply
themselves. The owner of the location of the WCM store was also causing
the women problems. According to Remigia he was a drunkard and was
pressuring them to leave. Consequently, the women visited Perquin to tell
the Council President that they were going to move the store to an old church
until they found another place. Two Council members visited the women
and asked them for 3,000 colones to buy merchandise for the store. However,
they alerted Remigia ten days after the purchase and by then the tomatoes and

 

 

 

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a quintal of potatoes rotted. Remigia stated that 500 colones were lost in
rotten merchandise. The store had made little money because of this
incident, because of the transportation costs which had amounted to 2,000
colones, and because of the 500 colones of recently stolen merchandise. The
stores remaining cash amounted to 3,000 colones.

Following the description of the store, Remigia expressed her
bewilderment and worry with the situation of Honduras. She told us that a
Honduran women’s organization called Organization of Housewives was

trying to recruit them. Gloribel’s eyes shot up as she said:

For God’s sake you don’t need to be taught how to be good
housewives. You’re experts at it! I’ve heard about that
organization. They are going to teach you how to wipe the sweat
off of your husbands brow when he comes home from work and
how to be more efficient in serving him. You have to organize
for yourselves .and contact some leftist Honduran women’s
organizations. There are some real good ones.

Remigia said she felt the same way and that was why she had been
thinking about going to Perquin to ask the WCM Council for advice so that
they could defend themselves better from the thefts and the Honduran
women’s organizations.

c. Caiman

After leaving Nahuaterique and promising the women that the WCM
Council would be alerted about the problems they were facing, we headed for
a town called Caiman. This town did not have a WCM project-but since it
was on our way to the other towns, Angelita decided that it would be a good
idea to stop by and speak to the women about the problems their organization
had faced. We met with a woman who had been the President of the now
defunct WCM Board of Directors. Even though the women here had not
participated in a project they had been active for a year in the WCM. The ex-

130

President presented the following bleak picture of the organization:

Our organization lasted one year. At first only eight women
were participating but later twenty two women joined up. They
told us no one should be left outside. The PADECOSMS Board
of Directors organized us so we could do domestic tasks when
they programmed activities in the towns. PADECOSMS chose

'me to be President. However, when the WCM women came
from Perquin they told the men’s Board of Directors that women
had to organize to defend the rights of women and children.
Before, a woman could not go anywhere without her husband’s
permission. They told us that the WCM would safeguard the
rights of women, but our rights were never respected. We were
still slaves.

I met with a WCM Council member three times in
Perquin. The first was the one year anniversary of the WCM of
Jocoaitique. The other two activities were coordinated with
PADECOSMS. The WCM of Caiman solicited a project by
writing a note to the solidarity worker. We asked her for a store
project, a chicken farm project and a vegetable garden project.
The solidarity worker told us to apply for many so we would get
at least one. We never received any workshops. When I was
President I only went to two WCM Council Assembly Meetings
and I can’t remember what they were about. But that year
women became a little freer. Now they go to meetings. Thanks
to the WCM Platform, the men had begun to understand a little
more about respecting women. The Platform was done between
the WCM women and the men’s Board of Directors from
PADECOSMS. The men had received some workshops on
gender theory in Segundo Montes. But the men outside of the
Board of Directors were never counseled on these issues.
Nevertheless, the four WCM Board members would cater the
activities of PADECOSMS.

Even though twenty two women said they wished to
participate, only eighteen would show up. We were meeting
every fifteen days until May. We would discuss the Platform
and projects. But I became ill with rheumatism and I stopped
going to the meetings. I’ve been sick for nine months now. The
Caiman WCM disappeared in March. Now that we are
Honduran we don’t even think about the WCM anymore
(laugh).

When we spoke to this woman she was sitting on a wooden stool as
children played around the house. She was very clear about not wanting or

being able to continue in a women's organization because of the lack of

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results, the political situation, and her own illness. We thanked her for her
time and continued our walk to the towns which had participated in the
Mora Jelly Project: Zancudo and Galera.

d. Zancudo

The walk to Zancudo was a long one up and down steep winding
roads. The women and I ate Mora berries that grew wild in the bushes as we .
approached the town. Zancudo was somehow different from the other places
we had visited. It had many soft rolling hills with short grass and a wide
open space. When we arrived, there were only men playing soccer,
conversing with each other and staring at us silently as we walked by them.
We asked one of the teenagers where the President of the WCM (Maria) lived
and he gave us the wrong directions. However, as we walked down the main
road we bumped into her and she greeted us in a very friendly manner. She
was returning from caring for her brother who had been wounded in a
machete fight during a drunken brawl. Maria told us that she and the
women had been expecting us earlier. We explained that we had visited
many towns and we were delayed because of lack of appropriate
transportation. She asked us to follow her so she could take us where we
could sleep.

The sun was going down and a very cold wind was blowing as we
entered what used to be an old school. The building was converted into a
large warehouse and chicken coop after the Honduran soldiers invaded the
town. Maria started a fire in the hearth with a sliver of recently cut pine that
lit the whole room up and sizzled aromatically as the sap began to burn. The
women and I huddled near the hearth to protect ourselves from the biter
cold, while she explained that the inhabitants of Zancudo were very

suspicious of new comers because many Hondurans had come to investigate

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and the Salvadorans feared their repression. Before leaving, she gave us
some eggs, cheese curd and black coffee for dinner and breakfast which we
very gratefully, almost desperately accepted.

The next morning we let the chickens out and ate the rest of the food
Maria had left us. I had not slept much because of a severe congestion. I was
almost sure I had pneumonia. Then Angelita and Gloribel decided they
wanted to bathe. We walked down a long and very steep hill to get to a water
source with a concrete block that caused the water to puddle up. I put my
finger in to test the temperature and I was sure it had frozen. As filthy as I
was, I told the women that I would bathe when we reached Perquin. Angelita
and Gloribel undressed down to their waists, poured bowl full of freezing
water on their bodies and began to hop up and down like frantic rabbits as
they shivered and teased me for being a coward and slightly piggish.

When we returned the WCM women were already waiting for us to
begin the meeting. Maria introduced the other five women and told us that it
was a difficult time to organize women because they feared Honduran
reprisals. The Honduran soldiers were accusing the population of being
FMLN guerrilla fighters. Maria was one of three women in the Bi-National
Committee in charge of discussing the arrangements to be done between the
Honduran Government and the Salvadoran population of Cueva del Monte,
Galera, Carrizal, Sabanetas, N ahuaterique, Zancudo and Los Patios. She was
the only WCM representative that was attending those meetings in San
Salvador.

During our discussion, she was the only woman to speak. The others
merely listened. She told us that the WCM of Zancudo had not been created
directly by PADECOSMS. Rather, the CCM President, a Perquin WCM

representative and a North American solidarity Worker visited the town,

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and offered the women a workshop on how to make jelly out of Mora
Berries. The WCM of Zancudo began with twenty five women who were also
CCM members. But the women began to leave after one year of work and
only ten remained. According to Maria, the problem resulted from a specific
Council member’ 5 bad attitude with regards to the women who were working
on the jelly project.

At the beginning of the project, the Zancudo, Carrizal and Cueva del
Monte women had to take the Mora berries to Perquin for a five day
workshop. The solidarity worker helped them buy the cooking implements
and gave them 1,700 colones to make the jelly. Eight women were trained.
The first year, there were no profits because the jelly was not thick enough
and it did not sell well. Money was also lost because of transportation costs.
Maria described the project in the following way:

The first time we were charged twenty colones for
transportation. We filled 1,200 jars and we were supposed to
earn 1,000 colones. But the project was for the Council and not
for the community. The women were paid one colon per pound
of berries picked. And the women who cooked the berries were
paid fifteen colones a day. The women who were trained in
Perquin, trained others. There were about seven cooks and
twelve berry pickers. They paid us once a month but not at
regular intervals. If the berries were going to rot we would work
twelve hours straight. But most of the time we had eight hour
shifts. We would alternate groups of women and since I knew
the women personally I could remember who worked and who
was absent. The Council has records of how much the women
were being paid.

The project ended with the end of the of the berry season.
but the women left the organization because Deborah [Council
member in charge of paying women and of collecting the jelly],
was accusing us of stealing the cooking implements. Then she
took them all away from us when the project ended. The money
from the implements had come from a reforestation project.
The solidarity Worker transferred the money to our project. Ten
thousand colones were invested in the jelly and only four
thousand were recuperated.

134

Maria concluded by stating that she was generally satisfied with the
WCM but she wished the cooking implements would be returned to them so
the women could make a better living. She also hoped the organization
would make stronger efforts in teaching the women how to read and write.
Gloribel answered that she would suggest to the Council that the pots and
pans be returned to Zancudo. Before heading for the next town, Maria gave
us a bag of berries for the trip.

2. Galera

It took us about an hour and a half to get to Galera. We had to leave
the roads and climb up mountain trails in order to reach the WCM
President’s (Lola’s) house which was at the bottom of a steep hill filled with
Mora berry bushes. I had met Lola earlier in a WCM Council meeting. I
recognized her immediately because of her continuous giggling and
enormous energy. She was a short dark woman with missing front teeth
who would tell you exactly what she thought and would follow what she said
with hysterical laughter. I remember being startled repeatedly by her sudden
reactions.

When we arrived, Lola was shelling some beans and complained that
we were late. She was accompanied by her niece and offered to cook us some
bean soup. Angelita asked Lola to give me some background on how the
WCM had started in Galera and Lola told me that it had begun with twenty
two women. Lola was chosen by the WCM representative and the solidarity
worker to become President because of her previous experience in the CCM.
Lola was attracted by the offer of the Mora jelly project and she accepted.

According to Lola, the Solidarity Worker and the WCM representative
formed a three woman board of directors. One of the women died. When

the solidarity worker set a date to form the Secretariats with the other twenty

135

two women, she never showed up. No one from the Council ever revisited ’
them to finish the Organization formation even though many women were
willing to organize. The only workshop the women ever received concerned
the jelly project. Nine of the twenty two women would cook while the others
picked berries at Lola’s house. At the end of the year, Deborah (Council
member) took away the cooking implements. All of the women who had
worked were from Cueva del Monte and were single. The women were only
paid twice. The first time after fifteen days and the last time after five months
(my notes, Galera).

Lola stated that the women were angry and five had decided to
continue the project even if the Council did not support them. The women
from La Joya, Zancudo, Cueva del Monte, and Galera had met a few times, but
the ones from La Joya did not want to know about the WCM of Perquin
because they argued that the women of La Montana had organized by
themselves. Lola added that the four Boards of Directors from these towns
were talking about uniting and forming a new organization. When I asked
Lola why they wished to organize as women rather than organizing with the
men she said she did not have the faintest idea why they should be separated.

Our stay at Lola’s was relatively short because we were hoping to get
back to Perquin that day and we still had to visit Cueva del Monte to see how
the store project had gone. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the store
which was built into the house of the WCM President, there was no one
there. Angelita reflected that the President probably left when she found out
we were coming so she would not have to face accusations of how badly the
store had been run and how she had turned it into her own personal
business. Unable to meet with any of the board of directors we headed back

down the road and managed to get a ride on a logging truck. We sat on the

136

top of the log pile and held on to the chains for dear life as the truck swayed
from side to side on the gravel and pitted roads that had been carved into the
mountain sides. Huge powdery dirt clouds were formed where pine trees
used to be as we rode by under the chilly star lit sky. Gloribel, Angelita and I
were in complete silence. I could not help but wonder if each one of us was
wondering what the other was thinking. Then Angelita asked me ”Roxanna,
are you praying? You look as if you thought this was going to be your last
ride ever”. I was forced to hear their laughter most of the way back.

As revealed in the descriptions of the women of each community of La
Montafia, not only did the women have the Honduran threat in common,
but the origins , structure and duration of the WCM boards of directors were
also very similar. Most of them began with approximately twenty two
women but by the end of the first year of work the organizations had ceased
meeting. The communities with WCM projects were specifically chosen by a
solidarity worker and a WCM Council member with the approval of
PADECOSMS. There was also a tendency for the boards of directors,
especially the Presidents, to be chosen from outside the community and to be
given primary supervisory power and control over the productive projects.

Once the Boards were chosen, little to no counseling was given to them
about organizational techniques. There was also a lack of effort by the
organizers to instill in the women a real and concrete understanding of their
need to struggle for a truly just social system that would end their
manipulation and subordination. The women’s understanding of the
purpose of the organization was that it would be a conduit for projects, jobs
and funds from international aid agencies and that PADECOSMS wished to
have organized women so they could be tapped into more efficiently when

women were needed to cater and clean up during social activities.

137

In general, if the women were given a workshop (which was seldom
the case) it had to do directly with the project they would be involved in. The
best example was the jelly making workshop. This was the only case where
the information learned by the town representatives sent to Perquin, was
actually passed on to other Board Members and town women. However, this
project was intended to make a profit for the Council and not the community.
The laborers in the project were salaried women who were paid irregularly
and who later had their implements confiscated when the project was of no
more use to the Council.

The patterns just described reveal an organizational structure that was
mostly nominal and non functional. There was a strong hierarchical
structure with little participation from the Base. The Presidents who were
chosen by PADECOSMS or the Council President were the only spokes people
for the women. Most of the women would remain silent if they attended at
all. The WCM Presidents ended up by assuming the projects and in some
cases by appropriating them and turning them into private businesses rather
than continuing a strong communal endeavor.

The most striking pattern of all, however, was that rather than being a
corruption based on real profit it tended to be one based on power. Neither
the Council nor the Boards of Directors, with the exception of Nahuaterique,
had any substantial records of the accounts or an idea of the profits or losses of
the projects. There was mostly an ambiguous assumption that there were
only losses because of the problems they had faced.

When I compared the WCM Boards of La Montafia with those
involved with the bean and vegetable gardens mentioned earlier, I found
some interesting trends. In neither one of the areas were the Presidents

generally elected by the town women. Rather, they tended to be women who

138

were known by PADECOSMS and AMS to have had a lengthy CCM
experience. In both areas the Presidents tended to have most of the control
and or responsibility over the productive projects. The Boards of both Zones
tended to be relatively weak so that they would fall apart if the President
became ill or was chosen to become a Council member. In both areas most
women had lost interest in belonging to. any king of an organization
especially if it meant being the President or a Board member.

The divergencies between the two Zones, however, were revealed
more clearly when I paid closer attention to a common complaint: that the
Council members were not visiting the communities and were being absent
from meetings which they, themselves had set. It is here that I noticed how
the communities with vegetable gardens, which also happened to be closer to
Perquin, had stronger projects and boards. In fact, as mentioned earlier, the
strongest board was in San Fernando. Not only was it easily accessible by foot
or bus because of its relatively short distance form Perquin, but both the
Council President and the Council member mostly involved in
organizational work lived there. As a result, San Fernando has a vegetable
garden, a store set up to make profits for the Council, and there were also
plans to make a WCM cafe there. San Fernando had three times as many
projects as most other communities with a WCM Board of Directors.

My visits to the communities corroborated and went beyond the
Council’s evaluation of the state of the WCM organization during the
Revision of Goals Meeting. What the visits revealed, which were not as clear
during the meetings with the Council, were three things: The strong
influence of PADECOSMS in the type of women’s organization created and in
their duration, the obstacles faced by the Council in being more efficient and

useful in helping the different Boards, and the extreme authoritarian

139

structure within the WCM organization which resulted in an almost
immediate demise of the Boards as soon as a Board President was removed or
as soon as the Council lost contact with the Community WCMs.

My visits to the communities had already revealed a structural and
communication problem between the Boards of Directors and the Council.
The Board’s intense dependency on the Council for advice, for economic
support and for encouragement, and the latter’s difficulty in providing for the
Boards, made it important to take a closer look at the Council’s internal

dynamics and the social and structural forces it had to face.

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE WCM COUNCIL: ITS OBSTACLES AND SOCIAL CONTEXT

When I arrived at the WCM Council building for the first time, the
small number of Council members, the large difference in their personal
characteristics and the problem that could come as a result became
immediately apparent. There were five members and a cook who during
most of my field work were reduced to only three members because one was
expelled and the other was on maternity leave. By the time I finished my
fieldwork, the one on leave had returned creating a total of four and the cook
had been expelled. The women’s educational level was high school
equivalency for the President, sixth grade for the Treasurer, and first grade for
the Main Organizer. The three members belonged to three different religious
denominations: Catholic (non practicing), Assembly of God (fervent
participant), and Seventh Day Adventist (fervent participant). Although I
never witnessed any conflicts between the women concerning religious
beliefs, I noticed that work days were easily postponed because of religious
commitments that would come up.

The Council members were earning six hundred colones a month which they
financed with the money donated to them by an agency, and with money they
recuperated from selling "mora" jelly and cooking gas. The women

generally divided their tasks into board organizing, proposal writing, project

140

14 1
workshops and propaganda geared towards solidarity groups. The organizing

of the boards tended to be done by a specific council member, but the
President sometimes did it as well. The workshops on productive projects
were taught by the Main Organizing member who had received training form
FASTRAS. The tasks of writing proposals, looking for organizational
affiliations, going to specialized trainings and keeping account of the
Organization’s savings and salary payments was done by the Treasurer. She
was also the member to receive the most workshops in accounting, proposal
writing and gender theory because of her own initiative and her interest in
advancing as an individual. She encouraged her thirteen year old daughter
to attend the gender theory workshops as well. The Treasurer did not pass on
any of what she learned to the other Council members and she stated that she
was not interested in going to the communities to organize or teach women.
The Council’s first workshop on sex education was given by a solidarity
worker from Canada in April of 1992. According to one of the women, at that
time the WCM would only do whatever the FMLN told it to, and it had to
wait for their approval in order to have that specific workshop. All of the
original twenty two WCM Council members attended and it was viewed as
an achievement. They were taught about their bodies and pregnancy, but
methods for family planning were not discussed. According to the women,
this prevented them from getting into conflict with their husbands (my notes,
training). The following workshop was about the legal rights of women
given by representatives of the National University. The rights of women
when they are left by their husbands were discussed. There were
representatives from PADECOSMS, CEBES, the FMLN and the WCM. Few
WCM Council members attended because they were not coordinated well.

The WCM President stated that at that time there was a lot of wife beating

1 4 2
going on and the WCM gave talks in all the communities which helped to

ameliorate the situation.

The third workshop was given by a PADECOSMS accountant. Ten
WCM Board women and only two Council members showed up. The
President stated that up until that moment the lessons learned there had not
been put into practice. Another Council member added that it was the first
time that PADECOSMS helped them with something.

The fourth workshop was on typing and it began in August of.1992.
The WCM typewriters (six) were donated by solidarity members from
Sommersville, USA. and the rest belonged to PADECOSMS and CEBES.
PADECOSMS also contributed the instructor. Plans were made with
PADECOSMS to coordinate so that members from the different cooperatives,
CEBES, PADECOSMS, and WCM could participate. Five representatives of
each organization were supposed to attend, including five from the FMLN.
However, the WCM Council members expressed their annoyance at the fact
that in the News letter from PADECOES ( Patronage For The Development of
_ Communities of El Salvador ), the workshop was referred to as a project of
PADECOSMS and the WCM was only mentioned as a recipient of the
services, even though it was actually a coordinated effort between three
organizations. The women added that the only ones to benefit from the
workshop had been the FMLN combatants because CEBES and the WCM had
lacked interest in it since the women felt that the three months of training '
were too long a period to be studying without earning any money .

The fifth workshop was about proposal writing and it was given by the
United Nations. Each organization had to support its representative by
paying for that person's food and transportation costs. The WCM Treasurer
attended and as a result was able to apply for projects and funding from

l 4 3
international agencies.

The Main Community Organizer of the Council took advantage of the
workshops offered by FASTRAS in appropriated technology which included
the following topics: training on seed planning, training on growing soy
beans, training on the creation of natural insecticides, and training on organic
fertilizers. The Council members stated that PADECOSMS had not informed
the women that FASTRAS was offering these workshops. Therefore, the
WCM’s main organizer spoke to the FASTRAS representatives and asked to
be given a female technician that would work with the WCM as a separate
organization instead of going through PADECOSMS.

Three more workshops were attended by the WCM. The first, which
was never completed, was on serigraphy. The second was a workshop on
human rights and the third on child care centers. The last two were attended
by one Council representative who never passed on the information to the
other members.

During the six months I was there, the Council offered workshops on
the creation of wreaths and pifiatas to the community women . The WCM
also offered typing lessons in conjunction with PADECOSMS. However,
most of the women who attended the workshops did not belong to any of the
community WCMs and they only made contact with the organization when
crafts workshops were offered. The workshops were never accompanied with
any training in accounting or business administration. Therefore, they
remained at a mostly recreational level rather than at a productive one.

According to the women, all of the WCM’s contacts with international
funding agencies were achieved through the North American solidarity
worker who helped organize the WCM women in the different communities

and who helped write the Platform. It was thanks to her that they were able

l 4 4
to visit Mexico for the Encounter of Women of the Americas sponsored by

the Roman Catholic group (GRIAL), and to make contact with the DIGNAS.
The most direct beneficiary of the new coordination between the WCM and
the DIGN AS, however, appeared to be the WCM Treasurer who traveled
often to San Salvador to meet with them and to participate in the workshops
they offered.

The DIGNAS helped sponsor the WCM’s trip to Nicaragua on April of
1992, where the Treasurer and another Council member attended the Central
American Women’s Encounter. The WCM paid the food and transportation
costs to San Salvador and the DIGNAS paid their tickets to Nicaragua and
their living expenses during the meeting. As stated in my review of the
women’s organizations, the DIGNAS had a reputation of being radical
feminists and FMLN separatists who wished to engage in open conflict with
men. They also represented the Women’s Coordinator (WC) which was the
main rival of the Women’s Organization Coordinator (COM)-the umbrella
organization representative of the FMLN affiliated women's groups.

The WCM — DIGNAS coordination inevitably caused tensions with
PADECOSMS and the AMS who were strong supporters of the FMLN. As the
WCM was offered more support and opportunities by the DIGNAS, its
relationship to PADECOSMS weakened and became increasingly stressful.
The WCM Council had complained to me that they felt neglected and looked
down upon by the AMS. They claimed they had never been to its office and
were rarely invited to their activities so when the Council had to visit San
Salvador they would stay with the DIGNAS. They added that the DIGNAS
gave them names of funding agencies so the WCM could submit projects,
while the AMS ”lost” a project which the WCM submitted through them.

Some of the Council women expressed the opinion that the AMS was

1 4 5
completely dominated by the Party and as a result, had the least resources of

all the FMLN affiliated women’s organizations. They also argued that their
current relationship with AMS was too limiting.

On November 27, 1992, a WCM Council Assembly Meeting took place
with a PADECOSMS female representative and three AMS representatives
present to discuss their mutual relationship, the legalization and
restructuring of the organizations, and to elect the new members of the WCM
Council . Before the meeting there had been an atmosphere of tension at the
WCM. The WCM Council had already expressed resentment towards the
AMS representative’s visits every fifteen days to keep an eye on them, and
towards PADECOSMS who according to them had treated them unfairly.
They stated that PADECOSMS, FASTRAS and the FMLN had used money
from some of their projects without informing them or asking them for
permission. The WCM found out about this when the agencies wrote to
them asking them for a report on the progress of projects that the women had
no knowledge of. The women also accused PADECOSMS of neglecting them,
while at the same time trying to control all their actions.

For example, the Council argued that PADECOSMS had a pick up truck
and chauffeurs which were not made accessible to the WCM when they
needed to visit communities or organize women. PADECOSMS did not
coordinate its activities with the WCM, causing schedule conflicts and
preventing the women from attending needed workshops in organizational
techniques, accounting and production. However, they stated that it was the
first to criticize the women for their lack of social base. The women tended to
be called upon only when political support was needed in marches, or when

there was a need for domestic services in social activities (my notes, Council).

1 4 6
Regardless of these tensions, before the meeting there were friendly

chats between the members of the three organizations and there was no talk
of conflict. The meeting began with twelve WCM representatives including
the four Council members, three AMS members (The President, Vice-
President, and the Legal advisor), and the PADECOSMS representative.

The WCM President welcomed everybody and made the appropriate
introductions, then the PADECOSMS representative gave a presentation
describing the current situation of the WCM as she saw it. She stated that the
WCM had lost contact with its base, that it was disorganized, that it began
projects for the sake of having projects without evaluating the actual needs of
the women and without having the necessary skills to carry them out. She
argued that it was possible that the reasons for this were that the Council
members were too few and that they were overworked. She added that the
small attendance at the meeting would prevent a democratic election of the
Council members from taking place at that time. Nevertheless, she told the
women that there could be a provisional election until a more representative
meeting could be called.

Following this introduction, .the AMS Legal Advisor explained that
after the Peace Accords the Government agreed to legalize all non
governmental organizations that existed during the Revolution if they filed
for legalization by a specified date. Those organizations that did not become
legal entities would disappear because they would not be able to solicit funds

from international agencies.

After the explanation of the positions and responsibilities of the
members in the new organizational structure, the WCM President wrote the
positions that had to be filled out and next to them, she wrote the names of

the nominees. The latter had been pre—chosen by the Council members and

14 7
the representative of PADECOSMS. The nominees for the positions of

President, treasurer and Secretary were the current WCM Council members
with the exception that two of the members had swapped positions. The
WCM Board representatives from the communities were asked if they all
agreed and there was a momentary silence until a representative from La
Montafia said she felt that it was ”all right”. Then other women nodded their
heads in affirmation.

Following the "acceptance" of the nominations, the President of the
AMS spoke and apologized for their lack of coordination with the WCM, and
stated that from then on they were going to have a much closer relationship.
She clarified, however, that they were not there to take the WCM by the
hand because the AMS was also in a process of transition and growth. The
AMS President added that they had not sent Gloribel to control the WCM, but
to help them because she was a historic organizing figure in Morazan. She
also told the WCM that the AMS would be willing to lend them a health
worker once a month to help them if needed. At this point the faces of the
WCM President and Treasurer tensed up as they stared at the speaker.

The health worker that had been referred to was originally supposed to
work for the WCM in order to start a women's clinic, but had somehow been
derailed and coopted by the AMS. PADECOSMS had asked the WCM to join
the women’s clinic with the already existing PADECOSMS general clinic so
money would not be wasted in the construction of another building, and the
funding could be better utilized for medication and instruments. However,
the Council was not convinced by the argument and feared PADECOSMS
would try to control the funds and the clinic, leaving women’s health
problems unattended and taking complete credit for the effort.

1 4 8
After listening to the AMS President’s offer, the WCM President asked

the name of this health worker they were willing to lend. It turned out to be
the same person the WCM had been expecting. The WCM President decided
that instead of dealing with that issue during the meeting, she would answer
the other remarks first. The following excerpt is a verbatim quote of the
interaction between the two organization Presidents, the WCM treasurer and
the PADECOSMS representative:

WCM P. - We are peasants. We have not had a very clear
development, but we have achieved some things. We have
decided that we have to define with which organizations we will
relate. In this Zone it is necessary to coordinate with different
women’s organizations and other groups like PADECOSMS and
the Party. When we were supposedly closely related to the AMS
we were actually more distanced. Gloribel would visit us
because she is from this Zone. The other AMS members
wouldn’t. So far the relationship looks good, and maybe it will
get better.

AMS P. - Our previous structure did not let us assume our
responsibilities before.

Treasurer- If the struggle is for our own interests as women, it
does not mean that this prevents us from having an allegiance
to the Party. It’s that as women we want autonomy. What
Blanqui [WCM P.] meant was that we have to define in a
concrete way who we are going to coordinate with.

AMS P. - You have to be very careful with that stuff because
when you are not well defined as to what you want, you grab
whatever is available.

PADECOSMS- We have to think about mutual benefits, not only
economic benefits. PADECOSMS can no longer give economic
support to all the organizations. You must ask the Base to
support its directors because it knows that it’s for the good of all
and not just for the benefit of the directors.

There was complete silence at the end of this interaction and no one
seemed convinced that having the Base support its directors was a good idea,
especially after what had been revealed in the WCM community visits to La

Montana. In order to break the silence, Gloribel created some guessing games

1 4 9
and exercises followed by her petition for an applause because the meeting ,

had gone so well.

Once the meeting concluded, the AMS women grabbed the first ride
they could get a hold of back to San Salvador. Only Gloribel stayed overnight.
The AMS did not return to continue counseling the WCM on its legalization
before my departure. Similarly to the first WCM Assembly Meeting
mentioned in this thesis, most of the participation was done by the
PADECOSMS and AMS representatives. The WCM women were evaluated
and told how things should be done in the future by outsiders. This meeting
revealed a growing rebellion of the WCM towards the other two
organizations, and its increased independence, if contrasted to the first
Assembly Meeting. However, it also revealed a willingness on the part of the
Council to go along with organizational methods that went against the
revolutionary ideals of participatory democracy. I asked the WCM President
why the women had not been given the chance to nominate candidates for
the Council during the meeting and she responded that it was ”not good to
have too much democracy because incompetent people could get elected”.

There was also a divisive competition and manipulation between the
two women’s organizations which, ironically, were affiliated to the same
FMLN party and which, according to their own propaganda, were struggling
for the rights of women. However, it was precisely their commonalty in
allegiance to the Party and to PADECOSMS, and the power of decision
making that they were giving to these organizations that allowed the latter to
control and allot benefits differentially among the women’s organizations.
This caused competition, resentment and division in the women’s
movement as a whole. A case in point was the health worker being fought

over by the WCM and the AMS and the clinic contention between WCM and

1 5 O
PADECOSMS.

For example, the health worker finally arrived and made
arrangements to help both organizations, but she spent most of her time
working with the AMS and enjoyed the approval of PADECOSMS. Also,
when PADECOSMS began workshops on the training of paramedics and
health technicians it neglected to invite the WCM to participate and nullified
their efforts to get involved, causing increased conflict between the two
organizations. The WCM Council retaliated by publicly accompanying the
DIGN AS when they visited Perquin, revealing a more obvious rebellion on
their part. Finally, the Main Council Community Organizer was talking
about quitting because of the internal problems of the Council which I will
describe shortly. She was considering an offer made by PADECOSMS to join
their office. This reveals another attempt by the latter to control and affect the
survival of a women’s organization that was becoming too independent and
was already on its ”last legs”. At the time, the WCM Council member did not
want to accept because she said the women who worked for PADECOSMS
only had the men’s interest in mind.

The Council’s problems: referred to by the Main Organizer entailed the
actual distribution of tasks, the maintenance of records, and the internal
power struggles. At the organizational level of the Council, the members
would have weekly meetings to discuss the monthly agenda which they
would jot down on a calendar posted in the main meeting room. However,
the members had problems in carrying out their program for various reasons.
At times they would forget to read the calendar or sudden meetings with
PADECOSMS would come up causing conflict with their own. Since there
was only one key to the meeting room the members would sometimes forget

to return it, leaving the room and the materials needed for the community

15 1
visits inaccessible to the others. At other times, the woman in charge of a

particular activity would decide not to go at the last minute because she
would give priority to a church event, she would be too tired and
unmotivated to travel to the communities by foot or bus, or she was not
allowed to go by her husband.

The Council also had problems keeping records of their accounts, of
project profits and losses, and even of the agencies that supported them. The
latter became especially harmful to the Organization as the Council did not
report their progress to the international agencies on a timely basis. The
extended visits of foreigners who wished to lend the WCM support were also
problematic because they became aware of the contradictions between what
was being reported internationally about the strength of the popular women's
organizations of Morazan, and what was actually happening.

For example, on the return from one of my trips to the communities, I
met a foreign woman who was visiting the. WCM, and offered to help them
with their accounts of the San Fernando store. In most areas they were
earning money, but in other areas they were selling the products for less than
they bought them. The foreigner also learned that the WCM had never done
accounts on the Mora Jelly during the two years of its existence so they had no
idea whether they had earned or lost money. The foreigner became frustrated
and stated that the women had an attitude of "doing things whenever". On
one occasion, she went to the store with two WCM women to do an
inventory. However, when the bus was about to leave the women decided
they were not going to work any longer that day. Meanwhile, the foreigner
told them it had to get done then because they had a dead line and needed to
write a report to the agency that funded the store. The women left and the
foreigner finished the inventory by herself and then walked back to Perquin.

1 5 2
Another example, of a frustrated foreigner was one who tried to give

them some lessons in ' simple math and inventory making so they could
better manage their store. All the Council women and the store attendant
showed up the morning of the first day, but began disappearing after lunch.
The remaining days of the workshop were scarcely attended by the women,
and were finally canceled because of lack of interest. In the actual writing of
reports the women asked the foreigners to do it for them and even depended
on them to make banners for marches having to do with women’s issues.

The internal conflicts of the Council were also quite detrimental to the
Organization. They tended to be sparked by accusations that a member was
not doing her job, by snide remarks, or harmful rumors. The resolutions
tended to be very slow and indirect. For the most part one woman would tell
another, and the information would keep passing from individual to
individual without an actual encounter with the person who was supposedly
causing the problem. When I asked why they did not meet as a Council to
arrive at a solution, they would claim they were about to, but never get
around to it, or they would argue that for a meeting to occur, all the Council
members (three) had to be present, which was often not the case.

Many conflicts tended to end explosively where the women would try
to discredit each other. In the more extreme cases this could result in the
expulsion and replacement of a member by the Council, or in the voluntary
withdrawal of the woman because she was tired of the tension, conflict and
gossip. The three essential sources of power revealed in the Council were
based on the control over the accounts and project proposals, the presidential
status, and the strength of allegiance to PADECOSMS. The stated allegiance to
the latter depended on the circumstances.

l 5 3
Three concrete examples of expulsion from the WCM involve the first

Council President, a Council member (Carolina), and the cook. According to
my interviews, the first Council President was accused of engaging in
promiscuous behavior by the current Council President. The former was
forced to withdraw by PADECOSMS who, in turn, had a strong influence in
the election of the current President. In the second case, Carolina (a council
member) was accused of neglecting her work and giving priority to an
amorous affair. The Council members expressed their fear that Carolina’s
behavior was increasing the WCM’s already tarnished image because it was
feeding the many baseless rumors that the women were running a
prostitution service there. For example, Carolina’s lover was heard gloating
that he could meet with her on the third floor without ”the old hags
downstairs realizing it”.

Carolina was spoken to several times by the President and she was
warned to correct her behavior and to be more responsible towards her work.
According to the President, Carolina’s lover (an FMLN combatant) was also
spoken to, and he denied he had anything to do with her. Carolina became
incensed at the President’ 3 intrusion and reprimands, and she rebelled, telling
the latter to mind her own business. The President reacted by speaking to the
Treasurer so that she would help pressure the Main Organizer into agreeing
to dismiss Carolina for her disrespect .

The third case was that of the cook (Carmen), who according to her,
had a spat with the Treasurer. The treasurer later convinced the other
women that the cook was not doing a good job and that anyhow, the Council
did not have enough money to continue paying her salary. Carmen was
dismissed even though there was no longer the expense of Carolina’s salary

and Carmen’s was only a third of hers.

1 5 4
The person who had made the sales in the Council Building, at least

until November, was generally Carmen, who was paid three hundred colones
a month (approximately forty three dollars). She was not involved in any of
the WCM meetings because, according to her, she was never invited and she
did not have enough time. Her responsibilities were to clean up the
premises, cook lunch for the Council and prepare meals for the women when
there were assembly meetings. Even though she had no schooling, had
limited counting knowledge, knew very little math and could not read, she
was the one to make most of the WCM sales from the office. She was the
only one to be there all day every day. She lived on the premises with her
children and her husband (common law marriage).

Carmen informed me that the WCM had closed its kitchen. The
President had proposed to her that she could become a cook at the new cafe
which the Council was planning on setting up in San Fernando. Carmen
answered that she could only agree if she was paid more and was allowed to
feed her four children from the food of the cafe. She was worried that if the
food did not sell well, she was going to be accused of stealing money and food.
The Council did not agree to her requests, it discontinued her salary, it
stopped bringing food for the office kitchen, and it hired the Treasurer’ s sister
(paying her five hundred colones) to cook and clean when necessary. The
latter did not have children, she seldom showed up for work and when she
did, she would mostly rest and leave early. However, she did receive her
salary on a timely basis.

As a result of her expulsion, Carmen was forced to depend
economically on her husband so she and her kids could eat. Her husband
was given a job by the FMLN to administer a small cafe near a museum of the

Revolution that was being inaugurated, and Carmen was asked to cook there.

1 5 5
However, the job was commission based and her husband would only earn

according to whatever was sold making their economic situation unstable.
Her husband was known to be very controlling, and I witnessed how he did
not even want her to learn how to read. When I offered to teach her myself,
he answered that he would teach her, but first he needed to give her a test to
see if she was intelligent enough to learn. He had no schooling, but he had
learned how to read during the war thanks to the FMLN’s efforts to have
more knowledgeable combatants teach their comrades in arms.

Even though the WCM Council made the final decision over which
members, would remain and which would be expelled (rather than having
an Assembly Meeting so the Base could decide) PADECOSMS had a strong
effect on the relative difficulty of the implementation of such a decision. For
example, the female representative of PADECOSMS had several talks with
the WCM President asking her to reconsider Carolina's case and re-hire her.
According to the WCM President, the Representative's reasons were that
Carolina was a single mother who needed to work, and needed a second
chance to gain more control over her life and to improve herself. "Anyhow",
the PADECOSMS Representative stated, "its not like she was fooling around
with just any one, he’s a combatant". The WCM President answered that she
did not care if it was Juaquin Villalobos himself (FMLN Commander) and
that just as PADECOSMS had forced the previous President out because of
alleged ”unbecoming behavior”, the WCM had the right to do the same thing
(my notes, President).

Interestingly, however, PADECOSMS did not take the same interest in
the WCM’s cook, even though she had four children to feed, she had a longer
and more constant work schedule than the other women of the Council, and

had been paid a much lower salary than them. A better understanding of

l 5 6
PADECOSMS’ view and treatment of the cooks is revealed in the following ,

interview with one of the cooks of the PADECOSMS public "comedor" .

The comedor opened in March of last year. At first the
work was really hard because we didn’t have experience. At
home we would only have to cook for eight to ten peOple. But
in the comedor we have to work all day. At first the cooks
earned three hundred colones a month when they were cooking
only for the PADECOSMS technicians. But when the comedor
opened they began paying us four hundred colones. Our
administrator (female cook), told the PADECOSMS director that
she did not agree that four hundred colones was enough. He
responded that PADECOSMS would have a meeting to discuss it, '
but it wasn’t until last month [November] that they gave us a
one hundred colon raise. They also told us that if the comedor
made more profit they would raise our salaries to six hundred
colones.

In may they told us they were going to give us two days
off, but they didn't even give us Mother’ s Day free. They became
angry with us because we decided to take half a day off. We were
told that if we didn’t work the foreigners would not have a place
to eat. But the Spanish women told us that they could easily
find food elsewhere. We have not had any vacations since the
comedor opened . They only took us to the beach one day after
Easter. We had asked to go on Easter but they said no.

Yesterday we were told by the PADECOSMS
representative in charge of over looking the comedor, that every
week end one of us would get a day off. But ever since we’ve
had a new administrator in the comedor we haven't had any
days off. Since we are five cooks we are supposed to get one free
day a month each. The PADECOSMS representative also told us
that he wanted us to open the comedor at 5:00 am. and to close it
at 8:30 pm. Right now we open at 6:00 and we close at 7:30 pm.
But imagine the work! We have to go home, wash clothing,
clean our houses and grind the corn for breakfast after we leave
the comedor. We are very tired. I don’t think we should have
to make such a sacrifice.

They also told us that if we need to see a doctor we have to
pay whoever replaces us out of our own salary. How are we
going to pay someone with our own money if we don’t even
have enough to buy the medicines? We don’t even get paid
when we are sick. It’s too much to ask us to pay someone from
our salary when they are only paying us five hundred colones a
month. We are going to give them our opinion about these
arrangements the next time PADECOSMS calls a meeting.

157

They’ve told us we have to treat our customers better and
vary the food more. How are we going to vary the food if they
don't get us the ingredients we need? We don’t have a freezer so
we can’t keep meat for very long and its also difficult to get
tomatoes and other vegetables. It’ 5 true that sometimes we don’t
pay enough attention to the customers, but that happens when
we are eating or when we need to sit down for a while because
we’ve been working all day and all week.

We found out that our administrator is being paid six
hundred colones a month for sitting around. But we, who are
working all day in front of a hot stove, are only getting paid five
hundred. I don’t agree with this situation and I’ll never agree
with it. If this is going to be how we are treated then why did we
fight this war? Why have we struggled so hard if we’ve ended
up where we started from?

This interview with the PADECOSMS cook is of extreme importance
in clarifying the real value that was given to women , not only during the
war but after it as well. As we recall, women were heralded by researchers
and by FMLN members as having achieved an equal place and value with
men. They argued that a majority of female combatants were asked to cook
because they were more efficient at it than the men, and not because they
were devalued. However, the treatment of the PADECOSMS and WCM
cooks reveals a stark and continuing devaluation, not only by men, but by the
women they chose to direct the organizations as well. i The interviews
demonstrate that the cooks were treated as menial laborers who deserved
only enough remuneration and consideration to keep them healthy enough
to produce. An administrator, who spent a large amount of time doing
nothing, was regarded as more worthy of a higher pay.

The women were subordinated to such an extent that the cook, even in
her anger and realization of the injustice of the situation, was not going to
protest until PADECOSMS decided to call a meeting. This reaction was
similar to that of the WCM’s cook who never gathered the courage to

demand a meeting with all the Council members to defend her case. It also

15 8
reminds me of the WCM Council’s reaction to their isolation by

PADECOSMS. The Council President would often state that even if they
knew that PADECOSMS was having a meeting or workshop which was
important for women, they would not go if they were not invited. Her
reason was that they should not go where they are not wanted. As an
example of the way women are sometimes treated in the meetings, the
President told me of a case where one of the WCM members had a difference
of opinion from that of the men. When the woman expressed herself, one of
the men screamed ”Shut up you old gossiping hagl, What do you know of
these things?”. This incident represents a strong submission on the part of
the women resulting from the restrictions and devaluations imposed by a
more powerful gender biased male sector.

The WCM’s Board organization and neglect problems revealed in
chapter six, as well as the internal problems of the Council portrayed in this
section would lead almost anyone, to believe, as it has already done with the
women themselves, that peasant women are incapable of having a
productive, democratic and well structured organization. The immediate
impression is one of chaos and corruption with plenty of empty, but
heartening rhetoric.

However, all through this thesis there have been many subtle patterns
of external forces that have limited the popular women’s organizations
throughout their history in El Salvador and Morazan more specifically.
These patterns which were less visible in the previous chapters, and which
mostly revealed themselves in rhetorical contradictions, appeared in this last
section as concrete forces which severely limit the structural and ideological

development of the women’s organizations.

1 5 9
The women’s Council was actually reproducing the techniques it had

in fact learned by the organization that created and continued to "guide"
them. Just as PADECOSMS had chosen many of the Presidents and WCM
Board of Directors of the different communities while it advocated techniques
of participatory democracy, so did the Council elect those women who it felt
would be more beneficial for its individual needs, rather than giving the base
a chance to really participate in the election. In the same way as PADECOSMS
organized the women to satisfy the demands of international agencies, and its
own needs for domestic workers and political protesters, the WCM Council
organized several projects that were mostly intended for the salary of the
Council members which were otherwise labeled "administration fees" and
neglected those who it was supposed to represent. Just as PADECOSMS never
had a true understanding or interest in women’s issues when it organized the
WCM with the help of the FMLN affiliated AMS and CCM, the WCM
Council also lacked a profound understanding of the injustice towards
women and of the ideological and structural forces which manipulate them.
The result was that the women who had been put in positions of
power by PADECOSMS, and who had participated, at least at the rhetorical
level in gender theory workshops, were able to learn enough to rebel up to a
point as individuals and to take advantage of the benefits which were being
made available to them. The pattern of Board and Council Presidents and
Treasurers who ended up with the sole control of the productive projects or
workshops was dramatic. These individuals emerged with a sense that
individual power for women was possible through the control,
representation, and manipulation of those with a lower self esteem and fewer
resources. As we recall, the members of the social base rarely spoke at the

meetings. Rather, their Presidents did all the talking. Similarly, in the face of

l 6 0
a more powerful organization such as PADECOSMS or the AMS, the WCM

Council participated little in comparison during their own Assembly
Meetings.

The evidence reveals that women were told about democracy, but they
were never taught democracy. They were instructed in an authoritarian and
centralized regime which attempted to portray an image that it could not
substantiate and which, in turn, was reinforced by the authoritarian structure
of the family and of male-female relationships where the man made the
decisions. Cases in point are those of Carolina and of women whose
husbands did not allow them to attend meetings. The WCM Council and
Board Presidents never internalized or truly believed that women have an
equal value to that of men. Their experience with PADECOSMS did not
demonstrate this, and neither did their experience with their own husbands
who continued to dominate and in some cases abuse them. Therefore, the
women were incapable of passing on to their ”social base” what they did not
themselves experience to be true.

In trying to understand how such seemingly powerful lessons as those
revealed in the courses on gender theory, and monetarily supported by
international agencies could fall so short of actually being practiced, I
attempted to find out what institutions were competing for the women’s time
and affecting their understanding of themselves. I found that the traditional
view of women was perpetuated in very subtle ways through the most
socially powerful institutions: the church and the school.

Even though I originally had little interest in getting into the women’s
religious practices, I was continuously confronted with the fact that the
Council members’ particular denominations were of utmost importance in

their lives and acted as strict behavioral guides. Having known the

1 6 l
incredible influence of liberation Theology in supporting and strengthening

the revolutionary struggle because of its advocacy for the poor, and recalling
Golden’s insistence that it was this which inspired the sense of community in
the women who were the first to organize, it became important to interview
the priest who had walked side by side with the combatants during the
Revolution and who still remained to give them hope and comfort. This
priest was also the Director of CEBES and helped organize the CCM. One of
the members of the CCM mentioned that when the Party asked that the
WCM be formed, he instructed the CCM women to participate in the effort
even though the latter felt this would cause confusion and division between
the organized women (my notes, CCM). The following excerpt is part of an
interview which dealt with this priest’s ideal view of the place of women in
society.

I noticed that most of the Congregation in Last Sunday’s Mass

was made up of women. There were only two men. Why is
that?

It’s a phenomenon of Latin America that has to do with
”machismo. It’s the idea that religion is for women. This does
not mean that men don’t believe in God, but religious practices
don’t reach them. Men also have a need for religious signs and
symbols, but we need to work harder on them and to create a
new liturgy that will allow them to enter.

Did you have any experience during the war with female
combatants who had conflicts about having an abortion because
of religious beliefs?

I have some experience of female combatants who really rebelled
against aborting a child because of religious reasons. But, I can’t
say they were many... The other thing is that the life and death of
a child were not considered to be anything out of this world . . . .I
t wasn’t a tragedy, it was seen as something natural. Here, when
a child is born it doesn't cause extreme joy, it is humble and
simple. When I had to tell people that their child had fallen in
combat, I was always very worried, but my experience revealed

162

that I was always the most affected.

I think that the Party did pressure the women to abort.
Well, [the women] didn’t consider this to be a triumph or a
defeat. "Since we’ve had one we can have another" they
thought. I think that the commanding officers abused their
authority a little. They didn’t order the women to abort, but it
was like an order. I spoke to them about it, but very little. It
wasn’t a confrontation. It was about understanding a point of
view where one cannot apply the Catholic morals as one could
in another situation.

Have you created any church sponsored programs dealing with
family integration and interpersonal stability?

The situation of having children out of wedlock is an evil that
existed before the war. It always surprised me when a man
would tell me "My wife has two [children] and I have four over
there" . . . . As Christians, our message now has to be much
broader. It cannot be reduced to our commitment to the
[revolutionary cause]. In that sense a course about interpersonal
responsibilities is going to be part of our 1993 program.

How do you feel about women becoming Catholic priests?

In theory I’m convinced that a woman cannot be denied any
position. There are no theological arguments to deny her this.
Jesus was a man, but this is not the most fundamental thing.
However, it is important to evaluate this carefully. Today a
woman is a lot freer to participate. She is not absorbed by the
structure of the Church. We need women who will promote the
parish, not women who will be tied to the requirements of the
Church. When they jump the walls of the convent they are
heroic! We [men] are timid in comparison. We don’t have as
much ease to introduce ourselves in other people’s homes as
they do. I’m not against women becoming priests, but I think it’s
better if women don’t tie themselves down. It’ s better if they
become integrated with the community and that they be given
the appropriate value.

To give a woman value is not to make her a priest, but to
foster her role in the community. I feel that there is deviation in
these feminist movements. I’m afraid of these women. They
make an analysis that they are the most marginalized and
despised. It’s not the content that bothers me, it’s the aggressive
tone that they use to badger men rather than society. Frankly, I
am more moved by a kind woman with all her beauty, than by a

163

woman who screams.
Have you noticed any changes in women thanks to their
participation in the war?

The war has been very positive for women. The woman used to
be tied to the grinding stone and to her children. She has freed
herself from those ties and has been able to participate in
community life. She also became aware of her abilities in public
speaking, leadership, and organization. But if they are liberated
at a moral level in the sense that everything is OK, they are
going down the wrong path. A woman’s true responsibility is
not to "mess around" with many, but to have her dignity

respected.
How does this logic apply to men?

You can never change everything at once because you create an
exaggerated feeling of guilt if you tell a man "you can only have
one woman" when he already has three. You have to give him
a chance. It has to be presented as an ideal without justifying the
other. A priest must advise people to correct their sins without
condemning them. You have to take the social context in mind
and lead the people towards a goal.

How would you counsel a woman who has an unfaithful
husband and is being physically abused by him?

First we must listen. Then we have to explain that to have more
than one partner is a sign of disrespect. We also have to explain
that this problem is the product of the social circumstances. It
must be defined as incorrect without insisting that she break up
her marriage because it is part of a common cultural pattern. I’m
not saying that she should allow herself to be hit. I think that
from a moral standpoint, the couple should remain united. But
if she is mistreated, it is her duty to separate from her husband.
But, I would advise a temporary separation because one begins to
give greater value to what he no longer has.

This priest’s evaluation of the situation of women allows for a better
understanding of the continuing ambivalence of women to take a stand for
themselves. He stated that, theoretically, there are no theological arguments

to deny a woman equality with men. However, in practice he justified his

164
preference for women not to become priests by arguing that women

supposedly had more ability in dealing with the community and should not
waste their talent by tying themselves to a hierarchical position in the
Church. This, however, was all right for the men to do. His fear of feminists
and preference for women who reveal their beauty and do not scream, and
his advise that women who are not respected by their husbands should give
them a chance and understand that the causes of this behavior are social and
cultural, perpetuate the nurturing, submissive and sacrificial role which has
traditionally been expected of women. The priest was worried about causing
an exaggerated feeling of guilt in the men, but he did not seem to be as
strongly concerned with the emotional and physical pain of an abused
woman, or in the incapacitation which this pain would cause her. As I
understand it, his reasoning was that these are cultural and social patterns
that both men and women are used to, and should only be changed slowly in
order to maintain as much social "harmony" as possible. Ironically, his
statement that "this problem is the product of the social circumstances"
removes moral and ethical responsibility from the individual and places it on
culture and society, although he, himself, had participated in active efforts to
correct other social injustices during the war.

In this context, his assessment that women had freed themselves from
their traditional social burden thanks to their participation in the war, is
weakened. The women’s new abilities in public speaking, leadership and
organization continued to be subordinated to the needs of the male power
holders and decision makers. The Priest’s conception of the reaction of
women to the death of their children was also very illuminating. Since he
observed that they would take the news quietly, rather than screaming

hysterically, he assumed that it was seen as something natural and which

1 6 5
they interpreted as a situation which was resolvable because they could have

another child.

I cannot claim to have this Priest’s extensive experience in dealing with
the Salvadorans when they received the news that their children had fallen
in battle, had perished because they were mercilessly tortured, or had died
from starvation and disease as the families fled the military’s persecution.
However, my interviews with women who lost their children, and my
observations of the nurturing treatment given to children leads me to
believe that the death of a child was not felt so indifferently. Rather, I wonder
if the mothers’ stoic appearance was a result of their feeling of impotence in
the face of a savage and chaotic situation. I also wonder if the Priest’s
evaluation of their reactions reveals a more profound inability to understand
what women feel and experience. I do not agree that a repetitive event is
automatically seen as natural, especially when it has to do with destruction of
one’s own.

The Priest’s justification of his reluctance to confront the Commanders
who pressured female combatants to abort, reveals an attempt to justify his
submission by blaming the circumstances. The Priest admitted that even
though he felt they had abused their authority, he did not intervene, he only
tried to understand their point of view. This fear of "rocking the boat" was
passed on from the most powerful institutions to the most marginalized
individuals: from FMLN to the Church, to the Catholic organized religious
groups, to the popular organizations, to the population and its women.

For the other two Evangelical religions represented in the WCM
Council, I was not able to interview the highest representatives before my
departure. However, I spoke to an ex—WCM woman who before the
war had held a position of the upper hierarchy within the Seventh Day

l 6 6
Adventist church. I also visited a vigil of the Assembly of God Church and

spoke to one of its female members.

The woman who had been a member of the Seventh Day Adventist
Church, had also participated in the three women’s organizations of Morazan
(CCM, AMS, WCM), she had been very active in protests and in organizing
the women, and she argued that her main interest had always been the
advancement of women. I asked her to tell me a little about women’s
participation in the Adventist Church, and about the Church’s view of the
Revolution. The following excerpt reveals this woman’s conflict in deciding
whether to remain faithful to her Church or to struggle for a social cause she

believed in.

In the Adventist Church women participated in almost all the
levels except the highest which is the Elder’ s. There has never
been a female Elder. If a woman is pregnant or is having her
menstruation she cannot preach at the altar because she is
thought to be impure. The members of the Assembly of God
Church also believe this because it is written in the Bible. I have
never thought too much about the role of women within the
hierarchy of the Church. But I think it is very important to see
what it is. The problem is that even if we have the ability to be
in the hierarchy, we don’t have the necessary development.
Women are never given the opportunity to advance in this
society. We are only taught that we are supposed to have
children and to tend to our husbands.

The Bible doesn’t say that women have limits, but no one
gives importance to this aspect of the Bible. The Adventists do
not allow political topics to enter the Church. There are limits
in the way the Bible is studied. In the Catholic Church Jesus is
seen as a political figure, but this is not so in the Adventist
Church. Jesus was a conformist. They did whatever they
wanted to him and he let them do it. Christianity should also be
conformist. The Bible says that he who does not humble
himself like a child will not enter the Kingdom of God. I
participated in the war and in political meetings because I was
clearly not faithful to God. The Bible says that no one can serve
two masters. It must be one or the other. I decided to leave my
Church because I did not want to contaminate it with political

167

issues.

Before I used to tell people that we had to struggle for
political changes, but I think this is going to be difficult. I’m
going to return to my Church because one has more problems
when [she] lacks religious principles. In times of war, I only
accomplished criticism and disagreements with the
communities. In this town there are people who are my
enemies. From 1987 until now, I feel I have not accomplished
anything. I lost the benefits I had within my Church, and I lost
the opportunity to educate my children. I lost the formality of
being a Christian.

When I was an Evangelical, I was tested many times by
the Lord, but he also granted me miracles. He would resolve my
problems. In 1982, my son had leukemia, but with a pill and a
prayer he was cured without the treatment of a doctor.
However, two years ago my oldest daughter also became ill with
leukemia. she was seen by many doctors who told me "Buy a
coffin and whatever else she will need". I had faith, but I was
not one to kneel down. She died because I was more involved
in politics than in the Church. I think it was a test.

I feel a lot has been achieved in the war, but not in terms
of the economic situation. Personally, I don’t think these
achievements have been sufficient. It’s not worth it to lose your
life. If we were to evaluate the changes that have been achieved,
they are not many and it’s more convenient to return to the
Church. However, it’s true that if everybody became an
Evangelical at this moment, our twelve year struggle would
have been in vain because we would have remained with our
arms crossed. But, personally I am going to return to Church.
Let others continue the struggle.

The interview with this woman reveals a stronger presence and more
direct pattern of subordination through guilt in the Adventist Church as
compared to those revealed by the Catholic Priest. In the Adventist and
Assembly of God Churches women were thought to be impure precisely
when they were in a state relevant or conducive or to the creation of life
which is considered by most religions to be God’s greatest gift. Even though
this woman had participated in three women’s organizations, she had never
thought about the role of women in the Church. She had a strong internal
struggle between her religious beliefs of conformity, and her conviction that

1 6 8
to achieve social justice, political action was needed. The guilt resulting from

her religious indoctrination led her to assume the blame for the death of her
daughter and to acquire a self image of unworthiness before the Being which
she admired and loved the most: God. The conflicts and gossip she faced as a
female“ organizer strengthened her low self image and led her to believe that
all the efforts and sacrifices she had made during twelve years of war were of
little worth.

The woman I interviewed from the Assembly of God Church was
fifteen years old and was intent on converting me and my Australian friend
(Christina) to her religion. She kept deviating the conversation away from
women and into the need to fear God and humble ourselves before Him.
This young person was extremely articulate and had plenty of experience
preaching before her Congregation. When we met with her, she was tending
her mother’s comedor and blatantly ignored three customers for the sake of
trying to get my friend and me to repent and join the Assembly of God.
Unfortunately, I was not able to get information from her on the place of
women in her Church because she got into a most interesting debate with
Christina on social justice. Christina asked the young woman how the
Assembly of God Church explained the existence of poor people if he loved
everybody the same. The woman responded that God kept giving the rich
more and more so they would realize that he was with them. He kept the
poor penniless so that he would not lose their souls. - "If the poor are given
riches" she said "they will forget about God. Every one knows that".
Christina almost threw a fit so I convinced her it was time to leave.

In a last attempt to get a better impression of women’s participation in
this church, I went to one of their vigils from 12:30 to 4:00 a.m. The young

woman I had spoken to earlier was ecstatic at my presence and seemed

1 6 9
convinced her Church had gained a new soul. She asked me the whereabouts

of Christina, and I told her that she was dancing with a few guys at the
PADECOSMS party. The woman’s eyes opened wide and she told me that
dancing was the work of the devil and that I should go rescue her and bring
her to Church. I responded that I did not think Christina would be very
pleased with the idea.

I finally entered the Church and everybody stared at me. Most women
were seated on the benches on the left side and the men were on the right.
Even though there was no electricity in Perquin, or in Northern Morazan in
general, this Church had purchased its own generator, a drum set, a
microphone with speakers, and two electric guitars. I only remained for two
hours which were composed of continuous singing on the part of men and
women who would lead the congregation. The latter clapped along with the
music which was so loud it could be heard throughout the town. They had a
break around two a.m. and a group of women stood up and began to give
coffee and cookies to the people who were attending so they could last
another two hours. The men either remained seated or went outside to talk.

There was a woman sitting by my side and I asked her if she also
preached. She smiled looking at the ground and told me she did not know
how to read. She added that the Church had begun a reading course, but they
only continued teaching the members who learned the quickest. She said
there was only one man left in the reading course who was now very
advanced. This woman had originally been a non practicing Catholic. She
had been converted by her sister who had just returned to the Zone. I asked
her if she was married and she said no, and added that she was living with
her sister and her husband because she did not have money to get a place of

her own.

1 7 0
The Assembly of God Church was described to me by people from .

various denominations as being as strong as the Catholic Church in Perquin.
They, as well as the Adventists claimed to stay out of political issues. Most of
the members left the Zone during the war, and many of them were wealthy
land owners who opposed the FMLN. The Church was experiencing a
revival as the members returned after the Peace Accords. Many combatants
and PADECOSMS members expressed resentment towards the Evangelicals
because they chose to flee rather than support the Revolutionary cause. .

In terms of the position of women in these three religions, it became
evident that they all shared an ideology of female subordination and
devaluation. The Evangelical Churches proved to be the most limiting of
women’s progress by their indoctrination based on guilt, conformity and
female servility. Of the three, the Catholic Church proved to be the most
conscious. Unfortunately its consciousness was limited by the traditional
view of women as beautiful sacrificial and nurturing beings, and by the
Revolutionary social structure that determined according to its own needs,
_what was expected of women and how, when and why they would be
organized.

The strength of the views of women represented in the religious
doctrines which were so salient in the lives of the council members acted as
another restraining force in their ideological development. The religious
doctrines justified and strengthened women’s servile role and their control by
the mostly male organizations. This helped perpetuate a conflict between the
gender theory they were being exposed to and the actual experience they were
living. However, the philosophy of women’s liberation was not only
competing with traditional religious doctrines and concrete structural

restraints. Even after the creation of three women’s organizations, a Platform

17 1
which espoused women’s advancement, organizational publications showing

pictures of women who were involved in technical endeavors, and the
women’s own comments that they had achieved equality with men, there
was a continued and overt ideology of female devaluation being transmitted
through the educational system as well. I was surprised to witness a
children’s play done by the elementary school in the town plaza which took
the issue of domestic abuse as a laughing matter.

On September, 15 the elementary school’s celebration of El Salvador’ s
Independence Day took place. The children lined up in the plaza and began
to march around it in a very militaristic way swinging their arms straight up
and down and following the count of one of their teachers. The activities
began with a taped instrumental version of the Salvadoran National
Anthem. They had several activities which represented each age group.
The gender roles in the skits were clear as day light.

In one skit, a peasant (played by a boy) walked up to his wife (a girl) and
started screaming at her and threatening to beat her up and break her face. He
grabbed her by the hair and hit her because she was putting make up on
instead of cleaning his house, washing his clothes and cooking. The woman
replied that when they were dating he used to bring her flowers and now he
would only beat her. They finally decided to go to the Mayor (a boy) so that he
could decide for them what they should do.

When they arrived, they asked for a divorce and each told the Mayor
his and her side of the story. The Mayor told them to dance for a while so
things would get better. During the dance the man kept banging into his wife
and pushing her once in a while. During all this, the public was laughing
quite enthusiastically. Finally, the couple told the Mayor they felt better and
they would go home together. The Mayor concluded by telling the public that

l 7 2
if they wanted to prevent that sort of thing, they should not get married. The

public (mostly young children) applauded. There were other skits where six
year old girls had to dance to songs that exalted their sexuality by telling them
that they had to wear skirts that were short and would fly up when they
wiggled their hips.

During an interview many weeks before this event, I was told that the
Director, and most of the teachers of the school were either the land owners
of the town before the war or they were close family members. They were
organizing a pro-government organization called Fundacién Perquin, and
they were imparting right wing ideology to the children of the school. A
woman from the WCM had told me that she did not want to send her child
there because she did not want him learning their ideas after so many people
had fought and died to defend the rights of the poor.

Perhaps PADECOSMS had little control over the educational programs
that the Fundacién Perquin teachers were implementing. However, there
were no protests against these skits or even signs of indignation. Rather, the
public made up mostly of children, a few PADECOSMS representatives, and a
few combatants who were watching from the outskirts of the plaza, laughed
and applauded during these skits. This light hearted reaction to the topic of
domestic abuse and sexual exploitation of women, was being assimilated by
the children of Morazan who would supposedly inherit the task of creating a
more socially just system based on human dignity and respect.

The interviews with the women from the different organizations, the
comments from the men and women of CEBES, the FMLN and
PADECOSMS, and my observations of the WCM’s organizational problems
have demonstrated that the WCM’s disintegration cannot be understood by
solely looking at the Organization’s internal power struggles and strife. These

1 7 3
are only symptoms of a greater problem defined by an overarching ideology of

female subordination, devaluation and manipulation that was unaffected by
the economic improvement of the women, and by their placement in
positions of relative power within their organization.

In the next and final chapter, I will discuss different theories which
portray the dynamics at work in the women’s organizations studied, and I
will analyze the results according to a broader perspective derived both from
my findings and from patterns that have been established by other studies of
women in socialist movements. The purpose is to clarify in an analytical
way, the ideological and structural forces which have collided during the
duration of the WCM, and which have, in turn, created conflicting dynamics

and patterns of organization and action.

CHAPTER EIGHT

EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS OF THEORIES DEALING WITH THE
WOMEN'S MOVEMENT

The evidence discussed in the preceding chapter amply demonstrates
that the assumptions that gender equality resulted from the war in El
Salvador are unfounded, and that the machista or patriarchal ideologies that
predated the war gained special viciousness and ascendancy during the crisis.

That this should be so is not surprising, given the control exercised by
the military (a traditional male enclave) over all aspects of life. In a world in
crisis, characterized by disruption, chaos and disaster, the armed forces,
(government and revolutionaries), ironically supplied the main semblance or
parameter of order, and the attempts to win the only hope for the solution of
the crisis. Regarding the government forces, I have discussed evidence of the
vicious tortures against women and children, especially those of a sexually
debasing nature, aimed at the former’ s life-generating capacities.

In the revolutionary forces which had democratic goals, some women fought
beside the men and some even became officers. The WCM developed as an
inspiration of the FMLN and PADECOSMS. However, the accounts analyzed
earlier prove that the roles assigned to the majority of women were of
cooking, healing the wounded, working the fields, providing sexual and
psychological release for the men, marching as women to help the men, and

assuming full responsibility for their families as well as for their war duties.

174

175
Furthermore, the women’s organizations were created to assist the men and

were dependent on the men’s organizations for funds, resources, the
materials to carry out activities and education. These women inmilitary
positions had to emulate men and their agenda in order to succeed and, for
the most part, did not address women’s concerns. The role of the church, the
other stabilizing force during the war, seemed to advocate the equality and
social participation of women as such, but proved to be otherwise. This
aspect will be more fully discussed in relation to the specific theories I will
analyze.

Not only did men control the women in private and public life, but the
women themselves had also absorbed the patriarchal ideology blaming the
lack of success of their movements and activities on their own lack of
organization, education and capacities. In some cases there was a new
awareness of the inequality between men and women in their society, but
attempts by women to achieve equality were constantly impeded by the men.
Whether this incipient awareness will eventually lead to a new social parity
and contribute to the achievement will be considered at the end of this
chapter.

Before dealing with the possible future of the WCM, it is necessary to
return to the questions presented in the introduction of this theses. These
concern

1. the sway of the patriarchal ideology before the war

2. the factors that led to the creation of the WCM and which affected

its. functioning,

3. whether patriarchal ideology has truly become inoperative and the

causes for this.

176
Of these questions, only the last one needs to be addressed from a more

theoretical stance.

Perhaps it is difficult to visualize the extent and power of the forces of
patriarchal domination within the Women’s Communal Movement because
the Organization’s extensive internal strife and deficiencies could easily lead
us to attribute its problems solely or mostly to individual inadequacies, lack of
interest and internal power struggles. This interpretation was not
uncommon among other organizations, the population, and among the
women themselves. However, this would be a myopic and limited view of
the circumstances surrounding the existence and functioning of the WCM.

I feel it will be helpful to compare five theories which describe the
circumstances of the WCM. The "Gender Equality or "Change of Spheres and
Roles Theories" are the ones observed by those who believed women had
gained an equal status with men through their participation in the public
sphere. Advocates of these theories include PADECOSMS, many combatants,
and Golden. The second, or "WCM Obstacles Theory, portrays the Council
members' evaluation of the organizational problems they were experiencing.
"PADECOSMS Theory of The WCM" is the third, and it represents the
interpretation of the WCM by community members who were directly or
indirectly involved with PADECOSMS and / or the FMLN. The fourth and
fifth, are theories which resulted from my observations and which were
guided by the "Social Ideology" and "Forces of Continuity and Change"
theories. These are based on Bourque and Warren’s, and Axin’s work . The
notion that patriarchal ideology and structure are continuing forces that
manifest themselves in varying ways underlies these theories. The last, is the
"Extension of Spheres Theory". It is a result of my analysis and it counters

the "Gender Equality Theory". Through this representation, I attempt to give

177
a more accurate explanation of what has been described as a change of spheres ‘

and roles for the women. The fourth and fifth theories take into account both
the role of the church and the international organizations in the situation
experienced by the WCM.

Figure 7 is a depiction of the Change of Spheres and Roles Theory.
Women’s progress has been analyzed as resulting from their mobilization
from the private or domestic sphere to the public or political sphere through ‘
protests, marches and community organizing. The result of this mobilization
has been described as a creation of a stronger self esteem in the women, which
in turn, has allowed them to influence and exercise power over the socio-
political structures which affect them. Consequently women are described as
having accomplished a change in the way they are viewed by society and in
the occupational roles that are available to them.

178
Women before the Revolution Women during and after the Revolution

 
  

  
  

 
 

/

       

    

Public Sphere Public Sphere
Non-Traditional N art-Traditional
Roles /
/
WW
Private Sphere
raditional Domestic

   
    

R” /

‘ Gender Equality
in value and
participation

   

Liberation Theology War: need of

Force of Change combatants and

and mobilization personnel

of spheres Force of Change in
traditional roles

Figure 7: The Change of Spheres and Change of Roles Theory

The Change of Roles Theory asserts that thanks to the change of
spheres, women have been able to expand and / or change their domestic roles
by assuming positions considered untraditional such as those of combatants,
communications personnel and community organizers. Most importantly,
however, women are described as having achieved equal status in the
revolutionary hierarchy.

The forces depicted as responsible for causing this change of spheres are
Liberation Theology and the war itself. Liberation Theology is characterized
as an ideological and structural force of change among the women. It
encouraged them to leave their households in order to protest in the political

fronts. Women’s participation in these activities is viewed as untraditional

179
because it has entered the political arena relegated, up to that point, to the

men.

The Revolution’s need for "people power" and its connection to
Liberation Theology is depicted as striving for and achieving gender equality
as part of its social justice agenda According to the advocates of this theory,
women were incorporated in the military and organizational roles as well as
in traditional domestic roles (i.e. cooks). The change of roles helped the
women transform their traditional spheres of action, and gave them the
opportunity of choosing what position or part they wished to play within the
Revolution and society.

Many of the accounts written about women’s organizations in the
Salvadoran Revolution tended to follow a pattern which defined their
participation in combat and community organizing as having resulted in
gender based social equality. Their apparent achievements in gaining the
value and recognition they deserved was depicted as something that they had
consciously struggled for within a politico-ideological system that supported
them. An example of this view can be found in the following quote by

Golden.

In a special way FMLN women shaped the emerging process of
self governance. Their very presence in the zones overcame
Campesino reticence about women’s social roles. The newly
forming democratic process aimed at transforming gender and
class limitations (1991: 169).

However, the evidence in this thesis contradicts evaluations such as
this one. The structural and ideological obstacles faced by the different
women’s organizations in their attempt to gain communal land for the
enhancement of women and to create productive projects in areas where a

mostly male organization had the power of decision, revealed that not only

180
was the "campesino reticence about women’s social roles" very much present,

it also continued to exert enormous control over the development of the
women and their organizations, as did the FMLN and PADECOSMS.

Ironically, the various feminist critiques done of Marxist inspired
revolutionary movements do not seem to have had a strong critical effect on
the analysis of those who presented pictures of gender equality in the
Salvadoran Revolution and in the communal movements that were created
within it. For example, the place of Liberation Theology within the Marxist
Movement and the subordination of women intrinsic to these traditions
were disregarded. Rather, both the religious and military structures were
characterized as examples of liberating and mobilizing forces for women as
women, who were engaging in apparently untraditional roles.

The Marxist ideology, which so fundamentally influenced the
Theology of Liberation to which Golden attributed power in inspiring the
women to implement an almost permanent sense of community, has been
severely criticized in Sargent’s anthology W The
various authors in this anthology contend that Marxist theory and
movements have consciously disguised the sexist tendencies inherent in this
ideology in order to maintain power and dominance over the decision
making process in the political structure.

In her article "The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Can
It Be Saved?", Heidi Hartmann (1981: 5) described the lack of concern within
Marxist theory and practice towards the questions of "how and why women
[have been] oppressed as women", of men and women’s differing experiences
under Capitalism, and of the lack of recognition of "the vested interest men

have in women’s continued subordination" within the theory and its

181 .
practice. Hartmann defined Patriarchy and its material base as being the

culprits for the subordination of women under capitalism.

We define Patriarchy as a set of social relations which have a
material base and in which there are hierarchical relations
between men and solidarity among them which enable them in
turn to dominate women (Hartmann in Sargent 1981: 18).

The patriarchal ideology created sexual segregation where women were
relegated to roles that were less valued and remunerated than those of men,
causing an economic dependency on the latter. As a result, women have
functioned as the material base of men and, I will add of the mostly male
headed revolutionary movements. The women acted as the sustenance base
for the revolutionary cause in the alimentary, health, and even sexual aspects
of the term. They were also the reproductive force of the revolutionary
”people power”. The men’s control over women’s labor power has
perpetuated their subordination and, in practice, their view as property to be
controlled and manipulated (Ehrlick in Sargent: 127).

The reasoning expressed by male and female combatants and
organizers, that women should not confront or deal with the issues of gender
inequality because it would create division and conflict in a time when unity
was needed for the political struggle, can be better understood. The leftist
movements and the institutions inspired by them (i.e. revolutionary church)
had a lot to lose if women were to gain the independence, mobility and
acknowledgment they deserved. In fact the fear of feminist women expressed
by the leftist priest, his evaluation that women would be better off not
aspiring for priesthood, and his encouragement for abused women to give
men a second chance and understand that their actions were culturally based,

are further evidence of Hartmann’s analysis that leftist movements have a

182
stake in women’s continued subordination, and therefore fear the possible

emancipatory effect of women’s movements.

The limits of the Change of Spheres and Roles Theories lie in that the
creative agents of the seemingly untraditional actions (i.e. those who
sponsored the organization of women), structures and norms involved in the
women’s activities, are not closely examined by their advocates. As stated
earlier, the feminist critiques of Marxism are not dealt with. As a result, the
contradictions which appear within the texts that assume gender equality in
the Revolution are not analyzed or explained. The Change of Spheres Theory
takes for granted that there is a prevailing ideology which includes gender
equality as a major premise and which has created structures to accomplish
this goal. Although women’s involvement in protests and marches did
prove to strengthen their self image, the theory does not explain why,
structurally, the women and their organizations remained subordinated to
the control of the male dominated organizations, why they lacked a clear
sense of goals, why they experienced so many contradictions between the
rhetoric of gender equality and their access to resources under the control of
the "men’s Boards", or why they were of a shorter duration as compared to
the men’s.

The "Theory of WCM Obstacles According to Council" reveals the
Council member’s attempt to affirm their independence, initiative and power
as women organizers, even to the point of inspiring fearful men into
following their example. It also describes how the men, instead of being
grateful for the women’s participation, they decide to take over the positions
of authority and relegate the women to positions of subordination as soon as

they have a chance. The women, however, are ultimately depicted as

183
resisting the men’s attempts at female subordination in a conscious, strong

and self determined way.

In this theory, the Change of Spheres Theory is not accepted in its
traditional sense since the women reveal a strong awareness of their position
of inequality and subordination in relation to the men. The theory reveals a
continuous ideology of subordination towards women, which, however,
during the time of crisis is unable to restrain the power and strength which
the women argue is specific to their gender because of their role as mothers
and nurturers.

The women are portrayed as organizing on their own to defend their
family members and community, and in inspiring and encouraging the less
courageous men to organize as well. The men, realizing that those who they
believe to be weaker than themselves are able to struggle and mobilize,
receive a blow to their egos and decide to organize. Once the men organize
they begin to exclude women and to take control over their objectives and
their resources. The women rebel by affiliating to women’s organizations (i.e.
DIGNAS) of which the men disapprove, and by absenting themselves from
activities in which they are told to participate.

This theory contradicts the first in that it makes gender inequality in
the controlled zone quite apparent. However, the strength which the
women describe as specific to them is derived from the traditional Christian
ideology that views them as sacrificial and nurturing beings who must rescue
all others in times of crisis. This theory is limited in that it does not
acknowledge that the women, although they were the first to organize, were
organized first by a male dominated religious institution (the Catholic
priests and cathechists ) and then by a male dominated communal

organization which set limits to the type, kind and degree of participation the

184
women could have. These two institutions also had a strong influence on a

how the women perceived themselves.

The limits of this theory are also apparent in its lack of explanation of
the Council’s problems with its social base and of the internal strife of the
organization. With the exception of the dependency of the women towards
PADECOSMS, other external and internal forces of dependency are not
acknowledged and all decisions to not organize "appropriately" are described
by the Council members as their own acts of resistance to institutions that do
not value them, or to individual problems of the Council members.
Internally, the women did not state an awareness that they were reproducing
similar structures of manipulation in their own social base as the ones they
were experiencing from the different male dominated organizations.

Examples of this manipulation of the social base are the withholding
of information, education, funds, and resources coupled with an apathetic
attitude towards members which in turn felt distrust and frustrations towards
the Council. On the other hand, external forces of dependency included
‘ international organizations pushing feminist agendas on the women as a
condition for the release of funds which were, after all, channeled through
the men’s organization. Solidarity workers also fostered dependency through
paternalistic attitudes towards the women.

While all of these elements were influential in causing the
"inappropriate organization" of the women, the Council ascribes this
situation only to the women’s own acts of resistance to institutions that do
not value them, or to individual problems of the Council members.

This theory which is also inevitably forced to deal with the reality of
the problems of the women’s organizations, ironically, accepts the

assumptions of the Change of Spheres and Roles theories. It claims that

185 .
women of the WCM organized as a result of their own initiative for the

purpose of advancing as women while advancing, at the same time, the
revolutionary cause of social justice. However, it describes the problems
faced by the women’s organization as resulting from foreign feminist
ideologies and cultural patterns of female subordination which the women
have not been able to shake off. The feminist ideologies are described as
culturally alien and immoral. They are believed to promote and foster
promiscuous behavior among the women as well as a conflict between the
genders.

Unlike the previous theory, "PADECOSMS Theory of The WCM",
which includes male and female members from the community, takes into
account the effect of internationals and their agencies on the women, and
describes the relationships of dependency which are created. It also portrays
well meaning, yet ignorant internationals as inappropriately counseling the
women in terms of their goals and objectives. As a result, the women are
described as getting involved in irrelevant projects where the goal becomes
the funds rather than the communities and the projects themselves.

This theory also describes the problems facing the women as a result of
internal forces such as a "female peasant mentality" characterized by gossip,
personality conflicts, jealousies and rivalries. The result of these negative
internal forces are described as the creation of inappropriate goals,
inappropriate behavior, an inability to assess women’s needs, and a focus on
personal rivalries rather than on the advancement of women and their
organization.

The limits of this theory are obvious. It inherently contains an
ideology of female devaluation, takes for granted the Change of Spheres

Theory, which contradicts it, and does not examine the role of the male-

186
dominated organizations in the development or lack thereof of the WCM. It

generally assumes that the social justice struggle of the Revolution included
gender equality and that the revolutionary structures encouraged female
participation in the hierarchy and in the decision making process. The
existence of tokenism is vehemently denied and the revolutionary and
communal structures are perceived as only having a positive effect on
women’s advancement and participation, contrary to the evidence analyzed
previously in this thesis.

The fourth and fifth theories are an attempt to focus on, and explain
the contradictions between the women’s actual involvement in political or
organizational activities and to understand their portrayal by advocates of the
gender equality portrayal. The fourth theory is primarily based on the Social
Ideology Approach while the fifth focuses more on the theory of Forces of
Continuity and Change (Axin, 1993). However, the Social ideology Approach
and the Forces of continuity and Change are inevitably intertwined in both
theories. The theory of forces of Continuity and Change proposes that as long
as the two forces are in equilibrium there will be stability or a continuation of
the previous situation. However, if one force becomes stronger than the
other change will occur.

Until now the term "ideology" has been used to characterize the way
women have been generally viewed and what has been expected of them by
men, male dominated structures, and by the women themselves in this
particular society. However, in order to better analyze the dynamics of
women’s participation in the Revolution and their own organizations with
respect to the theories presented, I will define "ideology" at this point as a way
of understanding and reacting to life which is shared by, and exPected of the

187
members of a particular society, and which is so pervasive as to function at

both the conscious and subconscious levels.

This social understanding is mostly unconscious, but becomes
especially apparent at the conscious level when it is confronted with a
conflicting ideology or a structure which represents it. A case in point would
be the Salvadoran women who had understood their social roles and position
as natural until they were exposed to feminist rhetoric and to structural
changes during the war. The conflict between two ideologies may result in
an active and overt manifestation of the threatened ideology through
concrete structures or institutions which represent it so as to insure its
survival. For example, the WCM women as well as the other women’s
organizations, faced many concrete obstacles created by the FMLN hierarchy
and men’s communal organizations when they tried to develop and define
their own agendas.

However, the conflict may also bring about an increased flexibility in
the carriers of a particular ideology which may result in a modification of the
ideology and of the social structures which represent it. Some evidence of
this is revealed in the contradictory and conflict laden arguments of the
women in the PADECOSMS hierarchy.

Ideologies function at the subconscious level in so far as they guide or
even predetermine actions which are defined by individuals as natural and
which prevent them from searching or being aware of the need for
alternatives. For example, it was often stated to me that the sacrifices made by
the women were really no different from those of the men. The women
would ask how they could concern themselves with gender issues when
hundreds of people were being slaughtered in their midst. In view of the

evidence already analyzed regarding the inhuman burden of the women

188
during the war as compared to the men’s, I argue that this justification of the

lack of priority of women’s issues, and disguise of women’s inequality
through a rhetoric that depicts equality, is a strong subliminal ideological
force of subordination used to perpetuate the status quo. The violation of
women’s bodies for defense and during torture (acts which are socially and
culturally unacceptable) were condoned and even expected because of the
crisis. This is utmost evidence of the women’s subordinate status and social
value from a male perspective.

In W (1991),L William Roseberry cites
Raymond William’s concept of dominant culture where unequal
relationships are presented as equal and reciprocal "which give a product of
history the appearance of natural order . . . by those who have the means of
control over cultural production, the means for the selection and
presentation of tradition" (Roseberry 1991: 45). Roseberry makes a distinction
between a mere ideology and culture. In this distinction, ideology is an
element of culture. Here, I will use the concept of "ideology" in the same way
"dominant culture" has been defined above.

Taking this definition as a basis for the Social Ideology Approach which
is common to both models, I also make a rebuttal of the Change of Spheres
Theory and a contextualization and reinterpretation of the Change of Roles
Theory. Both of these were used in previous models and texts as evidence of
achieved gender equality.

The Social Ideology Approach claims that gender distinctions persist
over class, ethnic and racial distinctions. Although both men and women are
exploited within a class system, women remain in a subordinate position to

men within their specific economic class. Therefore class and gender are

189
understood by the advocates of this approach to be equally important

dimensions of social reality.

This approach is based on the fact that the predominant ideology is one
of patriarchy which results in the social and economic subordination of
women, and is a constant force, even within social movements which strive
to move away from a class based society. According to Bourque and Warren,
sexual hierarchies are a result of cultural-patriarchal ideologies which
manipulate "the material conditions of the lives of men and women". This
ideology establishes a political and material reality and creates and
perpetuates sexual inequality "through exclusion, segregation and avoidance"
(Op. Cit.: 77-80).

The uneven distribution of power is revealed in the control of
institutions, of cultural attitudes and values which further reinforce the
structural value of women to men, therefore the Social Ideology Approach
establishes that there is a circular, reciprocal and mutually reinforcing effect
between patriarchal ideologies and structures. Within this approach, the
change of spheres, and change of roles become unlikely in so far as they
ignore the ideological and structural elements which perpetuate female
subordination within the spheres, based on traditional stereotypes.

A more likely description of women’s participation in the Revolution
and after it could be characterized by what I call the Extension of Spheres and
Tokenistic Roles Theories (see Figure 8). After reviewing the problems that
the WCM and other women’s organizations which preceded it have faced, it
became evident that the Change of Spheres Theory lacked strength in its
representation of the changes which were attributed to the women.

190
Women before the Revolution Women during the Revolution

 
 
     
    
   

  

Public Sphere
Non-Tra . 'tional Roles

        
  

  

////////
Private Sphere

Traditional Domestic

I
f/ has... ”V
raditional Domestic
Nurturin ; Roles /

 

Liberation Theology: War: need for combatant War: PADECOSMS

ForoeofChangeon and personell-Forceof Liberation Theologyand
segregated Change on traditional International Agam‘
m roles Forces of Continuity
and Change

Figure 8: The Extension of Spheres and Roles Theory

The marches and community organizing done by women were
sponsored by male representatives of the Theology of Liberation institution
which, like the FMLN, was based on gender biased Marxist principles. The
view of women in the traditional Catholic Church as nurturing, beautiful
sacrificial beings was unquestioned by the Theology of Liberation which
ironically inspired the Congregation of Christian Mothers to "change their
spheres" of participation. This organization, as well as the WCM, included
members of different Evangelical denominations whose doctrine espoused
conformity, passivity and guilt. As we saw in the interview with the ex-
participant of the women's organization, religiously inspired guilt can reach

exorbitant levels causing severe psychological stresses. In all of these

191
institutions women were portrayed in one of two ways, as Saints who were _

willing to give everything for everybody else, or as prostitutes and perverters
of men.

The marches which involved the women were approved by society
and the church. That is why they gained such wide public support and why
women were initially safer than men when involved in these activities. The
protesters were manifesting their traditional nurturing roles in so far as they
protested against human rights violations of family members and neighbors.
The women’s participation did not represent a change in kind in terms of
their traditional roles, but a change in degree in terms of how and where they
manifested these roles. This becomes more apparent when we ask why it was
the women, and not the men who organized to protest non-violently for
human rights. The institutions encouraging and supporting this type of
action were employing the traditional gender stereotype.

The evidence revealed in Jelin’s anthology referring to the short
duration of women’s protest movements that arise in times of crisis, supports
‘my theory of an extension of traditional subordinated roles into the public
sphere, rather than a change in these roles. The so called "new roles" are
sponsored, and supported by institutions such as the church, the government
and the educational system, which represent and perpetuate social ideological
forces of female subordination in both private and public spheres. The
permanence which Golden attributed to the sense of community which she
thought characterized the women, was based on a politico-religious ideology
that focused on "class equality" while dismissing, in practice, the issue of
gender inequality.

The interview with the priest of Morazan revealed that although
Theology of Liberation had been active in trying to bring about social equality

192
among the classes, it had perpetuated the traditional patterns of gender

subordination. Women had to be understanding and tolerant of these
ideological and behavioral patterns among men, while the latter’ 3 actions
were condoned and justified as being a result of cultural influences. In
essence, the men were relieved of their individual power of moral decision-
making by depicting "culture" as wholly responsible for their actions. The
women were also viewed as better off and more useful to society if they did
not compete for hierarchical positions. This is a clear example of what
Roseberry and Williams referred to as "dominant culture".

The Change of Roles Theory also loses strength in light of the previous
analysis and of the contradictions which are found in the stated numbers of
women in hierarchical positions within texts such as Golden’s. Further
evidence against this theory is revealed in the interviews with the few
women who occupy these positions, and in the critiques that women in
women’s organizations make of them. Their own comments, as well as those
of the women who described them, reveal a prioritization of class struggle
over one of gender equality. The two are seen as separate and possibly
mutually exclusive issues. The women in hierarchical positions derive their
main identity from their class allegiance rather than from their biological
and social engenderment (Chartkoff 1992).

Here lies another limitation of the Change in Roles Theory . It does
not examine the forces of identity formation which in turn affect the goals of
those women who do reach positions which are traditionally occupied by
men. The mere fact that a woman becomes a leader does not mean that she
will take up the cause of women. Rather, the history of other organizations
(J elin, PADECOSMS, Sargent) demonstrates that women who reach these

positions tend to be manipulated even more so than men by the male

193
dominated structures, with the purpose of portraying a tokenistic image of

gender equality. In practice, however, the women do not have very much
power in the decision making or political process. This is more so the case in
situations which question traditionally accepted male views and tactics.

Now that I have illustrated the appropriateness of the Extension of
Spheres and Tokenistic Theories in arguing against the allegations of
women’s achieved equality with men, I can proceed to explain the theory of
structural and Ideological Forces of Subordination. Essentially, this theory
reveals an overarching ideology of subordination that has been present in the
whole of society even before the Revolution. It continued through it, and
after it, despite the chaos of war which disrupted most other institutions.

There is an interplay between the ideology of subordination and its
representative structures in mobilizing the women during the war by
extending their traditional roles to the public sphere. The Revolution’s need
for funds relied on the women for economic and structural support, as it did
while engaged in combat by relegating most women to the tasks of cooks ,
health care workers, day care workers, and reproducers of combatants. In
order for the Revolution to receive international monetary support, it was
pressured to include women’s organizations in its agenda. The revolutionary
and communal organization hierarchy continued to control the
organizational structure, information, funds and resources of the women’s
organizations.

This control limited the transformative power of the gender theory the
women were receiving. For the most part, theory ended up being viewed by
the women as empty rhetoric which clashed with a centralized, gender biased
and dominating ideology and structure. As women tried to put their new
knowledge into practice, they met up with obstacles by the male dominated

194
institutions which defined and limited their agendas. The latter also

promoted a division between the women’s organizations and between the
women themselves by distributing resources unequally.

The international organizations which were supporting the
advancement of women, ironically also engendered dependency rather than
self sufficiency by allowing lines of communication and information about
the women to go through PADECOSMS. The dependency pattern was
reinforced by the very short term and inadequate evaluations done by the
agencies when visiting the women and by the encouragement of solidarity
workers who had a paternalistic attitude towards the women. The solidarity
workers would often do tasks for the women that they were capable of
participating in, or of doing themselves.

The dependency relations derived from the male organizations and the
international sources, compounded with the women’s lack of control over
their agendas and resources, resulted in a feeling of incapacity, dismay and in
disorganization. The power struggles and manipulation represented by the
male dominating organization were repeated at the level of the Council
which was not democratically elected to begin with, and continued at the
level of the women’s community Board of Directors. This resulted in a lack
of democratic procedures, lack of participation, lack of true understanding of
women’s issues, interpersonal strife over resources, and continued patterns of
domination among the women.

The fifth theory makes the Forces of Continuity and Change more
explicit. It reveals why the women’s organizations, despite the strong input
of gender theory, have begun to disintegrate. The forces of continuity include
a mostly male hierarchy in the revolutionary structure as well as in the main

communal umbrella organizations. The latter are based on an ideology of

195
female subordination and manipulate different structures of domination and

dependency to maintain the subordination of women. The purpose is to be
able to mobilize and utilize the women according to the male needs and
agendas. The forces of change are fewer and contain contradictory dynamics
within them as revealed in the previous theory through the international
agencies, the women in hierarchical positions whose main allegiance is to
class struggle, and the creation of women’s organizations by men who have
an agenda other than the advancement of women.

The visits to the WCM Boards and to the assembly meetings,
demonstrated that the gender and democracy rhetoric sponsored through
PADECOSMS engendered a series of detrimental effects in the Council and
the Boards of Directors. This resulted from its contradictory practices, its
domination and centralized structure. The Council lacked knowledge of
organizational techniques, it lacked technical and structural support from
PADECOSMS, it had to deal with’ the latter’s favoritism of specific Council
members and of different women’s organizations which spawned division
and weakened the women’s movement and agenda as a whole.

The WCM Boards of Directors, in turn, received even less gender
theory and technical training than the Council members. They found
themselves in a much worse economic situation than the Council who had a
salary derived from international support. The Boards were characterized by
a pattern of presidential appropriation of communal productive projects,
which was, to some extent, inspired by the Council’s appropriation of utensils
and funds from the Board projects.

The consequences were discouraged women who ended up losing faith
in themselves and trust in each other. As revealed in the Forces of

Continuity and Change Theory, the effects which hinder the development of

196
the women’s organizations far outweigh the ones which promote it.

However, one limit of this theory is that it does not stress the possibility of
the future effect of forces which at the present are weak and unstable. Nor
does it explain how forces which are relatively weak, still have enough
impact to cause contradictions. Earlier in this thesis, I noted that the greatest
positive results observed as a result of the conflict and contradictions between
the forces of gender equality and inequality occurred at the individual level.
Here women began to question their position of subordination within their
already subordinated economic class. It is here where what was defined as
natural became unnatural as two ideologies clashed. The ideology of
subordination which for the most part had remained at a subconscious level
was brought to the fore and had to be dealt with consciously by men and
women.

The women began to educate their children to share in household
chores. They also began to aspire other roles than those which had been
traditionally ascribed to them and which they had previously viewed as
natural and good. Unfortunately, at the time of the investigation these
changes in the organized women were generally subsumed in a struggle for
individual power alienated from democratic processes. There was also a
continued control on the part of PADECOSMS, even as the WCM began to
rebel and make allegiances with other women’s organizations like the
DIGNAS, which was supposedly in conflict with FMLN sponsored
organizations.

The last news I received about the WCM is that another of its Council
members left and was chosen by PADECOSMS to create a PADECOSMS
Women’s Secretariat. This council member was one of the main organizers

of the Boards during my fieldwork and demonstrated a genuine interest and

197
capacity to organize the women and develop productive projects in a

systematic way. However, the method of her election to the Secretariat is a
repetition of PADECOSMS’s control over the structure and agendas of the
women’s organizations. The fact that this Secretariat is much more
subsumed under PADECOSMS in structural and legal terms, and the fact that
as revealed in Joaquin Villalobos’ book the emphasis of change continues to
be one of class structure over and above gender equality, foretells a very slow
process in the development of a women’s agenda in the popular sectors.

During the revolution Rebecca Palacios wrote the following statement
describing the situation of women within the military structures;

The fact is that the whole culture is sexist, and there is not a
single comrade who is not affected by this. If it’s true that
organization provides the opportunities for women to develop
themselves in daily concrete work, it is also true that the woman
herself had to overcome a thousand and one obstacles with her
compafiero, with her children, with her co-workers, with the
organization itself (Golden: 172).

What concrete prospects are there for women’s development in the
future in a political-economic theory and structure (FMLN’s) that has a
tradition of disregarding women? Will women be able to contribute in the
future to the FMLN's stated goal of social equality? Villalobos’ (FMLN’s
Political President and former guerrilla Commander) entire book; Una

' -_ (1992), is devoted

 

to the explanation of how economic well being can be achieved through a free
market economy founded in political democracy and social justice (Ibid.: 11-
12). However, it only contains one sentence acknowledging the value of
women which it never elaborates or defines (Ibid.: 17).

If Villalobos’ goal is to end social injustice and poverty, it is ironic that

the issue of women’s place in society is not given more importance since

198
women are the poorest, the most oppressed and carry the largest load and _

responsibility of reproduction within the impoverished sector of society. This
is especially true after the war where a large number of men have perished,
and those who have survived have left children scattered in different areas.
This has forced women to have the sole responsibility of rearing and
educating the future of this "new just society" which Villalobos hopes will be
created.

Villalobos’ theory seems to take for granted that the norm in the
popular masses is the nuclear family where both parents are present to raise
their children. In that way if the father’ 5 economic status improves by way of
a new sociopolitical structure, his family's status will also improve. Because
of the situation described above, this could not be farther from the truth.

If the specific situation of women is not given special consideration,
the popular masses will continue to perpetuate the political and economic
inequity already present in the different social classes. The fact that women
are a numerical majority and a political minority in charge of educating the
youth will cause severe contradictions in a politico-economic model that
advocates social justice. It is not possible to accomplish national
development of the type Villalobos expects when a large part of the
population is alienated and excluded. Women cannot be depicted as equal to
men when there is a clear difference in power and when the former are
subordinated to the latter.

If, according to Villalobos, the popular masses have been an obstacle to
national development as a result of malnutrition and lack of education (Ibid.:
32, 64), a continuation of female subordination will continue the pattern of
underdevelopment. Economically speaking, educated and well nourished

women will be more useful to the process of national development. The

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evidence rests on the fact that many of the women in the FMLN hierarchy

had a university education. Also, as the different women’s movements in the
city became more developed, university educated women were being placed
in positions of leadership while the peasant women were, to a large extent,
being relegated to positions of community organizing within the
organization.

In a system of free market and competition, it is essential to educate the
female sector so that women can compete equally with the men. Men must
also be educated to understand that a patriarchal system would perpetuate a
mechanism of subordination and dependency that contradicts equal
competition which Villalobos defines as essential for a healthy society.

Unfortunately, as revealed in my fieldwork, the prospects of instituting
real democratic processes that go beyond rhetoric and that will help the
advancement of women are not very good. Villalobos states that the
centralization and lack of democracy in the revolutionary structures were
necessary because of the need for rapid mobilization and decision making,
and because of the dependency on external funds (Ibid.: 29, 36, 40, 42, 47, 51).
Villalobos’ justification could lead us to reconsider the theories of
community disintegration espoused by Adams and Foster as appropriate for
the analysis of the women’s organizations. However, the fact that men and
women’s organizations are experiencing similar patterns of difficulty does not
explain their differing rates in dissolution nor the different intensity of their
problems. These differences can only be explained by analyzing the double
subordination of women within the social system, and the forces which play a
role in their perpetuation as I have attempted to do with the theories I have

presented.

200
It is important to note that the ironies, contradictions and different

theories deriving from various sectors who are interpreting the so called
"same reality", bring to the fore the epistemological question of the origin,
purpose and creation of knowledge. It is evident that the objectives of each
theory described were different. Herein lies their power as tools of
representation and of their use for the perpetuation of women’s status quo.
The theory commonly presented in the literature searched for, and tried to
promote an image of gender equality and relative social justice in a situation
of social chaos and human calamity. The objective was to create an awareness
of the extreme adversity and struggle the women were facing, and to promote
support for their cause. However, in so doing, it disregarded important
evidence that contradicted its premises. It created an illusion of well being
that has presented an image of gender equality to international audiences,
obscuring the problems and needs of the women who are not members of the
Councils or of the organizations in general. _

The WCM 's own theory is a description of the women’s attempt to
rationalize and justify the problems which they were facing as an
organization, while attributing all the blame to the male dominated
organizations. It represents the Council members’ beginning awareness of,
and resistance to male domination. Unfortunately, it also reveals a lack of
self criticism and evaluation. It was strategically used to represent an image
of female strength, creativity and power over continuing female
subordination to international agencies and to solidarity workers in order to
appear worthy of funding.

The PADECOSMS theory is a promotion of the rhetoric of gender
equality and a protection of the mostly male-headed communal

organizational structures and procedures which, at the time, were struggling

201
for funds and making an exemplary effort to deal with class inequalities while

disregarding the pressing problems of gender inequality. It resembles the
second theory in that it does not accept responsibility for the demise of the
women’s organizations and does not reveal any self reflexivity. It is a
justification and defense of the status quo. This theory is more realistic than
the one presented in the literature, but functions to justify women’s problems
as resulting from their own incapacities and helps to perpetuate the image of
a general ideology of gender equality to the international audience which is
contradicted by women’s actual situation. In so doing, it leaves little room for
critical analysis that will enable actual gender problems to be dealt with
realistically and concretely while it accomplishes continuing funding for

women who, in the end, are not benefited.

The fourth and fifth theories are the ones I propose. The fourth theory,
which developed from my research, attempts to show why women extended
rather than changed their roles and spheres of participation. Its contribution
lies in its capacity to reveal, and account for, the complex dynamic interplay
between internal and external forces which affect the women's movement,
leading to the situation described above. This theory also illustrates the
relevance of the Social Ideology Approach. The reciprocal and mutually
constitutive dynamics of patriarchal ideology and the male-dominated
institutions of the family, the revolutionary structures, and their ensuing
hierarchical structures, become evident. These institutions, in turn, reinforce
the ideology that feeds them. The Social Ideology Approach helps to
understand why men such as the "Responsable" in the revolution, and
women in the organizations such as Mariana, both professing to believe in
women's equality, expressed a strong, but unconscious patriarchal ideological

bias which resulted in contradictions.

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The fifth Theory substitutes the concept "Extension of Spheres" for the

older concept of "Change of Spheres". This older theory posed the view that
the women's participation in war automatically conferred equality on them
by virtue of their new positions in it. On the contrary, my fieldwork revealed
that the women's roles in the war were truly an extension of their traditional
roles in a new scenario. Thus, they represent a change in degree and not in
kind since they are still encouraged, guided and controlled by the same male
biased and male dominated structures and priorities.

The fourth and fifth theories, therefore, clearly portray a feminist
stance which views women as a dominated gender. Women experience very
adverse social, cultural, structural and ideological limits to their development
and to the acknowledgment of their value as economic and cultural
participants of society.

Dominant culture, works through representations that are pliable and
powerful enough to conceal its exclusions and its internal contradictions
through a rhetoric of inclusion and universality. My analysis has
demonstrated different, subtle, yet powerful ways in which the neutralization
of women's adversarial presence has been attempted by the dominant
patriarchal culture. My analysis has also attempted, however, to reveal spaces
of possibility and resistance available to women. Perhaps Raymond
William's "epochal analysis of culture" (1977: 122) could enlighten us about
this process, and help us to resolve the limitations of the "Theory of
Continuity and Change".

What matters, finally, in understanding emergent culture, as

distinct from both the dominant and the residual, is that it is

never only a matter of immediate practice; indeed it depends

crucially on finding new forms or adaptations of form. Again
and again what we have to observe is in effect a pre—emergence,

203

active and pressing but not yet fully articulated, rather than the
evident emergence which could be more confidently named. It
is to understand more closely this condition of pre-emergence, as
well as the more evident forms of the emergent, the residual,
and the dominant, that we need to explore the concept of
structures of feeling (Ibid.: 126-127).

CHAPTER NINE

CONCLUSIONS

The exposition of the historical antecedents of the war and of the
women's movements in Morazan, as well as the analysis of the interviews
and the theories, provide answers to the five questions that were posed at the
beginning of this study. First of all, both the historical background and the
interviews with the women show the hegemony of patriarchal ideology
before the war. Women, especially those of lower income, were completely
subordinated to men in their own homes, in financial, as well as public and
political affairs.

Secondly, once the war began, men needed the women to enlist
sympathy and financial support for the war effort. Women could use their
roles as mothers and wives for this purpose, especially with the aid of the
church. This gave rise to the women's movements. The functioning of these
movements was affected by the men's control of the funds that international
agencies granted the women to foster feminist oriented organizations. They
also controlled supplies, placed obstacles to the celebration of women's
meetings and activities and, in the military, rewarded only those women who
obeyed their norms.

Thirdly, for the reasons stated above, during and shortly after the war,
the women's movement was not an effective agent in limiting or doing away

with patriarchal ideology. Fourthly, the hierarchical, male-controlled
204

205
military institutions, not only did not help women achieve equality, but ,

actually reinforced and perpetuated old patterns of male domination. The
women were asked to postpone their needs and aspirations for the sake of the
revolution.

Most of those who participated in the war effort in Morazan, did it in
addition to meeting their responsibilities as wives and mothers.
Furthermore, they merely extended their traditional female roles as
supporters, nurturers, cooks, and sexual partners into their war—related
activities without changing the nature of these.

No new ascertainable powers were born from their participation in the
war effort. In fact, those who participated as soldiers and officers had to
submit to norms which undermined their gender. In this way, the data
gathered in the field supported my initial hypothesis that gender equality was
at least doubtful and at most incipient.

As I have struggled to analyze all of the events I observed and
experienced in Morazan, however, I realized that every process entails a
passage from one situation to another, undergoing conflict in each transition,
confronting old ways of thinking and acting with new ones, which inevitably
create contradictions. Viewed from this perspective, it would be unrealistic to
expect the Women’s Communal Movement of Morazan to be a perfectly
functioning organization with a clear gender-oriented agenda at this point.
A visible limit in the theories I have proposed is the undermining of the
struggle for survival and the way priorities are determined in a situation of
chaos, strife and death. However, I believe that to have dwelled on this
would have prevented me from analyzing the causes of the women’s

continued status of subordination and could have led me into an exposition

206
that would have ultimately justified, as did some of the theories described,

their not so "equal" status quo.

To disregard, however, the possibilities available to the women would
be disingenuous and overly pessimistic. The tokenisms created to satisfy an
international demand for women’s programs and to disguise the continued
manipulation and control over women, ironically initiated a process of
female awareness (at the level of the individual) which might slowly
transform the gender-biased institutions and ideologies that were used to
support the Revolutionary struggle. It remains to be seen whether this new
awareness is strong enough to outlast the solution to the war crisis which
brought the women together in the first place, strong enough for women to

participate equally in the creation of a more just society.

 

EPILOGUE

I would like to address, once again, the problem of the ”Other” and the
inequality of power in the interview situation. As stated in the Preface, it is
obvious to me that the ultimate power is in the anthropologist’ 5 created text,
no matter how much she wishes to give those being interviewed their own
voice. However, to deny the transformative power which they have over us
would be to fall into an attitude of condescendence and paternalism. I have
been warned about being euphemistic and ignoring the inequality inherent in
”interlocution” when I use the terms ”work wi ” rather than ”study”. Yet, I
would argue that the term ”study” throws us in the other extreme and depicts
a totally unidirectional understanding which. cannot possibly occur when one
is involved in a conversation and interpretation of ideas with another social
and critical being. I believe that both I and my informants learned from each
other and were mutually transformed to some extent. For me this is
sufficient to interpret our interaction (at some level) as one of working
towards a goal of mutual understanding. I have often wondered who the
women I interacted with really were, and I realized that the most I could get a
glimpse of was who they were in the particular context of a women’s
organization created by a male dominated organization and foreign
institutions. Many times I have asked myself who was speaking to me
through the mouths of the women.

This is a problem I cannot resolve and this research is not a definitive

account of what happened to the women in the WCM. It is an interpretive
207

208
analysis whose aim is to achieve an understanding of the dynamics which

affect a sector of a population in its attempts at self definition under critical
conditions, and its claim at social space in the society to which it contributes.
It is also an attempt to understand the different forces and effects of
representation to which the organized women are exposed. I cannot deny, for
example, that my presence in the Zone acted as a similar source of pressure as
the international agencies. I was perceived as a threat by those who did not
wish me to get a close view of the problematic interactions between the
WCM, AMS, and PADECOSMS. Although I never offered money or
promised to bring in projects, I was also treated as a solidarity member who
could ostensibly bring in funds or support in the future. Therefore, the
information presented in this thesis must be viewed within the context of my
interaction with the women and the identities which I assumed or could not

”shake off”.

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214

. ___l : i‘w .4- R ._, - - l : qv- o_ l' :r‘ r .1::.ll. .ao
W222
Association of Salvadoran Women [AMS]
Center for Feminist Studies [CEF]
Christian Base Communities [CEBES]
Congegation of Christian Mothers [CCM]
Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front: female and male Combatants
International Solidarity Members
National Coordinator of Women of El Salvador [CONAMUS]

Patronage for the Development of the Communities of San Miguel and

Morazan [PADECOSMS]
Central Office Administrators

PADECOSMS' Comedor Cooks
PADECOSMS Maternal Health Care Workers
Women for Dignity and Life [DIGNAS]

Women's Communal Movement [WCM] Council

WCM Boards of Directors: Arambala, Torola, San Fernando, Zancudo, Galera,
Nahuaterique, Carrizal, Caiman

 

AMS Gender Theory Workshop (Observation)
WCM-AMS-PADECOSMS Meeting (Observation)

WCM Council Meetings
WCM-DIGNAS Meeting (Observation)

WCM Workshops