Vol. 71/No. 16 April 23, 2007
Half of the delegates came from Venezuela, many of them active in government-sponsored programs to make education, medical care, and other social services more accessible to working people. Others came from youth and womens organizations in countries around the world. These include El Salvador, Mexico, Lebanon, Bolivia, India, Brazil, Greece, Germany, Cuba, Guatemala, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and the United States. Nearly half of the participants were in their 20s and 30s.
Most of the discussion took place in five workshops on themes such as The Negative Effects of Neoliberal Globalization on Women, Building International Solidarity Against Political Repression and Violence Against Women, and The History of WIDF.
Many at the workshop on what is called neoliberalism spoke in general terms about the political situation in their countries. Some focused more directly on how capitalisms worldwide economic crisis affects the struggle for womens equality.
Cutbacks in public health, education, and other social services reduce womens ability to participate in social life, said Luzbelia Marín, national coordinator of the Manuelita Sáenz Womens Movement (MoMuMaS). One of several national womens organizations in Venezuela, MoMuMaS works to increase womens involvement in government-sponsored social programs. It is named after the companion of Simón Bolívar, known as the liberator of Latin America. Sáenz herself fought in the struggle for Latin Americas independence from Spanish colonial rule in the nineteenth century.
One of the biggest problems we have with the community programs is that women cannot participate because they have to stay at home and watch the children, said Alba Fernández, a student at the Bolivarian University in Carabobo, in Valencia. We go house to house, and many of the women we talk to want to study, want to participate in programs to learn art, culture, and history, but their responsibilities at home are too much and their husbands will not help with housework.
Constitutional protections can guarantee womens equality by law, said Tania García from the Federation of Cuban Women. But only social movements can enforce these laws and bring womens equality closer to being a reality.
Ongoing struggles in Argentina, Mexico, and Venezuela for womens right to choose abortion went largely unreflected in the discussion.
Cuts in public health in capitalist countries are causing a re-criminalization of abortion where it is legal because abortion is not accessible to most women, Marín noted in her opening remarks, but no one addressed the question of a womans right to choose from the floor.
Abortion remains illegal in Venezuela, as elsewhere throughout most of Latin America. The only exceptions are Barbados, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guyana.
In recent years women have fought for its decriminalization. The final declaration of the youth congress demands universal access to abortion in all countries.
At the opening ceremony of the WIDF congress on April 9, WIDF president Marcia Campos, of the Federation of Brazilian Women and the October 8 Revolutionary Movement (MR8), said that nearly 1,000 delegates and guests representing 163 organizations in more than 80 countries had registered.
This is the first WIDF congress to take place in Latin America, and the largest since 1991. The last WIDF congress was held in Lebanon in 2003.
Campos reported that the largest delegations here are from Venezuela, Brazil, and Cuba. The Cuban delegation includes 40 women currently serving internationalist missions in Venezuela as doctors and other medical personnel, teachers, sports instructors, agricultural specialists, and in other capacities.
Delegates from 16 African countries are participating, including the Womens League of the African National Congress of South Africa, and the Association of Angolan Businesswomen. Women are here from 25 countries in Europe, 11 in the Middle East, and 6 in Asia.
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