Dedicated Lives: Women organising for a fairer world

8/7/2019 Dedicated Lives: Women organising for a fairer world

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58 Dedicated Lives

and obtain genuine equal rights; Mexico's laws, which give women equalitywith men, are rarely implemented or respected.

Our isolated little works will not change anything unless we getlinked and organised and force things to happen.

CIDHAL is not working in isolation; it works in alliance with otherwomen's organisations and with other movements, and with networksconcerned with issues such as the FTA or health. The feminist movementworks to have a strong voice in the whole social movement. Carola admitsthat it is hard work building alliances and constantly ensuring the feministvoice is heard:

The groups and organisations listen and understand and try to includeour demands in whatever negotiations are going on. Our insistence canseem threatening but at the same time they know it is essential.

The feminist movement in Mexico has also built very strong connectionswith other Latin American movements and networks on health,reproductive rights, violence, and on foreign cooperation. There is also anetwork of documentation centres. In Carola's words, these networks are'all starting to strengthen us'. CIDHAL in particular has supported theemerging w omen's movements in Central America in the 1980s.

In her private life, too, the process of education and consciousness, and ofsearching for more equal ways of relating to others, is continuous. Herparents approve of her work but tend to see it as charitable activity ratherthan radical. When Carola's children were young they accompanied her to

the rural areas and the slums and went to meetings and demonstrations.Carola now lives with her son of 19 and her daughter who returns home atweekends from university. She regards them as her best friends. Carolaherself already has a degree in education but is now studying for a seconddegree in rural development. Her personal ambition is 'to grow old, wise,and young, and to be of help to my people'. She is hopeful that even thesmall contribution which CIDHAL is making will help other women andmen. For her, feminism is about creating a better world for women, menand children:

Feminism is a practical and theoretical way of looking at life... I thinkfeminism is looking for changes, looking for a better world. Feminismis not only to do with women, it integrates. It has to do with every-thing. We want a more harmonious world, in relation to men, tonature, to everything. In that sense it is a very radical movementbecause we want changes in every sphere, the private, the political,the public.


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Conclusion:South/North relations

In February 1992, the eight women whose lives and work are described inthis book came to the United Kingdom and Ireland as part of the OxfamGender and Development Unit's project to mark the organisation's fiftiethanniversary. The project, called 'Women to Women: Worldwide Linking forDevelopment', which will run for three years, aims to strengthen women'sinternational networking. Its specific objectives are to bring wom en togetherfrom around the world to exchange ideas on development practice, topublicise Oxfam's work with women, and to strategise on gender issues.During their three-week stay, the women visited a wide range of women'sorganisations, community groups, trade unions, and agencies involved indevelopment to exchange ideas on issues as diverse as urban environment,health, violence, agriculture, and development cooperation. The interviewson which this book is based were carried out during this visit. In 1993-4there will be an international conference and South-South exchanges onspecific themes such as health and reproductive rights, culture and politicalparticipation, environment and development.

The Women to Women project is the logical extension of Oxfam's supportto women's organisations over many years. In the view of all the women inthis book facilitating n etw orks is the single most im po rtan t role forNorthern-based NGOs, like Oxfam. In Vanete Alm eida's opinion,

Organisations like Oxfam can assist by helping us to network withwomen in other countries and to facilitate the exchange of experiences.

Of course, this is not the only role for Oxfam. All eight women alsostressed how important it was for Northern NGOs to raise public awarenessin their own countries, to increase people's understanding of theinternational situation and of gender issues. As Mariam Dem says, agencieslike Oxfam can:

...create the connection between the people of the North and South, interms of better knowledge one of the other, in terms of explaining and

making people really feel the responsibility of the internationalenvironment and the policies carried out in our countries around debt,for example. They could create a climate of opinion in their countrieswhich could have an effect on government policies.


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60 Dedicated Lives

But the spirit in which funding and raising public awareness is carried outis important. All eight women have firm opinions on the kind ofrelationship that should exist between funding agencies and organisationsin the South. Mariam Dem believes that funders 'must work with thephilosophy that development is the obligation and responsibility of the

people there'. They want a new relationship between South and North, asAida Seif El Dawla says, based on 'equality rather than generosity'.CarolaCarbajal Rios sums up the Women to Women project from her perspective:

The most important thing about this kind of project is the interchangebetween women. We learn a lot about what other women are doingand we can express our opinions. This kind of first-hand interchangeis so helpful to both sides. It is a more democratic way of relating.

International solidarityIt is clear that women's collective action cannot stop at local or nationallevel. To broaden the opportunities for information sharing and to gaingreater strength women need to build international networks. The UnitedNations Decade for Women, 1976-1985, opened up possibilities for women'sorganisations to grow in numbers and make contact with others regionallyand internationally. Gradually it is becoming easier to obtain financialsupport for representatives of women's organisations to travel; and fundsare available for women's South/N orth or South/South networks.

This South/North exchange of ideas, particularly between women's

organisations, has in the last 20 years enabled new approaches to social,economic and political life to emerge approaches which stressed theimportance of addressing the gender-based inequalities women face atevery level as a prerequisite to more just societies.

It would be foolish to underestimate the barriers to building stronginternational alliances between women or to assume an automatic solidarityon the basis of gender. Societies in the N orth are vastly different from thosein the South in terms of access to resources, support services, health andeducation facilities, and legal rights. The legacy of centuries of systematicexploitation and colonialism cannot be dismissed, nor can the ever-

widening gap between South and North. Yet women all over the worldshare some common problems: discrimination; greater poverty amongstwomen; the triple burden of family, paid work, and community; the sexualdivision of labour; male violence; and marginalisation from politicaldecision-making. They also share a concern for the global environment.

The omen feat red here al e international net orking b t the do not

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Dedicated Lives: Women organising for a fairer world

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