Venezuelan Women’s Organizing

I stand in an ocean of women, an ocean that I am accustomed to swimming in these days. Women from all over Venezuela have gathered in Caracas, proudly wearing red, the color of revolution. They join in solidarity to protest a ruling that has annulled a law designed to protect women and the family against violence. Maria León, president of the government-supported women’s organization, Inamujer (National Institute of Women), offers hope to the other compañeras: “We will win because we have it in our hearts. We will have justice.” 

In 1999 the people and the Chavez government collaborated in writing a new constitution for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Venezuela became the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to include a gender perspective within its constitution. Little pocket-sized constitutions and booklets of laws are sold on every corner and the majority of women I know proudly carry a copy. The people strongly believe in these rights, such as the constitution’s Article 88, the Equal Opportunity Law for Women, and the Law Against Violence Towards Women and the Family. Influential governmental women’s organizations, such as Inamujer and Banmujer, play an important role in women’s liberation work, helping to ensure the implementation of laws and programs supporting women through groups like Madres del Barrio (Mother’s of the Neighborhood). 

These, among other laws and services, are great achievements in the struggle for women’s rights. But when government laws and protections serve as the source for organizing among women, does this take away their assertiveness to claim/take our own power that we, as women, rightfully deserve? As a woman, I have had little faith in the laws of my country or in a constitution written by “white men” in the 1700s, which continues to be interpreted by new generations of white men. The system of government that I know is historically rooted in hierarchical/patriarchal structures. These penetrate every aspect of our lives, be it social, political, or economic. 

“Women are always the ones who have to pay. This is how machismo works, but it will not always be like this. We need to work for our own respect. We have laws that protect us, people need to respect the laws and respect us,” Lezly Belkys Lopez explains to me during a women’s protest. 

The law, passed in 1998, was written and implemented by Inamujer, which officially holds the main responsibility of “supervising and evaluating policies related to the condition and situation of women.” The annulled articles prohibited the perpetrator/violator from visiting the home or workplace of the survivor. Inamujer mobilized their locally organized groups of women throughout Venezuela (Puntos de Encuentro) to protest these annulments, which were decided by five male Supreme Court judges in May 2006 and cannot be lawfully reviewed. Therefore, within the blink of an eye, the law has changed, leaving women vulnerable. This example shows us that although Inamujer and other groups fought incredibly hard to write and pass this important law, five men holding an immense amount of power were capable of completely destabilizing populations of women at risk. Here, I would suggest that the reliance on “protective laws” is not enough. 

T hankfully, Venezuela has more to offer than just “protective laws.” The government encourages people to create changes from the base. Banmujer, founded on International Women’s Day 2001, supplies micro-credit loans to cooperatives consisting of 5-20 women to start their own business. Each woman receives 2,000,000 Bolivares ($930) with a 12 percent interest rate (6 percent if agriculturally related) to be repaid within 3 years. These services have reached approximately 50,000 women each year, supporting the economic independence of poverty stricken women throughout Venezuela. Not only is this institution helping to decrease the feminization of poverty, it is also supplying valuable empowerment skills to its users while fostering the idea of a popular economy. The users have also formed local support networks (Red Usuarias de Banmujer) to organize within the community and patronize one another’s businesses. Women in Venezuela are being offered opportunities that no government in their past has given them before. 

Equally impressive and empowering is Article 88 of the Constitution, which “recognizes work in the home as an economic activity that creates added value and produces social welfare and wealth.” The article also states that women working at home are entitled to social security. Article 88 is not only the result of women’s hard work, but also the work of women fighting for this recognition all over the world. The words alone are strong, but little had been done to implement this article until March of this year when the government initiated the Madres Del Barrio Mission. Created by the work ministry, Madres del Barrio began a 6-month trial period in which almost 200,000 women in “extreme poverty” received between 279,000372,000 Bolivares ($120$173) a month to help eradicate poverty. 

When women apply for this assistance, they are subjected to a series of evaluations and interviews to determine the level of need among the applicants. Carolina Vecatequi, a regional Caracas coordinator for the mission explains: “The financial support is not the main benefit. But, with this support, women will be able to enroll and integrate into other missions. They will receive education from Missions Robinson, Ribas, or Sucre, enroll in a Vuelvan Caras workshop [mission that trains people in specific employment skills who form work cooperatives] or be accredited a micro loan to start a collective business.” At the end of six months, the monetary assistance is terminated with the expectation that women have integrated themselves in other social programs and services that will be able to provide some income. This support is helping women in the struggle for liberation and rights. However, there are aspects of this support that have left me with questions.