The Revolution Question: Feminisms in El Salvador, Chile, and Cuba

by Julie D. Shayne

What do women do for revolutions? And what do revolutions do for women? Julie Shayne explores the roles of women in revolutionary struggles and the relationship of these movements to the emergence of feminism. Focusing upon the three very different cases of El Salvador, Chile, and Cuba, Shayne documents the roles of women in armed and unarmed political activities. She argues that women contribute to and participate in revolutionary movements in ways quite distinct from men. Despite the fact that their political contributions tend to be seen as less important than those of their male comrades, the roles that women play are actually quite significant to the expansion of revolutionary movements. Shayne also explains how, given the convergence of political and ideological factors, feminism is often born in the wake of revolutionary movements. As a result, revolutionary feminism is a struggle that addresses larger structures of political and economic inequalities. Based on extensive in-depth interviews with activists in all three countries, The Revolution Question offers new insight into the complex gender relations underlying revolutionary social movements and enables us to re-assess both the ways that women affect political struggle and the ways in which political struggle affects women.

Genres: History, Feminism

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

I was born and raised in California. I received a BA and MA in Women's Studies from San Francisco State University and a second MA and Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California at Santa Barbara. I became active in Latin American politics during the Reagan administration as a result of the intensive U.S. intervention in Central America.

I am a Teaching Professor of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies and Global Studies at the University of Washington Bothell.

I write and teach about feminism and revolution in Latin America; social movements and culture; political exile; diaspora; critical development studies, and feminist research.

I have written and edited four books and am presently working on one about the movement that organized for Kamala Harris's 2024 electoral bid.

I also write for Ms. Magazine, online: https://msmagazine.com/author/jshayne/

Reviews

[Jared Houston]

Fantastic book that demonstrates how feminism is inextricably linked and necessary to the success of socialist revolution.

[Bianca]

Read up on revolutions. See that women are not the weaker sex and be amazed that we never learn about any of this in school.