Women in transition to democracy.

The introduction to this essay which considers the role of women during the period of political and social transition in Argentina Chile Uruguay and Brazil notes that one of the main roles of women was to reveal and denounce the authoritarian mechanisms of private and public institutions that women were able to create their own organizations even though they may have been less successful in gaining representation in the political system and that the transition enabled creation of an alliance of women across social classes. The essay continues with a focused look at different interpretations of whether womens movements were successful in meeting their goals during this period. After a discussion of the concept of social democratization the essay details the womens movement during the 1980s paying particular attention to human rights organizations economic survival organizations and feminist groups. The next section reviews the feminist proposal for a redefined democracy that includes the struggle for womens liberation and highlights the debate among feminists about whether a strategy to achieve wider social change should originate within or outside of the political system. The essay ends with a description of how the feminist movement influenced the political agenda of the period gaining incorporation of some issues and meeting resistance over others. This section notes that while womens proposals have aided the democratic transition the transition has restored the role of traditional political organizations instead of aiding the organization of women and feminism remains marginalized.