Searching for empowerment : Chilean women & the case of ComunidadMujer : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Politics at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
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Date
2016
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Massey University
Abstract
Chile’s neoliberal political economy appears to frustrate women’s empowerment.
The privatisation of social services combines with minimalist social provisioning to
make women’s social reproduction burdens greater. Cultural expectations linking
women’s identities to care complicate the stringencies of the neoliberal context. The
research carries out a qualitative investigation into the empowerment practices of
ComunidadMujer, a prominent feminist organisation with a history of activism on
women's equality issues. By comparing their practices with the testimonies of
diverse Chilean women sharing their experiences, this research reveals that
ComunidadMujer’s discourses exemplify, rather than challenge neoliberal logic. An
interpretative exploration of the data uncovers women’s uncertainty and
disempowerment, not due entirely to conditions of socio-economic equality, but also
to certain problematic discourses inflecting subjectivity, which disregard social
reproduction.