Si Evita Viviera

1. Si EvitaViviera By Nancy Caro Hollander - 1974 Presented by Cassandra Hay

2. peronism • Politically mobilize women • Women are actively participating • Example of the People’s Republic of China by Perón • Appeal to the masses of Argentine women • 1949 – 31.37% of capital city’s industrial workers

3. Women and fascism • Peronism – progressive nationalist movement - principle stressed the equality and dignity of the working class • Indication of progressive nature was its posture toward the social and political status of women “Women must play a passive part... My notion of women’s role in the States is utterly opposed to feminism. I do not want women to be slaves, but here in Italy, if I proposed to give out women votes, they would laugh to scorn. As far as political life is concerned, they do not count here.” • Mussolini “The mother should be able to devote herself entirely to her children and her family, the wife, to the husband… Employment should remain given over to the man.” • Dr. Wilhelm Frick, German Minister of the Interior

4. Class Roles of women • Women experienced an improvement in their economic, political and social status • Best symbol of women’s changing role was Eva Perón • Most striking social change to occur under Perón was the political mobilization of women • PeronistRieffoloBessone, 1950 • “In my opinion, the most important of the social changes of Peronism is the vote for women, not only for what it signifies today, but also for its meaning in the future. I understand that the woman’s role directly attacks the very essence of the State and transforms it, giving it new dimensions of which some are predictable and some are unforeseen.” • Appeal of Peronist movement

5. Women under the first peronist regime • Women’s Division of Labor and Assistance • Number of women workers • Goal was improvement in the work conditions and wages of increasing number of working women • Some improvements occurred • in 1955, following the military coup which forcibly removed Perón from power, the divorce law was abolished • Conquest of suffrage and right to be elected to public office

6. Evita and the women’s movement • Arguments parallel earlier feminists • September 23, established absolute political equality between men and women • Women voted in the elections of Nov. 11, 1951 • Working class – large % voted in favor of Peronism • Upper middle class districts – majority of women and men voted for the liberal Radical ticket • “Women voted more from a sense of class than in gratitude for the suffrage law” Alicia Moreau • All elected female candidates were Peronists • 7 female Senators and 24 female Deputies took seats in national Congress • April 25, 1953, the Deputies of the national Congress elected Delia de Parodi as vice president • Symbolizes the rising status of women

7. Unidadesbásicas(basic units or cells) • Functions • Affiliate women with the Peronist movement • Provide a social meeting place for women outside their homes • Provide day care centers for the young children of women • Supply free legal and medical aid • Offer classes in language skills • Painting and sewing • Offer conferences • Lectures and discussions of current events • Give annual exhibits of the work which the women had accomplished during the year

8. Peronist women’s party • Under leadership of Eva Perón • Motives • The separate party was essential within the movement so that women could be free to develop their own ideas in their own way • Based on Peronist doctrine • The ideology of Peronism continued to restrict them by traditional patriarchal concepts • Contradictory image of women in school textbook

9. The Peronist Youth song • Men’s Version • The Peronist youth All united we will triumph And as always we will give A cry from the heart Viva Perón! Viva Perón! For that great Argentine Who knew how to conquer The great masses of the people Combating capital (the capitalist class) • Women’s Version • The Peronist young women With Evita we will triumph And with her we will offer Our life for Perón Viva Perón! Viva Perón! For Perón and for Evita We want to give our lives For Captain Evita And for General Perón

10. Evita as political activist • “We married because we loved each other, and we loved each other because we wanted the same thing. In different ways, we both had wanted to do the same thing; he, knowing well what he wanted to; I, by only intuiting it; he, with intelligence; I, with the heart; he, prepared for the struggle; I, disposed to all without knowing anything; he, cultured and I, simple; he, enormous and I, small; he, the teacher and I, the student. He, the figure and I, the shadow.”

11. Evita as political activist • Feminism blunted by acceptance of the male as repository intellect and action and the female as the custodian of emotion and intuition • Evita considered the representation of the left within Peronism • Evita’s class resentment was reinforced by her anger which came from being a woman in patriarchal society • She concluded the world would benefit from the positive influence of women in the political arena • Peronist divided by right wing, representing bourgeoisie and conciliatory leaders of the CGT bureaucracy, and left wing, composed of rank and file workers, the petty bourgeoisie and students who are struggling to bring about radical social and economic change as a solution to the problems of their country • The left within Peronism that embraces the image of Evita as its symbol of struggle

12. The contradictions of peronist feminist ideology • Patriarchal values define woman as inherently more emotional, loving, gentle, passive, pacific, and les intellectual than man • Idealized for these qualities but also asserted that she is inferior to man and therefore roles of mother and wife • Peronism encourages those values and justifies the political equality of women because of them • Contradictions within Peronist ideology regarding women attributed for its wide appeal

13. The contradictions of peronist feminist ideology • Whatever advances women and working class experienced under Perón were undercut, especially after the 1955 military coup which removed him from office • Present condition of women: increasing unemployment among women workers, declining opportunities for female college graduates and a decrease in female participation in the political life

14. AgupacionEvita • Influence the conservative politics of the traditional Women’s Branch of the Peronist movement • Provides an organized opportunity for leftist female activists to reach women in the factories, slums and poor neighborhoods of Argentine in order to politicize them • Separate organization of women necessary • Struggle now to benefit the future

15. Class antagonisms • Division between right wing and left wing • Both right and left tendencies are symbolized by women • Evita’s contradictions while she lived are now separated into the antagonistic symbols of Isabel and the right wing of Peronism on the one hand, and the left wing on the other.