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Women's Rights and Opposition: Explaining the Stunted Rise and Sudden Reversals of Progressive Violence against Women Policies in Contentious Contexts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 September 2019

Cheryl O'Brien  and
Shannon Drysdale Walsh Open the ORCID record for Shannon Drysdale Walsh [Opens in a new window]
Cheryl O'Brien*
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, San Diego State University
Shannon Drysdale Walsh
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Minnesota Duluth
*
*Corresponding author. Email: cobrien@sdsu.edu.
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Abstract

International conventions and domestic laws have been enacted to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women worldwide. However, these progressive policy initiatives have faced opposition in contentious contexts where policy rivals have contested their creation and implementation. Existing scholarship focuses primarily on progressive networks that have led to policy advances, such as violence against women (VAW) policies, while emerging literature has noted their limited impact and implementation. However, there is scant attention paid to one major underlying cause of limited impact and problematic implementation: that there is sustained opposition to these policies by policy rivals that resist and undermine progressive policies. We identify opponents and entrenched opposition to VAW laws in Mexico and Nicaragua in the 1990s and 2010s. We also identify how these opponents leverage ties with the state and utilise ‘family discourse’, framing progressives as anti-family, as strategies and mechanisms for stunting and even reversing VAW laws.

Spanish abstract

Spanish abstract

Convenciones internacionales y leyes domésticas han sido promulgadas para prevenir, castigar y erradicar la violencia contra las mujeres a nivel mundial. Sin embargo, estas iniciativas progresistas han tenido oposición en contextos contenciosos donde rivales políticos han desafiado su creación e implementación. Los trabajos académicos existentes se han enfocado primeramente en las redes progresistas que han llevado a logros en políticas progresistas, como la de la violencia contra la mujer (VCM), mientras que textos más recientes han notado más bien un impacto e implementación limitados. Sin embargo, se ha prestado poca atención a una causa fundamental del limitado impacto y la difícil implementación: la sostenida oposición a estas políticas de parte de rivales políticos que resisten y minan las políticas progresistas. En este artículo identificamos oponentes duros a las leyes VCM en México y Nicaragua en los años 1990s y 2010s. También identificamos cómo estas fuerzas opositoras utilizan los lazos con el estado y los discursos de ‘familia’ para encuadrar a los progresistas como anti-familia dentro de sus estrategias y mecanismos para inhibir e incluso revertir las leyes de la VCM.

Portuguese abstract

Portuguese abstract

Convenções internacionais e leis domésticas que visam prevenir, punir e erradicar a violência contra mulheres têm sido implementadas no mundo inteiro. No entanto, estas iniciativas progressivas enfrentaram oposição em contextos mais contenciosos, onde rivais destas políticas se opuseram à implementação e criação das mesmas. Pesquisas concluidos focam primariamente em redes progressivas que levaram à avanços políticos progressivos, tais quais as políticas que tratam de violência contra mulheres (VAW em inglês), ao mesmo tempo em que novas publicações reconhecem a limitação em impacto e implementação dessas políticas. Entretanto, pouca atenção é dada à um dos principais fatores que limitam o impacto e dificultam a implementação dessas políticas: a existência de uma constante oposição por parte dos rivais das mesmas que resistem e enfraquecem políticas progressivas. Identificamos adversários e arraigadas oposições à leis VAW no México e na Nicarágua nos anos 90 e na primeira década do século 21. Identificamos também como essa oposição usou seus vínculos com o estado e se utilizou de discursos de ‘família’, caracterizando os progressistas como anti-família como estratégia e mecanismo para diminuir o impacto ou até mesmo reverter as leis VAW.

Keywords

transnational advocacy networkswomen's rightsreligionviolence against womenMexicoNicaraguaCentral America and Latin Americaprogressive policy changeimplementationconservative groupsredes de defensa transnacionalderechos de las mujeresreligiónviolencia contra mujeresMéxicoNicaraguaCentroamérica y Latinoaméricapolíticas de cambio progresistasimplementaciónRedes de advocacia transnacionaldireitos das mulheresreligiãoviolência contra mulheresMéxicoNicaráguaAmérica Central e América Latinamudança progressiva de políticasimplementação
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 52 , Issue 1 , February 2020 , pp. 107 - 131
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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53 Anonymous (civil society actor), interview 10, by Cheryl O'Brien, Guadalajara, Feb. 2012.

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55 Anonymous (civil society actors), interviews 2, 3, 6, 15 and 19, by Cheryl O'Brien, Guadalajara, Feb. 2012. Author read and confirmed the cardinal's letter to United Voices during interview 15.

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61 Anonymous (civil society actor), interview 15, by Cheryl O'Brien, Guadalajara, Feb. 2012.

62 Ibid.

63 Anonymous (civil society actors), interviews 2, 6, 10, 15, 16 and 19, by Cheryl O'Brien, Guadalajara, Feb. 2012.

64 Anonymous (civil society actor), interview 7, by Cheryl O'Brien, Guadalajara, Feb. 2012.

65 Anonymous (civil society actors), interviews 2, 7, 10, 15, 16 and 19, by Cheryl O'Brien, Guadalajara, Feb. 2012.

66 Ibid.

67 Anonymous (civil society actor), interview 16, by Cheryl O'Brien, Guadalajara, Feb. 2012.

68 Anonymous (civil society actor), interview 19, by Cheryl O'Brien, Guadalajara, Feb. 2012.

69 Anonymous (civil society actor), interview 2, by Cheryl O'Brien, Guadalajara, Feb. 2012.

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77 Solís, ‘The Reform’; Alba Luz Ramos, ‘II encuentro abordaje de la violencia contra las mujeres, niñez y adolescencia. Cumplimiento de los compromisos de Belem [sic] do Pará y acceso a al [sic] justicia’, Managua, 8 Sept. 2010, p. 15.

78 Anonymous (non-state actor), interview by Shannon Drysdale Walsh, Managua, 31 July 2015.

79 Nicaraguan Government, Decree 42–2014, ‘Reglamento a la Ley 779, ley integral contra la violencia hacia las mujeres y de reformas a la Ley 641, “Código Penal”’, approved 30 July 2014, published in La Gaceta, Managua, 31 July 2014.

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97 Anonymous (state actor), interview by Shannon Drysdale Walsh, Managua, 30 July 2015.

98 Nicaraguan National Assembly, Law 779, Article 5.

99 Ibid., Article 8.

100 Ibid., p. 9.

101 Ibid., Articles 31–3.

102 Jubb, ‘Love, Family Values’.

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105 Solís, ‘The Reform’.

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107 Jubb, ‘Love, Family Values’.

108 Danilo Martínez, quoted in Chester Membreño, ‘La Ley 779 y los abogados democráticos’, La Prensa, Managua, 18 June 2013.

109 Ibid.

110 Solís, ‘The Reform’, p. 6; Nicaraguan National Assembly, ‘Ley N°. 846, ley de modificación al artículo 46 y de adición a los artículos 30, 31 y 32 de la Ley No. 779, ley integral contra la violencia hacia las mujeres y de reformas a la Ley No. 641, “Código Penal”’, passed 25 Sept. 2013, published 1 Oct. 2013.

111 Nicaraguan Government, Decree 42–2014.

112 Article 1 and Consideration 2, as quoted in Movimiento Renovador Sandinista (Sandinista Renovation Movement, MRS), Red de Mujeres (Women's Network), ‘Cuadro comparativo Ley 779 y Decreto 42–2014 (reglamento a la Ley 779)’, Managua, 2014. See this document for a detailed comparison of the original Law 779 and the revised version.

113 Anonymous (civil society actor), email exchange with Shannon Drysdale Walsh, 15 Aug. 2015.

114 Close et al. (eds.), The Sandinistas and Nicaragua Since 1979.

115 Anonymous (civil society actor), interview by Shannon Drysdale Walsh, Managua, 31 July 2015.

116 Htun and Weldon, ‘When Do Governments’.

117 Pew Research Center, ‘Religion in Latin America: Widespread Change in a Historically Catholic Region’, Pew Research Center, Washington DC, 13 Nov. 2014, available at www.pewforum.org/2014/11/13/religion-in-latin-america/#history-of-religious-change, last access 14 May 2019.

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