Gender and Politics: La Madres De La Plaza De Mayo

The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo; Argentina’s Dirty War

Las Madres Protesting in Plaza de Mayo

         There has been some debate surrounding the Mothers who protest the government in Argentina, demanding answers as to why their children and grandchildren have gone missing. This debate surrounds feminism and how Las Madre’s activism somehow worked against the Latin American feminist movement in the late 1970’s to the early 1980’s. The Dirty War in Argentina isn’t well known to Western society, I have recently only learned about it through three courses I have taken with Dr. Valle-Castro. Since there is such a deep-rooted history between Las Madres and the Argentinean Government I will share the link to a video in which you can watch to inform yourself more about the history of this subject. YouTube on La Madres

An image of just some of the many missing children from Argentina's Dirty War

To me, the rejection of second wave feminism by Las Madre’s was something I felt they were entitled to as second wave feminism only truly catered to white, middle class women who were told to leave the home, join the workforce and dismantle the patriarchy. Las Madres were making their personal political; they were fighting for answers for their missing children and grandchildren that the Argentine government had stolen from them. Las Madres “rallied around their common identity as mothers [and grandmothers] to bear witness to their experiences and confronted the authoritarian government in the public on moral rather than political grounds” (Fraser 37).

         The Madres put up with harassment, they lived in fear of the Government themselves yet they persevered as a group of women who stood together to fight for what they believed was socially and immorally wrong. It was said that “Las Madres were viewed by many feminists as apolitical beings who were none the less permitted—to an extent—an interest in social issues as an extension of their mothering role” (Howe 44). But the role of a mother is a job within itself and that frame of mind is something that the second wave of feminism failed to accept. It’s no wonder these women rejected feminism; they felt they had no place in the movement. Would you not feel the same? But what the feminist movement failed to acknowledge is that this was a group of women who stood together to protest something they believed (and was) a political issue that the Argentine government was called to address.

         Another interesting political point is that Las Madre's occupied space that the government didn't intervene in. Instead these mothers and grandmothers walked in public, denouncing the Governments actions but were not punished, detained and murdered for their actions. However, if they were not a group of madre's or grandmothers would they have had the same security? Their children were protesting against the Argentine government and were deemed "terrorists and subversives" (Fraser 37)

The Argentinan Government forcefully detaining what they described as a "terrorist".

but instead the “government focused on diminishing the legitimacy of Las Madre's; having the press refer to these women as the Locas de la Plaza de Mayo (meaning the crazy mothers)” (Fraser 37). How ironic, women who protest the government by acting and taking a stand against it are labeled as crazy. It's no surprise that the Argentine government would use terminology such as that to undermine this movement. After all; women are dismissed as hysterical and delusional in society today when we speak up against what we feel is morally and politically defective. But back to the question of security, the Madre's had control for the simple fact that they were, indeed, mothers. “Their very presence was a statement of security, as women did not traditionally have a role in politics” (Fraser 37) so the fact that these women, mothers at that, formed a group that protested the governments actions shows that “success in overcoming the silence and opening a public discourse while raising national and international support for their cause shows that entrenched enemy images can be overcome” (Fraser 38). As they say, there is power in numbers and when the personal becomes political and is inclusive and intersectional women's voices cannot be dismissed.

Now, to tackle the issue of Trump! 

You've got to be kidding me...

Works Cited

Fraser, H M. “"Los Desaparecidos": The Madres of the Plaza de Mayo and the Reframing of the Victims.” Canadian Woman Studies, vol. 27, no. 1, 2009, pp. 36–39. Proquest, Accessed 18 Feb. 2017. 

Howe, Sara E. “The Madres de la PLaza de Mayo: asserting motherhood; rejecting feminism?” Journal of International Women's Studies, vol. 7, no. 3, Mar. 2006, pp. 43–50., Accessed 18 Feb. 2017.