THE AFFECTS POLITICAL CHANGE IN VENEZUELA 1

The Affects Political Change in

Venezuela have on Gender Equality
Jema Bravo
Wesleyan College
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The topic of gender equality is one that has been debated for many years, and will continue

to be at the center of attention until it has been resolved. It is easy to openly discuss all of the

challenges and differences that occur between the sexes, however it is necessary to determine how

these inequalities were created. A major factor that usually partakes in defining these gender roles

is the political infrastructure that is in power at the time. The particular case study that will be

used to identify how different regimes affect gender equality is the country of Venezuela . The

research indicated within this paper will go into detail of how the constant change in governmental

structure, over previous decades up until present day, has influenced the journey of gender equality

and how it has experienced both negative and positive outcomes.

Venezuela is a unique country that has under gone many changes to its political identity. It

is important to understand the countrys governmental background before comparing and

contrasting its effects on the gender roles of its citizens. By understanding the different political

infrastructures that were in power, as well as understanding the background of those who

ruled/rule, it is easier to determine why certain gender inequalities occurred. Over the course of

Venezuelas history it becomes apparent that certain time periods as well as under certain rulers

there were both negative and positive changes to the dynamics of gender equality. These

allegations will be proven through the use of the United Nations Gender Inequality Index and

other forms of data gathered by professional organizations. The information that will be presented

will help conclude what type of presence gender equality has in modern day Venezuela, and will

help justify if it is possible that this matter of gender equality will continue in a positive direction.

In order to understand how the genders interact in a social aspect, it is important to be fully

aware of Venezuelas political history. Venezuela was first discovered by Christopher Columbus
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in 1498, with the first Spanish settlement occurring in 1523. The country was under Spanish rule

until early nineteenth century. After its colonial rule, it became a part of The Republic of Gran

Colombia in 1819 under the rule of Simn Bolvar. During that period The Republic of Gran

Colombia was comprised of Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela until 1829 when Venezuela broke

away and gained its own independence (Timeline: Venezuela, 2012). This information is

important because it points out the fact that while the state of Venezuela is considered a developing

state today, it received its independence prior to many other states in this category. Many

developing countries have received their independence within the last few decades, while

Venezuela has had more than a century and a half of freedom. It is still considered a developing

state predominantly due to the many changes to the countrys political infrastructure and therefore

the lack of stability amongst the country.

Over the next century and a half many political regimes ruled over Venezuela, however the

inconstancy of the types of infrastructures that have been put in place have left the state in the

disarray it is today. The first leader to rule over the country was General Jos Antonio Pez, and

he ruled as the first of many military dictators. He was also the first, of many, to put a constitution

in place, which occurred in 1830. The document was created by the hands of the Conservative

Party which enacted policies such as a centralist state, voting based off of property owned, and the

continuation of slavery within the state (Venezuela, 2015). It is important to keep the different

constitutions in mind because they will help prove how the changes in political power have

influenced gender equality in present and past.

Shortly after Pez ruled the Monagas Dynasty began with two brothers, Jos Tadeo

Monagas and General Jos Gregorio Monagas, alternating presidencies, however their leadership
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was actually a dictatorial rule for a decade. Under their power they attempted to enact policies that

were under the Liberal Party, which would have included the abolishment of slavery and more

voting rights. They even attempted to create a new constitution that would have extended their

presidency to six years and attempted to remove restrictions on reelection (Venezuela, 2015).

This research proves how over a time span of 3 decades, three separate dictators with very different

political views attempted to change the complete infrastructure of the state. As well as a violent

rebellion, that followed the dynasty, which lasted five years, where political rule went back and

forth between the Liberals and Conservatives. It ended with the Liberals winning and enacting the

second constitution Venezuela will have in 1864. This policy included many federalist laws that

revoked the freedom from the local level. Unfortunately, a civil war followed and was not over

until, General Guzmn Blanco rallied the Liberals to his cause, overthrew the Conservatives, and

assumed power in 1870, (Venezuela, 2015). This new president ratified the third constitution

in 1872, this one was the first to really encourage human rights within politics by allowing all

males the right to vote, as well as the ability to directly vote for the president . Guzmn Blanco

also institutionalized a nationwide system for public primary education and highly encouraged

local authorities to support the continuation of education at a higher level. This was the first step

in a positive direction Venezuela has had for its citizens since its first ruler in 1830.

Following Guzmn Blancos rule, there was a continuation of the back and forth nature

between the different types of political infrastructures with at least eight presidents and at least

five dictators within a ninety year time frame. Also within this time another constitution was

written in 1947 that was in favor of labor-leftist philosophy of the party, (Venezuela, 2015).

Within this constitution, progression of human rights occurred with the encouragement of labor
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unions, support of heath, housing, education and agricultural/industrial development. Sadly these

efforts for human rights ceased under the dictatorship of Prez Jimnez, and efforts were redirected

to modernizing Caracas and enriching Jimnez instead. Due to the constant changing of political

regimes, Venezuela has resorted to being classified as a developing country with others of its time.

The lack of stability and slow governmental progress causes the country to be left behind, and will

be very evident when using the United Nations data to show the comparison between gender

equality of this time period and of present day.

Currently Venezuela has been able to maintain a democracy since January 1958, after the

dictatorship of Prez Jimnez, and because of this the state was allowed to economically flourish

during the 1980s due to their resources in oil (Rakowski, 2008, p. 388). Since then, Venezuela

has had a consistent leader, Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Chvez Fras, who was a well-recognized

political figure around the world. Espina explained (2009), In 1998, Lieutenant Colonel Hugo

Chvez Fras was elected under the 1961 Constitution, then reelected in July 2002 under a new

constitutions approved by the National Constitutional Assembly and ratified by referendum in

1999, (p. 68). This political leader was in power as president from 1998 until he passed away

2013, with the exception of a coup in 2002 that lead to him to be out of office a total of two days

before he was reinstated under the new constitution. While in office, he made his first attempt to

amend the constitution in 2007 in order to run for office indefinitely, however he was unsuccessful

with this being the first time that Chvez lost at the polls. Although come 2009, the amendment

was up for reelection and passed with fifty-four percent of voters saying there would be no term

limits for the president, allowing Chvez to run again in 2012 (Venezuela, 2015). During his

rule he implemented a philosophy known as Chavismo, that focused on social welfare policies
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embodied in "missions" to impoverished communities, the participatory structures of

neighborhood communes and workplace cooperatives, the foreign policy of regional power and

cooperation, and the successful electoral machinery that kept returning Chavez to power, (Rosen,

2013, p. 23). Through his philosophy Chavez used his power to urbanize the country to be in a

better state then it has in years. By 2011, the state had 93.3% of its population living in cities

(Velsquez Atehorta, 2014, p. 1). This was a step in the right direction for the country as a whole,

and an even bigger step for gender equality within Venezuela.

Gender equality is the equality of human rights between both sexes. This is also referred

to as feminism, the two terms are able to be used interchangeably (Lorber, 2005, p. 1). While a

lot of the data found is focused on the empowerment of women, the result of doing so not only

benefits women but also benefits men. The earliest signs of a movement for women was after the

death of dictator Juan Vicente Gomez, however the movement became even more present once

democracy was reestablished in 1958 (Espina, 2009, p. 65). One of the biggest signs of the

movement for women and equality was with Womens suffrage in 1947 and the ability to be

elected to high positions of government (Roche, 2003, 209). Other important areas that gender

equality is important is in the workforce as well as in the home.

While it is always positive that women are gaining more equality, there are still situations

where women and men are perceived as equals, but one is actually receiving more opportunities

than the other. This type of practice is very evident in the work force. Rakowski (1987) divulges

about a boom in the mid 1970s where there was an increase of acceptance of women in a

commonly male practiced job, steel work. She continues to state that normally women of the time

were confined to the typical female professions of teaching, social work, social science, nursing
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and pharmacy (p. 4). The article continues by pointing some of the negative aspects that occurred

on the journey to reach where gender equality is today. It states that, even when equal wages

were paid for equal work, women showed lower incomes because of the structure of opportunity

in which they were inserted they did not have equal advancement prospects or opportunities to

acquire on-the-job skill which lead to promotions. Instead, Women were channeled into

supportive nonproduction tasks, (Rakowski, 1987, 5). The women of the time have found that

one would have a better chance at advancement as an engineer in the public sector versus the

private one (Rakowski, 1987, 11). This is because many of the men leave the public jobs in order

to advance in to private, higher paying jobs. Another article, by Carmen Roche (2003), gives

support into the inequality that occurs between men and women in the private and public

sectors when they have equal amount of education. Roche has found that in the private

sectors women only make sixty nine percent of the income that men do, while in the public

sector women make seventy six percent of the income of men (p. 211). While it is

unfortunate that women receive lower income then men, it is even worse that depending

on the type of field women may go into a woman could be making even less in that sector.

The inequality continues through this example: b y the 1980s the construction market began

to shift to a slower pace, causing there to be less jobs. Unfortunately most of the jobs left were

given to males who would have a better chance at advancing in the field. This is a perfect example

of how certain gender equality programs can be put in place, but are manipulated in order to resort

to previous life styles of patriarchy.

While there are negative aspects to gender equality that have occurred due to the patriarchal

system that has been in place since Venezuelas independence, there are also positive aspects that
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have occurred. A big activist for gender equality was the late Hugo Chavez. Through his multiple

term presidency, he was the first in the countrys history to really implement organizations and a

movement for women in Venezuela. One of his biggest accomplishments in regards to creating

more gender equality was through the proposal and ratification of certain policies to the 1999

constitution. One of those policies included making the document a gender-neutral policy, where

citizens are stated in both genders. Another amendment to the constitution, recognizes work in

the home as a contribution to the economy, making housewives eligible for social security

benefits, (Martinez & Fox, 2013, p. 84). Chavez also enacted new organizations that were created

to help not only women equality, but women that are found in poverty. One of the major

organizations that was put in place was Mothers from the Barrio Mission, a group that has helped

over two hundred thousand women by 2010 with financial support, sexual education, as well as

job training (Fox, 2013). The article that Fox (2013) has written is an interview of a feminist of

Venezuela that continues to give Chavez praise for all the great work he has done for the country

in regards to gender equality. The interviewee makes positive comments such as, For us women,

we lost a great brother who listened to us, who had humane sensitivity, so humane that he had the

capacity to heed the needs of women. Women have been crying, now, over the loss of a brother,

son, husband, a comrade. As I read it, Chvez redeemed the father that many never had, as well as

the human relation among men. Through this quote one can see that the movement that Chavez

put into place, through his presidency gender equality was an important issue that is headed in a

positive direction.

While it is obvious that through the course of time gender equality has been important in

some aspect or another, the politics of the country never factored in its relevance until the

presidency of Hugo Chavez. Through data retrieved from the United Nations and other
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governmental organizations in regards to gender, one can tell if gender equality is moving in a

positive direction. A good tool to compare gender equality is through the United Nations Gender-

Related Development Index. Two tables have been found with one displaying data from 2002 up

until 2013 and another with data from 1995 until 2005. Some of the data between the two tables

does not directly compare with one another, however they display similar information to speculate

from. For example both charts give data on the estimated income earned, in Table 5 females in

2013 received $11,924 while males received double the amount at $22,180. For Table 28 the

estimated income for females in 2005 was $4,560, and men received double at $8,683. This data

concludes that while both incomes for females and males have more than doubled, men are still

receiving 50% more income then women. This is interesting especially when you compare the

amount of education each gender is receiving in both tables. In Table 5 women were expected to

receive 15.3 years of schooling from 2002-2012, while men received 13.1 during that time frame.

As for Table 28, 76% of women were enrolled in secondary and tertiary education, but men were

only enrolled 73% during the year of 2005. The data from these two tables mirror each other in

the fact that women have been receiving more education in Venezuela then men, but they are still

only receiving half of the pay they should be earning. More data in regards to women equality is

seen through the rise of the status of health for women and their mortality rates, there are about

two million more women in the Venezuela as of 2010 then there were in 2000 (La Mujer en la

Venezuela Contempornea, 2011, p. 39). Although it is interesting that now that there are more

women in the state, the fertility rate for the country has declined from 2002 to 2008 in every age

category (La Mujer en la Venezuela Contempornea, 2011, p. 40). There is some theories that

this is due to more women becoming a part of the work force. Rantala (2009) speculates that, the

introduction of gender has been an important step even if the patriarchal culture and system have
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not been properly challenged in order to establish gender equality, (p. 24). Through the data one

can theorize that while women are receiving more education and privileges, they are not receiving

the income and respect within the society that they due.

In conclusion, the country of Venezuela is evolving economically, but politically is still

stuck in the same cycle of a different political infrastructure every couple of years. Through this

research it has been concluded that there has not been a lot of gender equality up until Chavezs

presidency. Due to the constant changing of regimes, the country has not been able to create a

proper foundation that can allow more gender equality to develop.

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References

Espina, G. (2009). Feminist Activism in a Changing Political Context. Jaquette, J. S. Femenist

Agendas and Democracy in Latin America (pp. 65-80). Durham, NC: Duke University

Press.

Fox, M. (2013). Women and Chavismo: An Interview With Yanahir Reyes. NACLA Report On

The Americas, 46(2), 35.

La Mujer en la Venezuela Contempornea. (2011). Debates IESA, 16(1), 38-43.

Lorber, J. (2005). Gender Inequality: Feminist Theories and Politics. New York, NY: Oxford

University Press, Inc.

Martinez, C., & Fox, M. (Eds.). (2010). Venezuela Speaks. Oakland, CA, USA: PM Press.

Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com

Rakowski, C.A. (2003). Womens coalitions as a Strategy at the Intersection of Economic and

Political Change in Venezuela. International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, 16,

387-388.

Rakowski, C. A. (1987). Women in Steel: The Case of Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela. Qualitative

Sociology, 10(1), 3.

Rantala, H. K. (2009). What are the gender implications of the Bolivarian Revolution? Liberation,

equality, and gender in present-day Venezuela. Polis Journal, 2, 1-46.

Roche, C. L. (2003). Feminisation of the legal profession in Venezuela: its meaning for the profession

and for women lawyers. International Journal Of The Legal Profession, 10(2), (pp. 209-226).

Rosen, F. (2013). What was Created? What Remains. NACLA Report On The Americas, 46(2), 22-24.
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Table 5: Gender-related development index (GDI), [The table goes in depth about the

comparison of data between the two different genders from 2002-2013].

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data between the two different genders from 1995-2005].

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1229348.stm#blq-main

Velsquez Atehorta, J. (2014). Barrio Women's Invited and Invented Spaces Against Urban

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