From Ladies to Organizers: Gender Imagination in the Experiences of Women Cooperative Leaders
- Degree Grantor:
- University of California, Santa Barbara. Sociology
- Degree Supervisor:
- Kum-Kum Bhavnani
- Place of Publication:
- [Santa Barbara, Calif.]
- Publisher:
- University of California, Santa Barbara
- Creation Date:
- 2012
- Issued Date:
- 2012
- Topics:
- Gender Studies, Women's Studies, and Latin American Studies
- Keywords:
- Women's Leadership,
Costa Rica,
Triple Shift,
Women's organizations,
Gender Consciousness, and
Cooperatives - Genres:
- Online resources and Dissertations, Academic
- Dissertation:
- M.A.--University of California, Santa Barbara, 2012
- Description:
This ethnographic study examines women's political agency within a woman's cooperative. The everyday practices of organizers are studied to understand the relationship between their experiences of gender inequality, women's vision of themselves as political actors, and the triple shift. Of interest are the contexts and processes that led organizers to create autonomous women's organizations in order to address women's social and economic issues. Contemporary studies examining women in cooperatives in Central and Latin America have primarily focused on the gendered division of labor, women as "participants," and how these organizations impact women's economic and educational development. Few studies examine the processes of transformation for women organizers and what leads women to stay involved in social change. In an attempt to address this literature gap, the Ladies of CoopeCafe, a women's cooperative located in rural Costa Rica, serves as a primary site to re-examine this relationship. As an ethnography of a woman's cooperative, I observed organization activities, interviewed seven leaders, held three group interviews, and collected archival documents. Findings suggest that women's political agency and imagination of gender are transformed through their everyday life experiences in the triple shift. Their political agency is further developed by their experiences of organizing. It is from continued gender inequality and unmet gendered needs that women organizers create new spaces to address women's social and economic issues. Therefore, cooperatives for women organizers serve as sites for transformation of women's political consciousness and for women's continued social and political involvement.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (81 pages)
- Format:
- Text
- Collection(s):
- UCSB electronic theses and dissertations
- Other Versions:
- http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqm&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:1519468
- ARK:
- ark:/48907/f3g73bmw
- ISBN:
- 9781267649683
- Catalog System Number:
- 990038915840203776
- Copyright:
- Sarah Rios, 2012
- Rights:
- In Copyright
- Copyright Holder:
- Sarah Rios
Access: This item is restricted to on-campus access only. Please check our FAQs or contact UCSB Library staff if you need additional assistance. |