Alexandria Digital Research Library

From Ladies to Organizers: Gender Imagination in the Experiences of Women Cooperative Leaders

Author:
Rios, Sarah Maxine
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
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
ARK:
ark:/48907/f3g73bmw
ISBN:
9781267649683
Catalog System Number:
990038915840203776
Rights:
Inc.icon only.dark In Copyright
Copyright Holder:
Sarah Rios
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