The Politics of Gender, Human Rights, and Being Indigenous in Chile

Citation:

Richards, Patricia. 2005. “The Politics of Gender, Human Rights, and Being Indigenous in Chile.” Gender and Society 19 (2): 199–220.

Author: Patricia Richards

Abstract:

Although the universal human rights paradigm has been problematic for women and indigenous peoples, both groups have made advances by framing their demands within a human rights perspective. Indigenous women, however, have frequently found themselves marginalized by women's movements and indigenous movements alike, particularly when they make demands for rights as indigenous women-not just as members of one group or the other. This article takes the case of Mapuche women in Chile to examine the politics of gender and human rights for indigenous women. Their efforts to articulate their concerns, vis-à-vis Mapuche men, nonindigenous women, and the state, have entailed assertions of their own version of women's rights, one that responds specifically to their reality as Mapuche women.

Keywords: gender, indigenous peoples, human rights

Topics: Civil Society, Gender, Women, Indigenous, Political Participation, Rights, Human Rights, Indigenous Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Chile

Year: 2005