Although there is no globally accepted definition of social enterprises (SE) and other organizations of the social and solidarity economy (SSE), in many of them it is considered a requirement or, at least, tend to be assumed to be democratic from within them, but Can they really be democratic without gender equity? We are convinced that this is not feasible, and the first questions that arise, given the particularities of Latin America, are: What has been done to achieve gender equity? Where are we today? What elements determine the impact of certain initiatives achieve? In what areas should emphasis be placed?
This document is a first approach and, in it, we intend to investigate the way in which some SSE organizations in Latin America operate through five Latin American experiences (Chile, Mexico and Peru, presented in alphabetical order) and the use of three categories: for women, from women and with a gender perspective). The selection of these experiences was due to the availability of information, the intent to find examples of these categories, as well as the diversity of aspects or problems addressed, but in no way, pretend to be representative of the thousands of organizations (both formal and informal) present in the region.
a) For women, who are exclusively or mainly oriented for women.
Although they facilitate access to a service that they lack, or with which they can generate income and economic independence, the conditions of inequity in which they live and can continue to reproduce, are not resolved. Moreover, they may place women at risk for domestic abuse where they are forced to act as "front" for others, and are excluded from access (i.e. the project is men's, but remains in the name of their wives to get the resources which are earmarked for women).
b) From women, which implies that they are formed exclusively or mainly, by women.
Other than lack of access to a service, (i.e. credit) or the possibility of generating income and economic independence, it facilitates entry level positions for women into management and decision-making level, but does not necessarily influence the conditions of inequity of participants and may continue to reproduce them.
Although there are emblematic organizations with a long history, and impact on the lives of women who participate in them, it may be that promotion to managerial positions is given simply because they are all women and not because they reach levels of training commensurate with those positions. Worse still, there have been some cases in this type of organizations that hire one or more men to occupy managerial positions.
c) With gender perspective, they aim to reach a substantive impact, changing the position of women regarding use, access and control of resources. It implies working with all the members of a community, considering gender, inequality of opportunity, discrimination and inequity. A gender-sensitive approach is rather inclusive than exclusive. (Boros et al., 2002)[1]
Orienting the creation of an SE with gender perspective means much more than making it exclusive to women, or establishing quotas for women in management or decision-making positions. It requires adopting a gender approach that involves examining the socioeconomic position - of both women and men - in the family, in the SE and other SSE organizations, and their communities. It also implies examining how those positions are reinforced by the institutions with which they deal and how national laws and customs govern those positions. (Johnson 1999)
With gender perspective, means orienting actions towards empowerment, understood as the process in which women manage to "take control over their own lives to establish their own agendas, organize themselves to help one another and raise their demands to the State for support and to change society ".
With gender perspective is to increase the power of women in three ways:
- Power for: is the ability to create or generate new possibilities and actions without dominating.
- Power with: is the collective power that turns out to be greater than the sum of the individual powers of those who make up this collective.
- Power from within: alludes to the inner power that people have, that is, to say spiritual power.[2] (Rowlands 1997)
[1] All the references are originally in Spanish. We presented our own translation.
[2] Perhaps it would be clearer to call it psycho-emotional (rather than spiritual).
Thus, section 1 of this paper explains the three categories mentioned; in sections 2 to 6 present a summary of each of these experiences and in 7, a reflection on them. Finally, in the conclusions, we propose some elements to incorporate the gender perspective in SE in Latin America.
10. Gender and diversity issues
