First-Wave Feminism and Women’s Civil and Political Rights in South America

Carmen Diana Deere

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English

Routledge
18 December 2025

Feminism & feminist theory; Ethnic studies; Human rights; Civil rights & citizenship; Political economy

Series: Routledge IAFFE Advances in Feminist Economics

This book analyzes the context, process and content of the reform of married women’s property rights in seven Spanish-speaking South American countries – Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela – between 1900 and the early 1950s.

It investigates how the reforms enacted earlier in the United States, England and continental Europe and national antecedents and conditions informed the ideas of feminists, jurists and politicians and shows how their interaction influenced the content of the reforms attained. It highlights the role of feminists and their organizations in achieving stronger property rights, emphasizing their proposals to reform the civil code. The book argues that while most feminists framed their arguments in maternalist terms – that they needed stronger rights to be better wives and mothers – their proposals to reform the marital regime fell along a continuum that ranged from accepting the husband as sole household head to gender equality in marriage. Since the long-run goal was to attain equal civil and political rights, the book also demonstrates how these two demands for stronger property rights and suffrage influenced their strategies and what feminists were able to achieve.

This book contributes to a long-standing discussion on the relationship between socioeconomic and legal change and brings the findings of recent scholarship and a vast array of primary materials only available in Spanish to an English-speaking audience, interpreting legal concepts and debates in a manner accessible to social scientists. Written from an interdisciplinary perspective, it supports the construction of a feminist legal history of marital regimes. It will be of interest to historians, legal scholars and feminists across a range of disciplines.

By: Carmen Diana Deere
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
Weight: 720g
ISBN: 9781041111306
ISBN 10: 1041111304
Series: Routledge IAFFE Advances in Feminist Economics
Pages: 368
Publication Date: 18 December 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Carmen Diana Deere is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Latin American Studies and Food and Resource Economics at the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.

Reviews for First-Wave Feminism and Women’s Civil and Political Rights in South America

“This excellent book compares the movements to reform women’s legal status over half a century in seven South American countries. Its broad comparative approach challenges many facile generalizations about Latin American legal and women’s history. A truly impressive achievement.” — Silvia Arrom, Jane's Professor of Latin American Studies Emerita, Brandeis University, U.S.A. “Carmen Diana Deere's work represents an excellent and necessary input for research and teaching from a gender and feminist perspective in the field of social sciences, especially for feminist economists in Latin America. Until now, we did not have material that informed us about this topic in historical and comparative terms for a large part of the region. Likewise, the work is essential to understand the relationship between feminist demands, maternalism, and social, political and economic contexts.” — Alma Espino, President of the Interdisciplinary Center for Development Studies of Uruguay (CIEDUR).