II. Some ‘Latin’ Women Activists’ Accounts: Reflections on Political Research

The aim of this article is to briefly examine the socially constructed meanings of politics and their effects on ‘women’s’ agency. In doing this, I consider the need for a collective feminist redefinition of politics. Initially I present the, sometimes controversial but always interesting, suggestions from ‘Latin’ women activists who spoke with me while I conducted my PhD research. Following on from this, I suggest possible approaches to the practice of a feminist political psychology. Although there have been a number of important political women, historically we have not been considered political subjects (Nash and Tavera, 1995) and political rights have been constructed around the needs of ‘white middle-class men’. Universal suffrage has not, as ‘predicted’ by Goldman (1917), subverted the patriarchal construction of the concept of politics (hooks, 2000). Women’s participation in this arena has often been considered as a prolongation of their motherhood (Del Re, 2004) and we are still under-represented in geopolitical decision spaces (Roseneil, 2000; Waylen, 1994). However, women are significantly more active in the ‘informal’ arena of politics, communitarian activism and social movement (Auckland, 1997). Furthermore, our involvement is very much higher in prisoner support networks and neighborhood, community or educational groups (Beckwith, 1998). Nevertheless, as one of the participants in my research expressed: