New Ideals Of Men In Nicaragua example essay topic

How the Sandinista Revolution Changed Traditional Gender Roles Before the Nicaraguan Sandinista Revolution had taken place in the late 1970's, male and female gender roles had been clearly and traditionally defined as to how one should behave and conduct one's self. Men and women identified these ideal traits and behaviors for potential husbands and wives, or as guidelines in how to raise their children, and even so that the family order of gender role was not upset. Traditional male behavior had originally been based around the notion of machismo. In this way, they are meant to act aggressive, violent, dominant, sexually conquer and drink and gamble. Women on the other hand were expected to be soft spoken, obedient and caretaker of the household. Once the Revolution started, and as times were getting harder, the idea of the ideal New Man and woman had changed.

"Two sets of values coexist, compete, and more than occasionally blur: the ideals of machismo, with its cult of aggressive masculinity, defined as a mode of sexual and physical conquest; and the ideals of the revolutionary New Man, who is envisioned as hard working, devoted and family oriented (Lancaster, 1992; pg. 40)". For women, her traditional role was in the household taking care of the children, cleaning, cooking and washing as would be expected. Furthermore, she was unable to voice her objections or opinions to her husbands's sometimes abusive tendencies, and from that the New Woman had evolved also. Women started to lose faith in the war, growing tired as they were losing many husbands and sons to the war. Throughout Lancaster's Life Is Hard, one can watch as the behaviors and society gender roles start to change as the Sandinista Revolution continued.

"The new idea of a good man- that is, the revolutionary New Man- is someone who studies to improve himself and his country, who works hard, who is responsible toward his com panera, his children, and is generous with those around him. The old idea of a good man- the ideal of machismo- was someone who could drink, fight gamble, and have a large number of sexual conquests (Lancaster, 1992; pg. 175)". Jaime is a good example of the New Man. He entirely supported the Sandinista Revolution in which he believed in improving his country, also an extremely bright scholar who kept improving himself through education; he was also a good friend and generous to his friends. 'I've been tutoring Juan in geometry, and he just doesn't understand it at all. He doesn't get it.

I knew he was gong to fail the exam, so I failed it, too, so he wouldn't be the only one in our group to fail. ' "I (author) wasn't sure whether to believe this explanation or not, but Jaime was absolutely serious about it. when I asked Roger and Virgilio, they said that Jaime's explanation was the only reasonable one, because he had tutored them too, and they earned A's (Lancaster, 1992; pg. 168). ' This showed that Jaime is a product of the revolutionary good New Man, one who serves his country, is a scholar and is most generous whenever he can be with his friends as we can see when he decided to take a failing grade instead of an A. In Nicaragua, relations and small favors amongst friends such as that are very important in a friendship. Mutual help amongst each other is what helps the less fortunate people, such as in Lancaster, get by with small luxuries by exchanging favors or gifts, very much in the way women share resources amongst themselves.

Osvaldo is another example of the revolutionary New Man. Osvaldo was not very close to his mother or the rest of his family, almost alienated, and thus joined the Sandinista Revolution as a small child as a result of feeling unloved. He has no family to dedicate himself to, and therefore puts all his energy and dedication into what he does for his country. He wants to see a better Nicaragua politically and economically so that people have work and food. When Lancaster was interviewing Osvaldo, they were discussing what had gone on in Cuba before, and now that Osvaldo had seen what went on there he was ready to try and use Cuba's trials and errors as a model in how to change Nicaragua to socialism.

"Our task, over the long run, will be to develop production within the confines of a mixed economy, political pluralism, and international nonalignment. And we will do so with as much social equity as possible, so that everybody has work, food and dignity (Lancaster, 1992; pg. 128)". Osvaldo's dedication to his country, his ability to have faith in God and go to church after all he has gone through is the product of the New Man. A machista in his position would have more likely turned to the bottle for consolation for the hardships in life. Instead, Osvaldo tries to keep bettering himself and his country. Jaime and Osvaldo are the new ideals of men in Nicaragua as compared to the old traditional male role of violence, aggression and drunkenness.

Machismo had been embedded into Nicaraguan men for a long time, and used to be the ideal social norm for men and / or husbands. Jaz mina described her late husband as a good husband, even though he was a machismo, bearing the old ideals of good husbands, and although he was an alcoholic, he provided well for the family and gave them the small luxuries he could afford. "He was a good provider, and in most ways he was a good husband. But because Nicaraguan men are machistas, they almost all drink too much.

He was an alcoholic. He drank a lot... (Lancaster, 1992; pg. 179)". Before the revolution, such actions of excessive alcoholism and gambling would have been common. It was not until the Revolution that men were moving away from machismo, helping out with family work and household chores, or perhaps studying instead of sucking on a brew all day long.

The New Man had a cause and a purpose to keep him busy, active, and away from alcohol, gambling and abuse. Traditional Nicaraguan women underwent some drastic changes as a result of the Sandinista Revolution. I would say that the female gender role was shaken up more than for men. Women used to almost be afraid of men; not necessarily afraid, but it was customary that men socialized with men and women associate with women.

The traditional man was powerful, commanding, and sometimes physically abusive. Some women used to have close relationships with other women as a defense mechanism against machismo as an outlet, sometimes for moral, emotional comfort or companion ism. This defense mechanism helps the women manage the home better by dividing work, taking care of the children, taking care of a drunk husband, or for resource sharing, of which resources were scarce. "From one angle, this community forms a line against machismo- a refuge for women and their children a means of mobilizing women and their resources apart from and even against men. From another angle, it is a product of machismo- an allocation of expectations in which physical intimacy is heterosexual, emotional intimacy homo social. From yet another angle, this female world is a necessary prerequisite for the ongoing reproduction of the male world of machismo- for the package of assumptions it carries, the efforts and resources it allots, even the spheres of relative autonomy it grants for women, are part and parcel of a deeply gendered division of the world, where gender remains defined in terms of male dominion over women and children (Lancaster, 1992; pg. 125)".

Yet as I mentioned, as the war continued, all this soon changed; women were voicing opinions, they were becoming more independent and even had their own International Women's Day to celebrate to revolutionary New Man and Woman, especially the women. Women are also crossing into the male breadwinner boundary of gender roles, and in some cases ended up being the mother as well as the father in a home without a male father figure. Dona Flora seemed to be a large supporter of the revolution. She believed in equality of the people, and almost seemed very aggressive in the way she addresses people by refusing to use the formal terms for anybody. She is a very strong dependent woman who believed that the rich were corrupt and heartless.

'After the revolution, in the spirit of egalitarianism, many Nicaraguans abandoned polite terms for most social circumstances... So whenever I would call her Dona Flora, she would correct me: "Flora. Los does se fuer on; vive n en Miami" (the lords have gone; they live in Miami)... I never heard Dona Flora refer to anyone by a polite term of address- neither her seniors nor persons of superior wealth or social standing. Her forms were aggressively egalitarian (Lancaster, 1992; pg. 117-118)". By refusing polite terms it is almost as if Dona Flora is making her own stand and contribution to the revolution, by not recognizing her seniors or those in a higher stratification from her own.

This proves that Dona Flora is a very independent, defiant woman, who can think for herself and is not scared of society, whether it be men, women or those wealthier than her. She voices her opinions and is definitely a change from the traditional, soft- spoken, obedient women of the past. The March 8, 1988 issue of La semana comic a, provoked a storm of controversy in Managua. The conflicts, were over a political cartoon that was circulated throughout Nicaragua.

The newspapers ran a photograph of a nude woman who was shaving her pubic area. Underneath the picture appeared a caption which read: "On March 8, things are going to be celebrated with all the law allows, because already the most representative of Nicaraguan women is making preparations (Lancaster 1992; pg. 94)". The AMNLAE immediately protested the depiction. First, it mocked a legitimate revolutionary holiday and it depicted women in a degrading manner. More so, the cartoon was a stereotype towards women from the machista point of view. The message was that women now were looser with their sexuality, sex obsessed, and sluttish, as was implied by the photograph.

The AMNLAE was afraid that women would be degraded because of the way machistas think, and one has a harder time taking the revolutionary woman more seriously, if they are depicted as sex-crazed and loose. Such ways of thinking could even set back what women were striving for. As the war continued on, women were growing tired and weary of the war. Husbands and sons were being drafted to war in the name of their country, leaving behind a lonely wife and hungry children. In such cases, women had to learn quickly to become independent, becoming the mother and father of the families. They would go to work and make money for they family, while taking care of the family.

They had to send their children to get jobs as soon as they are old enough, and since help is limited in such situations, women started teaching their sons from a young age that they were expected to help around the house. This is another result of the revolution, as well as another reason for women companionship. It wasn't until the war dragged on that men started cooperating more in the household chores during the revolution because mothers needed help caring for the family and because mothers started rearing their sons away from machista attitudes. "As 1985 wore on, Nicaragua's economic situation began to deteriorate visibly.

The first and hardest hit were the most vulnerable families- those households headed by women whose male breadwinners had abandoned them. Dona Celia and her family were in just such a position. Government subsidies could no longer moderate the effects of inflation on Dona Celia's family, and few additional means of increasing the family's income were available to them: two children already worked at poorly paid bookkeeping jobs in the Ministry of Agrarian Reform; one son was in the military; the youngest son was not yet old enough to work (Lancaster, 1992; pg. 139) ". Not only that, but when women started working more often, they felt that when they came home the parental chores should be split up more equally. 'Housework and child care, those were women's work.

And some men are still like that. But now many mothers are rearing their sons with the expectation that they " re supposed to help out around their sons with the expectation that they " re supposed to help out around the house. And now, with so many women working, women are saying, "Look, it's not fair that I work on a job the same as you and then come home and do all the work at the house". And with new ideas about cooperation between men and women, there are more and more men who help with the housework and the children (Lancaster, 1992; pg. 176). ' I noticed throughout the book that the New Women of the revolution seem tired of the war, and as it continued through the book, less and less women were excited about the revolution because they were slowly losing faith as they watched their husbands and their sons go to war, thus being left with very little money, no job and many children. Life became very hard for them, men and women alike as the war dragged on; and soon some women such as Yolanda started to believe that the war was for nothing.

Despair in Nicaragua is visible as Elvis responds to what Yolanda has just said when they are discussing politics. 'This is bad, very bad. Yolanda is very young to be talking this way- talking so very contra! I know a lot of people are tired of the war, but they know why we have a war. You should have seen Yolanda six years ago in the Plaza, on the Triumph, carrying a placard and shouting "! Vive el Frente!" But now... this is bad, it is very bad (Lancaster, 1992; pg. 141).

' Since the revolution, men and women in Nicaragua had digressed from their traditional expectations and behaviors of gender roles. Moving away from machismo, men started focusing on bettering their country, helping themselves by getting an education are generous with his friends and even contributes towards the household chores which would have never been acceptable before the war; men did not believe in women's work at all it. The traditional woman ended up changing more drastically. First, they began to voice their opinions and started becoming more aggressive as Dona Flora proved to us. They were forced into fitting men's shoes by becoming the breadwinner of the family, while trying to be mother still.