ABSTRACT
The term "transition" covers a broader range of political evolutions in Latin America, thus making it appropriate to expand the case studies of women's mobilization to include two countries that have experienced very different kinds of transitions: Nicaragua and Mexico. In the twentieth century, women have organized campaigns to change women's legal status and to demand women's suffrage. Women have been active participants in the movements that have challenged the maldistribution of wealth and power from the Mexican to the Nicaraguan Revolutions. The chapter presents some key concepts discussed in this book. The book analyzes the successes of womem's movements in Brazil. It looks at the role of Argentine women's participation in the transition under the two democratic presidents elected since 1983: Raul Alfonsin of the moderate Radical Party and Peronist Carlos Menem. The book reconstructs the evolving debates within the Sandinista Front for National Liberation (FSLN) over its strategy toward women.
