ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to examine the gendered implications of shifting political space accompanying the transition to and consolidation of democracy as it interacts with neoliberalism in Latin America. The social movements which emerged during the 1970s and 1980s, and which came to challenge authoritarian governments, shifted the locus of political activity from institutions to the community. In part this was necessary since military governments in the region closed off traditional political spaces; however, it was also due to the new agendas developing in defence of human rights and to protest the austerity programmes, and was not confined to military regimes. The dynamism and widespread nature of these movements meant that the whole of what constituted ‘politics’ was in a state of flux with new actors and issues receiving prominence.
