ABSTRACT

The militarization of Chilean society, during sixteen years of dictatorship, has deeply affected women. Government policies and discourse furthered their oppression by appealing to the logic of patriarchal domination. In political affairs, the government assigned to women the role of educating children for the nation, thus assuring the ideological continuity of the regime. Paradoxically, the end of more than 20 years of “feminist silence” came during the military dictatorship. The new organization of women under the regime was both a response to economic and political crises and a manifestation of opposition to authoritarianism. Ironically, the traditional separation between public and private spheres helped women assume leading roles in the period immediately following the coup. In 1977, middle-class professional women formed a group that became the Circle for the Study of Women, which established the basis of the local feminist movement. The effects of militarization on women operated both directly and through changes in cultural norms.