ABSTRACT
This chapter considers a comparative approach to evaluate gender and empowerment within the context of the environmental social movement in Venezuela—a movement composed of numerous groups and organizations that together provide the necessary heterogeneity to assess the relative importance of proposed determinants of women's political power. It begins by laying out a framework informed by empirical and theoretical evidence on social movements in diverse settings. The Women's Circles and the Network of Women Together are part of CESAP, one of the largest and better organized nongovernmental organizations in Venezuela, which was founded in the 1960s to help organize the poor and residents of squatter settlements. The chapter discusses the ways in which environmental issues in Venezuela are reconstructed as "political facts" and assesses the importance of gender in the process of construction. It addresses the conditions under which women's demands have become politicized.
