sexta-feira, fevereiro 11, 2011

A Nova Ética Sexual e o Caso de François Houtart Benjamin Forcano


Un “pecado” para el que no hay piedad ni perdon"

En nuestra sociedad no es raro constatar momentos
en que prevalecen estados de opinión generalizada
condicionados negativamente por el ambiente,
la cultura o los “medios”, pudiendo generar
actitudes y comportamientos exacerbados e injustos
que afecten a ciudadanos concretos,
con lo que se suele caer en el mal detestable del
puritanismo y que a la vez resta crédito a la crítica.


Quizás sea un Caín, pero es humano,
Y, por él, Dios, celoso, nos pregunta:
-Abel, Abel, ¿qué has hecho de tu hermano?
(Pedro Casaldáliga)



Una noticia sorpresiva
La noticia trascendió veloz. Francois Houtart, a sus 85 años, después de 40 años de haber ocurrido, es denunciado por cometer un abuso sexual con un niño de ocho años. La denuncia la hace una prima suya, hermana del niño, precisamente cuando se estaba impulsando la campaña para postular para el sacerdote el Premio Nobel para la Paz. En octubre de 2010, la hermana pasó la información a la oficina CETRI (fundada por el mismo Houtart en la década de los setenta). Houtart renunció inmediatamente a la candidatura y fue paralizada por la comisión organizativa.
En el arco de tiempo de más de 60 años, Houtart ha tejido una vida meritoria, de esfuerzo y dedicación, a favor de los más pobres y de los pueblos más explotados y esclavizados por la lógica colonizadora e imperialista. Destacado analista, sociólogo y teólogo ha denunciado los intereses, tramas y procedimientos de una dominación, que ha reportado a miles y aun millones de seres humanos carencias, sufrimientos, humillaciones y marginaciones intolerables.

Esa entrega le ha valido sobresalir como una bandera , en torno a la cual, muchos se han unido, acogiendo y promoviendo sus causas y combatiendo a su lado el feroz dominio del Primer sobre el Tercer Mundo. Sin duda, su trabajo desinteresado ha hecho una siembra que ha fructificado en luz, entrega y compromiso de innumerables ciudadanos. Gracias a Houtart, a su esforzada entrega de tantos años, la vida de muchas personas y pueblos ha mejorado y ha evolucionado hacia niveles superiores de conciencia, de solidaridad, de liberación y de bienestar. Resulta natural, por tanto, que servida la noticia, la exclamación espontánea haya sido: ¡Qué lastima! ¡Qué pena!
Esta primera impresión no debe borrar el otro aspecto básico de la relación: el daño infligido a la víctima. Como me comentaba un profesor amigo: “Así como el desliz de Houtart no afecta a todo lo bueno que él hizo, también hay que tener en cuenta que todo lo bueno que él hizo no moraliza el delito cometido.

Encuadre y significado del hecho
Ciertamente, es una pena.
Pero quisiera enmarcar el significado de esta pena. Porque la pena, en este caso, parece referirse a él, como si una fuerza ciega lo hubiera fulminado. Es decir, el incidente del abuso sexual – real, pero esporádico, efecto de una imprudencia e irresponsabilidad según ha confesado él mismo, resuelto entonces con acuerdo de Houtart con los padres del niño y silenciado por 40 años- irrumpe ahora como un rayo que mata al autor: social, política y éticamente. La acción del abuso sexual se impondría como monstruosidad absoluta, que borraría la estela luminosa de su vida en beneficio de sus semejantes. “¡Qué lástima!”, parecería deplorar esta injusticia , pero la cargaría como inexorable destino.
Son dos, por tanto, los aspectos que conviene evidenciar: por una parte, la severísima condenación que, por lo general, hacen los eclesiásticos sobre las transgresiones sexuales y, por otra, la paradójica tolerancia y ocultamiento que han ejercido sobre los abusos sexuales con menores.
El ocultamiento de esos abusos, mantenido por siglos, ha perjudicado a la víctima, ha protegido al transgresor y al lograr publicidad en nuestros días se ha hecho detestable e intolerable, obligando a los responsables a comparecer por vez primera ante la jurisdicción civil y sin que les valga la mera solución del pecado ante el confesor. La justicia civil exige reparar daños y aplicar sanciones al transgresor.

Prevenirse contra un puritanismo cruel
Es justo y plausible lo que la sociedad demanda ante los abusos de este tipo: nadie, sea quien sea, queda exento del tribunal de la Justicia.
Al demolerse la cobertura cómplice de la clandestinidad mantenida por el sistema, puede ocurrir que el transgresor sea ahora escarnecido y maltratado más allá de los límites de la justicia. Me temo que es esto lo que pueda ocurrirle a Houtart, marcado con el irremisible sello de la exclusión y sin que puedan redimirle sus muchos y enormes méritos acumulados.
Desgraciadamente, la hegemonía y prepotencia del poder eclesiástico y la primacía ético-jurídica ejercida en los países de Occidente, le han permitido elaborar un sistema propio de leyes y procedimientos que lo sustraían a la jurisdicción civil y le conferían autonomía en su aplicación. Hoy, en una sociedad democrática, todos somos regidos por un mismo Derecho y sin que ningún credo religioso pueda servir de escape o exención para el cumplimiento de lo que son derechos y deberes cívicos universales.
Desde esta perspectiva, no resulta difícil entender que si, antes, al transgresor, le amparaba y defendía el sistema, ahora, tras minarlo en su capacidad de autonomía y responsabilidad individuales, lo deja solito e indefenso y, encima, le aplicará el rigor que ha ejercido sobre las otras transgresiones sexuales. Se le aplicará con toda probabilidad una desproporcionada justicia; desproporcionada por la absolutización del abuso y por contraposición a otros “pecados” sociales mucho más graves y en los que la complicidad, la indulgencia, el perdón o la amnistía actúan con una medida distinta.

El trasfondo cultural
de esta extrema severidad de la moral sexual
Y es aquí a donde quería llegar con estas mis reflexiones: descubrir la injusticia de un sistema que, por una parte, minusvalora, oculta y absuelve abusos sexuales que dañan profundamente al prójimo y, por otra, ensalza el puritanismo más cruel al sobrevalorar la gravedad de los pecados sexuales y perseguirlos con inusual rigor.
Está claro que en medio de todo, anda como sujeto de lo bueno y lo malo, la condición humana, débil y transgresora, y también la cultura que la condiciona y reviste de peculiar pecaminosidad en cada momento y situación de la historia.
La contradicción a que me refiero viene de siglos. Bastaría señalar como síntoma de esta contradicción el que en relación a ningún otro pecado se encuentra en la literatura eclesiástica la denominación de pecado nefando (innombrable) como se aplica al hecho del “pecado” homosexual. Tan es así que los padres, de tener que elegir, optarían porque su hijo fuera delincuente antes que homosexual. Y la masturbación se la consideraba como más grave que la fornicación, por ser aquella “contra naturam” y ésta “secundum naturam”.
Pienso que esta calificación ética, aplicada al campo sexual, puede entenderse si analizamos la marcha de los cambios culturales en los últimos siglos. Poco a poco la ignorancia, el miedo, y la represión han ido supliéndose por el conocimiento, el amor y la liberación. Y es que, en la cultural occidental, -y no sólo en ella- el sustrato de nuestra cultura lleva incorporados elementos remotos de dualismo atroz entre la materia y el espíritu, teniendo a la primera como innoble y degradante y al segundo como noble y enaltecedor.
La perfección humana, vista desde la óptica humana y también cristiana, estaba en proporción al grado de adhesión al espíritu y de desapego al cuerpo. Nada había tan opuesto a Dios y que nos alejara tanto de El como el ejercicio de la sexualidad. El camino perfecto era la abstinencia, el celibato, la castidad. De donde surgían dos caminos desiguales: el celibato como camino de primer orden y el matrimonio como camino de segundo orden. La castidad, virtud angelical, era la virtud reina y la caridad, virtud central y primera, la virtud súbdita.

Durante siglos se mantuvo como norma la de que, en materia sexual, todo pecado era grave, no había parvedad de materia. En cualquier tipo de pecado podía haber un más o un menos; aquí no, todo era grave. Se podía ser un poco rencoroso, un poco envidioso, un poco orgulloso, ¿un poco lujurioso?, no. Y, así, los pecados sexuales fueron acaparando la totalidad de la moral , siendo los únicos que acababan por ser llevados al confesionario y allí recibir severas amonestaciones y obsesivos controles.

Pasos para superar la cultura recibida

1.La reducción de la ética al ámbito sexual.
La reducción de la ética a la ética sexual, fue una operación intelectualmente mediocre y de efectos psicológicamente devastadores. La cristiandad andaba al acecho de las faltas y transgresiones sexuales, consumiendo en autoexámenes neuróticos energías personales y, a su vez, adormecida y alejada de la conciencia de otras transgresiones que afectaban a la raíz y centro de la existencia: amor, igualdad, justicia, solidaridad, sinceridad, ternura, misericordia, etc.
No aparece que este rigorismo tenga base en el Evangelio , ni en el sentido profundo de la ética humana. Pero, se ha impuesto de hecho, determinando en las conciencias y en la sociedad mecanismos de extrema crueldad y normas de desmesurada y ridícula represión sexual.
Pueden darse diversas explicaciones a este rigorismo. Y no resulta irrelevante la razón de quienes pretenden atribuirlo a un secreto poder coercitivo, que provendría de quienes, guardianes de lo sagrado, consideran el mundo de la sexualidad como el más opuesto a la Divinidad y el que representa la mayor degradación de la persona. La raíz de la represión cobraría legitimación en la convicción de estar luchando por la “dignidad” humana, que demandaría repudiar el ejercicio mismo de la sexualidad. ¿La fuente de tal severidad sería la enseñanza y práctica de Jesús o la voluntad vindicativa de cuantos, frustrados, y luego entregados a servir más y mejor a Dios, consideran la sexualidad como camino indigno e incompatible para unirse a él?

Explica también el hecho, saber que nunca a la sexualidad se le ha reconocido el intrínseco valor del placer, justificándolo únicamente como subordinado al proceso y fin de la procreación: “Tota enim quanta est (la relación sexual) propter generationem”, recogía el manual del moralista Arregui, libro de cabecera de los confesores.
El placer sexual, en sí mismo, no era ético, era indigno y reprobable, pecado . La “animalidad” de la relación sexual eclipsaba la grandeza de una relación personal e interpersonal unitaria, donde el amor era vivido y experimentado a través de las redes y poros del cuerpo, sin necesidad de tener que ser justificado por su conexión y dependencia de la procreación.
Otra razón de esta especial severidad la ven otros en que la intensidad del placer sexual amenazaría con identificarse con la felicidad misma. En lugar de considerarlo un elemento parcial de esa felicidad se lo constituiría en razón y centro absoluto de la misma, lo cual atentaría contra el mensaje mismo del Evangelio que coloca la felicidad en el seguimiento de Jesús, con la última y eterna posesión de la felicidad de Dios.
La solución dada no parece haber sido atinada, pues para evitar el posible riesgo de una posible absolutización del placer, se ha optado por demonizar la realidad misma del placer, elemento constitutivo e integrativo de la sexualdiad. Y para no caer en el riesgo, se preconiza como óptimo y encomiable el camino de la abstinencia y castidad completas. A más castidad, menos sexualidad; y a menos sexualidad, más virtud y perfección de la persona.

2. Revisión y cambio de modelo cultural
Revisar este trasfondo cultural es condición necesaria para rectificar una visión desajustada, que se traduce hacia dentro en obsesión y culpabilidad y hacia fuera en rigor y represión. Lo que va contra la naturaleza, desnaturaliza. Y la naturaleza humana es racional y libre, psicomáticamente unitaria, para relacionarse con conocimiento, amor y respeto con cualquier semejante y también en la relación específica masculino-femenina.
Esta unidad racional y responsable de la persona se puede perder y degradar ciertamente por el egoísmo en la manipulación sexual del otro, pero no menos por otras manipulaciones que puedan infligirle daño, humillación, sometimiento, tortura, desprecio, anulación del yo. La erótica del placer, absolutizada, buscada como panacea de la felicidad es un error y un espejismo, pero dicha erótica puede reprimirse y disfrazarse bajo la erótica del poder, el cual suele actuar con dosis incalculables de orgullo, prepotencia y desprecio a quienes lo critican y tratan de ponerle límites razonables.

3. Justicia y magnanimidad ética
La convivencia humana necesita una regulación basada en el Derecho, que trata de aplicar la razón y la justicia cuando el conflicto estalla entre ciudadanos. El respeto al otro, si no se ha cumplido, debe ser urgido por la autoridad y normas competentes. De otra manera, la parcialidad y arbitrariedad subjetivas harían imposible la convivencia. Hay una dignidad de todos, unos derechos y obligaciones universales, y unas mediaciones jurídicas que tratan de asegurar en el ámbito externo, lo más posible esa dignidad.
Si la sociedad pide que un asesino como José Ignacio Juana de Chaos, -que mató a 25 personas y que confiesa estar dispuesto a volver a matar-, siga en la cárcel es porque nuestro derecho a vivir está amenazado por él y no se hace acreedor al derecho de vivir en libertad. Eso no obsta a que yo piense que él puede cambiar, puede reconocer sus errores, puede regenerarse y ser readmitido a una convivencia positiva. Esta actitud supone una “fe” en el ser humano, en su bondad, en propiciarle condiciones que lo pueden humanizar y, al mismo tiempo, acredita la magnanimidad con que estamos hechos y que nos dispone a proceder, superando las reacciones instintivas contra los fallos humanos. ¿Quién puede autoproclamarse mejor que otro y erigirse en juez sin disponer de la interioridad, circunstancias y tramas de la vida del otro? ¿Podemos estar seguros de que, en las mismas circunstancias, no haríamos nosotros lo mismo? ¿Podría valer para esto lo dicho por San Juan de la Cruz: “Donde no hay amor, pon amor y sacarás amor?

En ese sentido, la ley no puede asegurar que los sujetos en cuestión, acompañen interiormente el cumplimiento de lo exigido por la dignidad y derechos del otro. En ese terreno son la ética y pedagogía quienes tienen que sembrar reflexiones que hagan nacer actitudes libres y consecuentes de comprensión, de respeto y, si preciso, de enmienda y rectificación. Las personas pueden cambiar, son sujetos que aprenden y han podido ser influenciadas por ideas o comportamientos que deshumanizan a sí mismo y en su relación con los demás. ¿Es descabellado o razonable pensar que no habría transgresión alguna, por muy perversa y cruel que fuera, que no pudiese ser corregida, transformada, devolviendo de nuevo salud y sanidad ética al sujeto que la ha cometido? ¿Y que, desde esa sanación que le permite renacer a lo humano, pueda reintegrarse a la convivencia y ser restaurado y potenciado con su valer en su relación con los demás?

4. Perdonar setenta veces siete
A este respecto, conviene señalar que los cristianos se confrontan con una valoración específica ante quien peca o conculca la ley. Es la postura de Jesús: al enemigo incluso hay que perdonarle, y al que te ofende hay que perdonarle setenta veces siete, es decir, siempre.
El perdón no depende de que el otro admita su pecado y se arrepienta, aunque es imprescindible de cara a su rehabilitación para la convivencia, sino de saber que su bondad está por encima de la maldad, de que nunca esa disponibilidad para el bien se puede dar por perdida, de que es muy probable que su pecado sea producto más de unas circunstancias adversas que de su propia libertad, de que, en definitiva, nuestro comportamiento adopta el comportamiento de Dios, único en llegar al fondo de las cosas y saber que allí permanece la bondad secreta de su criatura humana, que merece confianza y perdón. La maldad más bien la creamos nosotros, -con nuestros deformados hábitos y justificaciones, con nuestras estructuras deficientes o perniciosas - más que provenir de la íntima realidad del ser humano.

5.Dolor y justicia dentro de la condición y totalidad de cada persona
La conclusión no puede ser más obvia e interpelante: la noticia del abuso sexual, en el caso comentado, merece nuestro dolor y reprobación; pero sin perder de vista la condición y totalidad del ser humano que lo realiza. El amor a nuestra propia dignidad exige la vigilancia y reprobación cuando ésta se desmanda, pero los desmanes son diferentes en magnitud y calidad. La verdad humana reclama hacer justicia, lamentar lo que se daña y determinar los pasos para repararlo, no confundir lo que es un mal eventual con otro sistemático, no reducir la total valía de una persona a un acto y no olvidar nunca la medida de lo sensato y razonable.
Lo expuesto sobre la severidad y puritanismo acerca de los pecados sexuales, apunta en primer lugar a exorcizar toda una cultura netamente antisexual y represiva, provista de falsos presupuestos y planteamientos y, en segundo lugar, a abrir el corazón a actitudes y reacciones menos virulentas e instintivas y a una educación que comience por comprender más la complejidad y diversidad de las circunstancias de cada vida humana y nos haga confiar más en todos.
El puritanismo sexual –tanto individual como colectivo- con su autojustificada reacción de acciones vindicativas y represivas, puede ser muy bien un termómetro de la propia e interior frustración, del miedo y represiones personales acumuladas. Nadie da lo que no tiene: el reprimido da represión; el libre libertad; el muy reprimido da mucha represión y el muy libre da mucha libertad.

6. A Jesús lo mataron los guardianes del poder y de los códigos ético-religiosos.
Es curioso, y da que pensar, que Jesús de Nazaret fustigase por encima de cualquier otro pecado el orgullo y la avaricia, la dureza de corazón y la hipocresía, la violencia y humillación de los más pobres ejercidas en nombre de Dios y de la religión, el desprecio de los mas humildes y desfavorecidos, en definitiva la ausencia del amor, la compasión y la ternura.

No le mataron ciertamente los humildes y pequeños, los más insignificantes de la sociedad, sino los dirigentes y sabios, los dueños del poder civil y religioso. Sabía El muy bien que en esa esfera, es donde fermentan los pecados más graves, los que se sobreponen a toda consideración, los que son colados como si nada y se los pretende incluso convertir en virtud con apelación a Dios y a la religión o, en versíón más secular, como requisito para lograr la democracia, los derechos humanos, la seguridad de todos.
El poder, con su multiforme faz opresiva, actúa en la sociedad, en las estructuras y en las conciencias y acaba por distorsionar demasiadas veces el curso de la existencia individual, de la pareja, de la familia, de la ciudad y de la política, con efectos muy negativos en el desarrollo del ámbito familiar, laboral, social y político.

Benjamín Forcano

Portuguese Republican Women - out of the shadows

Portuguese Republican Women - out of the shadows


(Texto da intervenção feita na Universidade de Berkeley, durante o seminário sobre o Centenário da República Portuguesa)



MARIA MANUELA AGUIAR

President of the General Assembly- Associação Mulher Migrante

Former Secretary of State for the Portuguese Communities

mariamanuelaaguiar@gmail.com



At the beginning of the XX century a group of feminist and republican women participated in a movement that made history in Portugal. In a country where there was no tradition of feminine participation in public life an elite of highly educated, courageous and strong-minded women suddenly came “out of the shadows”, with the support of republican leaders, in defense of democratic ideals and other causes, such as education for all, equal civil laws and universal suffrage.

Suffrage was a promise never fulfilled, actually, it became the cause of immediate dissent among the heads of the feminist movement, since some were more feminists than republicans, and others definitely more republicans than suffragists. Nonetheless, they all remained faithful to the new regime. Thus binging into question, if their natural moderation and innate republican complicity with their male partners – husbands, family, and friends - played against them?

In the end, they won their main battle albeit through future generations of women and they remain alive in the memory of the Republic today and forever.



1 - FEMINIST MOVEMENTS IN THE BEGINNING OF THE XX CENTURY

From the mid –eighteen hundreds feminist movements had been rapidly developing in Europe, mostly focused on suffrage. Portugal was no exception. However, the first initiatives that started before the end the XIX century were restricted to a limited circle of gender equality believers and did not grow in numbers until 1907-1908, when Portugal was perched on the verge of a regime change, and, even then, by direct interference of republican prominent leaders – all males, of course. This particularity would, in my opinion, bring a set of unique features that would affect the development of historical feminism in Portugal, mostly because it was supposed to become an asset to the republican cause, as well as to the cause of the emancipation of women. If not for that reason, the country did not seem to have much in its favor to be singled out for accomplishments in this special field. As was the case in other southern European societies there was no tradition of women actively playing a role in public life. We are aware, of course, that throughout the centuries our historians singled out a few outstanding women, monarchs, heads of state or acting as such, very influential and powerful Queens of Portugal, ruling side by side with their husbands or offspring, unexpected fighters in heroic battles in faraway lands of the empire – spread out over the half of the world assigned by the Pope to the Portuguese - and a few remarkable writers, poets, artists, and even leaders or participants of mass upraises, one who is still quite present in Portuguese collective memory is the legendary Maria da Fonte, who inspired one the hymns of the Republic, which is still sung at official ceremonies . They women were accepted and admired by their contemporaries, but as exceptions - our own "iron ladies".

Nonetheless, European ideas, tendencies, and social movements, sooner or later, would have an impact among us and later rather than sooner "feminism" began to infiltrate Portugal. By 1902, a leading intellectual and feminist Carolina Michaelis de Vasconcelos - German born, Portuguese by marriage, and the first woman to belong to the Academy of Sciences and to become professor of the University of Coimbra - wrote that there were no women organizations at all in the country and that from her point of view, that of someone born and brought up abroad, women’s political participation was unthinkable, since it was seen as unnatural by Portuguese standards (1). At the time, French or British feminists were already promoting huge marches of protest against discrimination through the avenues of Paris or London. In 1903, Mrs. Pankhurst was engaged in setting up the "Women Social and Political Union". In 1910, the so called "suffragettes", her potent and radical movement, organized a march that extended for several miles along the streets of London on the way to parliament, the very day a proposal for feminine suffrage was defeated. Over 200 MP'S had supported it - many, but not enough... In the same circumstances, every time an electoral law denied them the right to vote, Portuguese women put all their indignation in a carefully and beautifully written paper or asked for an audience to express their disillusion to a sympathetic but ineffective high dignitary - the President of the Republic himself, or the Prime Minister, or the Speaker of the House... (2).

In this domain, accomplishments, or lack there of, have more to do with a cultural gap “north-south” than with the nature of the regime. Stable Nordic monarchies like Denmark, Norway and Sweden, did not need to envisage a change of system in order to improve women's status and they did set an example of good laws and good practices much earlier than the two revolutionary Republics, France and Portugal, and many other countries in the world...(3). In Denmark, women were on the way to get the right to vote at local level (1908) even if they had to wait until 1915 to equal unrestricted vote in all elections and until 1921 to access to all careers, army excepted. In Norway, Camilia Collet was a pioneer activist, since 1884, followed, in the beginning of the new century, by Gina Kroeg, founder of the "Union for Working Women". Norwegian women advanced step by step, first as full members of School Councils (1889), Social Security Councils (1890), and Municipal Councils (1901). In 1907 they were recognized as citizens with the right to vote at local and at national level. In 1911 the first Norwegian woman was elected to parliament. By 1912 most of the careers in the public sector were open to women. In Sweden clever support of the "cause" in the literary domain and religious ideals of fraternity seem to have played a more important role than legal arguments or the involvement of political personalities, mainly through the thesis and action of Frederika Bremer, contemporary of feminist writers like Ibsen or Ellen Key and herself an acknowledged writer, literary critic and a great speaker and campaigner as well. Sweden was the last northern country to approve legislation on women’s vote and eligibility for the parliament in 1919, three years later than Island. Finland had been the earliest. In 1906 an electoral law was passed and in 1907 the first female parliamentarian was elected. Southern Europe pursued the trend much later. In fact, in that geographical and cultural area only Spain was ahead of Portugal.(4)



WOMEN OUT OF THE SHADOWS

FEMINISM IN PORTUGAL - A brief chronology

Predictably, taking into account the predominant mentality in regards to women's participation in politics, the feminist movement never obtained much visibility and wide-spread recognition. Even present-day historians tend to under estimate its influence in the birth of the new era. The History of Portuguese women is still in pending, unwritten to the full extent of its value as Elina Guimarães, the last survivor of that dazzling generation, appropriately asserted. (5 ) But the facts are there, available for research... Women were there as the living proof that the women of the republic were capable of living up to the social and cultural revolutionary ideals of gender equality, along with the principles of a new order in State and society. In fact, Portuguese feminism was never a vast mass movement, and although it gradually grew with a significant number of strong-willed, well-learned women, it was not to be as successful as it should have been. There were several reasons, none had to do with their capacity to make things work out better, perhaps in other time, other place… When you assess their culture or political “savoir faire” as expressed in so many speeches, and writings, you find no “gap” at all, looking at feminist leaders all over Europe... Among them, before and after the revolution, there are illustrious medical doctors, like Adelaide Cabete or Carolina Ângelo, writers like Ana de Castro Osório, Sara Beirão or Maria Lamas, teachers like Maria Veleda, Clara Correia Alves or Alice Pestana, journalists like Albertina Paraíso or Virgínia Quaresma, lawyers like Regina Quintanilha or Elina Guimarães (then a young law graduate).

A distinguished elite, in the company of a minority of few thousands of female citizens, unfortunately more and more divided, like republican politicians themselves, yet not for the same reasons - rather because some of the feminists, as the revolution went on and left them behind, took it better than others. Regrettably, they had a late appearance in the course of action for Women’s rights, they occupied their political and civic space for more or less 20 years and then their lessons or patterns of civic intervention were practically forgotten and lost, after the collapse of the Republic and the advent of a long and misogynous dictatorship, never to regain the same human dimension and radiance.

We will briefly look into these two decades- from 1906/7 to 1926.Initiatives undertaken at the end of the XIX century, interesting as they were, as the first “Feminist Congress” in 1892, or the first feminine newspaper (A Fronda) in 1897. Both having such limited impact that Carolina Michaelis in her essays on feminine enterprises does not take them into due consideration. In 1904, a few brave women did participate in the first "Congress of Freethinking" ( Congresso do Livre Pensamento) - names that would be part of the history of the Republic, like Adelaide Cabete and Maria Veleda, among others. Congresses, huge political meetings, as well as daily activities in republican centers played an important role in mobilizing public support that made the impossible revolution possible. Women suddenly became partners accepted and welcomed, sharing the intense and clever effort of republican propaganda distributed by such means. Many of them got drawn in the daily life of Mason organizations, in journalism, in associations providing all kinds of social help to children and needy girls or women, including educational and vocational training. By the turn of the century, republican centers and clubs were being set up all over the country, to promote social and cultural activities, publishing newspapers and leaflets, in an attempt to spread the Republican Party line, the promises of an era of freedom, prosperity, democracy and equal participation for all. Women gained access to such clubs, mainly in Lisbon and other minor cosmopolitan urban areas. It was the proper way to prepare them for future leadership and political commitment, even if, as we cannot ignore, they were given the opportunity to work for the victory of the republican cause rather than for the advance of their suffragist agenda, as they would soon find out.... In 1908, influential personalities, like Ana de Castro Osório and Adelaide Cabete were invited by António José de Almeida and other major members of the party to join the Portuguese Republican Party (PRP) in an organization of their own, the "Republican League of Portuguese Women". In 1909, the "League” became a formal structure of the party.In 1911, the denial of the suffrage in the legislation approved in March and April, grounded discontent that would lead to the coming apart of the "League". Mrs. Osório and Dr. Carolina Ângelo set up the "Association on Feminine Propaganda" (Associação de Propaganda Feminista") that became a member of the "International Women Suffrage Alliance". In 1913, a new electoral law unequivocally excluded female citizens. In 1914, another founder of the "League", Dr. Cabete formed the "National Council of Portuguese Women” (Conselho National das Mulheres Portuguesas), that was admitted to the International Council of Women, another international suffragist organization.(6)

In 1918, the electoral Law-decree, of March 30, did not open suffrage to women, and the same happened in 1919 (Decrees of March 1 and April 11). By then, no notable founding member remained in the League. They went their separate ways, divided by their different priorities. From 1914 to 1918, they were once again reunited in defense of Portugal participating in World War I. The Committee "Pro Pátria" was founded in 1914 and the “Portuguese Women Cruzade” (Cruzada das Mulheres Portuguesas) in 1916, headed by Ana de Castro Osório. It was her last civic crusade, a last display of great dynamism and courage not only in the diffusion of opinions but also in the direct help of wounded soldiers through “Committees” of nurses, regulated and supported by the government (7).

In 1924, the I Congress on Feminism and Education (I Congresso Feminista e da Educação) was held. President Teixeira Lopes and future (soon to be) President Bernardino Machado were both in attendance. In 1928, already under dictatorship, without any kind of official support, a second and last Congress took place.

The right to vote came 3 years later, ironically by the hand of Salazar, the quintessence of antifeminism - a restricted vote as proposed and defeated many a time during the 16 agitated years of the first Republic. (8)



2 - A TOUCH OF LONG LASTING MODERNISM



Portuguese feminists gained very important battles, like education for women, co-education, more or less egalitarian civil laws, family laws and divorce, more opportunity for professional work, involvement in politics, in journalism, in sciences and arts. They obtained the moral certainty of their remarkable contribution for the change of customs, mentalities, and laws on the line of democracy... However, they were never full citizens in the new Republic, as they never acquired the right to vote. None of them would ever have the option of running for parliament, like Mrs. Pankhurst, or of being elected as a Member of Parliament as Lady Astor was, in England, soon after the end of the WWI... But on the 8th of March 1988, more than eight decades after the commencement of their long struggle for emancipation and of the setting up of the "Group of Women' Studies" (joining Cabete, Osório and followers) a tribute was paid to them in the House. Some of them were, at last, "given the floor” through the voices of women of our generation. The proposal had been made by poet Natália Correia, then a Member of Parliament, someone you could compare to the best of the 1910 generation.(10)

Let me repeat some of the citations chosen for that memorable occasion, as the words sound surprisingly meaningful, significant and up to date, even if something gets lost in my translation… We, nowadays, would not put it differently, and their terms point out to many challenges still to be met.



ANGELINA VIDAL

"For us the emancipation of women is the founding stone of public morality. We recognize there were many difficulties to reach such an ideal, but we cannot forget that all the great ideals of what is fair or beautiful or lawful, worked out through sacrifices and merit of successive generations, were at one time considered utopias. And in two other very interesting remarks she concluded: “We cannot separate our emancipation from men’s emancipation”. Freedom does not tolerate any kind of slavery, only freed women may bring into being free, strong, moral and healthy societies (11)

Most certainly, Emmeline Pankhurst who once said "if civilization is to advance at all, it must be through the help of women, freed of their political shackles, women with full power to work their will in society" would agree.



MARIA VELEDA

"We want a new world, without discrimination based on race, caste, without discouraging laws, without slavery of any kind, without mistrust between sexes... men and women united to reach the same scope, to share the same possessions, rights and ideals" (...) women have to walk side by side with men, calm, spirited and self-possessed”. She defends education and the need of professional training for women and equal participation - topics still in our agenda. And she calls attention to the fact that lack of direct participation may induce evil forms of compensation: "If a woman can't elect she may conspire, she has done so in different ages, or fought with arms in their hands like those sturdy peasants who followed Maria da Fonte". 12)



ALICE PESTANA

Pestana (her pseudonym “Caiel”) is considered more a pacifist than a conventional feminist, but in fact I think she was both. President of the "Portuguese League for Peace", since 1889, a synthesis of her thought was presented in the parliamentarian session to which we refer: “The Portuguese Nation must give women modern learning, mobilize them to get interest in social reality they now think about much more with their heart than with adequate comprehension, instruction and intellectual capacity”. She is above all a “peace fighter” engaged in a “war against war”: “We ask for the creation of Committees for the cause if peace in each country, so that in the XX century we may live in harmony, meaning peace, freedom, and justice”. Nonetheless, she makes an exception, not seen as a contradiction, for what she designates the battle for a noble cause, stating that women, “have been on the side of justice, democracy and peace throughout the ages, even when written History does not mention it. In classical armies she usually finds no place, but in “guerilla”, resistance or liberation armies, in mass movements she is present.” She, specifically, refers to mass movements as those contributing to the independency and the foundation of national identity in Portugal.(13 )



ANA DE CASTRO OSÓRIO

She was next in the list of speakers, through the voice of another late XX century MP. Mrs. Osório was the most famous of the feminists of her time and also the one who seems to have been the first to fear the incapacity of the Republic to carry out the promise of feminine suffrage, as she said: “If a Republic excludes us from its civic laws, we cannot consider ours the country where we have no rights, where we don’t have a voice to protest”. Suffrage is her priority, a target always pursued and never attained, yet she does not minimize progress where it really happened, as in social and cultural spheres – education, more family rights, opportunities of revealing unexpected competence in social and civic activities, or in professional work. She stresses that things were already moving fast: “One who would defend the idea of feminine subjection or inferiority in a public statement would be compared to those who would have the Ill conceived courage to defend slavery".

“To be feminist does not scare anyone today, because the advancements brought by feminism are so many and so revealing of the high principles that guide intelligent women, that opponents do not dare speak against it - even if they wanted to - because their opinion would be considered outrageous”. Many a time she addresses “true feminism” as such: “to be feminist is a duty of all parents". It has to do with "the aim of educating women in a practical and useful way", to turn them into “sensible and able human beings free from dependence, that denies human dignity”. According to her, true feminism is to be shared by men and women. It is not to be seen simply as part of the social problems of class struggle or poverty. The rights of poor or wealthy women, commoners or aristocrats are to be taken in the same level of importance. On the other side, states Mrs. Osório, true feminism is not “a defense of the egotism of one sex against the other”. It is about altruism and women’s will to take their share in collective life, to improve the situation for all, for a better society. And as a true democrat, as well, she adds: “Good and practical ideas as they come from private initiative should be supported and followed by governments that respect public opinion”. (14)



CAROLINA BEATRIZ ÂNGELO

Last in the short list of the 1988 MP's in that historical session, Dr. Ângelo was specially remembered by her celebrated solitary act of voting, as a woman citizen, in the earliest election after the proclamation of the Republic - in the May 28 1911. She became the first southern European woman to exercise the right to vote. It was news all over Europe! In fact, she skillfully took advantage of the text of the electoral law that admitted to suffrage all citizens who were over 21, “heads of a family” and literate. As a 33 years old widow, the mother of a child, and a doctor by profession, she formally satisfied all the conditions required to vote. Nevertheless, being woman, her registration was denied by the authorities, because no electoral laws in the country had ever mentioned sex, either to include or exclude one, but women had always being implicitly barred. She went to court and won her case against the authorities. The Judge, who by the way, was a liberal republican and the father of Ana de Castro Osório (a true “feminist”, by his own daughter’s definition) decided in her favor. If the legislator intended to leave out the feminine sex, it should say so, unambiguously, ruled the Judge… In 1913, that is exactly what the law-makers did. Women had to wait for over 20 years to be integrated in a limited circle of officially registered participants in elections. (15).

We cited the favorable press Dr. Ângelo´s suffrage immediately obtained, at national and international level. We should also refer to the enthusiastic standing ovation she got from all men who had the privilege of witnessing the historical moment of her ballot vote. In the Portuguese Parliament in 1988 her daring act was once again given a round of applause.

Not only the few women we cited but also others, who were at their side a hundred years ago, are very similar to our contemporaries, as if they could be our sisters rather than our grand-mothers… I think the main explanation for this kind of “anachronism” is the fact that theirs was a more "feminine" feminism, by contrast with other concepts of their time as well as our own, at least in Portugal. A feminism inspired by the concept of gender equilibrium and cooperation, of "gender parity", as it is presently called, rather than "gender war", refusing rage or hate between sexes and preaching acceptance and tolerance between them. The uttered opinion of Ana de Castro Osório : "We never witnessed violent fights as in foreign countries where the feminist question turned out to be a true sex war.”

Gender parity is still what Portuguese legislators are seeking, in our Constitution and in our laws, along with the majority of women and men engaged in the fight for equality, even if some of them may disagree with the existing regulation imposing the “quota system”.(16 ) The reasons why they seem ahead of their times are certainly due to their own merit, to their own awareness of the social problems involved and the best possible solutions, but it is also partly explained by their position in family and society. They were a select small group of educated women linked by ideological as well as family ties with the republican movement. They came suddenly "out of the shadows" by their own free will, but with the help and complicity of men, with whom they shared beliefs and aims, destiny, global political projects for a future in which they had a role to play. They were ready to engage in the same revolution, to accept the same duties, to undergo the same risks as their fellow men. They believed that a Republic would mean general progress and would treat them as equal citizens with full civil, family and political rights. They were part of the cosmopolitan assertive leadership emerging in the Republican Party, conspiring side by side with parents, husbands, brothers and friends. In 1910 no Portuguese feminist could foresee that the laws on suffrage would remain unchanged. Their long fighting had started in full hope and amiable complicity with men, seen as allies not foes. For them laws concerning women’s rights were far behind social practices, because at least in their own upper class of cultured people they were treated as equals. The Republic, they felt sure, would instantly fill the space between law and life. We know how wrong they were…



3 - A FEMINIST AND REPUBLICAN MOVEMENT



A feminist and republican movement - as it was "two in one" in 1910. It makes a distinction when you differentiate the Portuguese example from others, even if ties between feminists groups with political parties existed elsewhere. In Portugal, the advent of the Republic was truly seen by the suffragists as a “prerequisite” for the achievement of their goal. On behalf of the Republic many of them would, in fact, in later years confirm a no-nonsense approach to politics, including the sacrifice of the vital issue of women's right to vote. They gave up equal suffrage, limiting their claim to a small circle of highly educated ladies... These exceptional women kind of “ladylike way of behaving” inside the political world, carefully staying away from foreign examples of extremism in their individual outward show in public life, and sometimes their manner of demanding equality and justice probably played against them. (16). Very often it does not pay off to be too much ahead of one’s times! Theirs was or is, as I see it, the right attitude for the new century, but then and there it was premature... Now we can afford reconciliation and harmony - or “synthesis”. A century ago it was time for “antithesis”, for unbending and hard opposition.

Lack of harshness was, on my opinion, only one of the main reasons for their (partial) failure: a kind of contradiction between their consistent and often brilliant writings or speeches, even if they were more or less temperate, and their way of political intervention, too "soft" to have the necessary impact. Another cause was dissent among them: dispute on what concerns priorities, the priority of many of them being education, employment and massive civic intervention initially and suffrage later – obviously, a very convenient order of precedence for the republican leaders. The movement did spit into several smaller circles because some of them were republicans above all - like Maria Veleda, the unconditional supporter of Afonso Costa and his radical Democratic Party - and others were more feminists than republicans, like Cabete and Osório, who never gave up the fundamental battle for suffrage, along with other more consensual issues, like education. Education was, as they all agreed upon, an indispensable basis of the emancipation of women. Radical, revolutionary or law abiding feminists, and even a more conservative non feminist wing, shared that conviction. (17) Education for women - a very limited number, of course - was already under way before the Republic was established, but from them on the focus was on the relevance of equal public instruction for both sexes, from primary to high school and to university, and it became an irreversible process that lasted during the period of the so called “New State". (18) . The trend that started in 1910, with the help of the feminist movements may be considered as the most important contribution of the Republic to the emancipation of women.

The refusal of universal suffrage was a major disillusion for the feminists. In a way, their suffragist campaign started hand in hand with their male associates, and they gave up the aim of immediate and full equality to help strengthening the new regime, until it could be self confident enough to be able to satisfy their demands. Unlike suffragists in England and almost everywhere, they seemed as afraid as men proved to be of the consequences of universal suffrage. It is well known that "leftist" parties feared the "conservative" vote of women - and the conservative parties, sure to gain by their voting, were simply against it... In Portugal, ruling republicans also rejected conservative male vote, artificially reducing the electoral universe to a very small percentage of the adult population… The hostile rural catholic and monarchist vote was largely reduced by the prerequisites of alphabetization and tax contribution.(19) Electoral laws introduced a few changes, but never eliminated these two very useful discriminations. Republican women were themselves, aware of the risk of endangering the future of the regime by adopting a system a liberal and open voting system. That explains their approval of the manipulation and cutback of the electoral universe. They never asked for the ballot vote for all women - just for the much reduced number of those who were educated, and considered as more republican than the others.... That is why they went as far as accepting unequal vote, according to sex.

Looking back , we must conclude that Republics, like France and Portugal, delayed fair treatment of female citizens for as long as they could and so many of the countries where women first obtained equal civil and political rights were - and remain! - Constitutional democratic monarchies. In Portugal, really, feminists had no alternative but to trust republicans, because there was no place for them in any of the monarchist parties, as the very few monarchists who were in favor of women's emancipation acknowledged. (20) The truth is, there was no proper place for them in the Republican public institutions, either... They worked hard for the revolution, they remained faithful to the republican principles, and I believe, their participation inside public institutions could have made a difference.

The incapacity of the republican politicians and parties to fairly engage women was a sign of the inevitable decline of the regime, lost by dissension and instability, centralist and authoritarian urges, and growing lack of public support. This is past History…

Feminist thoughts and ideals, as the parliamentarians of 1988 wanted to stress, are very much alive. The feminists of the Republic, their hopes and dreams, did have more future than present - the opposite of the regime... Many Portuguese of my generation still look at them as inspiring and amazing fighters, so gentle and strong, setting good examples and making us think that in 1910 we, too, would have been republicans and feminists. In 2010, we are simply democrats, and feminists, "true feminists", according to Osorio’s definition.

Maria Manuela Aguiar



Espinho, June 2010

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------





Notes

(1) In “ O Primeiro de Janeiro”, 11 de Setembro, 1902

(2) João Esteves, “Mulheres e Republicanismo (1908-1928), Colecção “O Fio de Ariana”, Comissão para a Cidadania e Igualdade de Género, Lisboa, 2008, p. 9-22)

(3)See for detailed comments one of the best books written in Portuguese on the situation of women around the world “As Mulheres no Mundo” by Maria Lamas.

(4) There was a tremendous gap “north-south” on what concerns legislation and access to seats in Parliament, as a simple chronology clearly reveals: Spain 1924,1927; Portugal 1931,1935; France 1944, 1946; Italy,1945, 1946; Malta 1947,1947; Greece,1952, 1952

In Maria Reynolds de Sousa “A Concessão do Voto às Portuguesas”, colecção “O Fio de Ariana”, Comissão para a Igualdade e os Direitos das Mulheres, Lisboa 2006, p. 81-89

(5) In 1926 lawyer Elina Guimarães and writer Maria Lamas, were in their twenties. They, along with a few others, held the fight during Salazar’s regime and lived long enough to spend their last years in democracy. Public tribute to the highest degree was then paid to them.

(6) The NCPW , resisted for years, under the "Estado Novo" or "New State", along with the paper "Alma Feminina", where many of the texts and some of the reports on international congresses made by Adelaide Cabete were published . The “Council” was extinguished by Salazar's government in 1947, its last president being Maria Lamas.

(7) To Ana de Castro Osório the campaign was an opportunity for many Portuguese women: “women prisoners of stereotypes, deprived of ideals, aims and initiatives will now be in contact with the grand, romantic and valiant soul of the people, alive in our soldiers. In “Em tempo de Guerra, aos soldados e mulheres do meu país”, Lisboa, Editores Ventura e companhia, 1918, p 22.

(8)Maria Reynolds de Sousa, cit , p. 37.

(9) In “Diário da Assembleia da República”, Sessão Plenária, 8 de Março de 1988.

(10) Op cit, p. 2081-2082.

(11) Op cit, p. 2082-2084

(12) Op cit p. 2084-2085

(13)Op cit, p. 2085-2088. Mrs Osório's book "As Mulheres Portuguesas", published in 1905 is considered the first book written in favor of a feminist movement, as it would develop in the immediate future.

(14) Op cit, p. 2088. See letter from Dr Ângelo on the immediate effect of her ballot vote in « A Capital », 29 de Maio de 1911.

(15) In “Iniciativas para a Igualdade de Género”, Coordenação Maria Manuela Aguiar, Edição “Mulher Migrante, Associação de Estudo, Cooperação e Solidariedade”, 2006, p. 90-97

(16) Two statements by Cabete on education and on feminism show what we are trying to convey, that is, the blending of high principles with a certain kind of conventionality:

“It is necessary that the educated men takes care of the education of his companion, that the freed man takes her as a freed woman”.

“Feminism is not what it’s supposed to be by so many people – women eager to mimic men by smoking, by using white collars and ties and other ridiculous imitations.”

(17) Among the anti feminists, Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho was one of the voices “pro” education for girls and one of the high schools in Lisbon is named after her.

(18) It enables us to be, right now, at the top of the ranking, worldwide, where percentages of women graduates in almost any area, from law to medical studies are well over 60%.

(19) The program of the Republican Party by the end of the XIX century, was definitely in favor of universal suffrage as well as a constituency system throughout the country - in the name of real decentralization of power. None was to be accomplished... Portugal had at the time a population of 5 million people and only one million could read and write, among them not much more than 300.000 women. According to successive laws only about 700.000 in the total population could register to vote...

(20) Dom Antonio da Costa, one of the few monarchist to support the rights of women, praises the program of the Republican party for the defense of equality of gender in a famous book published in 1892 : “A Mulher em
in

quinta-feira, fevereiro 10, 2011

Declaração Pública do CPS Colegio de Asistentes Sociales de Chile

DECLARACION PÚBLICA


Consejo Provincial Santiago

Colegio de Asistentes Sociales

Santiago 8 de febrero 2011





En relación a la reciente publicación del señor Patricio Navia realizada en La Tercera el día 07 de febrero 2011 “Una inaceptable práctica común “ como presidenta del Consejo Provincial Santiago me permito hacer dos aclaraciones respecto a su comentario:



Primero: Al presentar su argumentación sobre el tema en comentario en base al politólogo Arturo Valenzuela “quien publicó el libro Political Brokers in Chile (intermediarios políticos) quien analizó la forma en que alcaldes y regidores devenían en visitadores sociales que buscaban recursos del gobierno central para necesidades particulares de sus zonas, de manera de construir bases de apoyo electoral” lo que hace es solo reforzar un equívoco por desconocimiento de la profesión al mencionar una profesión que ya en el año 1957 dejó de existir, toda vez que los visitadores sociales fue reemplazada por la profesión de Asistente Social, actuales Trabajadores Sociales cuyo quehacer profesional si bien incluye la visita domiciliaria, no es tan sólo con la finalidad reduccionista, paternalista y asitencialista de conseguir un recurso para el “carenciado”, sino que tiene una connotación mucho más amplia cuya finalidad última no será otra que facilitar a la persona, familia o comunidad el reconocimiento de redes que le abran las alternativas de solución de la problemática que lo afecta, uno de tantos roles que ejerce un profesional de terreno en la actualidad.



Segundo y más grave aún, el señor Navia al tratar de ejemplificar una labor política asistencialista (conseguir recursos para el electorado) diciendo que:” los políticos locales pueden legítimamente convertirse en trabajadores sociales, que consiguen beneficios particulares, saltándose normas y reglas, a través de regateos y mentiras, intercediendo por la gente ante el ogro del gobierno central”, reduce el ámbito de acción de los trabajadores sociales y la iguala a la de los políticos como mera utilización de las personas desconociendo con ello la gran labor que desempeñan los profesionales en el desarrollo de nuestra sociedad, ya que el objetivo último de nuestra profesión no es otra más que aportar al desarrollo humano, en estricto respeto de nuestra ética profesional y de los derechos humanos y la no discriminación y esta sin duda alguna no se consigue utilizando a la gente con fines mezquinos como lo hacen los políticos a los que se refiere el señor Navia.



Para conocimiento público y de acuerdo a La Federación Internacional de Trabajadores Sociales y la Asociación Internacional de Escuelas de Trabajo Social (IASSW ) a la cual adscribimos señala que "La profesión de trabajo social promueve el cambio social, la resolución de problemas en las relaciones humanas y el fortalecimiento y la liberación del pueblo para incrementar el bienestar. Mediante la utilización de teorías sobre comportamiento humano y los sistemas sociales, el trabajo social interviene en los puntos en los que las personas interactúan con su entorno. Los principios de los Derechos Humanos y la Justicia Social son fundamentales para el trabajo social". Por lo anterior hago público el malestar que ha provocado en nuestro gremio los comentarios del señor Patricio Navia, aludiendo a nuestra profesión de manera tan desafortunada en el contexto de malas prácticas políticas (mediante engaños) para conseguir recursos estatales.







Victoria Escalante González

Trabajadora Social

Presidenta del Consejo Provincial Santiago

Colegio de Asistentes Sociales de Chile A.G

quarta-feira, fevereiro 09, 2011

Selective Memory: A Note on Social Work Historiography by David Burnham

Selective Memory: A Note on Social Work HistoriographyDavid Burnham*
Dave Burnham currently works for Lancashire County Council in adult social care leading on
complaints, research, performance information, community engagement, management
information and the JSNA. He has in the past worked as a trainer, social work lecturer, child
care social worker and started his career as a probation officer. His historical interests include
British cultural history of the twentieth century.
*Correspondence to David Burnham. E-mail: daveburnham@virginmedia.com

Abstract
Since the Second World War, histories of social work have regularly confirmed that the
activities of philanthropic visiting societies, chiefly the Charity Organisation Society
(COS), supplied the principles and practices of late-twentieth-century social work. Similarly,
histories of social work have asserted that there was no legacy from public sector
welfare workers to the development of social work after 1948, which date marks the
start of social work in the public sector. This paper reviews these orthodox assumptions,
concluding that both are flawed. There is evidence that the reported legacy of charitable
visiting societies owes a great deal to a particular set of circumstances after the
Second World War and also that the public sector hosted social work roles and activity
from before the GreatWar. Such practices and roles in the public sector developed in the
interwar years and there was considerable continuity of staff and practice from before
the SecondWorldWar into the 1950s. This public sector legacy was ignored, then forgotten
by post-1948 historians of social work—partly by chance, partly as a deliberate policy
by some social work historians and latterly because of a lack of rigour by those reviewing
social work history.
Keywords: history, historigraphy, training
continue a consultar in

terça-feira, fevereiro 08, 2011

Mutilação Genital Feminina MGF 2011

O dia 6 de Fevereiro marca o Dia Internacional de Tolerância Zero à Mutilação Genital Feminina, foi escolhido para denúnciar esta prática que ainda existe em pelo menos 28 países de África e do Médio Oriente, como ainda na Ásia e em comunidades emigrantes na Europa, América do Norte e Austrália.

O que é a Mutilação Genital Feminina?



A mutilação genital feminina (MGF) é uma prática em que uma parte ou a totalidade dos órgãos sexuais de mulheres e crianças são removidos. Há vários tipos, que por sua vez têm gravidadas diferentes. Segundo as várias tradições são removidos o clítoris ou os lábios vaginais. Uma das práticas de maior gravidade – chamada infibulação – consiste na costura dos lábios vaginais ou do clítoris, deixando uma abertura pequena para a urina e a menstruação. Aproximadamente 15 % das mutilações em África são infibulações. A MGF é levada a cabo em várias idades, desde depois do nascimento até à primeira gravidez, tendo a maioria lugar entre os quatro e oito anos.



Como é praticada a MGF?



A MGF pode ser realizada em clínicas por médicos, mas mesmo desta maneira, com anestesia, trata-se de mutilação genital feminina. No entanto, a maioria dos casos são realizados por mulheres da comunidade em que vive a mulher ou criança, com instrumentos de corte inapropriados (faca, caco de vidro, ou navalha). Estes instrumentos são raramente esterilizados e anestesiados, podendo levar à transmissão da SIDA ou HIV, ou à morte. Em casos de infibulação, podem ser usados pontos ou espinhos para “manter” os lábios vaginais juntos, tendo as raparigas de ter as pernas atadas durante quarenta dias.



A MGF não é um costume inofensivo. Causa danos físicos e psicológicos irreversíveis, podendo ainda levar à morte de raparigas de todas as idades. Esta mutilação viola o direito da jovem a desenvolver-se psico-sexualmente de um modo saudável e natural. O que também deve ser considerado são os custos do tratamento contínuo devido às complicações físicas e psicológicas. A MGF é uma ofensa grave aos direitos humanos em geral, e aos direitos da mulher e criança, em especial.



Efeitos da MGF



Os efeitos da MGF podem, como acima referido, levar à morte. Na maioria dos casos, os efeitos consistem em infecções crónicas, sangrar intermitentemente, abcessos e pequenos tumores benignos no nervo, causando desconforto e extrema dor. A infibulação pode ter efeitos mais duradouros e mais graves, incluindo: infecção crónica do tracto urinário, pedras na vesícula e uretra, danos aos rins, infecções no tracto reprodutor devido a obstruções do fluxo menstrual, infecções pélvicas, infertilidade, e tecido excessivo da cicatriz. Durante o parto, o tecido cicatrizado existente nas mulheres mutiladas pode romper. Mulheres infibuladas, que têm os lábios vaginais fechados, têm de ser cortadas para deixarem espaço para a criança nascer. Depois do parto, têm de voltar a ser “fechadas” para assegurar o prazer dos maridos.



Efeitos sobre a sexualidade



A MGF pode tornar a primeira relação sexual da mulher muito dolorosa, sendo mesmo perigosa no caso da mulher sofrer um corte aberto. Em certos casos, as relações sexuais das mulheres continuam dolorosas ao longo da vida.



Efeitos psicológicos



Os efeitos psicológicos da MGF são mais difíceis de investigar do que os efeitos físicos. Alguns destes efeitos incluem ansiedade, terror, humilhação e traição, todos dos quais terão possíveis efeitos de longa duração. Alguns especialistas sugerem que o choque e trauma da “operação” podem contribuir para os comportamentos “mais calmos” e “dóceis”, considerados características positivas em sociedades que praticam MGF.



Adicionalmente, quando ocorrem problemas, estes são raramente atribuídos às pessoas que executam a operação. Na maioria dos casos, a suposta “promiscuidade” das raparigas é considerada a causa. Estas acusações podem aumentar os sentimentos de culpa, de humilhação e ansiedade destas raparigas.



Porque se faz MGF?



Muitas vezes são os pais que pagam ou iniciam a “prática”, para que as filhas possam casar com homens que não aceitariam mulheres não circuncisadas. Algumas culturas acreditam que os órgãos femininos são impuros e têm de ser purificados, e por isso erradicados. Esta prática permite que somente os homens possam desfrutar o prazer sexual. Também se pensa que a MGF melhora a fertilidade e desencoraja a promiscuidade sexual. No entanto, esta prática leva à frigidez das suas vítimas e os seus maridos evitam o relacionamento sexual com as suas esposas, procurando relacionamentos extraconjugais.



Manifestarem-se contra esta mutilação é extremamente difícil pois podem ser acusadas de se oporem às tradições ancestrais e aos valores familiares, tribais e religiosos, sendo mesmo acusadas de rejeitar o seu próprio povo e sua identidade cultural.



Identidade Cultural



Os costumes e as tradições são, por conseguinte, as razões mais citadas para a MGF. O defunto Presidente do Quénia, Jomo Kenyatta, disse “a abolição…destruirá o sistema tribal”. Por estas razões, uma rapariga não é considerada uma adulta numa sociedade que pratica MGF, se não se tiver sido submetida à mutilação.



Identidade de Género



MGF é considerado muitas vezes necessário para que uma rapariga seja considerada uma mulher completa. Acredita-se que a remoção do clitóris e os lábios vaginais eleva a feminilidade da rapariga, sendo sinónimo da docilidade e obediência feminina. É muito possível que o trauma da mutilação tenha este mesmo efeito sobre a personalidade da rapariga, levando-a agir com tal docilidade e obediência. Quando a MGF faz parte de um rito, é muitas vezes acompanhada por uma sessão sobre o papel da mulher na sociedade.



Controlo sobre a sexualidade das mulheres e da reprodução



Em muitas sociedades, a razão dada para a MGF é a crença que esta prática reduz o desejo feminino para o sexo, reduzindo, portanto, as possibilidades de terem relações extraconjugais. Prevenir que as mulheres tenham relações sexuais “ilegítimas”, e “protegendo-as” de relações não queridas, é vital, pois a honra da família depende disto. No entanto, a infibulação não garante que não haja relações sexuais “ilegítimas”, visto que a mulher pode ser “aberta” e “fechada” várias vezes.



Em certas culturas, elevar o prazer sexual do homem é uma razão para a MGF, mesmo que os homens tendem a preferir mulheres não mutiladas como companheiras sexuais.



Higiene, estética e saúde



A limpeza e higiene são outros factores de justificação. De facto, em certas sociedades, mulheres não mutiladas são consideradas sujas e não têm autorização de distribuir comida e água.



Quantas mulheres são afectadas pela MGF?



O segredo à volta da MGF e a protecção dos que a executam torna mais difícil de obter a informação correcta do número de mulheres afectadas pela MGF. No entanto, por volta de 135 milhões de mulheres sofreram MGF no mundo inteiro, subindo de 2 milhões de raparigas em risco de sofrer MGF por ano – aproximadamente 6000 por dia – para três milhões.



Em que países se prática MGF?



A MGF é praticada na maioria dos casos em África, mas também é comum em certos países do Médio Oriente. Também acontece, devido a comunidades imigrantes, em certas regiões da Ásia e do Pacífico, América do Norte, América Latina, e Europa.



Mais de 28 países Africanos praticam MGF:



· Benin: Prevalência entre 30% e 50%. A prática abrange as várias religiões: a Muçulmana, a Cristã, e os Animistas. Raparigas são submetidas à MGF entre os cinco e os quinze anos, dependendo da comunidade em que vivem.



· Burkina Faso: Prevalência de 78%



· Camarões: Prevalência de 15%



· República Central Africana: Prevalência de 35%



· Chade: Prevalência de 40%



· Costa do Marfim: Prevalência de 44.5%. Na Costa do Marfim, a MGF é mais comum em comunidades Muçulmanas (80%) do que em comunidades Católicas ou Protestantes (16%). Este rito de iniciação é geralmente praticado entre os quatro e sete anos.



· Djibuti: Prevalência estimada entre 90% a 98%. A idade média das crianças submetidas ao ritual é entre os dois e os dez anos.



· Eritréia: Prevalência de 95%, o ritual varia consoante a idade em que se pratica e a comunidade em que vive. Enquanto certas comunidades praticam o ritual por volta dos sete anos da criança, em certas comunidades cristãs, a cerimónia é praticada quarenta dias após o nascimento da criança, e certas comunidades muçulmanas, praticam MGF em crianças de 1 semana.



· Etiópia: Prevalência entre 73% e 90%.



· Gâmbia: Prevalência entre 60% e 90%. As raparigas sofrem este ritual desde algumas semanas após o nascimento até aos quinze anos de idade, dependendo da comunidade. Este ritual é efectuado com uma faca tradicional que é transmitida de geração em geração.



· Ghana: Prevalência de 20%



· Guiné: Prevalência de 60%



· Guiné Bissau: Prevalência de 45%



· Quénia: Prevalência de 38%, sendo a operação efectuada entre os sete e quinze anos de idade.



· Libéria: Prevalência de 55%



· Mali: Prevalência entre 15% e 20%. O ritual é tradicionalmente feito como preparação para o casamento, por volta dos catorze ou quinze anos. No entanto, visto que a idade em que as mulheres se casam tem aumentado, as idades de iniciação tem diminuído drasticamente, indo desde algumas semanas após o nascimento até aos doze anos.



· Mauritânia: Prevalência de 55%



· Níger: Prevalência de 11%



· Nigéria Prevalência de 60%, variando entre alguns meses após o nascimento até antes do casamento. Já foram relatados casos em que a prática foi efectuada após a morte da mulher ou durante o parto.



· Senegal Prevalência entre 15% e 20%. A idade média em que se pratica a MGF está situada entre os dois e os doze anos, dependendo dos grupos. Como é o caso em vários outros países, a idade em que se pratica este ritual está a diminuir, na maioria dos casos devido à oposição oficial da prática.



· Serra Leoa: Prevalência entre 80% e 90%, praticada maioritariamente entre os onze e os quinze anos.



· Somália: Prevalência de 99%



· Sudão: Prevalência de 90%. O ritual é praticado em raparigas entre os cinco e os dez anos, com raras excepções em bebés.



· Tanzânia: Prevalência de 18%, praticada geralmente entre os sete e os catorze anos. No entanto, desde a ratificação de uma lei proibindo a prática e o aumento de oposição das raparigas mais velhas, existem relatos em que a MGF é praticada em bebés.



· Togo: Prevalência de 12%.



· Uganda: Prevalência de 20%



Vários países da Ásia também praticam MGF:



· Índia



· Indonésia



· Sri Lanka



· Malásia



No médio oriente, a MGF é praticada nos seguintes países:



· Egipto



· Omán



· Iémene



· Emirados Árabes Unidos



A MGF também é praticada em grupos indígenas na América Central e do Sul, como por exemplo no Perú, mas existe pouca informação acerca deles. Devido à imigração, países onde anteriormente não se praticava MGF, têm agora sectores da população a praticá-la, incluindo:



· Austrália



· Canada



· Dinamarca



· França



· Itália



· Holanda



· Suécia



· Reino Unido



· EUA



Testemunho de uma vítima de MGF:



“Sofri mutilação genital feminina aos dez anos. A minha defunta avó disse-me então que me iam levar perto do rio para executar uma espécie de cerimónia, e que depois me dariam muita comida. Como criança inocente que era, lá fui como uma ovelha para a matança.



Mal entrei no arbusto secreto, levaram-me para um quarto muito escuro e tiraram-me as roupas. Vendaram-me os olhos e despiram-me completamente. Depois, duas mulheres fortes levaram-me para o local onde seria a operação. Quatro mulheres com força obrigaram-me a deitar-me de costas, duas apertando-me uma perna cada uma. Outra mulher sentou-se sobre o meu peito para eu não mexer a parte de cima do meu corpo. Um bocado de tecido foi-me posto dentro da boca para eu não gritar. Depois raparam-me os pelos.



Quando começou a operação debati-me imenso. A dor era terrível e insuportável. Enquanto me debatia cortaram-me e perdi sangue. Todos os que fizeram parte da operação estavam meios bêbados. Outros estavam a dançar e a cantar, e ainda pior, estavam nus.



Fui mutilada com um canivete rombo.



Depois da operação, ninguém me podia ajudar a andar. O que me puseram na ferida cheirava mal e doía. Estes foram momentos terríveis para mim. Cada vez que queria urinar, era forçada a estar em pé. A urina espalhava-se pela ferida e causava de novo a dor inicial. Às vezes tinha de me forçar a não urinar, com medo da dor terrível. Não me anestesiaram durante a operação, nem me deram antibióticos contra infecções. Depois, tive uma hemorragia e fiquei anémica. A culpa foi atribuída à feitiçaria. Sofri durante muito tempo de infecções vaginais agudas.” Hannah Koroma, Serra Leoa.



Existem Tratados Internacionais protegendo mulheres da MGF?



Existem vários tratados que proíbem práticas como a MGF e que têm de estar ratificados (não meramente assinados) para terem valor prático. Estes incluem:



§ Protocolo Facultativo ao Pacto Internacional sobre Direitos Civis e Políticos: reconhece a competência do Comité de Direitos Humanos para receber e considerar comunicações de indivíduos reclamando terem sido vítimas de violações de direitos humanos.



Assinado por: Guiné Bissau, Libéria.



Ratificado por: Benin, Burkina Faso, Camarões, República Central Africana, Chade, República Democrática do Congo, Costa do Marfim, Djibuti, Guiné, Mali, Níger, Senegal, Serra Leoa (1996), Somália, Gâmbia (1988), Togo (1988), Uganda.



§ Protocolo Facultativo à Convenção sobre a Eliminação de todas as Formas de Discriminação contra a Mulher: dá competência ao Comité sobre a Eliminação de Todas as Formas de Discriminação Contra a Mulher, para receber e considerar comunicações de indivíduos reclamando terem sido vítimas de violações de direitos humanos.



Assinado por: Benin (2000), Libéria, Guiné Bissau, Ghana, Nigéria, Serra Leoa (2000)



Ratificado por: Burkina Faso, Camarões, Mali, Nigéria, Níger, Senegal (2000), Tanzânia (2006)



§ Convenção sobre os Direitos da Criança



Assinada por: Somália.



Ratificada por: Benin (1990), Burkina Faso, Camarões, República Central Africana, Chade, República Democrática do Congo, Costa do Marfim (1991), Djibuti, Eritréia, Ghana, Guiné, Guiné Bissau, Libéria, Etiópia (1991), Quénia (1990), Mali (1990), Mauritânia, Níger, Nigéria (1991), Senegal (1990), Serra Leoa (1990), Sudão (1990), Tanzânia (1991), Gâmbia (1990), Togo (1990), Uganda.



§ Convenção Contra a Tortura e Outras Penas ou Tratamentos Cruéis, Desumanos ou Degradantes



Assinada por: Sudão (1986), Gâmbia (1985), Guiné Bissau



Ratificada por: Benin (1992), Costa do Marfim (1996), Mali (1999), mas não aceitam a competência do Comité Contra a Tortura em receber e considerar comunicações de indivíduos sobre o artigo 22 da convenção. Burkina Faso, Camarões, Chade, Djibuti (2002), Etiópia (1994), Guiné, Libéria, Quénia (1997), Mauritânia, Níger, Nigéria (2001), Senegal (1987), Serra Leoa (2001), Somália, Togo (1987), Uganda.



§ Protocolo Facultativo à Carta Africana dos Direitos Humanos e dos Povos, sobre os direitos da Mulher:



Assinado por: Camarões (2006), Chade (2004), Costa do Marfim (2004), República Democrática do Congo (2003), Etiópia (2004), Ghana (2003), Guiné (2003), Guiné Bissau (2005), Quénia (2003), Libéria (2003), Níger (2004), Serra Leoa (2003), Somália (2006), Tanzânia (2003), Uganda (2003).



Ratificado por: Benin (2005), Burkina Faso (2006), Djibuti (2005), Gâmbia, Mali (2005), Mauritânia (2005), Nigéria (2004), Senegal (2004), Togo (2005).



§ Carta Africana dos Direitos e do Bem-Estar da Criança



Assinada por: Serra Leoa República Central Africana (2003), Costa do Marfim (2004), Chade (2004), Djibuti (1992), Guiné Bissau (2005), Libéria (1992), Somália (1991)



Ratificada por: Benin (1997), Burkina Faso (1992), Camarões (1997), Eritréia (1999), Etiópia (2002), Gâmbia (2000), Ghana (2005), , Guiné (1999), Quénia (2000), Mali (1998), Níger (1999), Nigéria (2002), Serra Leoa (2002)Senegal (1998), Tanzânia (2003), Togo (1998), Uganda (1994).



Tendo estes Tratados em vigor mas sem serem ratificados por todos os países em questão, pouca mudança podem trazer. Contudo, mesmo tendo sido ratificado, a informação previamente explicada demonstra que vários países que ratificaram alguns destes Tratados continuam a praticar MGF e a violar os direitos destas mulheres e crianças.



É possível, então, eliminar a MGF?



A UNICEF declarou que esta prática “pode ser eliminada no espaço de uma geração”. No entanto, a diminuição da taxa de prática do ritual não indica uma diminuição global. Por conseguinte, para erradicar a MGF serão exigidos mais esforços por parte dos governos, pela sociedade civil, e pela comunidade internacional. Terão de ser influenciadas através de um empenho global colectivo. Líderes dos países em que se pratica MGF têm um papel importante para desencorajar esta prática. A Amnistia Internacional esforça-se para que os direitos destas mulheres e crianças sejam respeitados e acredita que com um empenho global colectivo se possa chegar ao objectivo desejado.



O que se pode fazer para ajudar estas mulheres?



A Organização Não Governamental CARE tem uma petição para por termo à Mutilação Genital Feminina. Esta petição pode ser assinada em: https://my.care.org/campaign/fgcpetition  Não deixem de assinar a petição para que as atrocidades mencionadas acima deixem de ser praticadas.







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