In Latin America the feminine is cherished, the ability to bear and raise children, to nurture a family is celebrated. Instead of rejecting their socially defined roles Latin American feminists may be understood as women acting to protest laws and conditions which threaten their ability to fulfill that role. In Latin America strategic gender interests inspire women’s movements. Many of the early advocates of women’s rights in Latin America were female schoolteachers who formed the nucleus of the first women’s groups to protest against the pervasive inequality of the sexes, access to education, political and economic power. Reformist ideals intersected with those of their male counterparts on issues of health care, social welfare, and general
