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Several decades have passed since the conclusion of what the United Nations addressed as the “Decade for Woman” (1975-1985). In many regions of the world, patriarchal relationships between men and women have been toned down, and hierarchies in gender roles have become less rigid. What did these changes mean for women in Latin America? Although Latin America today is not as it was 30 years ago, the remnants of a rigid patriarchal order still shape people’s lives. A focus on women and health will serve as a prism to gain insights into some of the characteristics of Latin American gender systems and into the options and obligations assigned to women.
Latin American Life Experiences

Since Latin American women are hardly a homogenous group, understanding their diversity is a first step. Women’s experiences in the Americas are shaped not only by class and gender, but also by ethnic identities and the differences between urban and rural lives. Diverse groups of people experience different challenges when attempting to live healthy lives: urban women of the middle sectors often find it easier to protect their health than women in isolated highland communities in the Andes, or rural women who cannot rely on the proximity of medical facilities. Cultural differences are important markers as well: indigenous communities are often disconnected from “modern” approaches to health care not only by geographical factors, but also by a cultural and ethnic divide. Gender; ethnicity or race; class; age; and geography are all among the factors that shape human options in coping with the multiple obstacles on the path to health in the modern world.

Few women in the region could attain roles of leadership like Eva Perón in Argentina or Rigoberta Menchú in Guatemala. Eva Perón, or Evita, made a transformation from a poor suburban illegitimate child into to the most famous First Lady in Argentine history. Evita’s role in politics helped women gain the right to vote in Argentina—but by the time of her death in 1952, gender equality had not improved beyond suffrage. A Noble Prize winner and Quiché Indian peasant woman, Rigoberta Menchú became a ceaseless advocate for the human rights of the indigenous populations in the Americas. Her work showed that Indian women and men have suffered disproportionately in the civil wars and political tensions that were the legacies of colonial rule on the region.

The different life experiences of Latin American women serve as constant reminders that everyday life in the region is still shaped by the systems of stratification that survived the formal end of Spanish colonialism in the 19th century. Interaction among Americans, Europeans, and Africans in the colonial worlds led to the creation of new racial identities, differentiated social classes, and to redefined relations between men and women. The consolidation of colonial rule and the longevity of the system relied on the introduction of patriarchal family systems and on race- and gender-based mechanisms of establishing political hierarchies that last well into the 21st century. Due to ethnic prejudice, for example, indigenous women confront different challenges than women who claim Spanish descent. Concepts of health and disease in this historical context depend on specific notions about gender that are connected to the formation of nation-states in formerly colonial territory.

Defining Health: Old Concepts and New Meanings

In 1948, the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted a definition of “health” that has not been amended since: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”1 The WHO broadened the traditional understanding of health, ready to acknowledge a more holistic understanding of well-being that went beyond mere physical evidence of illness. The definition opened the door to new options for preventing disease—yet, as a global designation it could hardly address the multitude of factors that define health on national, regional, and local levels.

National and international forums provided activists spaces where they could emphasize that optimal health throughout the life cycle needed to be connected to gender equality in the household and the “public” sphere where political decisions are made. All approaches to health, they confirmed, needed to be placed within the context of gender equality and human rights, including the sharing of family responsibilities, economic development, and a peaceful political setting. In short, health depends on gender equality in social, political and economic relationships—and, in turn, women’s empowerment and their ability to secure gender equality depend on their health as a basic prerequisite.

While global definitions of health have not accounted for much regional and local diversity, they have addressed a number of health issues particularly relevant to women. Reproductive health is one of these issues. At the Conference of Human Rights in Tehran in 1968, the focus on health as a basic human right was made explicit. The conference defined reproductive health as the “complete state of physical, mental and social well-being—not only the absence of disease—on all levels related to the reproductive system and its functioning and processes.”2

At the 1974 World Population Conference in Bucharest, 136 countries approved a World Population Plan of Action (WPPA), stating that “All couples and individuals have the basic right to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children and to have the information and means to do so.”3 Within these definitions, reproductive rights were explicitly recognized. However, while in theory reproductive rights are defined as the rights of women and men, the reproductive health and rights of women have been disproportionately limited due to a variety of cultural, political and socioeconomic factors.
Health and Gender: Analytical Approaches

Considering gender as a category of historical analysis illuminates the differences between the health challenges women and men may confront in the course of their life cycles. The study of women’s health concerns more than childbirth and reproductive health, and extends beyond biological differences between the sexes. Approaches that treated “Women’s Health” as mainly an obstetrical term relied on an understanding of the female life cycle that wrongly assumed the centrality of reproduction to women’s lives. Fertility does mark women’s lives, but the understanding of women’s health should not be confined to it. Economic status, the nature of the national health system she relies on, as well as a woman’s role in the family or community affect her health. Clearly, the relation between medical, social, cultural, political, and economic issues alike are critical to understanding the varied needs of women.

Historical documents on Latin American life in the 20th century are marked by an absence of women’s voices, and a presence of the more powerful to speak for,—or, on behalf of—women. Our focus on Gender and Health adds an additional challenge to the search for women’s voices in historical documents, as health, for many, is rather personal and not easily discussed in public. The voices that remain absent from public debates on health are often the voices of the least powerful, so one must consider the primary sources in that light.

First, legal debates concerning women’s bodies are an important factor in understanding women’s challenges. Laws and legal decrees passed by mostly male policymakers not only set the legal margins in women’s lives, but also give insights into dominant gender roles. Second, testimonial accounts by women offer very private insights and provide invaluable information about less powerful communities. Third, texts written as fiction provide informative source material. We can learn to read between the lines of poetry and novels to discover women’s views in spaces that are less censored and controlled than the official realm of politics.

From Historical Roots to Contemporary Challenges: Women’s Lives

Contemporary experiences of Latin American women, testimonial accounts, and descriptions of women’s activism illustrate the variety of challenges different groups of women have to confront. Their accounts reveal desperation, anger, poverty, and the inability to control their lives—but they also demonstrate creativity in addressing problems, courage in challenging oppressive and painful systems, and the desire to act and engage in activities that improve their lives. Rural isolation, urban poverty, and the widespread lack of access to political channels and power encourages admirable and surprising ways women find to resist. After all, it is important to keep in mind that the topics of gender and health are closely connected to contemporary real-life experiences, to women who experience the ups and downs of modernity. The study of the historical roots of gender- and health-systems offers learning experiences that can be moved beyond the realm of academics to guide future thought and action.

White women. White women are the standard of beauty in the west. They grace most magazine covers, movies, and TV shows. But IMO, they are the most neurotic of all the races. They have a princess complex, feel exceedingly entitled to everything, believe the feminist lies, and aren’t giving or willing to sacrifice for their man. Personally, I think it is the romance movies and novels that ruin white women. They honestly expect everything to come to them without having to work for it. They are looking for that white Knight in Shining Armor.

In their youth they will ignore the decent men (men with manners who are actually concerned about their economic future). Instead they will go for the bad boys, frat boys, jocks, rich kids, or the tall guys (taller than say 6 ft). But lets suppose they are actually interested in you. They don’t know how to send direct signals most of the time. They expect you to get it through osmosis. They will send quick glances from across the room, and then expect you to get the hint. That might be sufficient, if they weren’t such attention whores. A recent study in England showed that 65% of women there would rather be strippers or a magazine model rather than teacher, engineer or any other traditional job. I know what you’re saying. How can you compare England to the US. Let me answer with this. Do you honestly believe that the USA is less degenerate than England? Just look at the trend of obesity rates and you will see that England is still behind us. Back on topic. There are white women specifically who will stare at you and smile from across a lecture hall for hours. There are women who will smile out of nowhere as they are walking by. There are women who will come up to you everyday and rub your arm and say “Hi, Ty!” But guess what they say when you approach them? “Oh sorry, I have a BF.”

This is proof of a few things.
1. They are attention whores. They know that prolonged eye contact will prompt most men to approach them.
2. They have no consideration for how difficult it is for some men to approach women. There is some anxiety involved for most of us, and a woman jerking our stick makes it more likely for us to stop approaching women altogether. Because…how can you tell which ones are attention whores and which ones aren’t?
3. No consideration for the damage it does to male-female relations. As mentioned in number 2, it will make men less likely to approach, which makes it harder for strangers to meet. Studies show that 70% of people meet through friendship (I assume this also includes the proximity of work and dormitories). The other 30% probably meet while in some intoxicated state.

I want to note a difference between the German women I met and an American woman. When I was in Germany I had to return a rental car and then go back to the place where I was staying. The girl that I was currently “dating” volunteered to drive to the airport to meet me, drive me where I had to go, then drive back to her place. All this was more than 100 miles for her. All this because she felt that I needed a ‘good woman in my life’. Contrast that with an American girl who LIKED me. I had missed class one day and I asked her to photocopy the notes. She said yes but she never did it. She proceeded to ignore me every class after that until right before the spring semester was about to end (I assume she wanted a summer BF), then she started paying attention to me again, but I ignored her. This girl would walk 4 miles out of her way because she felt she ate too much food. But she was only around 4′11” and 90lbs. I could have tossed her with one arm. Why does any of this matter? Relationships are about sacrifice on some level.

Black women. I will make the most ignorant, generalized statement I can regarding black women - JUST STAY AWAY! By far, these are the most man-hating women on the planet. Their attitudes are definitely intolerable. Unless you are an Eminem type, you don’t want to deal with the attitude that emanates from the average black woman.

Here’s a test. Talk to 30 black women. I bet at least 25 of them will have horrible attitudes. They think it is their right to add their 2 cents to your conversation, although they don’t know you. They will embarrass you in front of your friends or the girl you are with. What recourse do you have because she’s a woman? And she knows this. She knows the reason she can get away with such horrible attitude is because she’s a woman, and there’s nothing a man can do about it. Thats not to say that these women are polite to white or Latin women.

If you want to live long, you must keep the amount of stress in your life to a minimum. Black women will take great pleasure in aggravating you. In comparison, white women are easy to deal with, despite being neurotic.

Personal story, and this is just one example. I was sitting in a diner with a young lady once. I had my back to a group of black women. There was some commotion behind me. The girl I was with started to giggle. So I turned around to look. (who wouldn’t look?) This beautiful black girl behind me says “Turn your head around, motherf-cker!” It was that experience, along with about 20 more experiences just like it, which made me realize that the common factors were me and black women. White, Latina, and Asian women never treated me that way.

Latinas. By far these are the best kind of women. I believe this is because the family is still ruled by the patriarch, who most likely came to the USA with only a few dollars in his pocket (at least isn’t that how the story always goes?) They will give direct signals as to when they want you to approach. They will smile when they are interested. They will make direct eye contact without looking down or away like a shy robot. They do appreciate a man who takes courage, and, in my experience, they will offer to pay and they will pay their half of the bill. This is not to say that they cant Americanize. I find some Puerto Rican women to be very shrewd. But on average, I’d have to say that Latinas are more family oriented than any other kind.

I still wouldn’t marry one if she grew up in the USA though. But seriously date them? Definitely! White and black women can kiss it where the sun doesn’t shine! And no, I’m not Latino.

I haven’t had extended contact with Asians because they seem to only run in cliques. The few I knew who had accents did seem wonderful. The others who were American born seemed no different from the white women, except for appearance of course. The same is true for the Indo-Pakis.

Just about every man wants Latin woman. They are beautiful, sensual and very attractive. With their macho culture, South American beauty, and sexy clothing Latin women can make even the most boring men spring to life. These women have something that many American women are lacking at that is femininity.

Latin women belong to the Spanish culture whereby men are expected to be macho and women are expected to be feminine. Therefore, when boys are young they are taught how to be men while women are expected to be a “real woman” by taking care of the man. A woman who doesn’t take care of a man is considered cheap and vulgar.

That doesn’t mean that the Latin women within the U.S. have the same appeal. After a few years the women who have immigrated from Latin countries start converting to the American way of life. They see the sassiness, arrogance, and classlessness of many American women and begin to follow the culture simply because they desire to become Americanized.

You might also be surprised that Latin women also love American men. They feel that American men can provide them with a good life above and beyond what they can find in their own country and when a single American man is in their sight they jump at them. This works out to be a good deal for both the young man and the young lady.

There is a disclaimer when it comes to Latin women that may not necessarily come with most American women. If you anger a Latin woman she may just go crazy on you with all of her hot Latin blood. That means you need to keep on your toes and duck when the pots start flying. A few lumps on your head and you will learn quick enough.

I’m white, 38, have a good job, Make good money, educated, tall, athletic build, ect. Everything is going well for me except I don’t have a woman to share it with, but I have always been interested in Latin women. I always heard that Latin women aren’t a headache like other women and treat men way better compared to others. I also heard they aren’t materialistic, greedy, cheaters, disrespectful, ect in comparison. I also I tend to find Latin women more attractive, and they seem to age better and stay in good shape as opposed to completely letting themselves go once they get married.

I may be generalizing but this is the overwhelming sentiment from all the men I know that have dated or married Latin women. Can any body dating or married to Latin women confirm this? Are they really as great as everyone says they are?

If you are a little depressed with dating American women, then why not try a Latin woman? Basically you can jump on the Internet and find yourself a bride from pretty much any country that takes your fancy.

This time we’re interested in looking at Latin brides, and why exactly Latin ladies would want to come to America, and why an American man would want a Latin woman.

There are plenty of marriage agencies on the Internet that offer packages to single men to visit Latin countries to find a suitable bride. Normally the reason the woman will want to go, is simply because the man is from Canada, the USA, or a more developed country than her home country.

Why would you want a Latin woman?

• They are kind and caring.
• They are beautiful.
• They are exotic.

Latin women are very popular; perhaps this is due to their beauty and unique exotic appearance.

Most of the countries that the women come from aren’t economically strong, and so the families of these women welcome the financial support.

It is very easy for Latin women to go to America, or other Western countries on a Fiancée Visa — the immigration laws are not very strict at all. Many Latin women want to go to foreign countries, so that they can earn more money, and the preferred way to do this is to marry a foreigner. This is the only really surefire way to get to the USA or Canada.

Just because men find the ladies over the Internet, it certainly doesn’t mean that the woman will be mistreated by the husband. They aren’t sex slaves, they are wives.

We find around 80% of these marriages are successful, which is very good!

One of the reasons why these marriages are so successful could be because Latin women are so determined to make it work, not only for you, but also so they can stay.

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