FREE ESSAY ON BATTLE OF THE SEXES

BATTLE OF THE SEXES

"Battle of the Sexes"
Had the daughters and wives of the countryside played a part in the committees in Tunnel
Six and elsewhere? Was it common for a woman to bring a dispute before the assembly? What
did the fact of the conflict's setting a pair of women against each other say about
solidarity and division by gender in the countryside? Could a woman ever be a rondero? In
1977, a woman's committee was organized in Cuyumalca by Omelia Lopez. Omelia was soon to
be the first president of the women's committee. The question is why did it take this
long for women to be heard?
At the time women's complaints of domestic violence and village thefts were almost
completely dismissed and ignored by Peru's national authorities. Also many women chose
not to get involved. They strongly were believers that men were the ones in charge and
the woman belonged in the home. Women were to believe that they were tied by nature to
the pettiness of jealousy and scandal, less able than men to see what was best for the
family and village. From what they were taught, it was just not possible, until Omelia.
Omelia did have some help from Daniel Idrogo, an organizer from the Communist Party of
Peru-Red Homeland. Daniel is a strong believer in Maoism. The Chinese leader had often
repeated that "without the participation of women there can be no victory against
imperialism". Daniel said. "The rondas would be stronger if everybody participated". So
what were their goals?
The main task was to accompany and support their men. The women's committee was only an
appendage of the ronda committee, which was run by men. So even if the women weren't as
high as the men's status, they were still doing something about and being heard for once.
The chief duty was to enforce the male obligation to take a turn on the nightwatch. Women
were necessary in the making the rondas an instrument of peasant power and revolution.
With each organization came problems. For instance, Lack of female solidarity. Rumors
flowed, like women committees were "an excuse for lazy senoras to get together to
gossip". The larger problem was a backlash against the new activism. Which is stated that
a husband controlled a wife, who was not to take a step without the boss's permission. A
final factor was outside opposition given by other newspapers.
Were woman ronderos? The answer according to the book, Nightwatch, was yes and no, an
issue that remained unresolved in the northern Andes. In my views I say yes. I believe
that the woman were to scared to admit it to their local men. The woman may have not been
out with the men at night but they were there to keep the ronda organized and up to date
with village issues. Not a single woman was granted to vote until 1965 and I say congrats
to all the women of the northern Andes for their bravery and courage to stand up for
their turn to be heard. By the end of the 1980's, the number of girls in school had risen
in the Andean countryside, and their rate of illiteracy was becoming far lower than among
their mothers and grandmothers. The committees gave women a formal role in the rondas.
The migration of woman to jobs such as maids and cooks also increased. At the same time,
the influence of the women's role in rondas made the feminist movement in Peru grow. In
1995, President Fujimori established a Ministry of Women's Affairs.