Getting Rights for Those without Representation: the Success of Conjunctural Coalition-building in Venezuela

Abstract

In 1990, the Venezuelan Congress passed a reform of the Organic Labour Law that, among other provisions, gave women workers equal rights with men and improved the rights of working mothers. This striking combination of equality and protectionism for women cannot be credited to the usual sponsors of legislative reform. Instead of relying on one of the then dominant political parties or the good auspices of the powerful executive branch, women came together in a ‘conjunctural’ coalition to lobby for the reform.’ To establish and/or improve their rights they united across political arenas at a particular time around a particular set of issues, without demanding ongoing organisational or ideological coherence, and achieved their goal. But that goal was dependent on another crucial strategy: the use of a rights discourse that emphasised the familial and social benefits made possible by simultaneously asserting women’s equality with, and difference from, men.