Elizabeth Jelin, a professor of sociology at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina, said women in Central and South America need to work to gain true equality with men in a speech on Friday.
Jelin gave her speech, titled "Democracy and Citizenship in Latin America: A Gender Perspective," to about 20 people in the Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences.
Jelin first examined the history of citizenship in Latin America, particularly noting how the definition of "citizenship" has changed over time with respect to human rights and changing forms of government.
Jelin said the break-up of totalitarian governments in South and Central America has meant that citizenship in these countries has evolved to include human rights.
Jelin said "democratic practices had to be learned after authoritarianism" and there is a distinct difference between "a legal definition of human rights and practices."
In particular, Jelin stressed that citizenship is "always in construction and transformation" and "to have full citizenship implies a process of empowerment in the political and social scenario of society."
She noted the difference in the meaning of "citizenship" for men and women in Latin America.
In order to achieve this "empowerment," Jelin said women in Latin America have had to battle against "domestic and sexual violence, [for] reproductive rights, and [against] the reluctance of society to allow women to enter the public domain."
Jelin said often in Central and South American countries women do not receive the same treatment as men. In order to correct those inequalities, women must first realize their inferior status and then take measures to correct it, she said.
The speech was sponsored by the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Department.