Unfinished Transitions: Women and the Gendered Development of Democracy in Venezuela, 1936-1996

This analysis of Venezuelan women’s organizing traces a sixty-year struggle to democratize political practice and represent women’s interests. It also helps to explain some of the unfinished business of Latin American democratization: why women have had difficulty participating in regimes they fought to restore, and how they seek inclusion. Friedman’s innovative theoretical approach uses gender analysis to explain the impact of the political opportunity structure -the institutions, actors, and discourses-of democratization on women’s participation.