Gendering Violent Pluralism: Women’s Political Organising in Latin America

The author argues that the existing theory of 'violent pluralism' ignores the gendered nature of political violence in Latin America. By analyzing internally displaced women's organizations in Colombia and high-profile murders of activists in Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico, the paper identifies a three-pronged relationship: gendered violence as an obstacle to organizing, organizing as a response to violence, and organizing as a cause of further violence. The author highlights how states often 'privatize' the deaths of women activists by framing them as domestic or criminal rather than political.

• The author identifies a three-part relationship between gendered violence and political organizing: violence acts as a deterrent to mobilization, organizing emerges as a response to gendered violence, and the act of organizing itself triggers further gender-based violence.
• Gendered violence serves as a barrier to activism through 'leadership-decapitation' and the use of sexualized threats, often delivered via mobile phones or social media, to exclude marginalized women of color from the public sphere.
• Women's political organizing in Colombia, particularly among internally displaced persons (IDPs), often develops as a response to gendered violence and discrimination within mixed or male-led organizations, utilizing feminist consciousness-building and the documentation of threats to gain institutional credibility.
• Political activism increases risk for women, leading some to adopt a 'low profile' (bajo perfil) to avoid visibility, though this can result in a decrease in organization membership.
• There is a systemic effort by states and media to 'privatize' the murders of women activists, reframing political assassinations as domestic 'passion tragedies', drug-related crimes, or personal failures to avoid recognizing the violence as political.
• The author critiques the 'violent pluralism' framework for potentially erasing the efforts of non-violent actors and failing to account for how violence is gendered, which leads to an incomplete understanding of political violence in Latin America.

APA

Sandvik, K. B. (n.d.). Gendering Violent Pluralism: Women’s Political Organising in Latin America. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/0069e790-5da5-4f35-b158-be5600ebd1d3/KB Sandvik 2018 Gendering Violent Pluralism_Womens Political Organizing in Latin America_Final_.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Sandvik, Kristin Bergtora. Gendering Violent Pluralism: Women’s Political Organising in Latin America. Peace Research Institute Oslo, n.d. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/0069e790-5da5-4f35-b158-be5600ebd1d3/KB Sandvik 2018 Gendering Violent Pluralism_Womens Political Organizing in Latin America_Final_.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Sandvik |first1=Kristin Bergtora |title=Gendering Violent Pluralism: Women’s Political Organising in Latin America |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/0069e790-5da5-4f35-b158-be5600ebd1d3/KB Sandvik 2018 Gendering Violent Pluralism_Womens Political Organizing in Latin America_Final_.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sandvikndgendering, author = {Sandvik, Kristin Bergtora}, title = {{Gendering Violent Pluralism: Women’s Political Organising in Latin America}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/0069e790-5da5-4f35-b158-be5600ebd1d3/KB Sandvik 2018 Gendering Violent Pluralism_Womens Political Organizing in Latin America_Final_.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }