Female Citizens, Patriarchs, and the Law in Venezuela, 1786 - 1904

Examines the effects that liberalism had on gender relations in the process of state formation in Caracas from the late eighteenth to the nineteenth century Female Citizens, Patriarchs, and the Law in Venezuela examines the effects that liberalism had on gender relations in the process of state formation in Caracas from the late eighteenth to the nineteenth century. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, historian Arlene Diaz shows how the struggle for political power in the modern state reinforced and reproduced patriarchal authority. She also reveals how Venezuelan women from different classes, in public and private, coped strategically with their paradoxical status as equal citizens who nonetheless lacked power because of their gender. Shedding light on a fundamental but little examined dimension of modern nation building, Female Citizens, Patriarchs, and the Law in Venezuela gives voice to historic Venezuelan women while offering a detailed look at a society making the awkward transition from the colonial world to a modern one. Reassessing Revitalization Movements