Introduction⁽¹⁾

Latin America is currently witnessing a structural state reform, the globalization of national economies, and the transference of resources from the public to the private. In the last fifteen years, the idea of a strong state providing social and public services has been substituted by that of a small state working more on an administrative scale than in provision of services. As Thompson (1997) has pointed out, in Argentina the withdrawal of the state from social service provision has encouraged both the rise of new organizations and the revival of traditional ones (e.g. NGOs against cholera and meningitis) in order to satisfy increasing social problems. In this context, the third sector summarizes the growing importance of a heterogeneous world of voluntary and non-profit organizations which provide diverse responses to social demands⁽²⁾.

Thompson (1995) has defined the third sector as a new intellectual creation which attempts to distinguish and differentiate the diverse world of voluntary organizations from both the public/governmental and the private sectors. In fact, third sector institutions acquire different guises in the literature according to distinctive socio-political contexts⁽³⁾. In Latin America, the popularity of the term non-governmental organizations (NGOs), has historically symbolized the strong role played by the State (instead of the market) in providing responses to social needs. In fact, the diversity of organizations within the third sector raises the issue of the need for a systematic study of both its composition and dynamics. In developed countries, where the civil society is highly mature, the three sectors are seen as complementary. That is the case of Western European democracies with strong states providing social services, and the US with a third sector playing a main role through service provision and pressure groups (Salamon, 1992; Van Til, 1988). In Latin America, the third sector is still finding its position as a partner, competitor or substitute of both the state and the private sector for the satisfaction of social needs.

In this paper, I will explore the development of the third sector in Argentina from a gender perspective, focusing on the composition and evolution of women's non-governmental organizations (women's NGOs). My unit of analysis will be two-fold: women's NGOs conducted or integrated by women and voluntary organizations which address women's issues. I will study those organizations where women provide either their voluntary work or their money as recipients of grants or salaries. Furthermore, I will argue that the improvement of women's status has been a main claim of women's NGOs during democratic governments in Argentina, as oppose to military dictatorships, when human rights and socio-economic survival were at the core of women's agendas.

My arguments will start with the constraints imposed on women's NGOs and other associative forms during the last dictatorship (1976-83), and will finish with an analysis of the variety and complexity of women's NGOs during democracy. In recent years, women's NGOs (from political rights advocates, to providers of alternative social services), have strengthened civil society while influencing public policies. Examination of the new map of women's organizations will contribute to understand their increasing contributions to the third sector in Argentina.

Section I will describe the role of women's organizations during the last military dictatorship (1976-1983) and the transition to democracy in 1983. The analysis will focus on organizations centered on the defense of human rights and survival struggles. Section II will explore the emergence of women's grassroots organizations in poor neighborhoods in the last two decades, given the effects of economic policies, such as unemployment and deterioration of public services. Section III will chart the changing map of Argentinean women's NGOs since 1983, and the increasing importance of women's coalitions in influencing public policies. Section IV will summarize the current tensions and "alliances" between women's organizations and the political apparatus. In particular, I will analyze women's challenges in enhancing their status as active agents of social change. Section V will examine the financial problems of women's NGOs, and the potential role of private philanthropy in supporting women's agendas within the Argentinean third sector. Finally, in the Conclusions, I will summarize the main points developed through this paper.

I. Women organizations and political changes

From 1976 to 1983, a military coup took place in Argentina, inaugurating the last military dictatorship to date in this country. The economic policy implemented by the military government attempted to modernize the productive structure, on the basis of international grants which led to a superlative increase in the national external debt. This process took place without a parallel expansion of the productive structure carrying terrible consequences for vast segments of the population, such as the deterioration of income and public services, unemployment and pauperization (Consejo Nacional de la Mujer, 1995a; Birgin, 1995). Furthermore, a military policy of physical and ideological persecution was launched against those who opposed the authoritarian system. With the argument of fighting "guerrilla" groups, the military government "disappeared" (murdered) 30,000 people, through the implementation of an illegal and clandestine policy of detention and murder.

The self-appellation "Process of National Reorganization" provoked a paradoxical situation within women's NGOs. At the time when the military regime was persecuting civil and political associations, new organizations were created to denounce human rights violations (Tenti Fanfani, 1989). Their members were people directly affected by the military repression who suffered the disappearance of their relatives, children and grandchildren. Women's NGOs such as "the Madres de Plaza de Mayo" ("Mothers of the May Square", known as "Madres") and "the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo" ("Grandmothers of the May Square"), became leaders in the defense of human rights. Their female leadership became both a physical and a psychological protection against the persecution of the authoritarian regime, constituting a successful strategy to the restrictions imposed on most civil organizations.

Similar organizations were born in other Latin American countries which also suffered authoritarian regimes. For example, the organization Co-MADRES in el Salvador (Committee of Mothers and Relatives of the Political Prisoners, Disappeared, and Assassinated of El Salvador "Monseñor Romero) was created in 1977 to denounce the abuses and atrocities carried out by the Salvadorean government and the military (Stephen, 1997). This organization recruited its members by promoting women's images based on their rights and duties as both mothers and wives.

Similarly, "Madres" built its image on traditional representations of womanhood, as devoted wives, mothers and grandmothers. This organization relied on a pacifist strategy, using women's physical presence in the May Square located just opposite the Casa Rosada (the presidential palace)⁽⁴⁾. Additionally, "Madres"' relationships with international agencies became a key element for their members' physical survival and subsequent strength in opposing the context of generalized repression in the country. "Madres"' international links were not limited to moral and material support as they exported their own approach to human rights issues. For example, similar actions were taken by a group of Dutch women in Holland (Thompson, 1990).

During the last dictatorship, women's survival strategies (both material and symbolic) enforced social links under a regime which attacked any form of social exchange (Viladrich, 1994b). However, human rights were not the unique sphere of women's voluntary interventions. Women also became "natural" leaders in grassroots organizations in order to palliate the socio-economic hardships suffered by their families. In the 1970s, more than 500,000 people were living in slums of the suburbs of Buenos Aires, representing more than 5% of the population of the area (Auyero, 1996). Soon after the military coup in 1976, a systematic program of eradication of the population began. The military government intended to clean the city of its 'worthless elements', sending the poor either to marginal areas or to their countries of origin, in the case of immigrants. As Auyero (1996:14) has noted, this process of people's expulsion from their neighborhoods "involved direct physical coercion (including bribes and sexual harassment) and deep human degradation. The fact that the 'relocation' of the slum dwellers was done in garbage trucks was not a minor fact". By 1981, only 16,000 people were still living in the slums.

People from the slums defended themselves by creating committees against the expulsion, and protesting in front of government buildings. Women led public campaigns raising public consciousness and organizing human barriers in order to impede the entrance of military squadrons in their neighborhoods. However, they could not defeat the strength of the military forces. Adopting a broader agenda would have been almost impossible given the repressive nature of the political regime.

II. Women's struggles for subsistence

In 1983, a democratic election followed the last military government to date in Argentina. Since then, three presidential electoral processes have taken place, accompanying structural changes which have modified the relationships among sectors. In the last fifteen years, women have been the major target group of changing economic policies in Latin America. Phenomena such as economic recession, greater rates of unemployment and privatization of public services, have affected mainly women and their children, a phenomenon which has been called feminization of poverty (Geldstein, 1994). The latter term refers to women's increasing incorporation into the job market in order to palliate the growing rate of male unemployment, while receiving the worst impact of economic policies. Besides, increasing number of women have become single heads of households.

In the last fifteen years, women's grassroots groups have played a remarkable role in their communities, creating alternative strategies to satisfy material needs⁽⁵⁾. This phenomenon has been the result of two conflicting facts: democratic freedom and the hardship of socio-economic conditions. A good example of women's survival strategies is the social movement which emerged as the result of the inflationary crisis in 1989. At the time, national economic reforms found obstacles in many sectors of the Argentinean Society. The lack of agreement among powerful sectors led to critical levels of inflation, dramatic declines in productive levels and pauperization (Consejo Nacional de la Mujer, 1995a). Soon, a series of public demonstrations took place in order to protest against the increasing price of goods and the closure of employment sources. Auyero (1996) mentions 52,000 people participating in "saqueos" (lootings) in which women were major protagonists⁽⁶⁾.

New women's organizations were set up after those experiences, with the purpose of creating alternative ways of social support while preventing new upheavals. Women's political and financial strategies combined a radical social discourse with contributions of local philanthropists, political parties and neighbors's voluntary work.

Voluntary work and social networks that grant political and financial favors deserve particular mention⁽⁷⁾. The diversification of women's strategies has been a main factor in the success of women's NGOs, given the scarcity of financial resources. For example, a study of grassroots organizations conducted in San Fernando (province of Buenos Aires) in 1993, illustrates the connections between community leaders and the local political system (Viladrich, 1994a)⁽⁸⁾. In the community under study, wives and relatives of important political figures in the local government were also the leaders of grassroots organizations. Although this kind of "political liaisons" led to difficult relationships with other NGOs, those leaders were indispensable to satisfy community needs. For example, they had easy access to basic resources such as milk, food, medicines and fellowships, all which had been inaccessible through either more formal bureaucratic channels⁽⁹⁾. Besides, women's participation for the purpose of solving emerging demands were surprisingly diversified: they either obtained food for the daycare center (an association supported with voluntary work) or built common services and utilities. Furthermore, community leaders relied on the assistance of professionals (e.g. social workers) for more complicated tasks: either to apply for international grants or to obtain resources from the provincial government. For example, during the "National Campaigns against Cholera" in 1994, local leaders received both financial and technical support by the Women's Council of the Province of Buenos Aires, which also occurred in other communities (Birgin, 1995).

III. New Women's organizations

Democracy led to the birth of a plurality of voluntary and civic associations (gays, youth, ecologists, professional associations, etc). At the same time, the strength of human rights NGOs decreased mainly due to two factors. On the one hand, the democratic government accomplished partial punishment to those responsible for the murders, reducing the importance of human rights issues in the public domain. On the other hand, the emergence of new social and economic problems gave birth to new voluntary organizations (such as those focused on HIV/AIDS or consumer advocacy). Democracy provided public space to voices which had remained silent during the dictatorship, such as homosexuals, indigenous populations, and feminist groups. Soon, these and other new matters attracted national and international attention, deflecting the focus from human right concerns. Women from all sectors of society found in voluntary organizations open spaces from which they could become active agents of social change.

Currently, there are two major types of women's NGOs: those oriented to gender-related issues, which address women's empowerment through a variety of forms such as advocacy groups, service provision, and education; and those focused on other social concerns, such as socio-economic subsistence or consumer's rights. The current administrative map of women's organization includes formal and informal organizations. Formal women's NGOs are often operating foundations, civil associations, cooperatives, and academic centers which are officially registered. They are legally constituted, pursuing specific goals and functions. Informal organizations are represented by women's networks (some of which temporarily participate accompanying social movements), umbrella organizations (such as coalitions) or voluntary associations without legal status. Among formal and informal women's NGOs, there are those which work on equal opportunities for women, domestic violence, reproductive health or legal advice, and whose fields of action are oriented toward prevention, advocacy, service provision or research.

Among gender-related organizations, feminist groups deserve a special analysis. Feminist ideology has historically been a subject of controversy among both intellectuals and practitioners in Argentina. Historically, the feminist movement in Argentina fostered women's political, civic and economic rights. The second feminist wave which emerged in the 1970s (influenced by the sexual revolution in the United States and Europe), embraced political issues such as women's access to power and democratization of civic society. Since then, feminism has constituted a doctrinaire philosophy which has oriented both the theory and the practice of a wide number of women's NGOs in Argentina⁽¹⁰⁾.

However, most women's NGOs do not label themselves as feminist, and either exclude the term from their vocabulary or mandate it to individual choice⁽¹¹⁾. Besides, feminist discourse in Argentina is still restricted to an intellectual elite, mainly composed by middle-class professionals and politicians⁽¹²⁾. There is still a widespread belief that feminism is wrong or negative, and most female leaders do not know what feminism is, or do not call themselves as such. However, if we look at what happened in Argentina in the last fifteen years, we would discover that many women have worked according to the feminist ideology, although they may not considered themselves as feminists. This is the case of many NGOs involved in gender-related issues (e.g. domestic violence, reproductive rights and sexual harassment) which in spite of their differences, share a feminist ideology.

III.1. Women networks and coalitions

The growing number of women's organizations in Argentina in the past ten years, has encouraged the need for agreement on common issues and shared agendas. As a result, a variety of women's networks have emerged, from housewives activists to advocates for environmental safety, depicting the rich diversity of the Argentinean third sector. Women have developed different strategies to achieve their goals. Changing political scenarios have stimulated the design of short-term goals to obtain better political leverage, raising public awareness about specific issues such as: women's equal opportunities, reproductive health and affirmative action programs. They have worked through "lobbies" in Congress, provided advice in designing public policies and fundraised money for common purposes. The Forum for Reproductive Rights, the Network for Women's health and the Network of Political women are three examples of these coalitions which have been major protagonists in the past ten years.

As a consequence of their geographic isolation and their different cultural contexts, women's NGOs agreed in planning a coordinated strategy at the national level, in 1996. Since then, National Women's Meetings have taken place annually, constituting the main forum for women's NGOs from all over the country. Despite women's ideological differences, these meetings have been successful in designing common agendas with regards to a variety of issues such as: job alternatives, representation of female politicians in the parliament, legal abortion, HIV prevention campaigns, and increase of the national budget for education, (Consejo Nacional de la Mujer, 1995a).

The quantitative and qualitative importance of these meetings is remarkable. While 800 women attended the first Congress in 1986, more than 7,000 women participated in the last one. Additionally, regional and informal meetings among NGOs have facilitated the exchange of organizational experiences previous to those meetings. However, the impact of those conferences is still weak, and the quantitative increment of women's participation might conceal their absence in power spheres⁽¹³⁾ (Birgin, 1995). As Smulovitz (1996:4) states: "it is not the arithmetical proliferation of organizations that determines the effectiveness of civil society but the specific type of linkages they establish with the state". In other words, increasing women's visibility in the short run, will not necessarily guarantee a qualitative impact of gender issues on public policies.

Furthermore, absence of financial support, ideological differences and the lack of a women's national organization, have also been major obstacles to the design of global platforms and programmed strategies. In the following Section, I will explore in detail the current difficulties faced by women's NGOs in Argentina.

III. 2. Current Problems for Women's NGOs in Argentina

The transition to democracy found women's NGOs in a paradoxical situation. Although women encountered a favorable environment which welcomed them as protagonists, their lack of experience in leadership and their political differences, constituted a major obstacle to the achievement of their common agendas. Indeed, women's political ideology has been a main factor in their difficulties to carry out common programs. For example, issues such as reproductive rights, sexual education in schools, or teenagers' contraceptive programs in public hospitals, have given rise to a number of disputes among women's NGOs. In Argentina, as in the United States, pro-life and pro-choice groups are strongly separated by political, religious and ideological differences (Viladrich, 1992). While pro-choice ideas are supported by a wide sector of the women's movement, pro-life ideologies attract traditional sectors (e.g. Catholic groups, housewives organizations) whose claims rely on a blend of religious faith, family values and women's traditional roles. In fact, the role of the Catholic church partially explains the influence of the pro-life ideology in civil society.

The Catholic Church in Latin America has historically fostered women's participation through charitable enterprises in health and education (Landim, 1993 and 1995; Viladrich & Thompson, 1996). In Argentina, the church (still linked to the Argentinean state) promoted a charitable model based on the alliances with both national elites and the state⁽¹⁴⁾. It also enforced female ideas of abnegation and self-sacrifice within the family, supporting women's renunciation to independent roles. The Catholic church is still the main charitable institution in Argentina, where lay women perform voluntary and philanthropic roles, either through their parishes, or as volunteers in other NGOs, such as CARITAS.

In recent years, differences between Catholic women's NGOs and feminist-oriented groups created increasing tensions and rivalries for funding and political power. For example, during the reform of the Constitution in 1994, women from more than 100 organizations travelled to Santa Fe (where the constitutional convention took place), in order to influence the vote of female representatives. The debate was centered on the government's attempt to include the right to life beginning at the moment of conception. This point generated two positions in conflict: the government, the Catholic church, and Catholic pro-life organizations on the one side; and liberal political parties, female politicians (even from the official party) and pro-choice groups on the other. In the end, the constitution incorporated norms regarding children's rights beginning with the pregnancy, leaving open the interpretation of when a pregnancy commences (Rodríguez, 1997)⁽¹⁵⁾. Although there were critics from both sides to this resolution, the high magnitude of the debate (and its diffusion through the media), allowed the constitutional incorporation of women's affirmative action policies and social security programs for both mothers and children (Rodríguez, 1998).

Women's voluntary initiatives have also been motivated by the conditions imposed by public policies. For example, related to contraception and HIV/AIDS prevention, much of the responsibility for providing information about preventive behavior has been left to private and voluntary organizations⁽¹⁶⁾. As Biagini and Sánchez (1995) have noted, Argentinean NGOs have been most active in providing social responses to the HIV/AIDS complex. Paradoxically, these organizations are hampered in their work by pressures from the Catholic church, and governmental restrictions on spreading information about health promotion and HIV prevention.

Finally, the concentration of resources (mainly money and information) has generated an unequal women's representation in the third sector. Urban middle-class women are over-represented in relationship with those living in rural and marginated areas⁽¹⁷⁾. The Regional Communicational Network among Women, (which examined seventy-nine women's NGOs in Argentina) concluded that the majority of these NGOs were located in a few big cities: 35% in Buenos Aires, 16% in Cordoba, and a 18% in Santa Fe (Red, 1991).

IV. Third sector and government: tensions and solidarities

Over the past ten years, new tendencies have launched women's agendas into the public sphere in Argentina. This has been a result of several factors, such as the influence of women's NGOs on policy-making processes, and higher numbers of qualified women in the government (many former members of NGOs). Besides, a phenomenon of "double affiliation" of female politicians (who are also members of women's NGOs), has supported this trend.

However, the constant creation, dissolution, and substitution of women's programs have hampered the successful accomplishment of long-term initiatives. Factors such as political opportunity, corruption, and lack of funds have been permanent obstacles to the success of women's agendas. For some, this is clear evidence that women's issues are still marginal in the definition of public policies and governmental programs (Birgin, 1995).

Nevertheless, international pressure has contributed to foster women's claims. Certainly, the growing importance of female protagonism in the third sector seems to be a worldwide phenomenon, particularly important in countries with novel democracies. In 1995, for the occasion of the IVth United Nation Women's Conference, more than 30,000 people (mostly women, but also 1,600 men) from more 2,000 countries attended the IVth World Forum on Women and NGOs. They developed their own agendas supporting (and also confronting) the official program signed by 7,000 attendants of the official delegations. Beyond the magnitude of the participation, the Forum's international impact revealed the growing role of women in civil society in designing public policies (Instituto Interamericano de los Derechos Humanos, 1996; CONAPO, 1996).

As the result of the increasing worldwide importance of women's agendas, international agencies influenced the Argentinean government to support issues traditionally promoted by women's NGOs. In recent years, governmental departments (such as the National Women's Council and women's divisions) have designed, implemented, and articulated public policies for women at both the local and the national level. For example, some state divisions have developed links with women's NGOs for the defense and promotion of women's rights. These departments have focused their scarce resources on prevention and assistance in programs such as: domestic violence, health promotion and disease prevention programs, education, job training, improvement of human resources, legal aid, and promotion of micro-entrepreneurs.

In 1992, the National Council for Women (a national government's division) was created in order to replace the former Women's Sub-secretary. Since then, women's NGOs have influenced policy by having representation either at the Council or through women's centers in different municipalities. The National Women's Council required the advice and assistance of women's NGOs in order to prepare national programs, some of which have been presented in regional and international meetings, such as the Regional Women's Meeting (previous to the Beijing Conference) in 1994.

In recent years, the Council opened a "dialogue" with women's NGOs in order to design women's policies. This goal has been partially achieved through the creation of commissions such as "Women of political parties" and "Women entrepreneurs". As part of this dialogue, different initiatives to raise women's status were launched, such as: the Program of Equal Opportunities for Women in Education, and the Program for Women's Political Participation.

Next, two examples will illustrate the influence of women's NGOs on public policy. In the 1980s, some women's NGOs began to offer legal and psychological advice to victims of domestic violence and training services to professionals (e.g. psychologists and social workers). In 1987, as a result of the impact of these programs, the Women's Subsecretary created the National Prevention Program against Domestic Violence, calling for the First National Meeting of Violence Prevention. Women's NGOs such as "ATEM 25 de Noviembre", "Lugar de Mujer" and "Alicia Moreau de Justo Foundation", committed their efforts and resources to create educational campaigns against domestic violence, such as self-help groups, and prevention services. As a result, more than one hundred NGOs began to work on prevention, treatment and counselling to women affected by domestic violence. Furthermore, academic centers contributed to raise public awareness about this issue, by teaching seminars and publishing newsletters on the subject.

In the end, the prolific work of vast numbers of women's NGOS placed the issue of violence against women as a social problem, instead of a private matter, bringing it up to the parliament and other governmental offices. The steady efforts of women's NGOs broke the invisible nature of domestic violence (traditionally segregated to the private domain), contributing to raise the status of this problem as a human rights violation.

The second example illustrates the importance of Women's NGOs in supporting women's political protagonism. In 1991, Act 24012 guaranteed women's inclusion as candidates to elections in both political parties and the parliament. This law constituted an affirmative action initiative aimed to guarantee female participation within the political apparatus. The law stipulated a minimum of 30% women's candidates in both local and national elections. A decisive factor in passing this law was the active participation of women's NGOs, which somehow contrasts with the low female incidence in policy-making decisions (Consejo Nacional de la Mujer, 1995b).

Furthermore, women's national and regional meetings (e.g. Termas de Río Hondo in 1990) contributed in raising social awareness about women's political participation. The intellectual and political support of women from different areas led to a campaign which successfully supported this legal claim. For example, women's NGOs and political activists sent letters to the representatives of all political parties, in order to convince them about the importance of supporting the law. The day the law was passed, more than 5,000 women attended the session in the Parliament.

V. Financial issues and the role of Private Philanthropy

A common problem faced by Argentinean women's NGOs is the lack of stable financial support. As we have seen, large numbers of Argentinean women have historically contributed to the satisfaction of social needs through the donation of both their time and money. From human rights to environmental claims, women's voluntary work has always been the "invisible" contribution to public welfare and social reform (Carlson, 1988; Jacquette, 1989). However, and perhaps due to the lower status of women in Argentina, women's voluntary work has also been a symptom of their minor participation in the third sector, and their lesser role in both the private and the public spheres⁽¹⁸⁾.

Public financing for women's NGOs is scarce and the elevated competition for the available funds, sometimes conceals a lack of transparency in the procedures and a deficient control on the assignations⁽¹⁹⁾. In addition, the little information on the types of support that women's NGOs receive and the general procedures involved in funding, have contributed to an absence of reliable data on both donors and recipients⁽²⁰⁾.

In recent years, the financial problems mentioned above have oriented women's NGOs to the search of diversified financial markets, including new philanthropic opportunities. Although some philanthropic trends have a long history in Argentina (such as individual and private donations) philanthropy as a field, has only recently received public attention. The lack of tax incentives, the little motivation to give, and also the stigma around private giving, could partially explain the absence of public interest on this area.

In Argentina, philanthropy has traditionally been associated with the arbitrary charity by the guilty rich attempting to compensate the penurious of the poor. This stigma (prevailing in most Latin American countries as well) has been enforced by a historic predominance of the state as the main provider of social services, the role of the Catholic church (as the omnipresent charitable organization), the little scholarly research on the role of grantmaking foundations, and the absence of accountability mechanisms in the region⁽²¹⁾.

Fortunately, little by little, this stigmatized notion has been replaced by the one which emphasizes the strategic investment of private resources (goods, time and money) on development projects and service provision. Roitter (1994) has observed that although there is an increasing number of donations through the expansion of corporate philanthropy in Argentina (foundations linked to private companies), there is still a latent offer of resources in this area⁽²²⁾. This author points out that if 30 major national companies in 1992 had donated 1% of their assets, the theoretical size of the private philanthropy would have been above 45 million dollars. The actual results not only elicited a much lower figure (11 million dollars) but also, only a small portion of that money was designated to non-profit organizations (Roitter, 1994).

Thompson (1997) has noted that the emergence of a still weak "philanthropic market" has not only led to a growing competition for resources, but also to a professionalization of philanthropic activities, such as fundraising. This phenomenon, plus the current circulation of international literature on philanthropy, have contributed to raise the status of this field within, and outside scholarly circles⁽²³⁾. In the big picture, there will be a growing involvement of Argentinean grantmaking foundations in worldwide debates on philanthropy and the third sector⁽²⁴⁾.

In the meantime, the scarce number of domestic grantmaking foundations has oriented most Argentinean women's NGOs to international agencies in order to finance their programs. In recent years, American and European foundations have provided support to women's NGOs working on several areas: youth, democratic education, civic advocacy, health and violence prevention programs, as well as job training. International organizations have supported women's programs through both governmental and non-governmental areas, particularly since the creation of women's divisions in the government. For example, a few years ago, the national government created the NGOs Empowerment Program (PROFOR), in combination with the United Nation Development Program (PNUD) for the purpose of alleviating the financial pressure of women's NGOs. International organizations such as the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations, have been financing a variety of practices, from micro-entrepreneurs in the Northeast (UNIFEM) to nutritional programs in the South (WHO).

However, looking in quantitative terms, the international support of women's initiatives has concentrated on a small number of organizations. Moreover, the shift of international funding from Latin America to other areas of interest in recent years, (such as the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries) has intensified the NGOs' financial problems in the region.

Conclusions

In this paper I examined the composition and changes of women's organizations in the past twenty years. In particular, I focused my analysis on the evolution of women's NGOs from the last military dictatorship (1976-1983) to the current democratic government.

The analysis of this period of Argentinean history allowed me to develop one of the main hypothesis of my work. I have argued that during democratic governments, women's NGOs pursued gender's claims, such as the improvement of women's status and the demand of political, civic and reproductive rights. Nonetheless, during periods of controlled democracy or military dictatorships, gender's issues remained silent, being replaced by other socio-political agendas, such as human rights issues and socio-economic survival. I have shown that during the past dictatorship, the human right movement was born as part of a "movement of resistance" to the authoritarian government. Female activists became pacifist fighters against the systematic violations of human rights and the inequities of the free market. With the transition to democracy, this situation changed. Greater gender consciousness brought up a new interest on women's rights, within a broader agenda of socio-political demands. The emergence of an increasing interest on women's issues (e.g. women studies, legislation) has been only possible within a climate of democratic participation. Indeed, women from all sectors became aware of their role as agents of social change, fostering their protagonism within a male-dominated society.

Furthermore, I explored the role of women's NGOs as outsiders from policy-making decisions during the dictatorship, and their progressive incorporation into the public sphere during democracy. The latter phenomenon has been possible due to several factors: the successful organization of the women's movement through networks and coalitions; the implementation of affirmative action initiatives, which led to the incorporation of larger number of women to governmental departments; and the ability of women's NGOs to raise their particular claims as matters of public domain (as in the case of domestic violence).

In the last decade, the Argentinean women's movement played an important role in supporting women's affirmative action programs, while fostering women's rights through progressive legislation in the Parliament. However, the current situation is far from being ideal. For example, political confrontations among women's NGOs and their competition for financial resources, still constitute serious obstacles to the implementation of common agendas. Hopefully, the increasing professionalization of women's NGOs and the growing role of private philanthropy, will contribute to strength women's protagonism within the Argentinean third sector in coming years.

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Endnotes

1. The ideas in this paper are partially the result of the author's work in the "International Project: Women and Philanthropy" directed by Kathleen D. McCarthy at the Center for the Study of Philanthropy of the City University of New York. The author wants to thank Professor McCarthy for her continuous support and encouragement. Special thanks to Andrés Thompson, at the W.K.Kellogg Foundation, for his inspiring ideas. As usual, only the author is responsible for the contents of this paper.

2. For an analysis of different perspectives on non-profit organizations, see: Anheier, H. and Salamon, L. (1992); Salamon, L. (1992); and Salamon, L. and Anheier, H. (1992).

3. As Quirle (1995) has noted, in Latin America the bibliography on the third sector and philanthropy appears linked to social and popular movements.

4. Since 1976, every thursday they walk around the Plaza claiming for their relatives. As a symbol of their fight, they wear white handkerchiefs with the name of their missing relatives around their head.

5. Strategies aimed at solving basic needs has been sociologically denominated as "survival strategies", a concept used to explain a widespread phenomenon among lower-income groups.

6. According to Auyero, "thousands of people took to the streets of most major cities (Buenos Aires, Rosario, Cordoba, to name the largest) looting hundreds of stores, supermarkets, and food factories" (Auyero, 1996:6).

7. Personal favoritism practices are based on the private advantage of state resources without defining contractual terms or rules. The common social rule is: friendship against free competition (Landim, 1993).

8. The author worked as a field researcher in the project directed by María del Carmen Feijoó, at the Center for the Study of the State and Society (CEDES).

9. In another work, the author discussed the fact that this kind of women's organizations constituted an extension of the domestic sphere by "mothering" a greater family symbolized by the neighborhood. She also explored the extension of the political domain into the women's domestic sphere (Viladrich, 1994a).

10. I define feminism as a practical theory aimed to foster women's rights within equalitarian gender relationships.

11. Feminism is still popularly associated with some depreciatory female characteristics: ugliness, rudeness, and as the counter example of male chauvinism.

12. As Stephen (1997:12) states: "In countries such as Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, and Mexico, the second wave of feminism began primarily as a middle-class and intellectual movement."

13. For some, high levels of women's participation in civic society is contrary to their weak protagonism in policy-making positions (Birgin, 1995; Consejo Nacional de la Mujer, 1995a).

14. As it has been shown in other works, the state and the Catholic church in Argentina, supported important major philanthropic institutions, such as the Society of Beneficence and the Foundation Eva Peron (Viladrich, Thompson, 1996).

15. In Argentina, abortion is still illegal in most cases.

16. It is necessary to obtain information about the types of HIV/AIDS responses offered by the voluntary sector in other countries, specially where a long tradition of NGOs networks exists (Freeman, R., 1992).

17. According to the last National Census (1991), Argentina has little more than 32 million people (49% are male and 51% are women), distributed irregularly in the country.

18. In Argentina, there are good reasons to think that there are more women working in voluntary organizations than is usually believed. Neither data about the quantity of women who participate in these associations, nor information about the time spent currently exists. Although there is no systematic data on voluntary work in the Latin American region, the research of Raczynski and Serrano (1989) points out that many volunteers in Latin America work 17 (or more) hours a week.

19. A National Organization of Women should collect information about available sources and coordinate funding strategies in order to prevent overlaps of efforts.

20. Thompson (1997) points out that financial data on the third sector are restricted to specific areas: development NGOs as a group, grants provided by foreign foundations, and businesses.

21. As Smulovitz argues, the creation of such mechanisms are important not only to guarantee people's welfare, but also to insure the sustainability of the third sector (Smulovitz, 1996:3.)

22. Corporate philanthropy seems to be a promising trend in Latin America which could be easily promoted through tax exemptions and other public incentives (Campoamor, 1995).

23. As Quirke, has noted, in South America little of the literature has been centered on the issues of charity, voluntarism or philanthropy as is in the US and Europe. Instead, much of the literature is categorized such as non-governmental organizations, social movements, and development organizations (Quirke, 1995).

24. The philanthropic contributions of powerful women in Argentina, will be the object of a next paper. For example, Amalia Fortabat, (considered one of the richest female entrepreneurs in Argentina) is also well-known for her charitable activities. Between 1980 and 1988, her Foundation spent more than 30 million dollars in philanthropic causes; and 21 millions between 1986 and 1991 (Majul, 1993; Mujeres & Compañía, 1992).