Review by Choice Review
Since the military coup of October 1979, political oppression has been added to the cultural oppression under which the majority of women live in El Salvador. Many have lost close relatives to the violence engendered by the subsequent civil war, or have themselves been imprisoned and tortured. Thomson documents women's organized responses to government intimidation. Using extensive interviews with Salvadorean women, many living in exile, she describes the effective organizations that women have created to protest everything from high rentals in the marketplace, and the suppression of trade unions, to the abduction and assassination of political dissidents. At the same time, the newly politicized women demand greater access to adequate health care and education once the Duarte regime is overthrown. Thomson also examines the attitudes of the many middle- and upper-class women who accept government assurances that all dissent and resistance represents a Communist-inspired threat to their ``democratic'' way of life. Her book should interest readers at all levels concerned with Central America and women's issues.-K.M. Butler, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
