Revolutionary women of Nicaragua.

Abstract

This thesis contends that women were active participants in the revolutionary events taking place in Nicaragua between the 1960s through the 1990s. I state in this thesis that women made huge contributions and sacrifices on both sides of the Nicaraguan civil war in order to take a part in determining the government of their country and to develop a better future for themselves and others. The first chapter of this thesis will explain the events leading up to the Sandinista Revolution and the participation of women in the revolt. In chapter 2, in addition to a general overview of women's involvement in the Nicaraguan revolution the thesis will also briefly compare it to the women's involvement in the Cuban revolution years earlier. In the next chapter I will also give personal accounts of several women that fought in the Sandinista revolution and of those that fought in the Contra counter-revolution. I have tried to include profiles of women from different social classes and of those who fought in either support or combat situations. Chapter 4 of the thesis explains the Catholic Church's involvement in recruitment and organization of Sandinista and Contra revolutionaries with an emphasis on the Church's impact on women's involvement in the FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberaci6n Nacional). Chapter 5 will list and describe the different women's organizations that formed during the Sandinista revolution and after as well as their effects on women's lives in Nicaragua. The chapter 6 of the paper will cover the contributions of Violeta Chamorro in both revolutions and her presidency in Nicaragua, to first woman president of Nicaragua, and the central figure in the peace negotiations ending the fighting within her country.