Women in Uruguayan communism: Contradictions and ambiguities, 1920s-1960s

This article examines the dynamics of women's participation in the Communist Party of Uruguay (PCU) from the pxqos to the pxuos. Despite its commitment to women's emancipation and to equality between men and wome PCU's attitudes towards gender equality were often contradictory and its messages were ambiguous. Though it promoted women's participation, the Party oscillated between seeking to overcome social prejudices, upholding principled and dogmatic positions, and accommodating the conservative habits prevalent among the working class. Women were encouraged to take part in activities but not to assume leadership positions. The pxuos, ironically a period characterised by openness and political success, was a decade of regression in gender equality that stood in contrast to the Uruguayan Communists' long trajectory concerning women's rights.