A month and a little more since Javier Milei’s arrival at the Casa Rosada, Argentine feminism continues to “mourn” the fact that Sergio Massa did not fulfill his only (and perhaps final?) mission: to save the remnants of that golden Kirchnerism, which only survived in the imaginations of late-adolescent +40s. Or did they really think that the “platita” plan included, to some extent, saving Argentina? What a delusion!
The good news is that after 4 years of convenient avoidance and silence on issues such as the increase in structural poverty and the poor results of the Ministry of Women in reducing femicides or narrowing the economic inequalities suffered by thousands of Argentine women, at least the iconic open-air choreographies have returned with renewed – some catchy – rhymes. “Combative sorority / Against the neofascist right / Against Milei the Denier” is already shaping up to be a TikTok hit.
But aside from the harsh blow received at the polls—it feels like it was just yesterday—Argentine feminism is struggling to understand why strategies like “Real Sweeties Vote for Massa” or threatening to cut ties with friends who voted for Milei did not impact the female electorate. The women who voted for a candidate who, with little shame or guilt, claims to disbelieve in concepts like the gender pay gap or the glass ceiling, did so because our vote was not based on gender issues. This is the first point.
The obvious and almost identical campaign platforms of both Milei and Patricia Bullrich, who was one of his fiercest opponents and later an electoral ally, showed a desperate need for change. Not just any change, but one that transforms more than just unpaved streets; a change that addresses the deep-seated malaise in Argentina, diving into the web of poor decisions and governments that have made us one of the most politically and economically unviable countries in the world.
It is also valid to say that being a woman and voting for Milei does not necessarily have an ideological slant. Perhaps the hysteria for ideological purity among feminist CEOs blinds them to a simple truth: Voting for him as president does not automatically make you anti-feminist or even liberal (that little word that progressives accuse of being a convenient euphemism for ultra-right agendas). The conversion of ideas, like a liturgical ritual, is a fantasy in the minds—and intentions—of those who cannot tolerate a diversity of thoughts.
Is it too simple to strike against the Fernández government (including both Cristina and the insipid Alberto) – Massa, because although our feminists choose not to acknowledge it, they also contributed to part of the gut-wrenching decisions that thousands of Argentine women made by voting for a candidate who, at times, even bordered on misogyny? Placing ourselves in an irreversible victim position, where personal life and progress were only secured by Kirchnerist government intervention, was probably one of the biggest blunders of a movement that claims to represent all women but loses strength and form every day.
There is an urgent agenda that, indeed, is solely the state’s responsibility and requires the participation of a lucid and quick-thinking feminism in the face of the lethargic but still dangerously advancing machista culture. For everything else, for what has already been achieved – at least on this side of the globe – women have ourselves. What other ode to femininity do they want to write for us if each of us can compose our own?
The desire and projection of a life where we can study, work, grow economically, save, start businesses, become competitive in the professional world, invest, choose between having children or five cats, manage our reproductive health, be the owners of our personal and financial decisions, and even indulge in some of those trivialities that come from (and are consequences of) monetary solvency, largely encompass what women hope to achieve today on our own… (And while we’re at it, kick the command board of the dogmas that still try to encapsulate what it means to be a woman). No simplifications, no intermediaries, no Cristinas, no Mileis (at least we know Javo already understands this).