What patriarchy owes Evita

Translated  by Marvin Najarro 

Since humanity’s early days, history has been trampled on by patriarchal, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, classist, and xenophobic beings and, in the particular case of Latin America, colonized minds have been in charge of disregarding women like Evita who never fit into the patriarchal yoke, and who were never seduced by the honey of power, and on the contrary, were their greatest critics.

Evita is the poetry of the rebellion of the peoples. The patriarchy, which knows no ideology places her in history as a passionate being; it has never seen her as an intellectual being with a unique discernment and with incomparable guts. Those on the left say that she is the heart and soul of Peronism, because Perón was the intellectual character, and the voice of reason. Nothing could be further from the truth, and things have to be said as they are: There is no Perón without Evita. Neither Perón nor Peronism would exist without Evita.

Now, without patriarchy, and without history mistreated by misogyny, what we now know as Peronism should be called Evitism or something like that in order to do justice, and vindicate the woman who was its driving force. To be fair, Perón was lucky to meet a woman like Evita, who immortalized him by sensitizing and bringing him closer to the people; and by giving her word, and backing him before the pariahs, because without Evita’s backing, Perón would have been average president.

And that which is seen in women as passionate, as soul and heart, in men is seen as intellectuality and guts, as a voice of command and emotional stability; this is how patriarchy function. So, Evita one of Latin America’s greatest minds, ahead of her time, is viewed like that; like the soul and heart of Peronism. Nothing more unjust because you have to see her pronouncements before the people, her skills, and read her texts to understand her genius to turn the complex into something completely understandable to the workers, who like her, had no opportunity to attend college and be immersed in books and higher education, and development opportunities available to people like Perón, which facilitates the compression of policy. (Not always). So, if soul and heart are so important, why does not patriarchy, which I repeat, have no ideology, says Evita was the intellectual and Peron the passionate?

Because the beauty, and greatness of Evita’s intellectuality is that it is natural; her sensitivity comes from poverty and misery, from her origin as a pariah and she, even with all the hardships to learn, was able to think and feel what many university graduates, with masters and doctorates degrees, can not. She did not stop there, that analysis she wrote it in numerous texts, and she made it known in her pronouncements and approaches to the Argentine people. She moved away from passivity to action -what the world needs for us to do. Evita did not become Evita by marrying Perón, she already was; and that is the patriarchal debt. They think that Perón made her into Evita by having the «mercy» of marrying and giving her a last name, and an economic position. I repeat, patriarchy has no ideology.

The day we manage to eradicate patriarchy and misogyny, women like Evita will be recognized for their enormous contribution to the struggle for human rights, and development policies for the peoples of the world. She was so far ahead of her time that she never thought in terms of men and women, or genders, but of human beings with the same rights.

Patriarchy is the greatest enemy we have, it seems impossible to defeat it but we can eradicate it, and then we can rewrite history, and do justice to so many women who have fought for the freedom of their peoples and have been made invisible by the shadow of their spouses, partners, lovers, parents, siblings and their last names.

History and patriarchy are indebted to Evita. Someday she will be recognized as the soul, the heart and the intellectuality of an era that changed the history of women in politics: in Argentine, Latin American and the world.

It’s about time…

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Ilka Oliva Corado @ilkaolivacorado

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