Suchergebnisse

The Pan American Child Congresses provided a catalyst for child-focused welfare policies in Latin America. Originally organized by Argentine feminists in 1916, the congresses soon attracted many physicians and legal specialists concerned with topics such as infant mortality, child abandonment, and juvenile delinquency. Although feminists insisted more than their male counterparts that Latin American governments solve all the problems of children, both groups agreed in principle on many issues. Furthermore, women's views became evident when Latin American male physicians met with their U.S. counterparts at a 1927 eugenics conference in Cuba and refused to endorse highly racist and authoritarian measures. Instead, they worked through the child congresses and with women from the U.S. Chil dren's Bureau. This led to protective legislation for children as well as a hemi spheric Children's Code in 1948, indicating a shift in focus from the obligations of the state to the rights of children.

In January 1875, the Buenos Aires municipal council legalized female sexual commerce within authorized bordellos. A decade of rapid urbanization and population growth, characterized by a high proportion of unmarried males, had created problems of social control and public health that had to be addressed by city authorities. Councilmen enacted a law purportedly intended to improve public health. However, the desire to create revenues from exorbitant licence fees meant that municipally regulated prostitution served principally to keep prostitutes off the streets and enlarge city coffers

In January 1875, the Buenos Aires municipal council legalized female sexual commerce within authorized bordellos. A decade of rapid urbanization and population growth, characterized by a high proportion of unmarried males, had created problems of social control and public health that had to be addressed by city authorities. Assisted in their task by doctors specializing in public health who were aware of European legislation on the issue, councilmen enacted a law purportedly intended to improve public health. Instead, the desire to create revenues from exorbitant license fees meant that municipally regulated prostitution served principally to keep prostitutes off the streets and enlarge city coffers. It was not until 1888 that the Dispensario de Salubridad (or Prostitutes' Registry) was established along with the Sifilicomio (the venereal disease hospital) to periodically examine and treat women in licensed houses of prostitution.

The concept of patria potestad, or the right of male heads of house holds to control family members, including their labor, has undergone a marked transformation in Argentina. In the colonial period patria potestad served to re inforce imperial codes related to inheritance, marriage, and race relations, but after independence and before new codes were passed, the weak Argentine nation rarely interfered in family matters except to conscript vagrant men or force poor women to work for the state. Gradually, economic conditions, along with the location of the work to be performed, replaced race as criteria for state inter ference in family labor. As the Argentine state became more powerful in the twentieth century it finally usurped the right of family heads to select occupations and to keep the incomes of family members.