By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES, Mar 17 2000 (IPS)

Supplements aimed at the female readers of newspapers in Latin America are no longer limited to beauty and fashion tips, recipes, advice on child-rearing and interior decorating, and horoscopes.

In recent years, many women’s supplements have left behind stereotypes of the past, and have begun reporting on prominent women in public office or the private sector, in language that does not underestimate or insult their readers.

Women’s sections in newspapers throughout the region vary from those that take a decidedly feminist stance, such as ‘Triple Jornada’ published by the Mexican paper ‘La Jornada’, and others that appear to be in a process of transition.

For example, ‘Mundo Femenino’, which accompanies the Venezuelan daily ‘El Sol de Margarita’, offers “your baby’s horoscope” alongside studies on the marginalisation of women in Afghanistan.

And in Chile, ‘Ya’, published by the paper ‘El Mercurio’, and ‘De Mujer a Mujer’, a supplement offered by ‘La Tercera’, have not abandoned the traditional genres of fashion, advice on personality styles and cooking, while they have begun to introduce coverage of political and cultural issues involving women.

They continue, however, to sidestep questions on reproductive health, abortion or family planning.

‘Mujer’, an insert put out by the Argentine daily ‘Clarín’, tries to go a bit further, printing articles on hair removal and sexuality, teen pregnancy, the work of women’s groups, and draft laws involving gender questions, as well as interviews with women writers, journalists and politicians.

Other publications in Latin America have understood that women are not only interested in tips on how to have the perfect body, or advice on their homes and families. But instead of taking a more profound look at the world of women, they prefer to target a broader, and perhaps safer, audience.

Among those that have changed their approach in recent years is ‘Estilos de Vida’, published by the newspaper ‘Jornal do Brasil’ – a supplement that covers health, nutrition, sports, beauty and healthy living for all readers.

Two other Brazilian papers, ‘O Globo’ and ‘O Estado de Sao Paulo’, while continuing to produce their traditional women’s supplements, have somewhat shifted their focus. ‘O Globo’, for example, has added the ‘Jornal da Familia’ on Sundays, produced mainly for women.

At the other end of the spectrum are the supplements that take a strong feminist stance, such as ‘Triple Jornada’ in Mexico, ‘La República de las Mujeres’, offered by ‘La República’ in Uruguay, and ‘Mujer’, printed by the Paraguayan paper ‘Ultima Hora’.

But a similar publication, ‘Capullanas’ by ‘La República’ of Peru, stopped coming out in 1998, and no alternative has emerged in its place. Even traditional women’s supplements have been disappearing in that country due to difficulties in attracting advertisers – a problem plaguing such publications elsewhere in the region.

Then there are women’s supplements that, like ‘Las 12’, which accompanies the Friday edition of the Argentine daily ‘Página 12’, define themselves as “progressive but not militant,” in the words of Sandra Russo, the editor of the weekly insert.

But Russo agrees with Isabel Villar, with ‘La República de las Mujeres’, on the need to defend what they describe as their “islands.”

When ‘La República de las Mujeres’ began to come out 11 years ago, “the situation of women was not an issue” of debate in Uruguay, Villar told IPS. The supplement, she said, served as an invaluable channel for “putting gender questions on the public agenda and giving specific problems a name.”

Villar believes that one indication of the success of that objective is the healthy competition for coverage of women’s issues now seen in the main body of the newspaper and other print media, as well as radio and TV.

Rojas, however, the editor of ‘Triple Jornada’, said her aim was to forge a space for reports on sexual harassment, domestic violence or reproductive rights, for example, in the body of the newspaper ‘La Jornada’, and thus reach readers of both sexes.

“This is a constant battle, because we don’t want to become ‘ghettoised’,” Rojas told IPS.

But, she added, “the patriarchal culture is still very much entrenched, and until we are able to change that, a women’s supplement like ours, with a feminist vision, will be necessary.”

None of the three editors denied, meanwhile, the importance of covering fashion, beauty and other stereotypically women’s issues.

Russo said she had a hard time convincing her colleagues at ‘Página 12’, a paper that leans to the centre-left, that it was “a prejudice to believe that fashion is not an issue of interest to intelligent women.

“In ‘Las 12’ we focus on fashion from a historical or sociological perspective, as we do with interior design or cooking. I believe every issue can be tackled from an approach that is of interest to women, but leaving behind the classic discourse of women’s magazines, which underestimates women,” she added.

Villar said the risk with the “traditional” approach was that society unconsciously assumes that “those are the only things that interest women,” which reinforces gender stereotypes.

Rojas also admitted that fashion or interior decorating were issues of interest to women, as demonstrated by the existence of “hundreds of magazines and supplements that focus on those areas.”

But even among the inserts that do not hesitate to define themselves as feminist, there are differences in tone and style.

‘Triple Jornada’ takes an openly ironic, critical tone against a clearly defined opponent, the “patriarchal system,” Rojas explained.

She admitted that some of the articles published by the supplement have been written by women who stereotype men as “fascist, sexist and totalitarian.”

But that is not the case of ‘República de las Mujeres’, which is gaining more and more acceptance among male readers, “a few who are drawn by curiosity, and others because they find elements here that help them gain a better understanding of aspects of their everyday reality,” said Villar.

Nor does ‘Las 12’ “aim to exclude or offend men,” said Russo.

“I have noticed that feminist language is more aggressive towards males, and we want to make it clear that we like men, that they are our companions, with whom we have children,” stressed the Argentine journalist.

She also said that the fact that her publication had not become a vehicle for simply divulging studies on gender issues made them “effective” from a journalistic point of view.

But she admitted that tension between what is “politically correct” and “journalistically” advantageous was often felt when it came to defining the editorial line of the supplement.

Russo cited the example of a story on “men who lived through the experience of abortion” – as described by the headline – which included the testimony of more or less well-known men who had accompanied their female companions through the painful process of interrupting a pregnancy.

“The report should have been titled ‘men who had abortions’, which would have been a catchier headline from a journalistic point of view,” she said. “But we thought women’s organisations would protest that we were ignoring the fact that the body that undergoes the abortion is that of the woman and not the man.”

Villar argued that it was correct for women’s supplements to be separate from the rest of the paper because “positive discrimination” remained necessary, as in the case of quotas reserved for female candidates to parliament.

“These are undesirable measures, but they are useful in making progress towards gender balance,” she argued.

Russo believes there is no reason for women’s supplements to become part of the main section of newspapers. She herself left the main body of ‘Página 12’ in search of a separate space for women, and said she believes that “ceasing to produce the supplement would eliminate certain nuances, which we do not want to give up.”

A process of change thus seems to be underway in the print media in the region with respect to the approach taken to women’s issues, although the changes are coming about at different rates and with different styles – just like the multifaceted path followed by the recent transformation in the lives of millions of women in Latin America.

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