Women and Motherhood
Maternalism, or the use of motherhood to justify activism, is a common theme found in women’s movements across the political spectrum throughout the Americas. As these posters demonstrate, the Sandinistas effectively used images of motherhood for the revolutionary effort and women embraced these ideas as they allowed them to freely participate in the public, political spaces beyond their homes.
Motherhood both permits and compels women to make demands from moral standpoints as it allows them to frame their activities as being driven by maternal instincts. Mothers are viewed as non-partisan, generally non-threatening and as acting in the best interest of their families. Nicaraguans supporting the counter- revolution, or Contras, also agreed with similar ideas of women and motherhood. For example, on one hand, Sandinista mothers defending the revolution argued it was a necessity for future generations of Nicaraguans to live freely in an equitable society and without the threat of another U.S.-backed dictatorship. On the other hand, Contra mothers protested against the draft and expressed concerns that young boys were given inadequate training before being sent to war.