Bananeras: Women Transforming the Banana Unions of Latin America

by Dana Frank

“I want to learn how to defend myself from whoever tries to oppress me, whether it’s my husband, my union, or my boss.”—a bananera Women banana workers— bananeras —are waging a powerful revolution by making gender equity central in Latin American labor organizing. Their successes disrupt the popular image of the Latin American woman worker as a passive bystander and broadly re-imagine the possibilities of international labor solidarity. Over the past 20 years, bananeras have organized themselves and gained increasing control over their unions, their workplaces, and their lives. Highly accessible and narrative in style, Women Transforming the Banana Unions of Latin America recounts the history and growth of this vital movement. Starting in 1985 with one union in La Lima, Honduras, and expanding domestically through the late 1990s, experienced activists successfully reached out to younger women with a message of empowerment. In a compelling example of transnational feminism at work, the bananeras crossed borders to ally with banana workers in five other banana exporting countries in Latin America, arguing all the while that empowering women at every level of their organizations makes for stronger unions, better able to confront the ever-encroaching multinational corporations. When the bananeras of Latin America, with their male allies, explicitly integrate gender equity into their organizing work as essential to effective labor internationalism—when they refuse to separate the global struggle against trans-national corporations from the formidable efforts at home to achieve equity and respect—they inspire all of us to envision a new framework for internationalism that places women’s human rights at the center of global class politics. A professor of American studies at the University of California Santa Cruz, Dana Frank focuses on US and international labor issues. Published in The Washington Post , The Nation , and other periodicals, she is the author of Buy American and, with Robin D.G. Kelley and Howard Zinn, of Three Strikes .

Genres: Nonfiction, Labor, Feminism, History, Politics, Grad School, Gender

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2005

Reviews

[Bart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspiring, Bananeras is not only about "Women Transforming the Banana Unions of Latin America" - which is extremely cool and the main focus - but also about women changing their communities and families.

[Shula Ornstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a lot of interesting information but I think it’s really poorly organized! It also doesn’t define many of its terms. 2.5

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick overview of the struggles of women union members and leaders in Latin America. Their stories and successes are highlighted as they continue to work to integrate women’s rights into labor solidarity.

[Monique · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dana Frank gives us an exceptional inside look into women's labor organizing in banana unions in Honduras and Latin America examining their progression and fortitude in the face of poverty, machismo, persecution, gender politics and transnational corporations. It is a concise, focused book based on years of trust and activism by the author and a worthy read on feminism and labor history.

[Tom Polek · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t set this book down. In a concise 110 pages Dana Frank outlines the ongoing struggle for gender equality of the mujeres bananeras - banana women. This book is meticulous in it's study of the labor unions history in their relative countries, but doesn’t lose focus on the women behind the movement.

This is an inspiring read and details how a transnational feminist labor movement can uplift not only those involved, but society as a whole. I highly recommend checking this out, as well as basically everything else Haymarket Books publishes.

[cory · Rating 2 out of 5]

i didn't know that banana unions were so strong in central/south america & it was inspiring to see how union women had brought feminist concerns to the fore of the banana unions. unfortunately, the multi-nationals have made business changes that mean that the banana unions are way less powerful than they were in the past. i didn't actually make it all the way through this book, but it was an interesting skim.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

An inspiring expose on the women's banana unions in Central America. Written with an agile familiarity with postcolonial theory as well as a completely anti-elitist accessibility.

[Nick Sorrentino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lotta banana talk

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thin volume but packs a punch and does a great job of talking about the evolution of the bananeras work with the unions in Honduras and around central America. Really appreciated the layered focus on how the women integrated a focus on the personal (their own individual development, attention to self-esteem, and household dynamics and pushback on machista societal forces); the structural; gender politics within the unions; and struggles within the corporations themselves. These women are so powerful and intrepid. Published back in 2005 - wish I could find an update on what's going on especially given the industry changes the book describes.

[Julio The Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is for that anonymous youth who accused me of being a Communist for assigning this book. Amen. Dana Frank tells a tale of which she became a part. In Honduras and Nicaragua in the 1980s women workers at banana plantations owned by Dole and Chiquita Brands, formerly the infamous United Fruit Company, organized trade unions to take on these behemoths, while facing hostility and discrimination from male bananeros on the job, in the union, and at home; a Herculean though not Sisyphean task. Frank was there to lend the women moral and pedagogical support, and at the same time record their story for a Yankee audience. This is sizzling and honestly partisan oral history.

[Mills College Library]

331.88134 F8282 2016

[Artemisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing chronicle of the struggles these group of women have endured and continue to fight for their rights with this huge corporations getting rich on Central American resources.

[Inés · Rating 5 out of 5]

Increíble todo: la historia de las mujeres sindicalistas y lo accesible que es la narración. Lo he leído entero en un día porque no podía parar de leerlo.

[Michelle Obermeier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring from start to finish. An amazing story about fiercely militant unionists making invaluable breakthroughs as women and labor activists.

[Stevie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Fauna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about the women's movement in Latin America involving women in the Banana unions and their fight for their own voice in the union.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great and quick read about the women behind the bananas we eat.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clearly written, focused, a strong narrative - I flew through this book on a plane ride, and I'm so glad I did!

[Jolene Simko · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story behind your snack. A must read for everyone who eats bananas.