Did Eve Emerge From Evo's Rib? Gendered Complexities Over the Period of MAS Rule in Bolivia

Abstract

The MAS governments in Bolivia (2006–2019) sought to overturn neoliberalism through a decolonial and post-neoliberal political project informed by indigenous movements, feminist thought, and social movement participation. However, feminist activists and scholars soon argued that MAS discourse and policy increasingly essentialised gender and reinforced extractivist and developmentalist logics that limited the transformative potential of the project. This article examines the gendered dimensions and contradictions of the MAS years, combining analysis of political discourse, social policy and financial reform with qualitative insights from long-term fieldwork in La Paz and El Alto. It first situates gender within the heterogeneous landscape of Bolivian feminist and women's movements, highlighting tensions between liberal, indigenous, decolonial, and queer feminist approaches. It then analyses reforms to political participation, welfare and finance, showing how women's inclusion often remained tied to maternalist and productivist assumptions. The final section explores a central contradiction of the MAS period: while urban indigenous women were largely absent from official imaginaries of development, the chola market trader became an emblem of Bolivia's transformed political economy. The article finally reflects on the implications of these tensions for feminist political economy beyond Bolivia.