Las diez cosas que una mujer en Chile no debe hacer jamas.

• Author: Mujica, Barbara

Nine of the ten things a woman in Chile should never do are: have a Christian Democrat for a lover; live alone before getting married; fall in love at fifty; aspire to power; marry a machista; separate from her husband and not remarry; abandon her home; be a cellular morn; and have a fanatical husband.

Elizabeth Subercascaux's bestselling meditation on the situation of women in Chile is both hilarious and dead serious. Her point is that although Chile is considered one of the most advanced nations in Latin America and is, in fact, more politically, economically, and socially progressive than many of its neighbors, the position of women is pretty much the same as in most other Hispanic countries. Women who leave their husbands not only become social outcasts, but also have little legal protection. If a woman moves out, the husband gains automatic custody of the children, but if he moves out, he can ruin her financially. Throughout their lives, women are discouraged from taking responsibility for themselves. Young women who assert their independence by living alone are subject to gossip, humiliation, and abuse by males who view them as easy prey. Older women who fall in love at, say, fifty, are subject to constant derision. Machismo is alive and well in Chile, the author asserts, and women are still second-class citizens.

Subercaseaux makes these points with grace and style, without sermonizing. Although her book contains some harsh social criticism, she rarely loses her sense of humor. She never comes across as whiny or hostile, and her stance is not blatantly anti-male. On the contrary, she finds many Chilean men - even some machistas - fundamentally well meaning and decent. For example, she points out that big, tough, noisy guys often have good hearts, and "bodyguards" - overprotective men who never let their wives out of their sight - may be just right for certain traditionalist women with no professional ambitions. However, the "intellectual machista" - the brilliant historian, lawyer, sociologist, etc. - is the most despicable and dangerous of men. This is the...