The case of the Chilean Law against street harassment: How a feminist social movement took advantage of the political opportunity structure

Even though street harassment (SH) is not new, its social problematisation in Latin America spans no more than a decade, when feminists in their early 20s organised against it. Nowadays, five countries in South America have specific laws against SH: Chile, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, in all cases, this was achieved in no more than five years from start to finish. Although it is clear that feminist movements have effects on and influence political agendas, it is relevant to understand the particular context that allows newer feminist generations in Latin America to achieve political changes through diverse strategies. Using political opportunity structure (POS) theory with a gender approach, this thesis analyses the internal structure of a feminist social movement that enabled it to take advantage of changes in the POS to achieve legal change. The case study selected is the Chilean social movement against SH headed by the Observatory Against Sexual Harassment (OCAC). With a qualitative methodology, the analytical corpus was interviews with crucial actors or groups of people who were directly involved in, or whose actions were related to, the legislative process of the Chilean law against SH between 2013 and 2019. The results of this research lead to conclusions in three areas: the need to understand the POS as gendered; the importance of OCAC’s highly valued characteristics that made it easy for them to speak publicly; and lessons learned for future research regarding the need to acknowledge the gender-based system that shapes every political process. Keywords: Political Opportunity Structure Theory – Gender-Based Violence – Feminism – Gender Approach – Policy Analysis