Venezuela views the role of women in different ways depending on where they live. By tradition, women are expected to do housework and may work outside the home, but the work must be related to domestic services. . In rural areas, women must share physical labor with men to earn a living. Women are legally equal to men in Venezuela, but they live in a patriarchal society that has a national brand of "machismo." Machismo is the term in which men are controlling and do not allow women to be themselves. Although women had equal rights, those who actively participated in the struggle for democracy found themselves deprived of its privileges. The Coordinator of Women's Non-Governmental Organizations (CONG) brought together twenty-six women's groups and gave them a platform to advance women's issues outside the traditional framework of political parties. Women's movements began to dwindle when the economic crisis hit and oil prices fell by more than half. Living standards fell, middle and working class women faced increasing financial difficulties and had less time to participate in the social economy....