Imagine walking down the street and being brutally assaulted, you ask your perpetrator why they are attacking you and they simply say, “because you’re a woman” then he kills you. In Latin America, this is a scenario that every woman fear will happen if she leaves the house.
Femicide is described as the intentional murder of women because they are women. Five main types of femicide include: Intimate femicide- when a husband or boyfriend kills their female partner, Honor-related femicide- when a family member kills a women in their family for “dishonoring the family”, Dowry-related femicide- when an in-law kills their daughter-in-law, Non-intimate femicide- when a man with no intimate relationship with a woman kills her, Sexual femicide- sexual aggression that leads to the murder of the woman.
Even though Latin America does not explicitly use the term “femicide” it is very prominent in this country. Latin America experiences some of the highest rates of femicide across the world. Since COVID-19 they have seen an increase in gender-based violence cases. Peru has some of the highest rates in gender-based violence cases. Their efforts in protesting and campaigns to put an end to this violence have not been working.
One example of how COVID-19 has influenced the increase in gender-based violence is due to having to stay isolated at home. This puts some women at risk by forcing them to be isolated with their abusers. “COVID-19 and mandatory quarantine have increased the number of cases of gender-based violence that thousands of women and girls face all over the world” (Almeida, 2020). Mandatory quarantine has forced these women to endure abuse they could normally escape when not on lockdown.
Another factor in the increase of gender-based violence due to COVID is the lack of employment, economic stability and stress perpetrators are experiencing. This intensifies an abuser’s anger and increases the danger the victim is in. With these factors in place, women are more likely to experience violence and abuse. “According to data from the Pan American Health Organization, in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1 out of every 3 women has experienced physical or sexual violence during her lifetime and, according to ECLAC, in 33 countries in the region, during 2019, the number of gender-based killing of women exceeded 3,800” (UN Women, 2020). This proves cases have been higher since the pandemic and shows how COVID-19 has made a negative impact on gender-based violence
Lastly, women are not receiving the help they need from organizations due to lack of resources during COVID. “women’s civil society organizations are under great pressure to adapt their services to new realities and to respond to an increased demand without additional resources” (UN Women, 2020). Organizations like these are extremely helpful for women suffering from abuse and are sometimes the only support they receive.
In conclusion, COVID-19 has severely affected femicide in Latin America. It has increased violence and decreased resources for the women experiencing the abuse. Protocols have been put in place to prevent future femicides such as- access to care, government partnership with organizations, zero tolerance police policy and investing in programs that provide protection- however due to the pandemic, these rules need to be further enforced to ensure the safety of the women in Latin America.
Category: Gender in Latin America
The Talk and Unplanned Pregnancies: Unsafe Abortion in Latin America
By Salma Zoe Diaz Diaz
We all know what the talk is, that excruciating moment when your parent sits down next to you and says, “we need to talk.” You hold your breath as they stumble over their words “when you decide to have sex, one day…”. You feel yourself going a deep crimson in heated embarrassment as they stammer on “… just remember to be careful.” You both heave a huge sigh of relief that it’s over and you can get on with life again but in truth, we need much more from our parents. We need ‘the talk’ to be far more honest and open than that. It’s the responsibility of each parent to try to give their child the space to talk about anything. That environment needs to be created from the moment a child is born. Whenever a child enters puberty, they feel embarrassed about their sexual feelings, especially admitting to them in front of their parents. However, that’s the parents’ job; they should suck up the embarrassment and do what needs to be done anyway. Ensuring your child is safe is far more important than feeling uncomfortable.
Each year there are thousands of unsafe abortions performed in Latin America, including in my country of Peru. According to the Guttmacher Institute, during 2010–2014, an estimated 6.5 million induced abortions occurred each year in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the proportion of all pregnancies in Latin America and the Ca
ribbean ending in abortion increased between 1990–1994 and 2010–2014, from 23% to 32% Yet, they point out that more than 97% of women of reproductive age in Latin America and the Caribbean live in countries with restrictive abortion laws. Abortion is not permitted for any reason in six countries. Nine others allow it almost exclusively to save the woman’s life, with only some offering limited exceptions for rape (Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Panama) and grave fetal anomaly (Chile, Panama and almost half of the states of Mexico). Fewer than 3% of the region’s women live in countries where abortion is broadly legal—that is, permitted either without restriction as to reason or on socioeconomic grounds. Therefore, women, especially young women who experience unplanned pregnancies are likely to resort to illegal and often unsafe abortions that will have major health consequences for them.
In my case, I got pregnant in the summer of 2019. I felt alone and embarrassed with myself. I considered getting an abortion but before I could even make that decision, I had a miscarriage. I was heartbroken and still lonely, as the father of my baby decided to ignore me and block me without even knowing that I was expecting a baby from him. I tried and tried to find a way to tell him, but when I finally found a way, it was too late. I decided then, that I didn’t want to tell him anymore. I kept it away from everyone and it made me feel lonelier and sadder. I wanted to forget about what happened. Neglecting a problem is never the answer as it keeps consuming you from the inside. When you’re the only one that knows, you tend to feel hopeless.
Recently, one week ago, I decided to tell my mother what had happened. I saw the pain in her eyes as she realized that she had failed at gaining my complete trust. I couldn’t tell her because I felt like she was going to be disappointed but when we are parents, that’s what we need to be. Parents. No matter how bad the situation is. I now know that and I wouldn’t be able to keep that big of a secret to my mother or my father ever again. This might be different for a lot of people as their parents may not know how to be a good parent. However, this is not only for our present parents but for our future parents.
When young adults don’t have the proper information given to them sometimes, this can lead to unplanned pregnancies. This, in turn, can cause someone to go through a difficult decision such as picking whether to have an abortion or keep the baby. This is where parents should take the initiative to make their child feel safe about this issue they are facing. If the parents are not supportive of their child, this can lead to unsafe abortion. Unsafe abortions have a very high risk of health issues later on in life, such as infertility. This can also cause mental trauma in patients that go through unsafe and safe abortions.
The governments in Latin America need to provide safe places for women who conceive and would like to have abortions as well as therapy places that can provide counseling for their trauma. Abortion is the taking of human life in a horrific fashion – the baby is ripped apart. We also have to realize that a lot of countries don’t have the privilege of providing safe abortion methods. Especially in Latin America, where I’m from, as it is viewed as an inhuman thing to do. This is why it was very hard for me to come to my parents when I found out I was pregnant. In Latin culture, abortion is a very delicate topic and a lot of my family members are against it.
As a country and world, we should all be more open to these delicate topics such as “the talk,” and unplanned pregnancies. Abortion rates run high in the world, and unsafe abortion is a common factor. In order to steer clear of unsafe abortion, parents should face the embarrassments that they may feel and put it to the side when it comes to their children. This will help with keeping young adults safe if they choose to have an abortion with an unplanned pregnancy. Young adults are just looking for support when it comes to these types of issues. Having support from their parents and loved ones in times like these are very important to one’s mental health, and physical health. This is why parents should know better and not just make decisions that are not going to make the situation any better, like kick them out of the house or yell at them for being stupid. First, they need to take care of the current “problem” and after they come up with a solution, they can talk about it. At the end of the day, we all make mistakes and as a parent, you have to be supportive and help your kids learn from these mistakes.
However, the burden to solve the issue of unplanned pregnancies should not just be on the parents. Governments that refuse to liberalize laws restricting abortion should have to provide better sex education in the schools along with free access to contraception. Governments could also institute classes for parents about how to talk frankly with their children about sex and birth control. Without that, young people will continue to get pregnant and then choose the more horrifying option of unsafe abortion, risking their physical and mental health in the process. We owe them better than this.
Salma Zoe Diaz Diaz is a junior at East Carolina University. She is set to graduate in December 2021 with a degree in Anthropology and a minor in Ethnic Studies. After graduating, she plans to continue her education and complete a Master’s Degree.
Risk of assault at the border
Article: https://sites.ecu.edu/genderpoliticsculture/wp-admin/post-new.php
Overview: Every year many migrants will attempt to cross the Mexico-American border coming from Mexico, El Salvador, and Guatemala etc. Many face the risk of sexual assault and rape because they are out numbered by men on the journey. Many take this journey because of fear of violence back home. Many women do not report these cases because of fear of deportation.
Questions: Why does this violence against women at the border go unnoticed? Why is this not a bigger recognized issue ?
Divergent post-conflict processes for women in Guatemala and El Salvador -Substantive Blog #5
Guatemala and El Salvador represent two emblematic cases of armed conflict in Latin America that, after leaving many victims, ended in the 1990s with the signing of a peace agreement. In this chapter Ellerby (2016) analyzes the differences between these countries of women’s role in the post conflict stage.
The conflict lived in Guatemala had many similarities with the Salvadoran conflict. The author points out that both countries were run as oligarchies for most of the twentieth century that found support from narrow US business, military and government interests. Both conflicts were long, violent and repressive. This included , paramilitary violence, “disappearances,” systematic gender violence and targeting of women as women. Both confrontations included strong guerilla movements that created coalitions between indigenous rural groups and urban middle class. Guerilla movements in both countries counted on women’s participation as revolutionaries and both countries had very active women’s movements prior to the peace accords (Ellerby 2016:190).
Notwithstanding the above, the way in which both countries included gender issues in the peace negotiations was very different. In the case of Guatemala’s peace accord, twelve issue-specific agreements were included as part of the same process, as well as, twenty-five statements regarding women’s security. Meanwhile in El Salvador’s agreement only one one statement related to gender was included (Ellerby 2016:185).
According to the author, there are three factors that may explain these differences. The first factor is the Access which refers to the degree to which women are able to participate in the formal peace process. El Salvador ‘s process was elitist and brokered by the UN outside of El Salvador, in contrast Guatemala’s process was inclusive and it made formal access for civil society to participate, even if it were in an advisory role. Elite versus inclusive processes mean women may have different ways to generate and promote their demands (Ellerby 2016:192).
The second factor is the definition of a Women’s agenda. In Guatemala, during the peace negotiations the Women’s Sector produced a list of demands that included: a clear gender focus in development and repatriation and reintegration objectives and programs; criminalizing sexual harassment and domestic violence; expansion of women’s citizenship rights and political participation; protection for indigenous women and general indigenous rights; and increased access for women to credit, housing and land. In the case of El Salvador, since the women who participated in the peace process mostly belonged to political parties, they failed to unify a gender position and they could not consolidate a Women’s agenda (Ellerby 2016:192-193).
The third factor is Advocacy, which is related to the degree to which the parties involved in the negotiation consider the gender issues as part of the process. Although Guatemala had only one woman negotiator , the gender issues were considered as complementary to peace agreement. In contrast, in El Salvador the several women who participated in the negotiations did not achieve that the gender issues had the necessary relevance and on the contrary these were considered as secondary and in many cases opposed to the revolutionary principles, for which they had a lot of resistance on the part of the groups participants in the negotiations (Ellerby 2016:194).
Guatemala and El Salvador clearly show that the role of women in the post-conflict depends largely on the political will but also on the ability of women to establish a common agenda free of particular interests that allows them to defend it in negotiations and implement it in the reconstruction.
Reference
Ellerby, Kara. 2016. ” Engendering peace: Divergent post-conflict processes for women in Guatemala and El Salvador.” Pp. 182-200 in Women, gender equality and post-conflict transformation.Lessons learned,implications for the future , edited by Joyce P. Kaufman and Kristen P. Williams. London and New York: Routledge.
I “just” wanted to point this out…
As students — many of whom will be scouring the job market for opportunities in the near future — we are often preoccupied with the written and spoken language that we use; not solely for the numerous research papers, essays and presentations we are responsible for producing over the course of our educational careers, but because we are aware of the value judgments people make about our dialect and our prose.
How many of you have dedicated an immense amount of time to making sure the carefully-crafted letters and e-mails you send to peers, colleagues and future employers are “just right” before pressing send? We check and double check spelling and grammar, we make sure we use tone that’s appropriate for the intended recipient, and we fire away. Whether we speak on the phone or in person, we tend to be more careful about the words we use because unlike written language — which we are typically free to edit until we are satisfied with the final result — there’s no “taking back” spoken words (or the inflection behind them) when you’re trying to quickly convey a message or attempting to prove yourself worthy to someone whose approval matters to you. We think about our word choices — some people even code-switch between the dialect they use naturally versus the dialect they use in a professional setting — and hope that we aren’t coming across in a way that misconstrues our intent or puts us at risk of negative evaluation.
However, have you ever considered that even the subtle, seemingly innocent word choices you make may be stripping your words of their full power? Ellen Leanse thinks so. In her latest article — It’s time to stop using ‘just’ in your writing and speaking (published today at Ragan.com and in its original version located at Women2.com) — Leanse charges women with using the word ‘just’ as “a ‘permission’ word.”
“The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was a “child” word, to riff Transactional Analysis. As such, it put the conversation partner into the “parent” position, granting them more authority and control. And that “just” didn’t make sense. … I began to notice that “just” wasn’t about being polite. It was a subtle message of subordination, of deference. Sometimes it was self-effacing. Sometimes even duplicitous. As I started really listening, I realized that striking it from a phrase almost always clarified and strengthened the message.”
Upon noticing the prevalence of the word “just” in the e-mails sent by women at her company, Leanse decided to conduct an informal experiment in which observers listened to a six-minute conversation between a man and a woman about their respective business startups — each had three minutes to speak — while the observers tallied the amount of times they each used the word “just.” The man used it once; the woman used it either five or six times. As Leanse states, this experiment was “not research: it’s a test that likely merits more inquiry.” Until a formal experiment is conducted, I urge you to inquire within yourselves.
Look through your e-mails and text messages. How often have you used the word “just” in an attempt to sound friendlier or non-demanding? You may be unconsciously asking permission for your thoughts and words to be validated by others, which can diminish the impact behind them. Ladies: it is time to stop diluting our convictions, our lofty goals, and our grandest plans with the constant use of what otherwise would continue to be considered an innocuous four-letter word in a sea of written and spoken communication. I “just” thought you should be aware of your own authority and the power it holds when you wield it with confidence. Laura Redman
Another take on intersectional issues in activism: Black Cuban feminists
This Cuban Hip Hop group is interesting: Remember the critique that many black women in the US have of white feminists, and so they prefer the term “womanist” to “feminist”? Check out this group’s discussion of this issue and how they are framing themselves:
Black Cuban Feminist Hip Hop Band
Also a reminder of our discussion of communist countries attempting gender equality (and equality between races, in the case of Cuba).
Street Harassment Plagues Women the World Over
This BBC article succinctly sums up the issue of street harassment, a type of harassment that can involve cat-calling, groping, lewd comments, verbal threats/coercion, and may escalate into violence. Every woman I know, including yours truly, has endured frequent street harassment wherever we go, not only while here at East Carolina University. Many men consider “complimenting” (i.e. honking/whistling/hissing at) a strange woman on the street to be fairly routine and flattering to her, but simply do not understand or worse, do not care that their behavior is threatening.
ihollaback.org is a website that encourages women to take pictures of street harassers with their mobile phones, or to act like they are using their phones to report/photograph these men. However, I worry that this act could bring about even more unwanted attention from street harassers, and even result in a violent attack against the woman who attempts to fight back in this manner. What do you think? Do you think that this is an effecting solution to combat street harassment, or do you advocate for the redesign of public transportation centers, as mentioned in the article? What else can be done to fight this blatant and threatening sexism?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/magazine-12771938?SThisFB
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