Violence Against Women is on the Rise

Targeted violence against women claimed over 500 lives in El Salvador last year, and the death toll continues to rise. The rate of these femicides, as they’ve been termed, has risen 197% in El Salvador over the past decade.

Victims of femicide are murdered precisely because they are women, and targeted violence takes many forms, the most obvious being domestic abuse within an established relationship and sexual violence both in and outside of a relationship. But victims of female-targeted crime do not always know their victims. Often, their crimes are even motivated by circumstances outside of the victim’s direct control, such as family members’ gang involvement. Perhaps the most disturbing trend in violence against women is the targeting of young women in rural areas, who are prone to random attacks by strangers simply because they are vulnerable.

We’ve written about femicide on this blog in the past, and but the issue has received more attention recently due to a particularly disturbing court ruling in Mexico. The ruling of Campo Algodonero, is the first case in which a state has been found guilty of violating rights to “life, integrity, and personal liberty” by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. In brief, the ruling addresses the violent deaths of eight women in Ciudad Juárez in 2001 and condemns as criminal the government’s complete lack of diligence in investigating the crimes. This ruling ought to have far-reaching consequences, as it solidifies the government’s role in ensuring a safe environment for all of its citizens as well as its responsibility to uphold justice, no matter the social status of the victim.

Currently, “there are a lot of murders because everyone knows that, if you kill a young girl, nothing will happen to you,” states Rosa Isela Pérez, a Mexican-born columnist now exiled in Spain, during an interview with El País. She goes on to explain that Mexico and other Central American countries are essentially lawless when it comes to protection against violence toward women. Further, despite appalling statistics in Mexico, the situation is even graver in El Salvador, the country with the highest rate of violent crime.

Some believe that the high rate of femicide is a far-reaching remnant of the violence of El Salvador’s civil war: exposure to extreme violence for so long increases the likelihood of this violence being continued, they claim. This is an overly simplistic explanation, as it doesn’t account for the specific targeting of women, which is very hard to account for. Some say that most femicides are motivated by “hatred, contempt, pleasure, or a sense of ownership over women” (Diana Russell), but that gives no explanation of the origin of these feelings. The only apparent answer, though a very unsatisfying and disturbing one, is the established system: men rank higher (socially, politically, economically) than women, and are determined to hold onto this power, no matter the cost.

Fear plays a large role in femicide, both in the perpetration of the crime and in the lack of justice following it. In El Salvador, as in many Central American countries, the atmosphere is rife with machismo – a culture in which the masculine, powerful man is the ideal. Unfortunately, when juxtaposed with the realities of Salvadoran life (poverty, lack of economic/ social opportunity), this ideal stretches out of reach, sometimes driving men to lash out. Determined to prove their manhood, some men turn to physical violence in order to inspire the fear necessary to maintain control and respect in a relationship.

This fear doesn’t stop when the relationship ends, however: at least 12% of ongoing cases of criminal violence against women are stopped because of the victim’s continuing fear of their aggressor. This statistic echoes larger structures of threats and intimidation throughout El Salvador and the rest of Central America, in which fear is employed as a means of obtaining power and control. Violence against women is only one of many devastating symptoms of the culture of impunity in Latin America, pointing to the necessity of an overhaul of the system, through education, political participation, and international solidarity and aid.

 

Women in El Salvador and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

For some, it was a day of turkey feasts and family gatherings, but for many more, November 25th was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.  Designated by the United Nations back in 1999, it now marks the beginning of a 16-day campaign of activism that culminates in Human Rights Day (December 10).  According to the United Nations Population Fund, November 25^th marks the start of 16 days of activism against gender violence by highlighting 16 forms of gender violence and proposing 16 ways to stop it (read more here on UNFPA’s page and on Rutgers’ official campaign page).

In El Salvador, Contrapunto prefaced the holiday by featuring two articles addressing the status of women in the region.  One article, “The ‘sin’ of being a women in a machista country,” highlighted the high level of violence women in the country face, pointing out that El Salvador has the world’s highest “femicide” or homicide rate for women of 129.46 per million women.  The article denounces not only the physical violence women face, but also the sexual violence, and recounts a recent case where evangelical pastor Antonio Moreno was arrested and charged in the rape of 13 female minors and two male minors.  The author also decries El Salvador’s 197% increase in violence against women from 1999 to 2009, according to United Nations Development Program representative Richard Barath.

Violence against women comes in many forms, some of which are less obvious to a largely patriarchal society in which male abuse of women can be considered “normal,” the author states.  The Instituto Salvadoreño para el Desarrollo de la Mujer (ISDEMU) (Salvadoran Institute for Women’s Development) gathered data this year for its Second National Report on the Situation of Violence Against Women in El Salvador and reported that from January 1 to November 5, 2010, the institute handled 6,320 cases of violence against women.  The National Civil Police (PNC) gave equally alarming figures, stating that there were 477 women murdered from January to October 2010, with 193 of those murders occurring in the capital city alone.  Ima Guirola of the Instituto de Estudios de la Mujer “Norma Virginia Girola de Herrera” (CEMUJER) summarized the figures differently:  in 2010, a woman is murdered every 13 hours.  85% of reported cases involve a perpetrator known to the women, and 76% of women who have suffered sexual abuse faced that abuse when they were younger than 19.  Both institutes have denounced what they consider to be cultural legitimization of violence against women coupled with a lack of strong institutions for criminal prosecution.

Another article in the same publication, entitled “Discrimination against women is latent,” focused on the November 17-19 visit of Commissioner Luz Patricia Mejía Guerrero, Rapporteur on the Rights of Women from the Organization of American States’ (OAS) Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) (see IACHR press release here).  Mejía Guerrero acknowledged that there was political will to see an end to violence and discrimination against women, but stressed that the government needed to take more steps to improve the situation on many levels, with special attention to the weaknesses in the justice system.  Mejía Guerrero judged El Salvador’s judicial system to be weak due to the large number of cases of violence against women that go unpunished because of “a lack of tools that facilitate the investigation process and victim’s compensation.”  According to the Attorney General’s Office, of the 6,803 cases of sexual crimes against women that took place between 2008 and 2009, only 436 have obtained convictions.  Mejía Guerrero stated that the problem is also a regional one, which encompasses a wide range of discrimination against women, including economic, social, and cultural rights.  According to a 2009 report by Consejo por la Igualdad y la Equidad (CIE), El Salvador has a 14% gap in salary between men and women, with women also reporting numerous labor violations such as unfair dismissal, sexual harassment, and exploitation.

Given these troubling statistics, the situation women face in El Salvador is as unacceptable as it is worrisome, and merits serious attention by the Funes administration.  Given the government’s pro-life crackdown and constitutional amendments that go to extreme lengths in order to preserve a life beginning at the point of conception, it is puzzling why the government has not done more to advance and protect the rights of women once they are indeed born.

Continuing Virtual Delegation Calls on Women’s Rights Issues

In continuation of our Virtual Delegation series on Women’s Rights in El Salvador, we hosted Dr. Miriam Cremer from Basic Health El Salvador to discuss her more than 12 years experience addressing women’s health issues in El Salvador. Over the years, Dr. Cremer has initiated many programs around the country to provide cervical cancer screening, reproductive health education, and training of local health professionals. In addition, she has partnered with local doctors and organizations to conduct surveys on sexual behavior, knowledge and attitudes about reproductive health services and contraception, and other related topics.

Dr. Cremer and Basic Health El Salvador lead several delegations a year, many of which focus on screening women for cervical cancer and training local health workers to conduct screenings. Because cervical cancer is the leading causes of cancer mortality among women in El Salvador, Dr. Cremer’s team stresses the importance of screening and treating women in one visit, so to avoid barriers such as transportation or day care for children from interfering with follow-up visits.

When asked about conducting surveys in El Salvador, Dr. Cremer responded that the women in the communities where they have conducted surveys are more than willing to participate, though the more sensitive the question the more conservative the answer.  For example, when women are asked how many sexual partners they have had, the most common answer is one, and when women answer two they are quick to add that their first husband was killed in the war, or something of the nature. This suggests that the participants either have very few partners, or that some are not completely honest about their sexual behaviors, despite their willingness to participate. Younger women are the exception, and are beginning to report more sexual partners, either suggesting that they indeed have more partners than women of previous generations, or that they are more comfortable discussing such issues with their health care providers.

Dr. Cremer also discussed her experience with promoting methods of family planning. In El Salvador the most common form of birth control is Depro Prevara injections, though many women choose tubal ligation, even among young women under 30. In focus groups in the United States, most of the women who have a tubal ligation before the age of 30 express regret about their choice. The same is true in El Salvador, though its reliability and accessibility make it a popular option.  Dr. Cremer suggested that the relative high rate of tubal ligations is also due to a lack of alternatives being offered by health care providers.

Dr. Cremer also explained that other forms of birth control, particularly oral contraceptives and injections, are used with frequency but are often less than ideal for most women because they must make frequent visits to their doctor for injections or pills, which is often difficult for women who work or have children. Given the MInistry of Health’s small budget, sometimes these forms of contraception are unavailable, meaning that women who use them are often unprotected. Considering all of these factors, Dr. Cremer has found that intra-uterine devices (IUD) are one of the most effective forms of long-term contraception. IUD insertion requires only a single visit to a health provider and is effective for a long period of time, in most cases 5-12 years. The main obstacles to greater IUD use are cultural myths and misconceptions, which could be dispelled with greater education and outreach.

Please join us next week – our panelists will include two rural health workers who will talk about their experiences providing health care to women and families in the Lower Lempa region of El Salvador. For the call in numbers and more information, please drop us a note at voices@votb.org.

International Forum on Women’s Rights in El Salvador

Last week, Voices staff attended the International Forum on Women’s Rights at the National University of El Salvador.  The forum was a collaborative project between a number of domestic and international women’s rights organizations including Las Dignas and Ormusa, the National University’s Center for Women’s Studies, and the United Nations Development Program. Speakers and participants from Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica, and El Salvador gathered for three days to discuss issues such as violence against women and femicide, reproductive rights, and legislative discrimination.

Dr. Ana Caredo from Costa Rica, for example, discussed problems relating to violence against women in Central America. Her analysis focused on the term “genero” and its social inferences, as well as the lack of an international convention on violence against women.  In Spanish “genero,” refers to women, the discrimination they face, and the power struggle between the sexes. Dr. Caredo posited that over time Latin America cultures have accepted male dominance and the power imbalance between the sexes, which has resulted in an increase in violence against women.  She also argued that the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and other international agreements fail to address the issue of violence against women.  With the murder rate of women growing exponentially, Dr. Carcedo called for the international community and all governments in the region to take appropriate action to achieve balanced power structures and end the violence.

Dr. Ximora Laza, a Salvadoran human rights attorney addressed discrimination against women in Latin America from a legislative perspective. Dr. Laza focused on four types of discriminatory legislation in Latin America.  Some laws are directly discriminatory, while others indirectly discriminate.  She also categorized some laws as arbitrarily inverse measures, meaning that they seem to give women preferred treatment but have a discriminatory affect.  Others laws are “false measures,” which are paternalistic or falsely protect women. The Salvadoran Labor Code, for example, prohibits women from working night shifts or handling certain toxic substances. These provisions limit opportunities for women in the workplace and seek to preserve their role as family caregiver, while perpetuating the power imbalances between men and women.

These were but two of the speakers who highlighted different aspects of gender inequality in Latin America.  Despite the wide range of important issues discussed at the forum, abortion and same sex marriage were never addressed. Though debates over these issues are elements of women’s rights discussions around the world, in El Salvador they remain taboo, even for a forum at the National University.

The forum was well attended by male and female students and professors of all ages, who engaged speakers during question and answer sessions, and participated in lively discussions between panels. A key component of the Salvadoran population, however, was missing – campasinos (El Salvador’s rural population).  Power imbalances between the sexes and violence against women is often most prevalent in rural communities, yet their unique stories, points of view, ideas, and concerns were not represented on the panels or in the informal discussions during the breaks.

Voices is planning a delegation to El Salvador in August of 2010 to discuss women’s and gender issues such as genero, machismo, education, economic opportunities, and all other aspects of women’s rights.  In addition to organizing meeting with different groups and communities, we will invite a group of Salvadoran women to be a part of the delegation, which will allow the discussions to last long after the meetings are over. For more information, contact voices@votb.org.

New Government Launches Ciudad Mujer

Four months ago, in the midst of an intense electoral campaigning, President-elect Mauricio Funes announced his ambitious plan to provide health and social services to women throughout El Salvador. The project, Ciudad Mujer, would offer childcare, health programs, prenatal support through the program Madre Feliz, social support for domestic violence, legal advice, economic assistance through microcredit and workshops, and religious activities.

The FMLN presented this project as an initial step towards addressing gender equality and familial well-being. Although these issues are mentioned in Funes’s platform, specific plans to overcome them are not included. If fully implemented, Ciudad Mujer would be an important step in the struggle to find gender equality and family support for Salvadoran women. The project calls for fourteen centers, one for each departmental captial in the country. Initially the government will contribute about 1.5 million dollars, an ambitious investment considering the current economic climate.

According to news sources, Vanda Pignato, Funes’s wife, will coordinate many aspects of Ciudad Mujer. In early March, Pignato attended the ground-breaking of the Ciudad Mujer to be constructed in Usulután. Other departments such as La Unión, Santa Ana, and La Libertad have already set aside plots of land for Ciudad Mujer as well.

Women in El Salvador have high expectations for the project. When Funes announced his plans for Ciudad Mujer in February, around two thousand women of diverse economic sectors and professions attended. About a thousand people attended the ground-breaking in Usulután. As one of the first steps to act on campaign promises, the progress of Ciudad Mujer could be an important indicator of an effective Funes’s administration capable of social investment despite serious fiscal challenges.

first photo from the official website of Mauricio Funes.

http://www.mauriciofunespresidente.com/noticia_integra.php?position=news&r=61

second photo from the website of Movimiento Amigos de Mauricio

http://www.amigosdemauricio.com/mundo/index.php option=com_content&view=article&id=109:general-noticias&catid=35:noticias-noticias&Itemid=63