Roots & Wings International

Not so long ago, I wrote about the recently released HDI report and briefly touched upon some of the figures regarding education in Guatemala, which showed that only 15.6% of Guatemala’s female population are educated to at least secondary school level, compared to 21% of males. These figures have played on my mind ever since.

Whilst it is clear from these statistics that education in Guatemala is an area in need of a lot of investment to continue to support those already in education and to also ensure that more people have access to it, it is just as clear that women are more in need of support than men. Sadly, this is a situation common to most developing nations. I thought it would be interesting to look into the status of women in Guatemala to better understand the story behind the numbers and improve my grasp of what can be done to improve the situation.

A patriarchal tradition remains strong in Guatemala which often ties women to a domestic role, but tough economic conditions may push women into working long hours alongside their domestic duties, often in labour-intensive jobs for very little reward and in extremely poor conditions. The urgent need for earnings means that women cannot afford to invest time or money in an education and remained trapped in their poverty. Even if a family can afford to send one of their children to school, they usually prefer to send a boy.

The legal age for marriage in Guatemala is 18, but with parental consent lowers to 14 for women and 16 for men – exceptions may also be made if the woman is pregnant. Restricted access to sexual health education means that girls become mothers at a young age, even younger in rural areas, with the average number of children per family currently at 4.4 – among the highest in Latin America. Out of the 2 million children who do not attend school in Guatemala, the majority are indigenous girls in rural areas.

For indigenous women, it is imperative that programmes understand their cultural heritage and appreciate their use of indigenous languages, a principle which has been largely ignored up until recently. Such programmes can promote cross-cultural awareness and therefore work towards integrating these communities into the rest of the population.

Unfortunately, gender inequality in Guatemala transcends the sphere of education and is present in all aspects of society. Upon completing her education, a Guatemalan woman must continue to fight to be recognised in male-dominated workplaces. It is also hard for frustrated women to expose this discrimination as the media is also biased towards the opinions of men, and thus the trend carries on.

Perhaps a reflection of the attitude towards women in Guatemala can be noted in the phenomenon referred to as ‘femicide’. According to Amnesty International, 685 women were killed in Guatemala in 2010 alone, and it would seem that very few of these are followed by an investigation. Domestic and sexual abuse is also rife but offenders are rarely punished. Hilda Morales Trujillo, from Guatemala’s Network for Non-Violence Against Women, has spoken of a ‘latent fear’ among women to report abuses which is only worsened by the notoriously corrupt Guatemalan police force.

Perhaps the roots of this violence lie in the 36 years of civil war that Guatemala recently experienced which saw Guatemalan men become accustomed to violence – many of whom still carry weapons. The issue was partly addressed in 2008 when Guatemala passed a law specifically aimed at violent crimes against women, but Amnesty International has accused authorities of not enforcing this to their full capacity.

Other measures to address gender inequality in Guatemala which may produce more positive results are already in place, as well as many organisations working to establish women’s rights. Since 2008 a UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity (CICIG) has been working to end the culture of impunity in Guatemala’s justice system, and only last month women-only buses were introduced in Guatemala City to reduce harassment and enable women to travel more safely. Female public figures, such as Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu Tum, a Mayan Indian, are vital in spreading the plight of the indigenous woman internationally and winning back their rights on their behalf. Statistics released by the UN have shown that more and more women are receiving an education, which gives us reason to be hopeful for a future of gender equality in Guatemala.

From all this we can see that although it might not be as fast as we would like, progress is being made. Guatemala’s development is still in its early stages post-civil war and we can expect change to happen faster and faster as it moves away from its turbulent past and undergoes a change in mentality too. Evidently, waiting is not the solution and a lot of hard work is still to be done involving programmes for both women and men to recognise that equality is optimum; strengthening this understanding will greatly enhance conditions for all members of Guatemalan society.