Millions of Latin Americans marched for International Women’s Day on 8 March. The protests took on a new urgency this year, in light of global anti-harassment campaigns such as #MeToo and #TimesUp. Aside from sexual discrimination, gender-based violence remains a pressing security concern across Latin America, which still has some way to go in combatting high rates of femicides.
International Women’s day is a global initiative backed by United Nations’ Women. It is intended to celebrate women’s economic, political and social achievements. But it also serves as a painful reminder of the challenges many women still face before full gender parity can be achieved.
The challenges faced by Latin American women vary greatly across the region. But some common trends: are inequality and gender-based discrimination in the workplace despite improvements to the education system; and high rates of pregnancy and violence holding women back.
Although girls stay in school for longer, many of those who enter the workplace find their academic achievements are not always valued. In Latin America, labour participation is still just 51% according to a report published by the World Bank for International Women’s Day. Moreover, women are more likely to work in the informal sector than their male counterparts, meaning their jobs are not necessarily stable.
Childbirth is another factor which can hold back a woman’s career, particularly for teenage mothers. The Latin American region has some of the highest pregnancy rates for women aged between 15 and 19 below Sub-Saharan Africa, according to the World Bank. Giving birth so young can make women more dependent on their partners if they are forced to drop out of school, increasing the risk of poverty.
But by far the most troubling statistic relates to gender-based violence. According to UN Women, 14 of the 25 countries with the highest femicide rates are in Latin America and an estimated one in every three women over the age of 15 has experienced some form of sexual abuse.
For all these reasons and more, Latin American women had plenty of reasons to protest on International Women’s Day. We take a look at the biggest regional protests and what changes women, legislators, politicians, and civil society groups are pushing for.
In Argentina, millions of women ditched their day jobs and refused to do chores to draw attention to their value both at work and in the home. Instead, they marched as part of the global #8M movement (after the date, 8 March). Protests were highly politicised, with some demonstrators campaigning in favour of a bill to decriminalise abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, which is currently pending in congress. Currently it is only legal in cases of rape or if the mother’s life is in danger. Pro-choice campaigners argue that although abortion is not ideal, investing more in sex education and contraceptives could be a more effective way to prevent against unwanted pregnancies. Another main theme of this year’s protests was the #NiUnaMenos march. Described by organisers as a “collective cry against machista violence”, it aims to reduce impunity against femicide.
In Brazil, women’s protests took place in over 50 cities. Some of the biggest were held in the southern city of São Paulo, where women with slogans reading “women without fear of fighting” campaigned against femicides, machismo, and the current government led by President Michel Temer, who is notorious for his gauche comments about women. After last year complementing women for their economic skills because they were able to “compare prices at the supermarket”, this year, he once again missed the point of International Women’s Day by praising his much-young wife Marcela in what he called a “homage to all Brazilian women”.
Meanwhile, in congress, female legislators pushed through a series of measures to improve gender rights for International Women’s Day. These included proposals to combat violence against women by increasing the penalties for rape, punishing sexual harassment on public transport, and incentivising women to stay in school for longer, among others. Currently, only 11% of legislators are women, even though 52% of the Brazilians are female, meaning women’s issues tend to take a backseat on the other 364 days of the year.
In Chile, one of Latin America’s most developed economies, the focus was more on closing the gender pay gap, getting more women into management, and combatting discrimination against those who take maternity leave.
Former president Michelle Bachelet took part and gave a speech to celebrate women’s achievements alongside transsexual actress Daniela Vega, who starred in Chilean film ‘Fantastic Woman’, which recently won an Oscar for the best foreign-language film.
Bachelet made the most of the opportunity to outline her government’s achievements in improving gender equality, including: the creation of a ministry for women and gender equality, a National Plan to Combat Gender-Based violence, an increase in women on leadership committees in state-owned companies from 5.3% to 42% during her term in office, and the decriminalisation of abortion.
However, she made it clear the fight is not over. “My message today is that we cannot take a step back, we have to keep fighting,” she said. She described gender-based violence as a widespread problem which “is generalised and knows no borders…which is why people are saying they have had enough”.
She called on all governments and members of the international community to keep fighting so that violence against women stops being “generalised” and starts being “unacceptable”. Without equal rights for men and women, “there can be no peace or progress”, she concluded.
In Colombia, women’s protests were backed by the main unions including the Confederación de Trabajadores de Colombia (CTC), Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Colombia (CUT), and Confederación General de Trabajadores (CGT).
Among the more unusual demonstrations, feminists in Colombia’s third-largest city, Cali, campaigned for the more stringent plastic surgery regulations, to put dodgy practitioners out of business. Botched operations can become major health risks. Young women with low self-esteem are especially susceptible to undergoing treatment without first fully investigating the qualifications of a medical professional.
Ecuador’s president Lenín Moreno launched the ‘sé tú sin violencia’ initiative to raise awareness about different types of gender-based violence and try to lift the lid on a taboo topics like domestic abuse. During the launch event, justice minister Rosana Alvarado pointed out that one in four women are the victims of sexual violence. This places the emphasis on women’s security in private settings like the home – not just in the public sphere.
In Guatemala, around 100 people marched from Sumpango town in the Guatemalan department of Sacatepéquez to the capital, Guatemala City, to commemorate the 41 girls who died during a fire at a shelter run by the social welfare ministry on 8 March 2017. An investigation into the tragedy by the Guatemalan Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office found a pattern of human rights violations at the institution including physical abuse and the possibility of a child sex trafficking network.
In Honduras, women affiliated with the #NosotrosParamos movement stood up for women’s freedom and right to live. Hundreds protested for justice following the violent assassination of indigenous rights activist Berta Cárceres, who was killed two years ago. She led an environmental campaign against a project to build a hydro-electric dam in the Gualcarque River belonging to the Lenca indigenous group in the department of Santa Barbara. However, Cárceres’ murder on 2 March 2016 shocked the country. It followed a series of intimidation attempts including sexual harassment and false criminal charges. This month, a ninth person was arrested in connection with her murder.
Mexico is another country where machista violence poses a major security threat. In Mexico City, thousands of women gathered under the Angel of Independence statue in the Paseo de Reforma to denounce “institutional discrimination against women” and “government inaction to prevent femicides”.
Activist Maria Salguero, who has created an online map to track femicides across the country, claims that in Mexico City’s justice system under-reports such cases by willingly misclassifying femicides in other categories such as suicide. According to federal deputy Beatriz Rojas, 576 women were killed in Mexico City between 2013 and 2017 but the police only formally opened investigations in 36% of these cases.
Over in Peru, demonstrators in Lima marched under the banner #TodasXJusticia, in a country where there are 10 femicides each month according to data from the ministry for women and vulnerable populations. Some held up anti-harassment banners which read: “in the streets, I want to feel safe and not brave”.
Uruguay’s progressive reputation preceded it for women’s day. President Tabaré Vázquez took part in the international ‘Win-Win’ initiative to support women in business in conjunction with the European Union, UN Women and the International Labour Organisation. There, 17 Uruguayan companies joined the worldwide network of over 1800 companies to adhere to the UN’s principles for the empowerment of women. Uruguay’s senate also inaugurated a new training centre for future female politicians. Courses will be available around the country to provide political training, advice about getting a job, and teaching of leadership skills.
As elsewhere, some Uruguayan women joined in with the general strike for the #8M movement. A minority threw paint and rocks at churches such as the Iglesia de Cordón, to campaign against what they see as patriarchal values. A study by market researcher CID-Gallup published in 2012 found Uruguay was the sixth-least religious country in the world; providing a sharp social contrast with the country’s more Catholic neighbours.
Elsewhere in Latin America, the women’s day protests were more muted, particularly in countries with poorer populations like Venezuela. This has sparked criticism from those who claim feminism is becoming too much of a white, middle-class movement, without taking the needs of poorer women into account. Currently, the protests mostly centre on food shortages. But a minority of Venezuelan women did join in, such as those from non-governmental organisation Red Naranja, affiliated with the political opposition, from women whose husbands sons or brothers have been jailed by the government led by president Nicolás Maduro.
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Gender parity in Paraguay
“The biggest inequalities in society come from the difference between men and women. That is resolved when women begin to participate in public life and politics,” said IMF managing director Christine Lagarde during a trip to Asunción in March. Paraguay’s senate subsequently approved a law to establish a 50% gender quota for electoral positions, which now passes to the chamber of deputies.
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Brazil’s twisted legal system
Until November 2017, Brazilians who killed their wives could claim state benefits. But prosecutor general and attorney general Raquel Dodge and Grace Mendoça finally overturned the legal loophole at the end of last year. The ruling comes 26 years after Brazil outlawed the tradition of ‘honour’ killings committed by husbands against unfaithful wives.
There are an average of 7.5 femicides per day in Mexico according to a joint report by UN women and the Mexican government published in December 2017 based on statistics from the previous year. Unlike homicides, which are mostly carried out using firearms, femicides tend to involve crueller methods – like stabbing or strangling – providing evidence of misogyny. Human rights defenders have called to an end to the impunity, since few of these cases ever make it to court.
