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Indigenous Women’s Rights in Peru

women's rights in peruIn 2018, Peru ranked 87th on the gender inequality index with a score of 0.381. This indicates limited women’s rights in Peru. Between 2015 and 2020, the infant mortality rate was 68 for every 100,000 live births. At the same time, the teen birth rate was almost 57 per 1,000 girls. Women have a labor force participation rate of almost 15% lower than men. Around 57% of women have a postsecondary education, compared to 69% of men. Additionally, women in Peru hold only 28% of all parliament seats. Peru has high rates of sexual, physical and domestic violence against women. However, Indigenous women face additional struggles in Peru. Here are four facts about Indigenous women’s rights in Peru.

4 Facts About Indigenous Women’s Rights in Peru

  1. Language barrier: Overall, Indigenous women in Peru struggle with economic and political inequality. This results from elevated rates of poverty, inaccessible services and language barriers. Spanish is the official language in Peru. However, Indigenous women tend to speak languages such as Quechua and Aymara, which are also official languages. Quechua is the most common indigenous language in Peru, with over three million speakers in 2007. However, the language barrier makes it hard for Indigenous women to access education, healthcare and employment. In Peru, more than half of the people without access to healthcare speak Quechua, according to The World Bank.
  2. Land ownership and management: Many women in the Andes and historically Incan areas face higher rates of poverty and lower economic opportunity. As a result, they also experience limited land ownership and management. While Peru’s constitution takes a gender-neutral approach to women in leadership and decision making, the government does not implement this in reality. Thus, women struggle to find a voice in how community forests and their land are managed, even in cases of inheritance. For Indigenous women, these forests are an important part of their culture and their ancestry.
  3. Healthcare: Quechua-speaking women often face language barriers in seeking healthcare, as most healthcare workers speak Spanish. Men go to school and learn Spanish, while women stay at home and focus on building a family from a young age. Consequently, women do not receive proper sex education. They rely instead on traditional practices and men. This has led to high rates of teen pregnancy, rape and domestic violence. In one survey, 44% of Quechua women reported having been raped. Similarly, researchers indicate that almost one-third of girls ages 15 to 19 have at least one child.
  4. Forced sterilization: One of the most infamous violations of Indigenous women’s rights in Peru occurred under former president Alberto Fujimori. Between 1990 and 2000, the government forcibly sterilized close to 300,000 Indigenous women and a smaller number of men. This occurred under the cover of a poverty-reduction program. However, Indigenous women are the center of their village, where family and the ability to bear children are paramount. Thus, this program has long-lasting effects on Indigenous villages, future generations and their cultures. A disproportionate amount of older residents and a few younger people has also made villages financially unstable. Even though the government heard some cases, most made little progress. This deprives Indigenous women of justice.

COVID-19 and Women’s Rights in Peru

Between March and June of 2020, Peru went under lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus. As of October 2020, Peru has more than 670,000 cases and 29,000 deaths. However, the pandemic has especially affected women’s rights in Peru. In the midst of the lockdowns, violence against women increased. More than 1,000 women and girls have gone missing, and their families fear them dead. Importantly, gender violence in Peru disproportionately affects Indigenous women. In Cuzco, 47% of women report having been victims of sexual violence. Experts suggest that 70% have experienced physical violence.

Indigenous women are also more vulnerable to COVID-19 itself. In secluded villages, the terrain and the isolated nature pose challenges for transportation to life-saving medical care. Further, limited economic opportunity and a lack of channels of communications put Indigenous people at risk for COVID-19 outbreaks. Language barriers women face also make it more difficult to promote Indigenous women’s rights in Peru during the pandemic.

Solutions and Initiatives

Thankfully, many organizations are promoting women’s rights in Peru. For example, The Quipu Project serves an important role in promoting solidarity and action in the aftermath of the forced sterilizations. A documentary project produced by Chaka Studios, it tells the stories of women who underwent forced sterilizations to bring visibility to the issue and promote solidarity. The documentary gets its name from quipu, a knotted cord Andean women use to communicate.

Another organization that fights for women’s rights in Peru is DEMUS. DEMUS fights for women’s autonomy and protection against violence. Among its accomplishments, the group helped to reopen the cases of forced sterilization. It also made gender discrimination recognized in some legal interpretations and started the legal advisory service at the Lima Women’s Police Station. Additionally, DEMUS established the first phone line for women facing violence in the country.

Ni Una Menos also calls for an end to violence and femicide in Peru against native women. On Aug. 13, 2016 an estimated 200,000-500,000 people marched in Lima for the largest social demonstration in the country’s history. Finally, Awamaki is another nonprofit organization working for women’s rights in Peru. It helps women increase economic opportunities through business. By assisting and educating artisans, it also expands economic opportunity for women in this line of work.

Any work that seeks to promote women’s rights in Peru must consider Indigenous women’s particular needs, like these organizations do. The government and other organizations should empower these women with culturally sensitive methods. In this regard, these nonprofits may serve as an example for future work supporting women’s rights in Peru.

– Bryan Boggiano
Photo: Flickr

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8 Facts About Women’s Poverty in Peru

Poverty in Peru
Peru has gradually reduced poverty over the past decade. Currently, approximately 6 million Peruvians live under the national poverty line in comparison to 16 million in 2004. This is remarkable progress in tackling poverty in Peru. Around 20.5% of Peru’s population lives in poverty nonetheless. Most of them are indigenous Quechua and Aymara communities living in the rural Sierra region. Despite their essential role in the economy, women bear the greatest burdens of extreme poverty in Peru. Here are eight facts about women’s poverty in Peru.

8 Facts About Women’s Poverty in Peru

  1. Women account for the majority of the population living in extreme poverty. In the Piura, Cajamarca, La Libertad and Apurímac districts, extreme poverty affects 25.7% of women. This is over three times the national average.
  2. In 2020, Peru scored 0.65 in the gender gap index, meaning that women are 35% less likely to have economic equality with men. In fact, 30.4% of women in Peru receive no personal income. Women who do receive personal income still make 30% less per month than men. Fortunately, Peru passed Law No. 30709 in 2017, prohibiting pay discrimination by gender. On July 1, 2019, The National Superintendency of Labor Inspection put the law into effect.
  3. Women are essential to Peru’s economy. The average rural woman accounts for 80% of her family’s labor force, working in agriculture, livestock and traditional household care. Women’s underpaid and underrepresented labor allows household men to search for temporary work.
  4. Women hold few influential roles in the workforce and politics, due to Peru’s traditional views about the role of women. This means women face higher rates of unemployment and poverty.
  5. Girls and women suffer from higher illiteracy rates than boys and men. Illiteracy among women in rural areas is 33.7% in comparison to 10.9% of men. In urban areas, where 7.4% of women and 2.4% of men are illiterate, women still face unequal opportunities in education. Organizations like Peruvian Hearts and the Sacred Valley Project give girls, especially those in rural areas, opportunities for further education in the form of scholarships, tuition and boarding schools.
  6. Peruvian women and girls often face violence and discrimination. Between 2009 and 2015, domestic violence and gender-based crimes killed more than 700 women. In 2006, 69% of women reported that they had suffered physical violence. These reports were higher in rural areas. In 2015, Peru adopted Law No. 30364 aiming to eradicate all forms of violence against women and family members. Over time, the implementation of Law No. 30364 has improved, leading to the creation of a Gender Justice Commission composed of women judges. Reporting domestic violence is now easier and safer. Groups like Ni Una Menos raise awareness about violence against Peruvian women. Last year, it organized a protest in Lima to demand justice and government action for victims of gender violence.
  7. Peruvian women face limited access to reproductive and maternal healthcare. Choices regarding birth control are slim, and resources are often hard to find or too expensive. The fight for reproductive rights is ongoing. In 2014, Peru issued national guidelines for legal abortions in the case of sexual assault. Therapeutic abortion has been legal since 1924, however, access was not secure until 2014. Increased spending on reproductive healthcare over the past decade has improved access to birth control and other contraceptives. Organizations in Peru like PROMSEX promote sexual health and reproductive rights through political advocacy.
  8. Environmental challenges impact women the most in Peru. Resources like clean water, energy and food are scarcer in rural areas of Peru. Since women secure these resources, they bear the pressures of environmental challenges. Taxing jobs like collecting firewood and gathering clean water are becoming even more difficult as resources become scarce. These burdens make families vulnerable, forcing women to put family before health. Additionally, women’s lack of representation in government denies them information and resources that mitigate the effects of climate change.

Hope for the Future

Gender inequality worsens women’s poverty in Peru. Recent legislation and activism have begun to bridge this gap and focus on women’s rights. For example, political representation for women is near 30% and growing. Economic equality is also growing thanks to Law No. 30609 that prohibits pay discrimination between genders. Additionally, reforms to domestic violence services have reduced crime against women in Peru.

Meanwhile, women’s rights organizations like Womankind Worldwide are partnering with Peruvian organization FEPROMU in efforts to educate women and develop leadership skills. The organizations Women’s Empowerment Coalition and Awamaki partnered in 2019 to build an artisan center in Huilloc. The women’s association can now weave and make textiles and train women for leadership.

Government reform and the activism of women’s organizations have allowed helped the women of Peru to climb toward gender equality. This progress should hopefully lessen women’s poverty in Peru.

– Dalton Dunning
Photo: Flickr