Nicaraguan Gender Inequality

In the country of Mexico there has been a phenomenon called violencia femicida (Olivera, 2006). Violencia femicida are homicides that occur against women at an increasing rate (Olivera, 2006). According to Olivera neoliberal policies are to blame for these murders (2006). Neoliberal policies in the country of Mexico have resulted in extreme poverty and unemployment due to the “fostered corruption and inefficiency in governments that maintain oligarchic, authoritarian, and patriarchal social structures disguised as democracies” (Olivera, 2006). As a result, Mexican women have searched for jobs in places called maquiladoras. Maquiladoras are factories known for their cheap labor and their exploitative conditions (Olivera, 2006). At maquiladoras many human rights are violated, especially the right under article twenty-three of the universal declaration of human rights. Article

Although the issue of women’s rights has attracted international recognition and support, women still face many inequalities and barriers. Gender-based violence and economic discrimination are problems in many parts of the world.

In the world today, women have a say in what they want to do and things that they desire to do. Back in the day, before the 1800’s, women had to be submissive to their male counterparts and do according to what was required of them. In the end, this led to the demeaning of the woman and the concept that women were inferior to men. Even though this concept and perception changed, there have been some countries and regions of the world that have not yet recognized the equality that women deserve. Such areas do not allow women to vote, attend school, have a say in the community, and the women are at the mercy of their husbands, fathers or male superiors (Hartmann, Susan M).

Through multifarious ways, female gender roles in Latin American countries have gradually begun to improve over time. These slight improvements have manifested through women’s increasing involvement in politics and presence in the labor force due to immigration, globalization, and global media. Women in Latin American countries have become

Enlightenment ideas and industrial revolution influenced the social position of women. Women started to separate from their origin family and become independent, and they started to realize that they shared the same ability with men. This idea spread world-widely, women from Latin America in 20th Century also influenced by this idea and started to view their social and polictal position. Even though a lot of man still against the ability of women, women started to fight back. This essay aims to analyze male and female’s political position and polictal willings in twentieth-century Latin America.

The roles of women in society have changed a lot since the 1800’s. While in the 1800’s women were viewed as housewives, now it is more common to see something such as single working mothers or a household where the wife is the primary “bread winner”. Today’s women have been provided with the opportunity to get educated, started joining the workforce, and even gained the right to vote. Gaining these rights was not an easy task and it took a lot of hard work and dedication to get them. Even though women have been given these opportunities, women’s rights is still a big and controversial topic in today’s society.

In a patriarchal society such as colonial Latin America, women were considered second class citizens. No matter their class or ethnicity, all women experienced the social and cultural limitations that are subjected to them by this patriarchal society. Women had limited access to education, women are used to satisfy men’s personal desires and legal systems neglected women’s court rights while heavily advocating men’s. However, not all women are subjected to the same limitations because of the difference in one’s economic status and ethnic identity. Nonetheless, women still found a way to carve out a space for themselves in attempt to overcome these regulations set by a patriarchal society.

How has gender inequality affected women in Latin American countries? Gender inequality has affected the women of Latin America in a multitude of ways, but it can be argued that the division of gender equality is extremely prominent when analyzing reproductive rights and health care access. Compared to countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, Latin America is far behind in terms of civil rights and reproductive rights. The lack of rights is not in question; women’s barrier to reproductive health can be seen through anecdotes and statistics. The question thus becomes, is there a definite answer to why these rights are absent? Factors concerning the absence of reproductive rights include cultural norms and religion, but the one that plays the biggest role remains the lack of female political leaders in Latin American countries. What exactly is it that is keeping Latin America behind other countries in terms of being progressive regarding reproductive rights? Women’s political absence in Latin America has shaped reproductive rights and health care services immensely.

Equally, liberal feminism (discriminatory policies which force women into an inferior social class without the consideration of their rights to participate fully); socialist feminism (the inequality rooted in the sexual division between paid and unpaid labor); and radical feminism (the power difference between men and women in a relationship) have surfaced . In result, the only way to overcome gender inequality is to prevent being exploited. A study done in Mexico by R. S. Oropesa in 1997, discovered that wives with an education were equivalent to their husbands in family power, were happier with their impact on the family and were less prone to violence. All in all, the pollution in society’s mind of women being lower than men is gradually seeping away as time

Throughout history women’s rights have been a conflict in society because of the many unfair advantages given to men and not women. Social injustice is shown through women’s rights by their voting rights, employment, and healthcare. Due to these dilemmas women all over the world have gathered together to create a group enforcing women’s rights. For example, in the book, The American Women’s Movement it talks about the group known as “The National Organization for Women (NOW)” (MacLean 71). It became one of the largest, most membered feminist organization in the country. The organization branched out to different sized region cities.

Throughout history, women have been victims of constant discrimination by their partners and society. This can result from machismo, “a Spanish word usually used pejoratively in describing an attitude of male dominance and superiority which is legitimized through patriarchal social systems and reinforced through cultural values and norms” (Segrest et al., 2003). Machismo could be seen in mostly every culture; however, this is encouraged in Mexican culture and is used to prove a man’s masculinity. Although some women are fighting against the social norms in modern times, there is still a great population of Mexican women not fighting for their own rights as wives, daughters, mothers and women. This is what allows men to take over society, women

In the passage “patriarchy from above” Elizabeth Dore examines different aspects of power relations in Nicaragua. Elizabeth Dore is arguing against the perspective that the country's capitalist conversion was brought in by the coffee outbreak that lasted from 1870 to 1930. Dore states “In Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador, most coffee was produced on large estates that relied on forced labor drafts and debt peonage” Pg 209. Dore is convinced that coffee growing intensified landowning and labor exploitation that advocated capitalist development. In this passage, Dore puts gender at the front of her studies and arguments.

The final section I want to discuss is on “Femicide”, a well-known concept filtered throughout the social and cultural norms in Latin America, Central America, Mexico and more, that has been a major trend in poor treatment towards women and girls (Weil, 2016). Femicide or Feminicide had been defined at “the assassination of women for reasons associated with their gender” (Wilson, 2013). It has been labelled as the most extreme force of violence based on gender equality. There is a consistent amount of reports of women being violently attacked, sexually assaulted and murdered strictly do from their gender (Weil, 2016). We will look at the imbalance of power of the sexes in the political, social and economic sphere to suggest immediate changes

Although they have been given more rights and equality, women still lack fairness in areas such as education, domestic abuse, crime, and lower class value. Cassandra Clifford states in her article “Are Girls still marginalized? Discrimination and Gender Inequality in Today’s Society”, “Woman and girls are abused by their husbands and fathers, young girls are exploited by sex tourism and trafficking, girls in many countries are forced into arranged marriages at early ages. Twice as many women are illiterate as men, due to the large gap in education, and girls are still less likely to get jobs and excel in the work place than boys.” She describes some of the issues that women face today around the world. These issues are what keep society from coming together to form a better world.

The oppression of women is based on false assumption and preconceived notions by the male domination world, has been obvious and responsible for paving the way for serious gender issues to emerge. Due to the narrow realms of activity in society, deprived from essential human rights, restricted educations scope, open to unhealthy physical and mental abuse, this society has not given women the opportunity to rise to their full potential. The impact of gender discrimination has not only affected the future of the women today but it has resulted in the slow progress of human mind in general.