In parts of the world, people still live lives we cannot imagine. There are ongoing poverty, violence, and inequality around the world where we have no idea about. Menjívar demonstrates in her book the different forms of gender violence women in eastern Guatemala are exposed to in their daily lives from their homes to the legal system. Enduring Violence: Ladina Women’s Lives in Guatemala by Cecilia Menjívar has had the most influence on me as it surprises me with the normalization of gender inequality and violence Ladina women suffer, and fosters my great interest and concern for gender equality and international relations.
Menjívar introduces me to a new perspective of gender equality, which I had no idea about prior to reading this book. I never imagined the lives of women in the developing regions, as I supposed poverty would be the top concern for both genders. I also never thought about gender ideologies problems, as I believed gender equality is common in this modern world. This book impacted me a lot because it presented me to a totally different perspective of gender equality and made me aware that gender ideologies can be different in this diverse world, which I never thought of.
…show more content…
Reading this book brings up a lot of emotions because it is heartbreaking to acknowledge the miserable lives of the Ladina women.
As a female, it is always unpleasant to see women suffering from gender inequality and violence. Menjívar illustrates Ladina women’s encounter of gender violence in all aspects of their lives- domestic violence, social discrimination and exclusion, lack of social status and basic necessities, and a biased legal system. Gender inequality and violence are so normalized in the society of eastern Guatemala that women are used to experiencing them in their daily lives. The individuals, the society, and the judicial system all accepted the grounded and normalized actions of gender violence that Ladina women cannot possibly
escape. This book enhances my interest in the field of international relations and fosters my concern in gender and women studies. As an international relations student, this book has impacted me in a way that I realize there is so much more to learn from people and places where I do not previously know about. This book provides me with myriad thoughts of what can be done to put an end to not only the gender violence Ladina women suffer but also for the rest of the world. The role of international relations is important as a means of halting normalized discriminatory acts of regions like eastern Guatemala and helping with the reshape of gender ideologies. I have acknowledged my great passion for international relations and gender studies after reading this book. Menjívar’s book Enduring Violence: Ladina Women’s Lives in Guatemala is the book that influenced me the most with its introduction of gender violence in eastern Guatemala and the normalization of the inequality. Menjívar surprises me with the gender ideologies of a region where there is little attention from the outside world. I am amazed at the normalization of gender inequality in eastern Guatemala that even the government is reluctant to put an end to it. I deeply feel sorry for the victims and I sincerely hope the role of international relations can assist the victims of gender violence around the world and put an end to it one day. Menjívar also successfully strengthen my interest and concern in the field of international relations and gender studies, which I hope I can play a part in ending gender inequality in the future.
Azuela shows these impacts by the progression of Camila, from a sweet innocent woman, to joining the rebel forces, and lastly to being killed. Symbolically, Azuela kills off Camila almost immediately upon her rise to power and drops her from the novel’s plot. This shows the how insignificant of an impact that women had on the battles, and how easily they were forgotten after death. Women still struggle today with gaining equal rights and treatment within the Mexican culture. It has taken nearly 70 years for women to gain equality with men in the workforce, gaining rights such as voting, and having a shared family responsibility with the male figure (Global). Unfortunately, many women within the working-class household still suffer from the traditional norms and values regarding the roles of men and women. In addition, these women were often subjected to control, domination, and violence by men” (Global). This validates Azuela’s stance on how women should stay within their traditional roles because fighting for equality has been ineffective even still
Once aligned with this organization Maria’s eyes are opened to the bigger picture of political oppression in her country. She, along with many other women of El Salvador, watch as hundreds of their men are unjustly jailed, tortured and disappeared. She was also a witness to the inhuman...
Femicide is violence and hate towards women due to the extreme aggressive machismo, gender inequalities and discrimination, and economic disempowerment embedded in Latino culture (Prieto-Carron, 26). To put differently, femicide is an epidemic that has occurred for years in Latino countries, but is more prevalent today due to the systematic corruption in society and media coverage. For instance, in the poem this issue is expressed when I assert “I watch for my sisters. I grieve for those who have been raped and killed, only to be forgotten and marginalized” (Line 15-16). To clarify, many women in Central America are killed due to this gender-based violence that is historically linked to the colonial period, when the Europeans categorized women inferior to men. This patriarchal mentality is instituted to many systems that it becomes normalize and ignored. According Mariana Prieto-Carron, who analyzes femicide in Central American countries, states, “those in power, both in the household and in state institutions, can exert greater control over women’s behavior and mobility” (Prieto-Carron, 30). In other words, this is a form of social-control from the elite in order to regulate women and keep them from going against hegemonic patriarchal society. These social constructs are restraining women from social mobility and freedom. Correspondingly, when I
Since the revolution, men and women in Nicaragua had digressed from their traditional expectations and behaviors of gender roles. Moving away from machismo, men started focusing on bettering their country, helping themselves by getting an education are generous with his friends and even contributes towards the household chores which would have never been acceptable before the war; men did not believe in women’s work at all it. The traditional woman ended up changing more drastically. First, they began to voice their opinions and started becoming more aggressive as Dona Flora proved to us. They were forced into fitting men’s shoes by becoming the breadwinner of the family, while trying to be mother still.
In conclusion, we see how this boundary between genders is amorphous yet binding as it perpetuates the male dominant societies in The House on Mango Street and Woman Hollering Creek in various forms, enclosing women within its walls. For women “[t]o survive the Borderlands”, they “must live sin fronteras (without borders)/ be a crossroads”(Anzaldua 38,39-40).
An overwhelming number of murders of women have not been clarified or resolved in our country, so that these offenses remain in impunity. Impunity of femicide in Guatemala is due to:
“Women’s empowerment results from a process where women can freely analyze, develop, and voice their needs and interests without them being predefined or unwillingly imposed by religion, government, or social norms and where their influence and control extends women’s familial/kinship circles” (Haghighat, par.6). There is an ongoing fight for women’s rights everywhere around the world. Men have been getting more power than women such as economic and political power and their rights are not limited as women rights are. There are not any limits with men whereas women are limited to many things. “When voting rights were given to women in the late 1800’s to 1920 it was a decisive moment in the women’s right movement in western Europe and North American democracies” (“Women’s rights”).”Women’s rights groups in the second half of the twentieth century focused on greater legal equality in terms of wages and credit, reproductive rights, family law, and education” (“Women’s rights”). Women’s rights are limited to them and it’s time to give women more rights to have equality because women should have equality in every aspect of their lives. They are unable to have self empowerment due to the rights not given to them. Empowerment is increasing spiritual, political, social, educational, gender, or economic strength of individuals or communities. It is about achieving your goals to the best of your ability with your potential.
Domestic violence involves the systematic use of force, threats and intimidation by one partner upon another in order for the dominating partner to have control over the victim. In general, women who are abused physically are often isolated. Their partners tend to control their lives to a great extent as well as verbally degrade them. Even though the Latina women are particularly vulnerable to domestic violence because of their culture, it does not mean that this situation does not exist in other societies. Domestic violence happens in all races, religions and social statuses. It could appear in any family and in order to prevent it, everyone in the society must have knowledge of the problem, and try to contribute to stop it. There are many reasons why Latina women that have been abused by their husbands do not ask for help or call the police. The most common ones are the cultural background, the language barrier, and the fear they have of being alone. In the Latin culture there is the belief that when a woman gets married, she should obey he...
Deniz Kandiyoti analyses how women cope and strategize within constraints, calls it ‘patriarchal bargains’, in two different forms of patriarchy, one is the sub-Saharan Africa other is the classic belt of patriarchy consisting of the middle east, south Asia and east Asia. Moreover, Kandiyoti also discusses how women respond to oppression in two different parts of the world which have an impact on their gendered subjectivities as well as create opportunities for transformation.
...action with others… especially men. This supplies final substantiation of the authors' argument, that women continue to be oppressed by their male-dominated societies. It is a bold undertaking for women to ally and promote a world movement to abandon sexist traditions. Although I have never lived in a third world or non-Westernized country, I have studied the conditions women suffer as "inferior" to men. In National Geographic and various courses I have taken, these terrible conditions are depicted in full color. Gender inequality is a terrible trait of our global society, and unfortunately, a trait that might not be ready to change. In America we see gender bias towards women in voters' unwillingness to elect more females into high office, and while this is not nearly as severe as the rest of the world, it indicates the lingering practice of gender inequality.
The Women of the Middle East have played substantial roles for their corresponding countries since the advent of colonialism in the region. Middle Eastern women have worked in all types of fields including medicine, education, agriculture, government, private sector, and even defense. They have kept roofs over their family’s heads while their husbands were away in wars, or even in foreign countries to work in jobs that they could not find in their own countries. The roles of women in the countries of Yemen and Oman are no exception, but while they still find ways to contribute to their country, they care constantly stereotyped, discriminated, and ridiculed by men who are known and unknown to them. This paper will discuss the individual contributions of the women living in Yemen and Oman, and will discuss in further state laws and cultural norms that are affecting the women living in these countries today.
Domestic and family violence is not a private issue. It is a social issue. It is a political issue. It is a moral issue. It is a social problem because the effects are felt far outside the home; it has serious human, social and economic consequences both for the women who endure it and for society as a whole. Domestic and family violence is damaging to women’s personal and financial independence and can do ser...
The modern world has resulted in earnings, wages and salaries for the women similar to that of men, but the women are continuously facing inequalities in the work force (Andal 2002). This2 can be attributed to the pre-established notion that women shall not be given access to finance or communication with the world outside of the home which is highly unethical and unfair (Eisenhower, 2002). In the past, they were considered as the underprivileged ones which were not thought of having equal rights but this fact has changed now. The status of women can be explicitly defined as the equality and the freedom of the women.
Violence against women appeared from a long time ago and happened in every country. It caused pain in both mental and physical for women. There were so many people trying to stop this problem but it was still not completely fixed. There are many reasons that lead to this issue all over the world. After many surveys and investigations, we realized that the main reason is Discrimination and Unequal power. Some legends and stories in the past made people think men’s role is more important than women’s role in society. And because men are stronger, more active than women so they can do more work. This also makes people think men deserve more rights than women. They soon forced on human’s mind that men are also...