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Central America Women's Network

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LATIN AMERICA - CAWN RESEARCH REPORT ON INTERSECTING

ISSUES OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND POVERTY

18 October 2010

The Central America Women’s Network (CAWN) is releasing its latest research report, 'Intersecting Violences. A review of feminist theories and debates on violence against women and poverty in Latin America' which seeks to better understand and challenge the multiple interlinking factors that perpetuate violence against women (VAW) and women’s poverty in Latin America, both of which have seen an alarming increase in recent years.

· VAW is reaching a pandemic scale and it is estimated that at least one in every three women worldwide has been a victim of violence in her lifetime, which includes physical, psychological, economic, and cultural violence (UNIFEM 2010).

· Femicide (the killing of women) is the most extreme manifestation in the continuum of violence against women.

· 9603 women and girls have been reported as victims of femicide in Central America since 2001; this means that at least two women are killed every day for the ‘crime’ of being women (Musalo et al. 2010).

· Over 6,000 incidences of VAW were reported in Guatemala during the first half of 2007; less than a third were investigated by the authorities (ibid.).

· The HIV burden appears to be growing among women and indigenous populations in Central America and studies have shown that women who have experienced violence are at greater risk of HIV infection (UNAIDS 2009).

In commissioning this research report, CAWN recognises the importance of bringing new approaches to work on challenging VAW, while utilising existing knowledge. The report considers the benefits of applying an intersectional approach to the complex and interrelated web of factors contributing to women’s poverty and violence in Latin America. The key topics that the paper seeks to understand through adopting this approach is why women are abused and discriminated against in Latin American societies, what the structural causes of their subjugated status are, what the relationship is between cultural, sexual, racial and economic structures and the pervasiveness of both VAW and women’s poverty, and what the connection is between patriarchal constructions of the state and religious institutions and the particular forms of violence and poverty affecting women.

“Women’s exposure to violence is related to their position in the multiple systems of inequality and shows a tendency to increase as these systems intersect,

creating layers of discrimination and exclusion for different groups of women” (Ertürk 2005: 8).

Building on existing research into intersectionality from Latin America, the United States, and Europe, this theoretical framework identifies causes and interlinking factors that result in oppression and other forms of discrimination and in so doing rejuvenates and energises the debate on VAW and poverty. The report brings a fresh perspective to policy and decision makers and a new angle from which to approach the issue, as well as adding a further dimension to the work and campaigns of feminist NGOs that are engaged in eradicating VAW and poverty.

Katherine Ronderos

Programme & Advocacy Co-ordinator

CAWN - Central America Women's Network

(Coordinadora de Programas y Abogacia)

katherine@cawn.org

Telephone: +44 (0) 207 833 4174

Central America Women's Network (CAWN)

www.cawn.org

CAWN is a not for profit company limited by guarantee. Registered in England and Wales No. 3935720