Gender violence in Guatemala: 'A woman's struggle is everyone's struggle' | Al Jazeera English

14.12.17

Gender violence in Guatemala: 'A woman's struggle is everyone's struggle' | Al Jazeera English: n addition to the physical, psychological and economic violence experienced by many Guatemalan women, indigenous women also face significantly higher rates of poverty, illiteracy and racial discrimination. Between 50 and 90 percent of indigenous women in rural areas cannot read or write and one in three have no access to healthcare or family planning services.

History has played a significant role.

Repressed for centuries following the Spanish conquest, indigenous people accounted for more than 80 percent of the 200,000 people killed during the Guatemalan Civil War. Between 1960 and 1996 more than 100,000 women were victims of mass rape with many indigenous women forced into sexual slavery by the military.

The legacy of that violence lives on. Successive governments have done little to deliver justice or economic power to these women, and impunity has helped to normalise sexual violence. According to UN Women, the rate of impunity for femicide remains at around 98 percent.