Why Bolivia?
Although Bolivia is rich in natural resources — with its mines and the second largest, natural-gas field in South America — it is one of the poorest, most isolated and least developed countries in the region.
Almost two-thirds of its more than 9 million inhabitants live in poverty, lacking access to clean water, electricity, sewage, basic health care and education. And recent indications of growth have not, yet, resulted in a reduction in poverty. Bolivia remains one of the most unequal societies in the world. According to UNDP (2006), the richest 20% shares 63% of total income while the poorest 20% shares only 1.5%.
More than 60% of the population is indigenous — traditionally excluded from playing a part in making any decisions about public policies.
The very poorest Bolivians live in rural areas and urban shanty towns; the most deprived are indigenous women. In a culture of machismo and, in many cases, unable to speak Spanish, these women suffer serious hardship — high unemployment, extreme poverty, discrimination, inequality and social exclusion — restricting their ability to make decisions about their lives or to play an active within their families, their communities and their country.
Fact File:
- Population: 9.5 million (World Bank, 2008). Of these, 50.4% are women
- 50.5% of women are indigenous (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica de Bolivia, 2007)
- 14% of all Bolivia's women are illiterate (World Bank, 2007). The figure is higher, nearly 30%, for rural women
- Nearly 45% of the country’s labour force is female (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica de Bolivia, 2007)
- The maternal mortality rate is the highest in Latin America at 290 per 100,000 live births (World Bank, 2007)
- In 2008 only 17% of seats in national parliament were held by women (ECLAC, 2008)
- In 2003, 53.8% of Bolivian women aged 15-49 reported having experienced emotional violence, 52.3% reported physical violence, and 15.2% reported sexual violence by their partner (ECLAC, 2004)
- In 2005, 20% of the population were living under the poverty line of $1.25 per day (World Bank, 2005)
- In 2005, 23% of married women aged 15-49 did not have access to contraception (World Bank, 2005)
- In certain rural areas, the maternal mortality rate reaches 887 per 100,000 liveborn children (UNICEF, November 2001)
- The average fertility rate is 3.5 children (World Bank, 2007). For rural women the average is 6.4
- Adolescent pregnancy/childbirth rates are 16% (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica de Bolivia, 2008)
Vulnerable and marginalised — women’s position in Bolivian society
Violence Against Women
Bolivia’s indigenous women face high levels of violence. The deeply entrenched machismo in society means that women are traditionally perceived as inferior — and face discrimination, exclusion and, very often, domestic violence.
This situation is exacerbated in indigenous communities. According to Bolivia’s National Institute of Statistics (INE), 64.1% of women are survivors of some type of violence (sexual, psychological or physical) perpetrated by a current or ex-partner. Of course these official figures do not reflect the full magnitude of the problem as a great number of women never report the aggression they face every day.
Women’s sexual and reproductive health rights
Bolivia’s women also face serious and substantial risks to their sexual and reproductive health. The lack of prenatal care inevitably results in high death rates through complications in pregnancy and childbirth — 420 women out of every 100,000 die because of complications in pregnancy and childbirth and over 60% of rural women lack any form of medical supervision or intervention during childbirth.
Access to legal abortion is restricted to cases of rape, incest, abduction not followed by marriage, or when the mother’s health is at risk. But, as it is virtually impossible to obtain legal authorisation, thousands of women risk their lives in illegal abortions. Over 12,870 illegal abortions are performed in Bolivia each year.
While contraception is available throughout the country, sustainable use is limited to educated, urban women. Bolivia’s average of 3.7 children per woman increases to 6.3 for rural indigenous women (ECLAC). For rural, poor and indigenous women, most of whom are illiterate, there is no information or access to appropriate contraception. Instead, they often rely on unsafe ‘traditional’ practices, which may further damage their reproductive and physical health. Educating women about their health and particularly their sexual and reproductive rights, enables them to ‘take ownership’ of issues that fundamentally affect their lives.
Women at work
Bolivian women also face significant employment discrimination and inequality. Bolivian men continue to receive more, and better, education, health care and higher wages. Those women who can find work generally earn half as much as a man doing the same job.
Bolivia’s precarious economy and its high levels of unemployment create difficulties for many of the country’s poorest people. They are often forced to begin work at an early age, for low wages. Many of them work in traditional agriculture or the informal economy, while deeply entrenched views mean women are restricted to traditional roles — or finds them working in low-paid, low-skilled jobs. A high percentage of the country’s women, particularly those from indigenous communities, have no formal ID or official documents, further restricting their employment opportunities and ability to participate fully in local and national decision-making.
Women’s human and civil rights
Successive Bolivian administrations have made some significant steps towards the advancement of women’s rights. In terms of political participation, new, progressive legislation has been passed which guarantees an equal ratio of female to male representatives in the Constituent Assembly as well as ensuring, under the Quota Law, that every second candidate on a party list is a woman.
Indeed, the Government has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) as well as the Beijing Platform for Action optional protocol and the ‘Belém do Pará’ Inter-American Convention to prevent and eradicate all forms of violence against women. But it is severely limited as to what it can achieve: the country’s Law Against Violence Within the Family and the protection of Victims of Crimes against Sexual Freedom give women — in theory at least —recourse to appropriate criminal justice systems. Bolivia’s code of Criminal Procedures recognises sexual harassment as a civil crime — an important recognition as more women are employed in the private sector and take up educational opportunities.
Despite such progressive reforms, many of Bolivia’s poorest, most marginalised women — especially indigenous women — face many barriers and remain ignorant of and excluded from their country’s laws and policies. According to the UNDP´s Gender Empowerment Measure, Bolivia continues to rank low — at 115, it has the lowest ranking of any country in South America. Laws designed to protect women from discrimination and violence are often not implemented at the local level, because of a lack of skills and information.
Creating supportive local networks which run rights-awareness training workshops at grassroots level gives Bolivia’s women the information they need to exercise their rights and help shape policies that best reflect their own needs and concerns. By helping them develop their own leadership abilities WOMANKIND enables local women to make their voices heard — and call for genuine change on those issues that directly impact on their lives.
Our Programme In Depth
