Against a background of dictatorship, civil war and economic collapse, successive Peruvian governments have failed to address the huge inequality between an elite Spanish-origin minority and the impoverished (often indigenous) majority. Such divisions have in fact been exacerbated by corruption and unpopular government policy.
The majority of the population face poverty and unemployment, and often lack access to basic services including sanitation, healthcare and education. The rural and indigenous populations are particularly vulnerable to poverty, discrimination and social exclusion. The education available in rural areas, for example, is greatly inferior to that in urban areas, and is not available in the mother tongue of most indigenous people, Quechua.
Within this group, women are disproportionately disadvantaged. They are most vulnerable to poverty due to Peru’s chronic gender discrimination, which limits their access to education, healthcare, employment, land and capital. This vulnerability is intensified by the prevailing ‘machismo’ culture and the conservatism of the influential Catholic church.
Fact file
- Over 50% of Peru’s population live on less than $2 a day, and rates of poverty have increased markedly in the last five years
- The poorest fifth of Peruvians receive less than 5% of national income, whereas the richest fifth earn more than 50%
- 44% of Peruvian women are believed to live in poverty
- Female-headed households are twice as likely to live in absolute poverty (on under $1 a day) than households headed by men
- Maternal mortality is nearly twice the South American regional average; 280 per 100,000 women, compared to 150 per 100,000
- The average fertility rate is 3.5 children, and this rises to 6.2 amongst uneducated women
- The rate of female illiteracy is twice that of men
- A 1999 survey estimated that 80% of Peruvian women experience violence at the hands of their husbands
- 70% of working women are thought to be employed in the insecure informal sector
Although the Peruvian constitution provides equality on paper for women and men, the reality is very different. Women suffer inferior access to power and resources, and endure abuse and discrimination in their homes, the workplace and in politics.
Attitudes towards women are shaped by a culture of machismo which is reinforced by the conservative influence of the Catholic church. Appropriate roles for women are stereotypically centered around the reproduction and the family, whereas public roles in production and politics are reserved for men. Women’s lack of opportunity to engage in income generation and politics limits their economic independence, participation in decision-making, and access to resources.
Women are economically disadvantaged by the fact that they are primarily employed in the informal sector, which is characterized by low wages, instability and a lack of formal contracts or social security provision. This situation is allowed to persist due to the inexistence of government legislation to enforce equal employment rights for men and women.
Due to their subordinate position, women suffer gender-specific human rights violations including violence and sexual abuse. Levels of violence against women are difficult to estimate, as it is thought that much abuse goes unreported. Women are anxious of reprisals, have difficulty funding their pursuit of justice, and fear that the police will not take their complaints seriously or inappropriately investigate their sexual history. The state’s failure to implement the Family Violence law aggravates such fears.
There is a pervasive opinion that a woman who has been raped or sexually assaulted must be in some way responsible for the crime. Furthermore, sexual violence was actively and systematically used as a weapon in Peru’s 20 year civil war in the 1980s and 90s. Very few of the victims have seen justice. Those who were able to bring their attacks to the justice system found themselves subjected to blame, and encountered obstacles designed to discourage their claims.
Extremely high fertility rates amongst uneducated women reflect their total lack of control over their own reproduction. In fact, forced sterilizations are alleged to have been performed on over 200,000 women in the late 1990s as part of a government attempt to lower the national fertility rate.
