Gender Equality in the Salvadoran Transition

Abstract

The construction of a true democracy entails the full realization of women['s rights] and their creative participation in all spheres of national life. This is a fundamental principle in the societal project for which the FMLN is fighting. We have a commitment: to win equal rights for women, [and] to overcome their marginalization and oppression in Salvadoran society. —Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), Carta de principios y objetivos

Transnational Relationships: The Struggle to Communicate Across Borders

“…This fact may explain why fewer women fled from the region; it may also help explain the fact that only a small number of Salvadorans I met either on Long Island or in El Salvador acknowledged assisting the guerrillas out of political conviction. As participation in the FMLN has been associated with greater female leadership and other changes in gender relations (Luciak 1999), the low participation rate in my fieldsite may help explain its enduring "traditional" gender relations, as discussed below.…”

“…To escape recruitment or retaliation after serving for one side or the other, large numbers of males fled. Women and girls, though some aided the guerrillas and many became victims of the violence as well, were most often spared recruitment (Gorkin, Pineda and Leal 2000;Luciak 1999;Mahler 1995;Pearce 1986). But when they did need to flee, they faced more daunting traveling conditions, particularly in Mexico where, they were frequently robbed, beaten, and raped as they attempted to cross into the U.S. (Juffer 1988;USCR 1991).…”

Women and Transitional Justice in Africa and Latin America

“…One of these peace Commissions was composed of six women and one man. The progress achieved at the end was quite significant, as women benefited from the land redistribution and reintegration programs, full participation in political and administrative sphere, and agentive subjects in addressing their concerns in the peace process (Shair-Rosenfield and Wood 2017; Anderson 2016;Myrttinen 2016;Page et al 2010;Heyzer 2005;UNIFEM 2005;Anderlini 2004Anderlini , 2016Luciak 1999) that not only transcend the existing discursive scripts in the field to negotiating ideas about "whose justice" and "justice for whom" (Björkdahl and Selimovic 2015, p. 166).…”

Organizing women for combat: The experience of the FARC in the Colombian war

“…The second has generally been neglected. The relevant literature has clearly flagged, instead, that some guerrilla forces are or were highly GUTIÉRREZ SANÍN AND CARRANZA FRANCO 771 feminized (see Coulter, 2008;Duiker, 1982;González-Perez, 2008;Jaquette, 1973;Kampwirth, 2002;Luciak, 1999;MacKenzie, 2009;McKay & Mazurana, 2004;Reif, 1986;Taylor, 1999;Tétreault, 1994;Viterna, 2006), and that there is a sharp variation across groups and conflicts in this regard.…”