Inequality, Normative Violence, and Livable Life: Judith Butler and Peruvian Reality

Abstract

Despite the ascent to power of several high profile women throughout Latin America and the Caribbean many indicators show that women still suffer from high levels of gender inequality. In Peru, women occupy 21.5 per cent of parliamentary seats (UNDP 2013), and have been very visible, some in high profile positions, within municipal, regional and national government since the 1990s. A quota system obliges political parties to include to reserve 30 percent of their electoral lists to women, and since 1996, a women's machinery within government addresses (some) issues related to women's vulnerability, if arguably not equality. Indeed, improvement in representation has not solved some of the major ills of gender inequality: violence against women, including rape, continues to be appallingly high, reproductive and sexual rights and health are still contested, and the labor market continues to favor men.2 How can we understand women's increasing representation and visibility in politics parallel to continuing high levels of gender-based violence and the opposition to abortion?Of course, the problems of the majority of the population are, by definition, not necessarily the problems of the minority that might have access to political positions. Peruvian feminisms, as most Latin American feminisms, have always had difficulty dealing with the intersectionality of women's oppression, and privileged middle class women are not always capable of including in their political projects perspectives of less fortunate women and their struggles.3 Divisions grounded in race, class and gender 1 I thank Paulo Drinot for inviting me on this project, and commenting on earlier versions. Reading group mates Polly Wilding, Bina Fernandez and Gabrielle Lynch provided valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper, for which I am grateful. Thanks also for the comments of an anonymous reviewer. The usual caveats apply. 2 Less women are employed, more women work in the informal sector, and there is a significant pay gap between the sexes. For employment data, see the National Institute of Statistics, INEI: http://www.inei.gob.pe/estadisticas/indice-tematico/ocupacion-y-vivienda/ Fertility rates have gone down dramatically since the 1990s due to an aggressive sterilization programme, but abortion is still illegal, and some modern contraceptives are very difficult to obtain, especially in rural areas. Sexual violence is rife (e.g. Cáceres 2005), and adolescent pregnancy high: 13.2 % of all young women between 15 and 19 was a mother or pregnant with a first child in 2012 (ENDES 2012). A recent study shows that Peru is probably one of the countries with highest rates of sexual violence, but especially with an increase in the reporting of such violence. Research shows that young women (<18) are most vulnerable to sexual violence (Mujica 2011), although sexual violence in marriage is unaccounted for. The National Demographic and Family Health Survey (ENDES) of 2012 indicates that 37.2 % of women in relationships ever experienced physical and...

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