Mention the efforts of the women's justice initiative to curb violence against women
Answers
Answer :-
Women’s Justice Initiative (WJI) empowers indigenous Guatemalan women and girls to improve their lives through education, access to legal services, and gender-based violence prevention.
Life Challenges of the Women Served :-
Guatemala faces some of the highest levels of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the world: 27.9 percent of women suffer from intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetime and the country has the third highest femicide rate globally.
Rural, indigenous women are disproportionately impacted due in part to their social isolation and limited access to resources. Social services and government institutions are concentrated in Guatemala’s cities and rarely reach indigenous women living in rural areas. In 2013, rural women accounted for 41 percent of victims of all IPV cases in Guatemala and 31 percent of the victims were Maya. The high incidence of VAWG is exacerbated by social norms that tolerate violence and foster gender inequality. Due to the social pressure around these norms, indigenous women rarely report IPV or seek help due to the fear of being stigmatized within their families and their communities.
Present day VAWG is heavily linked to the legacy of violence against women during the Guatemalan Civil War, and widespread impunity and deeply-rooted machismo have further compounded the vulnerability of indigenous women in Guatemala. Between 1960 and 1996, rural Guatemalan communities were militarized by the government, which viewed the Maya population as the enemy. The government’s counterinsurgency effort tortured, raped, and killed indigenous women because they were viewed as the root of the community and by extension, the insurgency.
Gender violence has historically been perpetuated in Guatemala as a tool of submission and control on women’s bodies and lives. It is enabled by the patriarchal and conservative culture, as well as a fragile security and legal system