Day 307: Gender Matters

“In the nineteenth century, the central moral challenge was slavery. In the twentieth century, it was the battle against totalitarianism. We believe that in this century the paramount moral challenge will be the struggle for gender equality around the world.” - Nicholas D. Kristof, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

I've been trying to offer weekly educational sessions to my health educators for some time, at the request of my two health center bosses. Unfortunately, every time we schedule a session, we end up canceling at the last minute, due to a training in another town, or an unexpectedly long day of house visits, or an event that I have to attend at the Peace Corps office. The stars simply haven't aligned, and I'm learning to be okay with that.

This week, something magical must have been going on in the cosmos, because I led my first ever lesson (or charla) with the CAP educators. My CAP bosses left charla topics up to my discretion, and, being kind of obsessed with feminism and gender discussion, I decided to start with a session on gender equality and gender equity. I believe this topic to be especially important in Guatemala, where women are just generally less valued than men. Girls often need more encouragement than boys to express themselves, and more help than boys to stay in school.

I started with a simple story to illustrate the difference between treating people equally and treating people equitably. I thought this went over well, until I asked the staff members for examples of how they treat people with equality or equity in their own lives. The ambulance driver said, "Well, I'm the only one who can drive the ambulance, so that's equity." Wait. What?

I rehashed the whole equity/equality thing, and then moved on to an examination of gender roles in the community. At first, the educators argued that neither men nor women in San José Chacayá face any limitations due to their gender. They said that women can drink, and men can do dishes, and all is equal. I asked them, "But don't men here get negatively judged if they help with housework? And doesn't the same go for women drinking? I've certainly never seen a woman in the local bar." They all stared at me for a few seconds, before conceding that, yeah, there is a lot of judgment around inverted gender roles.

I ended the charla by asking the staff what topics they want to learn about in the future. The responses ranged from racism to "how to have more respect for old people" to self-esteem to "I want to learn about mental health because I have a friend who only talks about sex and I want her to reflect so that she can have a clean mind." So, might save that one for a little later.

After this semi-successful and hopefully thought-provoking lesson with my educators, I got to lead a gender discussion with fellow volunteers, at our monthly Peace Corps Guatemala Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Committee Book Club, Sololá Chapter (or, as I like to call it, PCGGEWECBCSC). The other participating volunteers and I spent a most enthralling hour discussing our latest read, Remaking Manhood by Mark Greene. I don't really want to use my blog as a place to plug or dis books, so let me instead say that the role of men in the feminist movement is particularly salient in Guatemala. For gender relations to really improve here, men need to both recognize women's worth and fight for women. We ladies are strong and capable, but we can't make lasting change without the support of our male compatriots.

And so, in closing, I leave you with the words of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, another PCGGEWECBCSC author (whose book Americanah I will actually totally plug: you should read Americanah): “Culture does not make people. People make culture. If it is true that the full humanity of women is not our culture, then we can and must make it our culture.”

Boys should use purses, because they're damn useful.
And, girls should wear ties, because they're damn sexy.