Indigenous women in Latin America remain invisible to society, warns UN
Indigenous women in Latin America remain invisible to society, warns UN
Urgent action needed to close 'unacceptable gaps' in access to work and education across Latin America and Caribbean
Dan Collyns in Lima
theguardian.com, Friday 1 November 2013 10.06 EDT
Indigenous women in Latin America continue to face great gaps in access to higher education, health services and employment, although there have been significant educational advances, according to a report by the UN's Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The findings were published this week at a conference in Lima, Peru, which brought together more than 180 indigenous women from Africa, Asia, the Americas, Australasia, the Pacific and Russia in an array of colourful traditional costumes.
A lack of economic and academic opportunities at home, coupled with growing damage to the environment from mining and other extractive industries, have led women to leave their ancestral territories for urban centres, where they face new struggles, the report said. In Peru, more than half the estimated 3.2 million indigenous women live in cities.
"There are improvements," said the report's author, Fabiana Del Popolo. "In urban centres, for example, the infant mortality is lower, and they have greater access to education and clean water. But the discrimination they face in the cities remains great, and the jobs they obtain are menial and often provide no social protections."
More:
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/nov/01/indigenous-women-latin-america-un
= new reply since forum marked as read
It must seem an endless struggle, just huge.
It would be a nightmare learning so many other women in your country will hate your guts with a filthy fury just because you happen to be a native indigenous of your country, as shown in this image of a racist clown going after a Native Bolivian woman.
[center]
[/center]
I've seen it explained that the race hatred in Latin America in many places is no less intense than it was in the U.S. pre-1960's South.
Having to accept that burden, along with the appalling, monstrous lack of respect for women would be overwhelming, defeating, depressing beyond words.
It would be a project which could use some illumination, however, as so many people neither know or care what happens to others. There's no time like the present for them to start learning what they have failed to know this far.