[EDITORIAL] International Women's Day: setback and deterioration in Peru (Institute of Democracy and Human Rights of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (IDEHPUCP) [Spanish] - 3/8/2023)

[EDITORIAL] International Women's Day: setback and deterioration in Peru - Institute of Democracy and Human Rights of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (IDEHPUCP [Spanish])

The Minister of Education of Peru's government – ​​chaired for the first time in our history by a woman – allows himself to say the following about a group of female protesters: “not even animals expose their children. (…) Can those who take their children and expose them to the violence that we are witnessing be called mothers?" 

This pronouncement by Oscar Manuel Becerra is, among other things, an unspeakable expression of verbal violence against women. And the fact that President Boluarte keeps him in office and does not demand any explanation also implies an unjustifiable endorsement. 

This incident, on the eve of International Women's Day, may be the most effective reminder of the stagnation and even the setback of our country regarding the principles represented on this date: the recognition of rights; and the equal participation and empowerment of women in all spheres of society and the State. Minister Becerra's statement is, in effect, an attack against all those ideals; it questions the right of women to participate and express themselves, and even expropriates their ability to decide how they perform their roles in society. These are words that communicate intolerance and, more than that, a presumption of superiority and dominance over the female population, or, in any case, over the female population of a certain part of the country.

If the condemnation of Becerra's words and their acceptance by this government is mandatory, on the other hand, we would be wrong to think that the setback in the women's rights agenda is solely a matter of the present regime. In fact, before its fall in a failed coup, the government of Pedro Castillo exhibited for a year and a half a profound disdain for women's rights. That expression of disdain ranged from official gestures at the highest level, such as the composition of cabinets with only two or three women ministers, to the appointment of characters with histories of gender violence to high positions, and the tolerance of misogynistic statements by ministers or other members of the government.

On this anti-rights path, it must be pointed out, the Executive Branch walked, and still walks, hand in hand with a sector of Congress that promotes a profoundly regressive agenda on the matter. A sample of the conservative agenda includes: the initiative to change the name of the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations to the Ministry of the Family and Vulnerable Populations; the law that hinders the gender approach in education; and the refusal to decriminalize abortion in cases of rape.

Added to this is a growing trend of political harassment against women, the closure of channels for participation and, in more general terms, a deterioration of management capacities and State policies, the consequence of which can be no other than the weakening of policies for the protection of women's rights and promotion of their participation.

This March 8th is a day for the reaffirmation of women's rights and demands for equality. It is also a date to pay tribute to the individual and collective efforts and sacrifices that have advanced equality in recent decades. And it is also a date to express expectations in the future, despite everything. Peru has a tradition of movements for women's rights that should also be a force to recover what has been lost, to advance towards new goals in terms of equality, participation, and the fight against gender violence. More broadly, International Women's Day is an opportunity to recover democratic governance in the country.

Tags: #InternationalWomansDay #Peru #IDEHPUCP #SERVINDI