Women under Attack: Violence and Poverty in Guatemala

Abstract

In 2009 Guatemalan women experienced the highest level of violence in Latin America and one of the highest in the world, and death rates have continued to increase in 2010. At the core of the issue are two major problems: pervasive poverty and legal exclusion. In turn, these two issues are closely connected since legal/judicial exclusion is a consequence of poverty. This paper aims to analyze the question of violence against women in Guatemala, to discuss women's limited political, legal and economic rights, as well as the policies pursued since the end of Guatemala's civil war to deal with the violence. The fact that crimes against women have not declined, but in fact are on the rise points to the ineffective nature of the existing polices, and the need to make a larger investment in antipoverty and other socioeconomic policies geared to increase women's economic self-sufficiency.