Getting to the Root: Preventing Violence Against Women in Guatemala Through Interventions with Men
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Date
2024
Authors
Nako, Lierta
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Violence against women and girls (VAW or VAWG) is a global crisis. While there is a growing consensus about the need to engage men and boys in VAWG prevention, this recognition has not uniformly translated into on-the-ground strategies and research. This research describes and explains that gap by focusing on attempts to address VAWG in Guatemala, a country with one of the highest rates of VAWG in the Americas.
As most organizations in Guatemala working to prevent VAWG are NGOs, this research project therefore focuses on the work being done by Guatemalan NGOs to combat VAWG. First, it “maps” the work of NGOs in Guatemala to analyze what these organizations are doing around the issue of violence prevention. Second, finding that very few organizations focus on involving boys and men in their primary activities, this project asks what are the barriers to involving boys and men in VAW prevention work in Guatemala?
My research and interviews with representatives of four Guatemalan NGOs focused on VAWG identifies three factors that make working with men and boys difficult: 1) NGOs’ financial limitations; 2) men’s perceptions of women’s organizations; and 3) the gap in empirical evidence regarding anti-violence interventions aimed at boys and men.
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I conclude that research in the field of VAWG prevention must be expanded to effectively establish frameworks for targeting the root cause of VAWG: dangerous, deeply-entrenched norms surrounding men and masculinities.
Description
58 pages
Keywords
Violence against women, Guatemala, Latin American feminism, Latin American NGOs, Violence prevention