This essay will talk about the current gender inequality status of Honduras as many women are facing hardships when it comes to obtaining the same opportunities as men such as employment and education. Women are treated as lower class because of the ongoing stereotype of how women are weaker then men and they are meant to stay home and take care of their kids instead of working. Two known female figures from Honduras who died in a tragic will be mentioned in order to inform readers that women are not safe and many are targeted. There is information about femicide and the macho culture of Honduras to show how change must be made so that people may live happier. The main purpose of this essay is to make readers sympathize for what the women of Honduras are going through and to show that women should be treated equally to men in order to show respect.
Honduras is located in Central America and known as a place of suffrage as most women are deprived of their human rights. There is not a proper justice system and Honduras has close to no government. The people living in Honduras are allowed to do anything they want and get away with it for instance men are allowed to abuse their wives in order to teach them a lesson or to show off their male dominance. This has created very dangerous living conditions for everyone living in Honduras. By not creating a much more productive way to stop these horrible acts that happen to women it only helps fuel the crisis and it increases the gender violence even more. Honduran women are categorized as one of the most marginalized groups and are the most prone to face poverty as they are seen as lower class individuals. There is an undying notion of how women are believed to be worthless and they only serve a purpose to stay home and take care of their children and husbands as they are the only ones working to help pay the family’s income.
There is a very sexist macho culture in Honduras that is full of gangs and guns where a man’s power is measured with their own bullets. Combined with the government unable to resolve the drug-related crimes you get a culture that believes women are so much more disposable compared to men. Men can basically do anything they want to women as violence is known as a part of everyday life and there is an alarming amount of rape, assault, and domestic violence cases concerning women. If women in Honduras were to be treated like well-respected individuals then society would be a much more stable environment to live in and people would not feel the need to leave, instead, they would be able to have a much more positive and productive future ahead of them.
Femicide is known as a term that is defined as the act of killing innocent women without having a real legitimate reason but people only kill them because they are women. A femicide is a form of gender-based violence and it can connect to an extreme form of gender-based violence that can include torture, gender mutilation, cruelty and sexual violence. This type of violence connects to various gender concepts like inequality, discrimination, and disempowerment. The emergence of femicide can do with the presence of poverty, violence, and discrimination. “Even if the government is not killing women directly, acts of commission and omission create conditions that promote impunity and increase risks of victimization by normalizing the targeting of women for violence, at home and in the streets”(Menjívar and Walsh 2017). Although poverty and marginality affect everyone these negative conditions impact women and men differently.
Both women and men are robbed and killed. But women suffer much more extreme forms of brutality that are in the form of femicide and various other forms of gender violence. Gender-based violence is explained in terms of gender roles, gender difference, or gender inequality. Gender-based violence is basically physical abuse that is gender influenced. “Violence against women and girls is one of the most frequent violations of human rights in the world. Violations including sexual abuse, physical violence, and femicide can be considered an epidemic in Honduras” (IOM 2017). The Honduran government did not perform any productive actions that would help protect women of gender-based violence and did not take effective steps in addressing the issue directly, instead it was ignored and women had to pay the price.
Recently it was reported how there were thousands of people from different parts of Central America including Honduras were trying to head to southern Mexico in a caravan in hopes of arriving in the U.S. the land full of opportunity and dreams. “An increasing number of children and families from Central America are migrating north via irregular pathways, in the hope of resettling in the United States of America. Some are fleeing brutal gangs, while others are trying to escape poverty” (Bindra and Chambers 2018). Not only are they trying to escape poverty and the gangs that are in Honduras, but they are trying to run from the unequal treatment that women face so they believed that the United States would be full of opportunities.
Donald Trump spoke his mind about this situation on Twitter and this is what he said “The U.S. has strongly informed the president of Honduras that if the large caravan of people heading to the U.S. is not stop and brought back to Honduras, no more money or aid will be given to Honduras effective immediately” (MacCallum, Gallagher, Rove, Williams, Hume, Hiessen, and Fisher 2018). This made many people of Honduras worried that he would close the southern border so that no one would be able to leave and find a much more stable environment for their families and for themselves. Gender inequality is the unequal treatment or judgments of individuals solely based on their gender. It comes from the differences in socially made up gender roles. “Women still represent a marked minority in hierarchical positions. Other factors, such as caring for infant children, can condition the professional future of a woman for years to come. For a woman to be paid a fair wage, she has to demonstrate more than most that she is capable of doing the work well” (Baca 2017).
Since people of Honduras are accustomed to the teachings of how women have a specific job which is being a housewife while men are the breadwinners, there is a fear that women have which is how people will be old fashioned and not allow change. Meaning they will not allow women to work or have an education because they have a role of being mothers and should only focus on taking care of their children instead of worrying about having a job. “The gap has been explained by measurable factors such as educational attainment, occupational segregation, and work experience. But other factors that are difficult to measure, including gender discrimination, may contribute to the ongoing wage discrepancy” (Graf, Brown, and Patten 2018). In Honduras, there is a wage gap for every dollar that a man makes a woman makes less and even if the woman is better in education men will always get a better paycheck. This shows how Honduras is treating women as lower class citizens and instead of treating them with respect they are treating them like dirt just because of judgment based on their gender.
A female who died in a tragic way was Maria Jose Alverado she was a 19-year-old girl who won the Miss Honduras crown in 2014 and was quite famous at the time. Both Maria and her sister Sofia were killed by Sofia’s boyfriend. The boyfriend’s name was Plutarco Ruiz and was known as a powerful man and on his birthday it was said that he had gotten into an argument with his girlfriend Sofia and then shot her, but as Maria was trying to escape he shot her in the back 12 times. Maria and Sofia’s mother Teresa Munoz stated “Here in Honduras, women aren’t worth anything,” said Muñoz, wiping away tears. She believes that the only reason her daughters’ bodies were found is that of Maria Jose’s fame. Otherwise, she says, she would probably still be looking for an answer” (Chang, Jesko, Torres, Millman 2017).
Teresa believes that Ruiz shot both of the girls in order to maintain his macho status and show that he is the most dominant gender. “In our country women are still fighting for completely equal status- there is still a significant pay gap, there are still macho parts of society and roles ‘set’ for men and women, and women still struggle in the public sphere to get past being judged solely on how they look” (Wason 2014). Machismo is when men are behaving in a very arrogant and controlling way in order to protect their manly pride. Men who behave like this go against anything that has to do with feminine virtues as they feel it is a threat to their manhood. They are in constant fear of losing their manhood and they believe they need to constantly prove to themselves and to everyone they are macho men.
Another Female figure is known as Berta Caceres she was known as an environmental activist who was killed in her own home by two men busting through her door and fired 6 shots to her chest. Berta was loved by many and people appreciated the change she was trying to bring but some people mostly men did not agree with her and wanted to stop her.“Cáceres had received a lot of attention, both positively and negatively. In 2015, she was awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, and previously suffered assaults by security forces, received about 30 death threats, and spent a night in jail on false accusations” (Gibler 2017). In a country where the fight to protect human rights erupts violence and murders because many people do not want change as they are scared of it so they react in a very violent manner for prevention.
If women in Honduras were to be treated like well-respected individuals then society would be a much more stable environment to live in and people would not feel the need to leave, instead, they would be able to have a much more positive and productive future ahead of them. Women should be able to have access to decent work, basic education, and health care. No gender should be favorited more just because of stereotypes made by society, they should be treated equally to men so society can be more cohesive. Gender roles should be a term left in the past since it is 2018 and women can do whatever a man can do there should not be any barriers to block women from achieving success. Honduras is going against the United Declaration of Human Rights as men are not treating women with the respect that they deserve and women are receiving unequal treatment. According to Article 5 “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”(UDHR 1948).
Men should refer to women with respect and they shouldn’t be judged only on their appearance but on their work performance. If Men can get rid of the Macho stigma and focus on being powerful by working hard instead of using violence then society would change for the better. Many people of Honduras want to leave Honduras but are threatened by the President that if they continue to cross the border it will be closed. According to Article 14 “Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State”(UDHR 1948). If the people of Honduras feel that it is necessary to leave their homeland they should be allowed to find a much more stable environment in order to live prosperous lives. These solutions can be met if the people of Honduras bring awareness to their situation by protesting and coming together in order to create a harmonious society.
