Conservatives oppose teaching gender equality in Peruvian schools.
| Autor | Jana, Elsa Chanduvi |
Conservative sectors in Peru have been promoting a campaign against gender education in primary schools, arguing that it is an attempt to make children focus on their sexuality from an early age. They demand the right for parents to choose the education they want for their children.
The first voices on this issue were heard last year during the investigation and eventual censure of Education Minister Jaime Saavedra Chanduvi when some legislators zeroed in on issues that had nothing to do with the subject of the inquiry: alleged irregularities in the purchase of computers and slow progress in the preparations for the 2019 Pan American Games, to be held in Lima (NotiSur, Jan. 20, 2017). At that time, Saavedra Chanduvi was asked about his promotion of an alleged "gender ideology" in the new basic education curriculum.
The campaign has the backing of members of the political right and of conservative religious sectors--fundamental evangelical denominations and the conservative wing of the Catholic Church headed by Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani--who say that gender education subverts the formation of children and adolescents.
Last November, these groups launched the "Don't Mess with My Children" (#ConMisHijosNoTeMetas) campaign with an event in Lima that, according to the official website of the collective of the same name, gathered more than 4,000 backers, including leaders of Catholic and evangelical churches, mayors, judges, prosecutors, and congressmen. At the end of the event, they presented a declaration in defense of the family.
"Although the hierarchy of the local Catholic Church is not part of #ConMisHijosNoTeMetas, it is an active participant in the discussion about so-called 'gender ideology,'" Carlos Bedoya wrote in the newspaper Uno. He noted that in August 2016, in response to the feminist "Ni Una Menos" (Not One Less) campaign against gender violence (NotiSur, Aug. 26, 2016, and Nov. 18, 2016), "the Peruvian Episcopal Conference published and distributed throughout all its dioceses a booklet titled 'Gender Ideology: Its dangers and scope.'"
Since Jan. 9, dozens of posters with the campaign's slogan, as well as people wearing pink or blue pennants to indicate their gender identity, have appeared at Lima's high-traffic pedestrian bridges and bus stops. Sit-ins have been held in front of the Ministry of Education.
National movement
The campaign has expanded to other parts or the country. For example, in Arequipa, in Peru's southern...
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