Protest Against Church's Edicts on Reproductive Rights Sparks Ire Among Guatemala's Conservatives.

AutorReynolds, Louisa

A group of Guatemalan women commemorated International Women's Day on March 8 by marching on the streets of Guatemala City carrying a vulva-shaped pinata. The march, named "the Procession of the Powerful Vulva," aimed to highlight sexual and reproductive rights issues in Guatemala. In the process, it mocked the Catholic tradition of holding Easter processions in which a statue of Christ or the Virgin Mary is paraded through the streets.

The six-block procession began in Morazan Park and ended in the city's central square, Plaza de la Constitucion, where protestors lit purple candles in remembrance of 56 teenage girls who were killed in a blaze in the Virgen de la Asuncion state-run youth shelter on March 8, 2017 (NotiCen, May 4, 2017). Some demonstrators shaved their heads in the middle of the square in solidarity with the mothers of the teenage girls who died.

The tragedy exposed a long history of abuse in the Virgen de la Asuncion shelter, including the systematic rape and physical abuse of vulnerable girls who had been declared wards of the state by the courts because they were orphans, or had suffered domestic or sexual violence, or had been forced into prostitution. The trial of the public officials who failed to investigate accounts of this abuse is moving at a snail's pace through the country's court system.

Demonstration of support

"Even if I'm naked, I'm not provoking you"; "Holy vulva: deliver us from this patriarchal state"; and "Powerful vulva: give us safe abortions" read some of the placards carried by demonstrators. Among the organizers of the march was a group named Parafernalia Feminista, which describes itself as "a feminist space to spread products, services, forums, classes and activities."

With 62 women killed every month, Guatemala is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a woman. The country has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in Latin America. According to the UN, 113 out of every 1,000 births in Guatemala end with the death of the mother.

As a result of poverty, discriminatory gender norms, and a lack of access to education, Guatemala also has one of the highest child marriage rates in Latin America. In 2005, the government increased the minimum age of marriage from 14 to 18 years in order to comply with international standards. Last year, it also removed an exception that allowed judges to authorize marriages between adults and children aged 16 and older. But common law marriages...

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