It can be hard to situate oneself as a scholar within the concepts of multiculturalism and gender equality. These ideas are intrinsically linked to our basic human emotions yet are often expressed without regard to those emotions. Subsequently, this paper will aim to connect the topics of multiculturalism and gender equality upon reflection of Guatemala’s elected President, Alejandro Giammattei, through an analysis of his mendacious tendencies, as highlighted in a statement by the United Nations. Women’s sexual and reproductive rights is one of the significant issues I will discuss throughout this paper. Furthermore, ideological manipulation, poor government accountability, and media oppression issues as discussed in parallel with the readings âMajority Norms, Multiculturalism, and Gender Equalityâ by Sarah Song and âWorld Religions in the Worldâ by David Chidester. Based on this, the question I tentatively pose is, how does Guatemala’s government enact and practice gender suppression and control systems, and who has demonstrated a response within these structured political organizations. This paper will aim to answer this question by examining how ideological manipulation, media oppression and gender neutrality are vital characteristics of understanding multiculturalism and gender equality within Guatemala.
Background
In terms of oppressed nation-states, Guatemala is among the world’s most. The article by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, or UN Women, discusses the vital issue of sexualized violence within Guatemala. According to the United Nations, Indigenous women, especially those living in rural areas, face structural, legal, and institutionalized forms of violence and discrimination because of exclusion and racism. Weak state institutions concerning sustainable development have also added significantly to the problem. This issue in connection to understanding gender equality and multiculturalism within global south countries, specifically Guatemala, has forced already suppressed institutions to act irrationally where little awareness is present. As a result of the exclusions of the past, the weak state response, the absence of legal certainty about land and property ownership, the polarization of ideas and, in some cases, different views of the past, Guatemala continues to experience high levels of social conflict. UN Women have attempted to eradicate some of these issues in connection to women and sexualized health through social mobilization and advocacy, which we will see in connection to some of the other most prevalent issues highlighted throughout this paper.
Literature Review
Academic literature demonstrates a relationship between multiculturalism and gender equality. The primary sources which support my research question are based around government accountability and media oppression issues as discussed in parallel with the readings âMajority Norms, Multiculturalism, and Gender Equalityâ by Sarah Song and âWorld Religions in the Worldâ by David Chidester. These sources address the major points in my paper, as they both examine the ideological, suppressive, and sexist influences within Guatemala in connection to civil and feminist rights. Furthermore, they both highlight the notion of these ideas in relation to contemporary politics.
Reflecting on the aspects later touched on within this paper, Sarah Song examines how the mainstream legal and normative frameworks within which certain debates are held may reflect structural inequalities in gender hierarchies within the minority cultures, between which accommodations exist. This enables us to understand why decisions concerning accommodation of ethnic and religious demands are very difficult to reconcile within some communities’ understanding of equality. In contrast, David Chidester discusses the classification of âworld religionsâ as highly problematic because itâs not only based on an arbitrary construction that excludes indigenous religions, but also because itâs the latest ideological impulse in the age of global media domination. It has become rationalized through conceptions about citizenship in the highest democracies and the Indigenous empowerment of Indigenous movements, as seen in Guatemala regarding rural Indigenous and religious communities.
Data and Discussion
Religion was a very receptive way of gaining Indigenous Guatemalan people’s trust as their land was simultaneously overtaken. As seen today in the article by UN Women, ideological manipulation when discussing genres of gender-based oppression and sexual health is one of Guatemala’s biggest causes for investigation. The primary reason for gender discrimination when analyzing religion through an oppressive lens, as Sarah Song highlights is based on controlling women, especially regarding religious rules around divorce, abortion, and sex. Currently, as highlighted in the article by the United Nations, the most prevalent issues regarding women’s sexual and reproductive rights in Guatemala are linked to religion. The United Nations highlights that Guatemala ranks among the countries with the highest rate of violent deaths and deaths relating to sexual violence and religious acts against women. Song describes a similar idea in that religion and culture’s division between how men and women are treated is primarily structural. In small communities’ women are the primary means in how new members are brought into a community. Similarly, David Chidester discusses Indigenous religions being registered as primal religions now as opposed to primitive or savage. However, the article by UN Women highlights that with 51.5% of Guatemala’s population living in rural areas and primarily comprised of Indigenous women and young men, the result has been different gender-interconnected religious inequalities.
Human rights issues are presented as trivial yet unambiguous in times of political dismay. Humanitarian issues, such as gender inequality and violence, are rarely discussed in the media and within government. President Alejandro Giammettei has sought to generate a welcoming state when looking at refugees of war or economic development as it impacts their environment. However, women and the crucial obstacles that they face are rarely, if ever, discussed within Guatemala’s borders. Using security as a cover for media control, Giammatteiâs government has been able to legally observe and monitor womenâs rights and furthermore the national and international coverage of these rights as they effect the global community. This is one of the more authoritarian stances that Guatemala’s government has taken, which pertains to the lack of media attention that this critical issue gets. The government has majority ownership over media outlets, which is used as a scare tactic to control Guatemala’s population. Even with the documented progress of implementing media sources within Guatemala, many of the commitments made by Giammettei still need to be made, and their validity as a social pact continues to be weak. Hence, it is still a major civil rights violation as the public’s input is politically filtered to keep civil order within Guatemala.
Corruption and accountability within many governments, including Guatemala’s political empire, is one that the UN Women’s article has enabled us to recognize, promote and support by examining the valuable contribution women are to Guatemala’s national unity. Song argues that women not only play critical roles when looking at instances of community development and maintenance, but they also fill a crucial role in the respect that communities are often not considered gender neutral. Majority and minority claims have thus far been informed by patriarchal norms, and where this form of corruption cannot be solved without accountability. (Song 478) Giammattei recognizes neither; instead, political authority is recognized as control over political power in an institution, and making that power indispensable to anyone else who may require it. Accordingly, the government in Guatemala can be understood by what the government is accountable for rather than responsible for. Song describes this as a state’s tendency to establish one language and culture, usually the majority, as the public norm. Therefore, Giammattei’s government is supposedly liable and responsible for holding absolute power in all aspects as such in an authoritarian regime while remaining separated and unaccountable to any sole citizen, primarily women.
Government corruption simply put is the abuse of office for private gain. The lack of equality among Guatemala’s classes, religious tendencies and genders is ultimately why it only gets more complex with each passing day to picture restoration within the country, especially when awareness is scarce. Based on this, Chidester highlights that the notion of world religions is arbitrary and exclusionary because it fails to account for religion and religious diversity. This is another aspect directly tied to the power and corruption that Giammettei has over Guatemala’s population, similar to the political authority enforced by Giammettei’s policies linked to its lack of accountability and answerability. The country and essential aspects of control, such as media, forced ideological classification and health care, either privatized or not, are under complete control of Giammattei’s government. Essentially because, as Chidester highlights, the idea that knowledge of world religions would be helpful in trade agreements was crucial in growing Guatemala’s economic community; however, there cannot be a multicultural aspect to this agreement without absolute power over civilians, and where women have become collateral damage in this scenario.
Through the further exercise of women’s political and citizen participation, the social component will support the advocacy efforts done by civil society to promote women’s participation and equality within society. It would be beneficial to consider all aspects of this issue discussed throughout this paper, including ideological manipulation, media oppression and gender neutrality, as well as weaknesses in the social movement as a whole. These issues combined to create the divide in society within Guatemala have aided my research in understanding gender equality as studied in parallel with works by Sarah Song and David Chidester. “Individual freedom requires having options to choose, and cultures provide and give meaning to these options.” (Song 473) Having said that, considering oppression, choices become scarce, and women often get left to face these highly personal and unsolvable issues alone and without proper representation. On the institutional level, it is necessary to strengthen the main problem-solving mechanisms for women, especially when it comes to national policies, however as highlighted in the article by UN Women, the limitations placed on women have now come to affect the way they address health care issues, maternal mortality, malnutrition, financial dependence, among other issues.
Counterargument
Vital characteristics in understanding multiculturalism and gender equality within Guatemala may not necessarily need to include issues pertaining to ideological manipulation, media oppression, or gender equality, but rather in terms of the social movement as a whole. For example, a feminist movement that aims to attack issues of feminist development within global south countries. As opposed to institutions in need of development, perhaps it would be beneficial to consider the movement that generally has one foot in the door toward gender equality, being feminism as a solution and in practice. There is validity present in this counterargument in discussing feminist programming and its implementation within Guatemala’s borders. There is also value in uniting a nation through its similarities, and furthermore the strength in pushing back against the institutions that aim to oppress. (Aviel 161) However, after considering this argument, the importance of tackling individual foundations must be supported by goals fueled by passion and the desire to succeed in reaching those important goals. The potential for solving gender inequality and toxic representations of multiculturalism through addressing individual issues in media, government, and sexual violence are possibly immeasurable compared to the alternative methods. Essentially, a feminist movement even when considered in practice on the global sale, surely cannot be sufficient in altering the fate of every woman within Guatemala.
Analysis
When answering the question relating to how Guatemala’s government enacts and practices systems of gender suppression and control and who has demonstrated a response within these structured political organizations, it is essential to consider several ideas. Primarily, ideological manipulation, media oppression and gender neutrality as the vital characteristics that aid in the understanding of multiculturalism and gender equality within Guatemala. However, the institutions and alliances that have demonstrated responses in connection to these issues are in their developmental phases, which, as we have seen concerning both Chidester and Songs’ work, would pertain to the overarching issue being that controlling women has been traditionally the means in controlling Guatemala’s civilization. The UN, as an institution, has created the objective of working towards guaranteeing women’s rights through empowerment and facilitating their participation in reaping benefits from the national development process. That being said, they will also support the coordination and development of institutional partnerships to create a dialogue with Giammattei’s government to empower gender equality, particularly for Indigenous women and women living in rural areas.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can see how real-world issues become intertwined with historically discussed concepts using contemporary works, specifically those analyzed in this paper by Sarah Song and David Chidester. Guatemala’s history has been one of gender violence perpetuated as an instrument of submission and control on women’s bodies and lives, not to mention the inherited patriarchy and conservative culture with a fragile legal and security system that breeds abuse. The UN Women’s entity of the United Nations has aided my research in illuminating certain obstacles to this brutal reality, in observing and eradicating issues within less developed countries. Chidester highlighted the concept of religion as a tactic in the process of oppression, underlining the idea that religion makes certain demographics vulnerable and more susceptible and malleable in terms of political and ethical social norms and implementations. In contrast, Song attempts to uncover how women are overtly disadvantaged in terms of patriarchal oppression and more specifically their sexual and reproductive rights. In the UN Women’s article, 90% of women had experienced sexual violence done unto them by either a domestic partner or otherwise. (Guatemala. UN Women) This proves the important aspects of not only Song’s analysis of feminism, but of Chidesterâs theories in ideological manipulation and evidence against Guatemalaâs government overall that distinguishes the division between how men and women are treated by way of gender equality and multiculturalism.