Guatemala in recent history has been a very difficult place to be a woman. Many people who study Guatemalan culture and development comment that there is a special group of people here who face triple barriers to growth. This group is poor, indigenous women. First, they face challenges because they are women: women are often viewed and treated as second class citizens. Girls aren’t sent to school with anywhere near the frequency as their brothers, there are huge rates of domestic violence, and women don’t have the voice in their communities that their husbands do. Second, they are poor, making their daily struggle for food and health much more challenging than their neighbors who have more resources. Often the entire day of a poor woman is spent on life-sustaining activities such as carrying water and planting corn, leaving no time for self development or a small business to try and bring in extra income. Lastly, being indigenous adds into the mix another challenge. Though the Mayan societies here were once thriving and prosperous, years of oppression since the Spanish invasion has pushed Mayan people groups to the fringes- both literally, often into the far reaches of the mountains where public services are scarce and farming difficult, and figuratively, calling their religious practices “witchcraft” and forcing children to stop wearing their traditional dress in order to attend school, which was taught in Spanish, not their native tongues.
I’m glad to report that some of this is changing. The Mayan cultures and languages have been officially recognized and people are now encouraged to wear their typical dress and speak their native languages. The government and many individuals are also attempting to combat the “machismo” that causes the mistreatment of women. This is where the Municipal Women’s Offices come into play. Since the later part of the 90´s the national government has been opening women’s offices in municipalities. The goals of these offices (though they differ a bit depending on the municipality and the coordinator of the office) are to 1) combat violence against women, 2) improve the economic situation of women, and 3) increase citizen participation of women.
My Peace Corps program is called Municipal Development and my assignment is in the Municipal Women’s Office in an area of the country where “the triple barrier” is clearly in place. My town is 95% indigenous and the 6th poorest municipality in the country. The main goals of our office are to improve the lives of the women through projects (like clean water and improved stoves) and through training in various topics from how to prevent domestic violence and citizen participation. Our office doesn’t receive funds from the municipality so what we can do is somewhat limited. However, through coordinating with various institutions the office has been able to organize 39 women’s groups in different communities and assess the needs of their families and communities. Through meetings we have with these women we are teaching them their legal rights and how to advocate for their needs.
The goals of the Municipal Development project of Peace Corps are to strengthen the function of the office through training them in organization, using computers, archiving documents, and giving participatory talks with the women and to increase citizen participation in the town. Up until this point my work in the office has been to learn about the office and the community and to assess how I might be able to help. Now that I’ve integrated into the office I’m beginning to really dive into work. I’m excited to see where the next 18 months in this office take me and what kind of work I’m able to do with my counterparts. I’ll keep posting about specific projects that I’m working on so you can get a picture of what my PC experience is like.
My counterpart, Marìa, speaking with a group of the women we work with. 
Girls in one of the communities we work in.
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