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CAWN carries out, publishes and disseminates research on women’s rights in Central America. We invite you to download, read and distribute our publications. The content of them may be used for educational purposes, however we ask that you cite the source and let us know when and how you are using them.
lastest report
Feminicidio: Un fenomeno global. De Lima a Madrid. May 2010
This report, published by CAWN and the Heinrich Böll Foundation, seeks to provide an up-to-date regional perspective on the situation of femicide in Latin America. Women activists, human rights defenders, academics and civil society representatives from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia, have writen these articles to share with us their struggles in tackling femicide in their countries.
Organised around four key words - current status, achievements, challenges and expectations -
the report provides an overview of the changes needed to eradicate discrimination, violence against women, femicide and in particular the impunity.
The publication also presents different interpretations of the concept of femicide: some authors stress the importance of domestic violence, while others emphasise in the face of impersonal cruel killing of women by strangers, such as gangs. Others relate it to political instability -and coups- and emphasised that femicide occurs both in peacetime as in wartime. But overall, all of them agree that the origin of femicide lies in the unequal historical power relations between men and women.
The final chapter presents some of the initiatives from the European civil society, like CAWN, supporting women's organisations in Latin America. It looks into the implementation of international and EU instruments for the eradication of violence against women and femicide
Tourism and Development Strategy in Central America: exploring the impact on women's lives. March 2010
In this article Lucy Ferguson presents the findings of research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), which she undertook in Central America between 2005-2008. The research involved interviews with women workers and community and business representatives in Costa Rica, Belize and Honduras, as well as with a wide range of actors in the tourism development domain. The main focus of the research is to analyse the impact of tourism on women’s lives in Central America. Ferguson draws parallels between the experiences of women in the tourism and the maquila sectors in that both sectors are characterized by high levels of female employment of a primarily exploitative nature offering few training opportunities and very limited promotion prospects. Long and unsociable hours with especially detrimental impact on women are also common to both sectors. Additional concerns linked to tourism, include sex tourism, forced displacement of local peoples and environmental damage, associated with large-scale tourism projects.
Social Reproduction and Labour Rights: a case study of women workers in Nicaragua. February 2010
In this article Dr Marina Prieto-Carron examines the work burdens of women within the productive, as well as the reproductive, spheres, looking at the approach taken by the Working and Unemployed Women's Movement Maria Elena Cuadra (MEC) in understanding and addressing women's labour rights. She considers the difficulties facing women workers in Central American countries such as Nicaragua, and concludes that the holistic approach of MEC in providing women with knowledge on issues beyond labour rights per se, such as self-esteem, domestic violence and economic literacy, produces positive changes in the lives of these women and those around them.
Gender, labour rights and the ethical trading initiative (ETI). December 2008
Economy Literacy: a tool for women's empowerment in Nicaragua. October 2008
The Association Agreement between the European Union and Central America: its potential impact on women's lives in Central America. March 2008
The theme of this edition is the phenomenon of Femicide in Meso America (Femicidio or Feminicidio in Spanish). It features articles of women activists from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, who have been campaigning for the creation and implementation of appropriate legislation and institutions for these crimes in the region. In a context of State impunity, it is extremely important to support and raise awareness of the responses of women’s organisations.
Femicide is used as a legal and political term to refer to the murder of women killed because they are women. The killings are carried out deliberately with extreme cruelty. See article by Prieto-Carron,Thomsona & Macdonald in Gender and Development, Vol. 15, No 1, March 2007, Oxfam GB
The Response of International Aid Agencies to Violence against Women
in Central America –the case of Honduras. November 2008
This publication identifies seven different approaches that international aid agencies have adopted in response to tackling violence against women (VAW) in Honduras.
Despite international commitments to eliminate VAW, accessing resources for this work has becoming increasingly difficult. In Central America, there is increasing concern that the current poverty alleviation programme is taking donor attention and funding away from the region’s ‘lower middle-income’ countries, where gender discrimination, unequal concentration of wealth, exploitative power relations, and VAW are very significant.
Many aid agencies do not disaggregate their budget by gender-related programmes let alone gender equality, women’s projects or programmes combating VAW. Gender mainstreaming may in fact contribute to agencies not gender budgeting and makes it difficult to know whether enough resources are allocated for VAW work. Although the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) promote rights-based approaches and have gender equality as their third goal, VAW is not directly addressed and therefore seems to get lost in formal development frameworks, instruments, indicators and reporting mechanisms.
download the full report (PDF)
Tourism and Development Strategy in Central America: exploring the impact on women's lives. March 2010
Social Reproduction and Labour Rights: a case study of women workers in Nicaragua. February 2010
Gender, labour rights and the ethical trading initiative (ETI). December 2008
Economy Literacy: a tool for women's empowerment in Nicaragua. October 2008
The Association Agreement between the European Union and Central America: its potential impact on women's lives in Central America. March 2008
For updated information on news, international conferences, events and other publications related to women's rights and the Central American region, please sign up to receive this free electronic bulletin that circulates every quarter.
CAWN's
A-Genda is a bulletin on gender and trade issues in Central America. Electronic copies can be downloaded from this website. Alternatively, if
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The CAWN Newsletter includes articles written by volunteers, supporters, staff and organisations in Central America. It includes reports on important events in the region, and a variety of themes related to women’s rights and violence against women.
The printed newsletter is sent to our supporters. If you wish to receive a printed copy of the publication, please contact us.
Organisation profile: Central America Women's Network (CAWN)
By Katherine Ronderos and Liz Cooke
Gender & Development, Oxfam Journal, Vol 18, No. 1. March 2010
"In this issue's organisation profile, we look at the Central America Women's Network. This UK-based organisation work in both Central America and in Europe to strengthen and promote the rights of Central American women, with partnsership at the core of their strategy."
Click here to see article link
No more killings! Women respond to femicides in Central
America
By Marina Prieto-Carrón, Marilyn Thomson, and Mandy Macdonald.
Gender & Development, Oxfam Journal, Vol. 15, No. 1, March 2007
This article looks at a specific form of social violence against women in Mexico and Central America, the violent murder of women - femicidio or feminicidio in Spanish, ‘femicide’ in English. We explore the nature of femicide by analysing the situation from a gender perspective, as an extreme form of gender-based violence (GBV), and linking femicides with discrimination, poverty and a ‘backlash’ against women. In a climate of total state impunity, it is extremely important to support the responses of feminists and women’s organisations in the region who are carrying out research to document femicides and GBV in general, supporting survivors and their families, and carrying out advocacy activities.
download the full article (PDF)
In light of the negotiations for an Association Agreement (AA) between the EU and Central America, CAWN commissioned a study to highlight the main areas in which free trade agreements impact on the lives of women in the region. The study finds that unless there is a drastic change in both the process and priorities of the negotiations, an AA between the EU and Central America will deepen existing poverty and inequality in the region and impact particularly on women, further limiting their opportunities for dignified work and increasing their responsibilities.
download the full report (PDF)
Gender Perspectives and Women's Action on the Central America Free Trade Agreement. March 2005
This report was commissioned by CAWN as a short scoping study of the Central American Free Trade Agreement covering the following areas:
1. The overall CAFTA process
2. The work of Central American women’s organisations around CAFTA,
their positions and opportunities for joint work and research
3. The work of development agencies and solidarity organisations and networks
around CAFTA in the United Kingdom
4. The implications of processes in Mexico including the European Union’s
global agreement
The study was carried out in August and September 2003, and updated in 2005. The sources used were documents and articles mainly obtained through the Internet; a short email questionnaire for Central American and European contacts and some telephone interviews with UK organisations.
