Gender Issues Here

As an editorial note, after being frustrated with the way these computers handle apostrophes, I have realized that I can write without them most of the time. So, if you notice more formality and less garbage, that is why.

Gender issues here are a real problem. I think there is an awareness and desire to change in the government and in intellectual circles, but not where I am. For what it is worth, any governmental document or address is very egalitarian -- instead of using the general masculine form, they always say "doctors y doctoras" or something like that. I think the redundancy and the fact that it is so different from normal speech really cause it to stick out.

Two experience really illuminated the problems for me. First was on San Carlos. I was trying to figure out what the youth there would want or could use, things I could send here with people or groups coming in the future. For the guys it was easy -- a soccer ball, baseball stuff, English as a second language books. I couldn´t really come up with anything for the girls. There is a submissiveness that I had not realized that disguises any interest or desire for anything. If you ask them, they don´t need anything or want anything. "What do you like to do?" "Nothing much...talk, listen to music." I think it is partly a habit of meekness and partly that they don´t have the opportunity or resources to pursue anything recreational. Here, the guys play soccer and baseball and the girls can occasionally be found playing volleyball. Probaly they would appreciate a volleyball and an assortment of nice clothes. They have alot of things brought from groups from the US, but it is mostly boring stuff. The culture here is very image and fashion conscious, especially for women. I think the girls would appreciate more than our old t-shirts and other things we are tired of. One could probably buy a good selection of nicer clothes for not too much money. The only problem is that the standard attire here may not be something many churches are comfortable providing people. In general, people here are not very modest, and the weather on the coast tends to discourage it even more.

Another thing I have not had much opportunity to look into is the incidence of rape. Given the submissiveness of the women and the attitudes of most men in San Carlos, the following situation seems to follow naturally -- a young girl is raped by an uncle, cousin, or step-father, but does not say anything because of cultural pressures and is forced to deal with the violation as if there really isn´t anytihng that wrong with it. I want to be clear that I have not seen any direct evidence of this sort of thing, but the attitudes and environment are such that...it makes sense that it would occur. If someone told me that it was common, I would not be surprised in the least. I have seen it often enough in the US, and our standards for such a thing are much higher.

Another situation happened here in Carorita. There is a youth group that meets at the house/community center in Carorita. Francisco has been in Maracaibo, so..I do not know how to spell her name, but it is some adaptation of Rosa...Rosa was in charge. She came across as being very confident, intelligent, and capable. In the US she could probably be as successful as she wanted. It is different if I am at her house though. I walk in, am given a seat, and talk to her father and brothers. She comes at some point out of the kitchen and gives me a cup of coffee, says hello in the official way and will smile or something to make it a little more familiar, but it´s still within a very formal structure. Then she is back in the kitchen or other part of the house and I don´t see her again. It´s like two different people. That is just the way it works around here.

The girls in Carorita do have one advantage though. The boys go to school as much as they have to, but it is seen as an impediment to work. They go to school, come home, work, go to bed. No time for studying. The girls however have the opportunity to study and take school seriously. And the education system, on every level I have seen, takes them as seriously as the guys. BUT, you still have the strong family structures that make it hard for someone to leave Carorita, which is a requirement to do anything more than go on to be a farmers wife.

It is a tough problem. If you give malnourished people food, they will probably eat it. If you give someone who is sick medicine, they will probably take it. But changing attitudes like this is difficult. As I said, at the top level the attitude is very egalitarian, at least so far as I can tell. I think there is beginning to be an awareness amoung women that things can be different...and that is where any real change will start. In a place like Carorita, I think it is just a matter of changing habits of interaction. In San Carlos though there is actually power and self-esteem (of the men) tied up in the structure, and that will be much harder to change.