ECLAC Calls for an End to Inequalities that Contribute to Violence Against Women | Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD)

Violence against women cannot be analyzed or confronted in isolation; it must be linked to the factors of economic, social and cultural inequalities that occur in power relations between men and women, according to the latest annual report of the ECLAC Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean (OIG), unveiled during the XV International Meeting on Gender Statistics of Aguascalientes, which ends today in Mexico.

Although the document warns about the absence, heterogeneity and dispersion of statistics on violence in the region, some national figures account for the scale of the problem. Last year, 88 women were murdered by their partners or former partners in Colombia, 83 in Peru, 71 in the Dominican Republic, 46 in El Salvador, 40 in Chile, 25 in Uruguay, 20 in Paraguay and 17 in Guatemala.

Other surveys show that 63 of every 100 women in Mexico and 60 of every 100 women in Ecuador have suffered some kind of violence, either by their partner or another person. This violence occurs more frequently among those who have or have had a partner (married, cohabiting, separated, divorced or widows): 48.7% in Ecuador, 47% in Mexico and 45.4% in Uruguay.

The difficulties to obtain reliable and timely information are worse in the case of indigenous and women of African descent. Available figures show that in Ecuador and Peru around 38% of indigenous women have at some time suffered physical or sexual violence at the hands of their partners. This situation applies to 24% of indigenous women in Guatemala and 20% in Paraguay.

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