Redefining womanhood for El Salvador’s adolescent girls

Tuesday March 8th will mark International Women's Day, the annual global celebration of the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of incredible women across the world. International Women’s Day is one of most important days of the year to celebrate women, highlight significant achievements and continue advocating for equality.

It was on the eve of this day, one year ago, that I found myself sitting in my office reading article after article on what was happening to young girls in El Salvador. Just a few months earlier, I had attended a meeting with some of El Salvador’s community leaders in Melbourne, when a young woman spoke up and said, “You know, girls in El Salvador are choosing suicide as a way to escape the violence and fear”. At the time there seemed to be no solution. As I sat around that table with the community leaders and heard her speak, none of us had an adequate response to the problem. For several days, I was troubled by her statement and with the nagging question, “What could we do?”

Just before Christmas 2020, during what felt like a small reprieve from COVID in Melbourne, I began to feel a stirring and conviction in my heart to address this issue as the already incredibly high numbers of women targeted by violence in El Salvador (compared to the rest of the world) during COVID lockdowns had not gotten any better, but rather had continued to increase exponentially.

In case your were are not familiar with the statistics here is a snapshot of the situation

• Since 2020 the number of women murdered in El Salvador has skyrocketed by 30% since the pandemic began.

• Young adolescent girls are the group most vulnerable and targeted by violence and sexual assault.

• One in every three pregnancies in El Salvador is to a mother who is a minor.

• One woman is murdered in El Salvador every 24 hours because she is a woman (femicide).

• Between the Central American countries Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador ten women will go missing (disappeared) every day. That is approximately 30,000 women between the years 2012-2019.

So, that day, on the eve of International Women’s Day, as I sat in my office pouring over the articles and statistics on El Salvador’s gender crisis, it felt like a very real and personal ‘day of decision' to put our hand up to try and do something for El Salvador’s girls. A hard decision to make, considering a situation which seemed hopeless, bleak and to be honest, very intimidating as gender-based violence in Salvadorean society is masked and shrouded in silence and intimidation. More questions arose for me.

“How were we to respond to an issue that seemed so out of control?”

As a small charity in Melbourne Australia, how could we even begin to tackle the enormity of this issue? Would we even find partners on the ground in El Salvador who would dare to tackle this issue alongside us? But, God is faithful! We began to take small steps towards the vision we felt we had been entrusted with. Once we said “yes” the next step was revealed.

Almost one year on from that day in my office, we are reading different kinds of stories. In the last couple of weeks, we have had the opportunity of pouring over the stories and testimonials sent to us by our Women of Hope leaders from the girls who have taken part in our project and we are overwhelmed and incredibly thankful.

The stories and testimonials from the girls have been a confirmation of the direction we have taken in doing our part to address this incredibly complex issue.

As we invest in the lives of adolescent girls, we are tackling this issue from the ground up by empowering them with practical information and tools to help to keep them safe from violence. We are also addressing the issues of trauma and the cycles of abuse which can increase their vulnerability for abuse later in life. We are also engaging the girls in conversations that address deeply ingrained beliefs about what it means to be a girl and a woman in El Salvador by helping them explore their core identity.

One little girl, Ana, joined our Girls of Hope! program and at the tender age of 13 found it to be an eye-opening experience. Ana told us that before the program she didn't believe that she had many choices especially in the area of relationships.

"I learned something important through the sessions, but especially what was important for me to learn was that I can choose. Before I learned this, I thought that I had to be in relationships including friendships with the people who approached me and wanted to be close to me. I now know that I can choose who to be around and choose people who are good for me and will help me grow in my life" Ana, 13 years old

The work of placing value on the girl and woman in El Salvador is essentially a work of redefining womanhood for El Salvador’s girls as we challenge society’s view on women.

Our vision is that as we begin with the littlest ones that we will see generations of women impacted and embraced by a message of truth, that they are precious and valuable and deserve to be treated with value, worth and dignity.

Because of your support our second group of participants are currently in their second week of the course. Here in Melbourne, we are now in the exciting planning stages of our second violence prevention program 'Teens of Hope' and is being written for the next age group of teen girls 13-16 years of age!

This International Women’s Day...

As we work with some of the most vulnerable and impoverished women in the world, this International Women’s Day, we celebrate the tireless commitment and dedication of all our partners in El Salvador who work in local communities rolling out programs and projects with the hope of seeing a significant change for El Salvador’s women and children.

This day brings a renewed focus for our Women of Hope initiative. As we reflect on the past 12 months of this work, it has not been without its challenges, but is some of the most incredibly rewarding work to date.

We appreciate all your prayers as we keep moving forward and making head way with our Women of Hope initiative in El Salvador and as we pursue growing this project with many exciting possibilities on the horizon.

You can partner with us today, by supporting our Women of Hope initiative, you will be helping to make a difference in these girls’ lives!

Vania Labios

Director

Salvador’s HOPE