WOMEN of Bolivia
by Jesse Walsh
Photo by Patrick McLendon
Abused, speechless, invisible, and powerless- this is how the women of Bolivia live their lives.
In recent years, the media has been flooded with heartbreaking stories disclosing the controversial and seemingly barbaric cultural customs regarding females in the Middle East. While the world fixes its pitiful eyes towards women sheltered by an excess of clothing, it often lies ignorant to the numerous other cultures in which women endure a life of submission and hopelessness. Bolivia, like many other South American countries, maintains an extremely masculine society. In their minds, women exist solely to procreate, domesticate and to ensure that home life is sustained. But in reality, women are the backbone of the society. They are the ones who spend time with the children, raise them, clothe them, feed them and educate them; nearly 100 percent of child rearing in the Latin American world is done by females. However, despite their paramount societal role, a majority of Bolivian women are disregarded, mistreated, and underutilized.
Located in the heart of South America, the landlocked country of Bolivia is among the hemisphere’s poorest. In fact, with over 60 percent of the population living under the poverty line, Bolivia is South America’s poorest and least developed country. With knowledge of Bolivia’s pressing economic status and adverse treatment of women, the region becomes a breeding ground for numerous non-profit organizations and aid groups. One organization, PRO MUJER, is specifically notable for its efforts in addressing these problems. PRO MUJER, meaning “for women” or “pro women,” is an international non-profit micro-financing and women’s development institution. Founded in 1990, PRO MUJER has spent the last 18 years hard at work to improve living conditions for women in Bolivia and all across Latin America. Not only do they provide invaluable support for impoverished women, but they also are doing so in a revolutionary manner. The age-old establishment of charity, while respectable and decorous, has shown little long-lasting results in the fight to end poverty. These women need more than a yearly donation or a hand-me-down sweater; they need sustainability. They need the power to elect change in their own lives. The very idea of sustainability and empowerment is the driving purpose of micro-financing. Micro-financing organizations, like PRO MUJER, provide women with monetary loans so that they might start their own small businesses. In addition to the loans, many programs often provide business development training and health services to create well-informed, healthy business women. The profits from their businesses supply a continuous flow of resources to the women, their families, and the surrounding community. The remarkable sustainability of micro financing institutions has slowly begun to lift women, children and families from around the world out of lives of great poverty and despair.
In a culture where women are given little opportunity to improve their conditions and impact their futures, PRO MUJER and micro-financing institutions alike step in and give women hope. This program’s meaning far exceeds a few borrowed dollars. Its innovation represents empowerment, quality of life and self-worth. For many, this can be the distinction between life and death.
For more information:
The End of Poverty by Jeffery D. Sachs
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