Womens organizations in El Salvador: history accomplishments and international support.

Womens organizations in El Salvador have undergone a unique evolution first in relation to the conditions of war that permeated El Salvador from 1980 to 1992 and then in response to economic restructuring and the challenges of democratization following the war. The conditions of El Salvadors civil war along with the fact that many womens organizations became stronger during the war have resulted in a unique set of organizations that are marked by their autonomy at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Early-conflict womens organizations (1980 to 1985) were characterized by their attachment to a wide range of popular grass-roots organizations and attempts to incorporate women into these groups. Many of these organizations mobilized women around economic issues survival in the war and human rights. A few formed in this period began to work with battered women and to question womens legal political and domestic subordination. Few however were willing to embrace the concept of feminism. Late-conflict and post-conflict womens organizations (1986 to 2001) are characterized by women challenging gender hierarchies within mixed grass-roots organizations and putting forth a gendered discourse on specific womens rights ranging from violence against women to inequities in the labor force. Feminism also became more prevalent during this time. In this chapter we look at the particular changes found in womens organizations and link them to specific historical social and economic circumstances. We then evaluate what the impact of womens organizations has been in terms of empowering Salvadoran women and make recommendations for international donor organizations so that they can better serve Salvadoran womens organizations. (excerpt)