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WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN EL SALVADOR

AN ALTERNATIVE REPORT

Presentation

The United Nations Organization arises in 1945 as a consequence of the Governments’ reflection on the catastrophe and devastation produced by man when at war.

In 1948 and with the boost given by Eleanor Roosevelt, the United Nations approves the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man, the first modern instrument of acknowledgement and protection of Human Rights. We recognize its male-centered approach and understand that it responds to the historic moment and to the development of the Human Rights thought.

The irrefutable reality of women worldwide won in the discussion of Human Rights issues, and the United Nations experienced a substantive advance by approving in 1967 the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, an important precedent for the approval of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), in December 1979.

El Salvador ratified CEDAW on June 2, 1981, therefore from then on it is Law of the Republic of El Salvador, and the country is committed to adapting laws, adopting measures, defining policies, plans, programs and strategies that respond nationwide to the spirit of CEDAW, with the goal to eradicate both from the juridical order as well as from its institutional practices, all those actions that directly or through its results imply discrimination against women in the public and private spheres.

With the purpose of monitoring the implementation and enforcement of CEDAW, the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women requests the State Parties to present every 4 years their compliance report and opens the possibility for the Social Organizations committed to Human Rights to present their Alternative Report of the country.

The presentation procedure of the reports was not the most adequate to verify the violations of women’s rights, hence a Facultative Protocol was necessary to grant some degree of protection.

The Convention’s Facultative Protocol, approved by the United Nations in 1999, was subscribed by El Salvador in 2001, evidencing the government’s disposition and commitment towards promoting its ratification.

However, CEDAW’s Facultative Protocol has not yet been ratified, due to the opposition of some male and female members of the House of Representatives of the Legislative Assembly, who have been influenced by the campaigns of the Fundamentalist Groups, which promoted the idea that CEDAW’s protocol and the CEDAW committee, were supranational instruments and instances that would “force the State of El Salvador to legalize the criminal practice of abortion”. In this whole process there has been a total lack of political position from the governing instance of women’s national policy (ISDEMU), which has not backed up the various campaigns promoted by women’s groups demanding the ratification of the Protocol.

During the period comprised by the present Alternative Report, the Women’s Organizations permanently promoted and publicly defended Human Rights, specially women’s, and it has been these organizations the ones that have made visible gender violence as a violation of Human Rights, as well as developing advocacy actions for the design and approval of Public Policies and juridical changes that improve the Condition and Position of Salvadorian Women.

This Alternative Report is the product of the collective efforts of a variety of organizations that, within the framework of respect, cooperation and dedication, built this critical vision of CEDAW’s compliance in El Salvador.

The following movements cooperated with the elaboration of the Report: Women’s Movement “Melida Anaya Montes” (MAM), Salvadorian Women’s Movement (MSM), Feminine Christian Association (ACF), Women’s Association “Flor de Piedra”, Foundation for Development (FUNDE), Network of Action against Gender Violence, Cooperative Association of Ibero-American Women (ACOMIEL), Women’s Study Institute “Norma Virginia Guirola de Herrera” (CEMUJER) with the support of the Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women’s Rights (CLADEM) and the members of CLADEM’s support team, Aida Ruth Rodriguez Macall and Margarita Fuentes Sanabria.

The following entities adhered to the Alternative Report: Institute of Juridical Studies of El Salvador (IEJES), Cooperative Association of the Independent Group Pro Integral Rehabilitation (ACOGIPRI), Organization of Salvadorian Women for Peace (ORMUSA), Between Friends Association.

We believe this exercise of joint, ample and coordinated work can contribute to instill in our country the practice of evaluating the compliance of the commitments entered into by the government, related to the defense and protection of human rights.

San Salvador, January 2003

I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION ON THE POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SITUATION IN EL SALVADOR

According to the criterion of the organizations that took on the historical commitment to join efforts and elaborate the present Alternative Report, it is indispensable to place the social, political and economic context in which this Report is written.

With the signing of the 1992 Peace Agreements in El Salvador, a transition process started, which was characterized by the thrust and execution of deep institutional transformations aimed at establishing and consolidating a democratic regime.

The decade of the 90s meant for El Salvador a period of transformation of mechanisms, forms of access and exercise of power. The reforms implanted in the justice system reorganized the manner of electing the Supreme Court of Justice, the redefinition of the National Judicature Council, the creation of the Judicial Training School, the budget restructuring that grants the Judicial Organ a quota of the general budget no smaller than 6% of the current revenues. Likewise, the need for a Human Rights Ombudsman Office was suggested, through the creation of the Public Prosecutor for the Defense of Human Rights. During that period several legal reforms were executed (constitutional and of secondary laws) and of administrative reorganization in the structures and procedures of the administration of justice.

The formal agreements and the institutional actions undertaken, nevertheless, did not incorporate in an important manner the search for and construction of a political culture in favor of democracy. The political reforms, not only those derived from the Peace Agreements, did not take into consideration the scope of the country’s political dynamics. The population has a vision of mistrust in the political parties and the public institutions, more than in any other type of organization. In 1999, both the Supreme Voting Tribunal as well as the Supreme Court of Justice and the Legislative Assembly, were in a fairly low level of trust, compared to the Public Prosecutor for the Defense of Human Rights, the National Civil Police, the Armed Forces, which were better positioned in the eyes of the public. 1

Regarding the economic reforms, a very deep process was thrust forward, which strength was set on the privatization, deregulation (prices’ liberation and reduced State intervention) and in de-protection (commercial liberalization). However, the process neglected the modernization of the State, the strengthening of the institutions and the promotion of equal opportunities.

In El Salvador, the relation between growth and human development has changed in the last few years. Between 1975 and 1980 the human development index (HDI) remained unaltered, in spite of the fact that the GDP per capita grew at relatively high rates. This growth contributed very little towards decreasing poverty and increasing the population’s access to basic social services. On the contrary, between 1980 and 1990, in spite of the fact that the GDP per capita decreased, the HDI increased, due basically to the larger coverage in the health services. During the 90s, both the GDP and HDI increased. The latter case indicates that the growth achieved contributed to decreasing poverty and improving access to basic social services. 2

Regarding discrimination against women, some advances have been evidenced by the formulation of norms, implementation of programs and creation of spaces. However, significant setbacks also exist, such as the criminalization of all the abortion cases, constitutional reforms, decrease of the percentages of women in key power and decision-making posts, systematic campaigns against the approval of CEDAW’s Facultative Protocol, absolution in cases of sexual harassment, and other cases that will be shown in the Report.

Some of the Convention’s articles that the organizations deemed important at this point in time shall be developed, such as: violence against women, political participation, women in rural zones, prostitution, work, education, and health.

II. ARTICLES 1 TO 3: MEASURES ADOPTED TO ELIMINATE DISCRIMINATION

The contents of this article will allow us to focus on the reality existing in this country, regarding the steps that should be taken in the different State institutions, so as to eliminate discrimination, and the laws that contradict the principles of the Convention.
 

1) PRINCIPLE OF EQUALITY

The Constitution establishes in Article 3 that “All persons are equal before the law, for the enjoyment of the civil rights, no restrictions can be established based on nationality, race, sex or religion”3.

The concept of NON-DISCRIMINATION established in Article 1 of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, has not been picked up by the Constitution or the secondary legislation, thus finding ourselves with dispositions as the ones contained in the Family Procedural Law, which imposes mandatory power of attorney, which is an obstacle for women to exercise their right of access to justice under equal conditions as men4. It is indispensable to establish both principles in the text of the Constitution and the secondary legislation in order to guarantee respect for human rights.

No measures have been adopted that respond to plans of broad dissemination that can contribute to the integral knowledge of the Convention and that provide tools to male and female public officers and to citizens in general for an effective application of the Convention’s principles. In this respect, it is important to highlight that several programs developed by the School of Judicial Training, for the formation of judges and personnel of the Judicial Organ, which contained issues on gender, violence, human rights and international instruments with the objective of training and sensitizing on women’s rights, to guarantee an effective application of the laws and international Conventions, have been suppressed.

2) PUBLIC POLICIES

In El Salvador, in 1996, the Salvadorian Institute for Women’s Development was created, and in 1997, the first Women’s National Policy was approved, with the participation of different civil society institutions and organizations.

ISDEMU has not achieved becoming women’s ruling organism in national policy, since it does not have the juridical or budget capability to define or implement a global policy against discrimination that could be assumed by the different State and public administration instances. It has not been able to incorporate a gender vision to the design and execution of sector public policies. Nor does it posses mechanisms to enforce the commitments derived from the Convention. The most concrete example is the lack of position vis-à-vis the negative to the approval of CEDAW’s Facultative Protocol, which has been in the Legislative Assembly for the last two years.

We consider that the ISDEMU must become an instance from where to control compliance with the policies, plans and projects aimed at eliminating discrimination against women effectively, in coordination with the government’s general policies, since its annual reports reflect a diversity of actions executed in a partial and disperse manner, a lack of follow-up mechanisms, of strategies and the de-liaison with organisms that represent civil society’s expressions such as women’s groups.

3) LEGISLATION

El Salvador ratified by decree 430 dated August 23, 1995, the Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Sanction and Eradicate Violence against Women, which caused that by Decree 902-28 of November 1996, the Law Against Intra-family Violence was approved, which has been reformed on June 27, 2002, even considering patrimonial violence as a form of violence that affects women’s right to live a life free of all forms of violence.

The problems of an effective application of the law have not been overcome due to the fact that it is the Family Tribunals the ones in charge of solving the conflicts, which has constituted a big workload, plus the lack of training that would allow a knowledge and appropriation on the part of the Judges, of the reality of violence and its causes, effects and consequences that primarily affect women. It is necessary to create more psycho-social Attention Centers that are the ones in charge of attending extra-judicially the persons involved in intra-family violence deeds, to ensure an efficient service and the implementation of follow-up measures5.

By Decree 1030 dated April 26, 1997, the New Penal Code was approved, which was in force since April 20, 1998, in which several penal figures were introduced, which goal is to protect women’s rights, such as sexual harassment and intra-family violence. However, the types of penalties place these crimes in the less serious categories, which makes impossible their prosecution until obtaining a sentence, since they enjoy alternate exits such as Conciliation, they do not have compensation for the damage caused as in the case of intra-family violence and are considered of lesser importance even in relation to crimes related to patrimony. It is important highlighting that the new Penal Code criminalizes all the abortion cases, which were not penalized in the previous Code6.

III. ARTICLE 5 – VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

In El Salvador, violence is still the maximum expression of the power inequality between men and women, stated in all the fields of life. Even with the advances in matters of Public Policies, such as the Women’s National Policy and the Legislation on Intra-Family Violence, the sexist vision of women and their rights subsists, which has not made possible to generate in the country the Gender Violence perspective.

In August 1995, the Legislative Assembly ratified the Inter American Convention to Prevent, Sanction and Eradicate Violence against Women, which by mandate establishes the adequacy and formulation of its own laws that apply the spirit of the Convention; its implementation became the Law Against Intra-Family Violence. The acknowledgement of the Intra-Family Violence offense in the Penal Code, the consolidation of the Cleansing Program for the family relationships and the emergency line of the “Friend of the Family Telephone” of the Salvadorian Institute for Women’s Development (ISDEMU), which evidences the family bias of continuing locating women in the private space and as subject of violence in the family relationships.

There are some formal changes in the acknowledgement of sexual harassment and work discrimination as penal offenses. Nevertheless, no specific reference is made as Gender Violence: Article 165 of the Sexual Harassment is located in Chapter III “Other Attacks on Sexual Liberty” defines the offense in an ambiguous language “he who performs sexual acts undesired by the person receiving them…” and the assignment of a penalty even though it is considered aggravated if performed towards children under 12 years of age or using a superiority position, does not exceed 2 years in jail and the imposition of 30-day penalties. The complaint procedure would seem to indicate that it is the victims the ones that must prove their morality, more than a serious act of investigation of the offense. Work discrimination as an offense related to the Labor Rights7 is established in an ample context of discriminations “…based on sex, state of gravity, origin, marital status, race, social or physical condition, political or religious ideas, and adhesion or not to syndicates…”.

1- SEXUAL VIOLENCE. The Penal Code currently in force, approved in 1997, restructures the different sexual violence expressions in Title IV Offenses Against Sexual Liberty, which is subdivided into 3 chapters: I. “Of Rape and Other Sexual Aggressions” which includes 5 types of offenses: Rape, Rape of a Minor and Handicapped person, Other Sexual Aggressions, Sexual Aggression of a Minor and Handicapped Person, Aggravated Rape and Sexual Aggression; II. “About Rape” which includes rape and, III. “Other Attacks on Sexual Liberty” which defines 9 penal types: Sexual harassment, diverse sexual act, corruption of minors, induction, promotion and favoring of prostitution, determination of prostitution, obscene exhibitions, pornography and utilization of minors with pornographic and exhibitionist goals.

We consider the assumption of the women’s organizations’ proposal of broadening the typifying of rape to include “…carnal access via the vagina and anus…”8 as an important change in the current legislation. Albeit the fact that it does not totally represent the proposal, it has meant an advance in acknowledging and typifying it.

Sexual Violence represents one of the larger complaint rates by women, but it is difficult to establish the real number of complaints from sexually attacked persons, since during the period of the report each Institution managed individually its registry and its own complaint typology.

The Unit of Offenses Against Women and Minors in the Family Relationship of the Republic’s Attorney General’s Office, received in the year 2000, 2512 complaints of rapes and other sexual aggressions, representing 77.8% of the complaints whilst rape and sexual harassment represented 12%9. The Family Health National Survey (FESAL 98), performed by the Salvadorian Demographic Association (SDA), explored for the first time the indicator “exposure to sexual abuse” among women 15 to 49 years of age. The result indicated that 5.8% of women were forced to perform the sexual act at least once in their life. FESAL in its analysis takes up the demographic data of DIGESTYC (General Bureau of Statistics and Census) and considers that of the feminine population 15 to 49 years old for 1998 (1’580,574) approximately 91,673 women were forced to have sexual relations at some point in time10.

Regarding sexual harassment, its typifying and legal process does not really allow justice for women; the majority of those who complain find a cumbersome process which finds them guilty. In 2001, 8 women belonging to the National Civil Police denounced sexual harassment on the part of high-ranking police officers. Of these, 3 (one agent and two administrative officers), filed demand in the tribunals against the deputy director of the Public Security Academy and the Chief of the Metropolitan Region of San Salvador; in the 3 cases the accused were definitively declared innocent and the plaintiffs were transferred and discredited within the Police entity.

2- SOCIO-CULTURAL PATTERNS AND STEREOTYPES. Within the framework of the Public Policies, the Women’s National Policy, in its 10 strategic goals, specially goal 2 related to education, proposes actions tending to the elimination of sexiest language, discriminatory practices at school, work, health, mass media, etc. It has promoted the inclusion of gender equity as a value in the formal educational curriculum. The Policy as National Instrument has to be applied by all the public and municipal instances. The problem we identify is not located in the formal aspect for being in accordance with the international commitments, but rather due to the “will to guarantee” a real implementation, since that implies the adaptation of functions and Institutions, as well as the monitoring of procedures and practices of the male and female officers and public employees in the different levels of authority.

IV. ARTICLE 6 – THE SITUATION OF PROSTITUTION

In El Salvador, the existing legislation on prostitution is of a punitive nature and is referred to the penalization with imprisonment from 1 to 3 years for those that induce, promote and favor prostitution of minors11.

The actions performed by the State institutions engaged in the protection of children’s human rights, are reduced only to arrest or breaking and entry actions in the businesses (whore houses) where minors have been identified, but the alternative presented to them is their entry into Minors’ Centers, which does not contribute to solving the problem of exploitation.

There are no institutions that develop policies, from the governmental instances, aimed at suppressing or decreasing women’s exploitation, there are only women’s organisms that execute projects towards this goal.

There is no policy for approaching integrally the prostitution phenomenon, that contemplates real actions to prevent the sexual exploitation of minors; alternative programs for women that voluntarily wish to retire from the exercise of prostitution; programs for the security, acknowledgement and respect for their human rights.

The municipal agents are in charge of imposing fines on women, the Public Health Ministry does not show too much interest on the unhealthy conditions in which many women that market their sexual favors perform their activity.

Few massive educational actions are performed from the Ministry of Education, aimed at the transformation of the patriarchal concepts of a society that accepts and reproduces values based on subordination, discrimination and exploitation of women and that reproduce the masculine superiority and the double-moral positions.

The treaties and international conventions signed by the Salvadorian State shall be inoperative if they are not followed by economic policies that benefit the majority of the population. Signing free-trade treaties and boosting the current economic activities is leading more families and within these, women, to engage in survival activities that affect their health and their personal dignity.

There exists a Municipal Ordinance in San Salvador, capital of the Republic, which sanctions the sexual trade with fines that range from US$ 100 to more than US$ 25012.

V. ARTICLE 7 – PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN THE POLITICAL AND PUBLIC LIFE

The Salvadorian State legally and formally acknowledges the voting right; the right to associate to constitute political parties and to enter those already constituted, the right to run for public posts, under equal conditions for men and women13.

After the voting right achieved in 1950; after the access to high-ranking posts in government, initiated in the 60’s; after the significant access to popular election posts since the 80’s and women’s participation in Municipal Councils since the 90’s. There have been no advancements in women’s participation in the political and public life of El Salvador, but rather, on the contrary, only worrisome setbacks.

In the last five years (1998 – 2002 period), not a single new norm has been adopted that guarantees women’s participation without discrimination in the political and public life.

LEGALLY ESTABLISHED FORMS OF ACCESSING PUBLIC POSTS IN EL SALVADOR

• Popular election: Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the Republic, Male and Female Members of the House of Representatives to the Legislative Assembly and the Central American Parliament, Councilmen and Councilwomen at the Municipalities.

• Nominal and public voting: Male and Female Members of the House of Representatives elect for the Posts of: Assignee to the Presidency of the Republic; Presidency and Male and Female Magistrates of the Judiciary and the Supreme Court of Justice, Members of the National Judiciary Council; President and Male and Female Magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal; Male and Female President and Magistrates of the Republic’s Court of Accounts; Male and Female Procurer for the Defense of Human Rights; Attorney General of the Republic, Prosecutor General of the Republic.

• By appointment: To occupy different administrative posts in the Public sector.
  

A- POLICIES, MEASURES AND PROGRAMS ADOPTED BY THE SALVADORIAN STATE TO GUARANTEE WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN THE POLITICAL AND PUBLIC LIFE

The Salvadorian Institute for the Development of Women (ISDEMU), created in 1996 developed actions such as: the establishment of commitments to advise the Municipal Councils on gender issues and the adoption of measures for the creation of the Gender Unit in the Municipal Development Institute.

ISDEMU and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal developed a Strengthening Plan for women’s citizen’s participation14.

As a result of these two actions, the Gender Unit was created in the Training School of the Municipal Development Institute. Likewise, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal developed two sensitization campaigns –1998 and 1999- to increase women’s participation and voting nationwide. The Electoral Registry was updated, with data disaggregated by sex; in the Office of the Mayor of San Salvador, the Commission for Gender Equity was created.

ISDEMU has not proposed the performance of determinant actions to ensure the elimination of discrimination against women in the political and public life; it is necessary to establish mechanisms and procedures in the system of political parties, tending to guarantee the participation with equality of women and men in the public posts of popular election. Likewise, it is necessary to develop campaigns that promote women’s rights to opt for and hold public posts under equal opportunities and conditions as men.

B- WOMEN’s PARTICIPATION IN POLITICAL AND PUBLIC DECISION-MAKING POSTS

1. EXECUTIVE ORGAN

In 1999, Lic. Francisco Flores assumed as President of the Republic. His formula was male; however, his opponent carried a mixed formula.

That government, which continues in its Presidential period, was initiated with a total of three women Ministers, out of a total of 10 Ministries, which meant 30%; this percentage was afterwards reduced to 10%.

The first and second assignees to the Presidency are men with no previous political experience, a requirement that is usually demanded of women; therefore, the percentage of women assigned to the Presidency of the Republic is zero.

Two of the three principal posts of the Public Ministry are occupied by men (that of Attorney General of the Republic and the General Prosecutor of the Republic) and one woman occupies the post of Prosecutor for the Defense of Human Rights. Consequently, the participation of women in the Public Ministry is 33.33%.

2. THE JUDICIARY

In the Supreme Court of Justice, the Constitutional Chamber is the one of greater relevance in the political life of the country. A woman has never been President of that Chamber, consequently a woman has never been President of the Supreme Court. The Penal Chamber, which has the highest punitive power of the State, does not have women’s representation. In the Administrative Contentious, only in the previous period was there a woman Magistrate and another one in the Civil Chamber. In the current Court, there are two women Magistrates who are part of the Civil Chamber, which decides over the patrimonial and social rights, constituting 14% of the total of magistrates.

In the Chamber, or second instance magistracies, women hold 9% of the posts; in the first instance tribunals, 30% of the women are judges; in the Peace Tribunals, 44% are women, nationwide.

With the exception of the Supreme Court, the tendency in the Judiciary constitutes qualitative discrimination since the greater the hierarchy, the lesser the participation of women in management and decision-making posts.

There is no legislation that establishes positive actions within the boundaries of the Judiciary for the participation of women.

3. LEGISLATIVE ORGAN

In the previous Legislative Assembly (1997 – 2000), women’s participation reached 17% vis-à-vis 83% of men, out of a total of 84. In the current Assembly 2000 – 2003, only 9.5% of women participate, compared to 90.5% of men. There has been a drastic qualitative and quantitative reduction of women’s participation in said State Organ.

It is important to point out how the trend towards the exclusion of Congresswomen persists, both of the Board of Directors as well as of the Political Commission, which are the two internal structures where the real power is concentrated. Currently, there is only one woman from the House of Representatives that is part of those instances.

4. LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

The same tendency towards discrimination of women who participate in these spaces is observed. As the importance of the post increases, the number of women decreases. Currently, 8% of the Mayors’ Offices are run by women; 12% are Syndics and 20% Councilwomen.

5. POLITICAL PARTIES

In the political parties the tendency to the qualitative reduction of women in the management and decision-making posts prevails. The government party, ARENA, has in its maximum management organism a total of 13 members, of which 2 are women, representing 15.38%. The FMLN party, which is the first opposition party, has in its maximum management organism a total of 56 members, of which 20 are women, representing 35.7%; in the Political Commission, out of a total of 18 members, only 8 are women, which represents 44.44%.

6. SYNDICATE ORGANIZATIONS

In the public sector, women’s participation in the management committees, such as the General Association of Public and Municipal Employees, AGEPYM, reaches 18%; in the Association of Municipal Workers, ASTRAM, 11%; in the Judiciary Workers’ Association, ASTOJ, 44%. In the private sector, the Private Enterprise National Association has 13% of women in management positions; in the Salvadorian Association of Radio Broadcasters, ASDER, 23% are women.

ARTICLE 10 – WOMEN’s RIGHT TO EDUCATION

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN THE COUNTRY

The Constitution, in its Article 53, establishes that the obligation and main goal of the State is the conservation, sponsoring and dissemination of education. In Article 56, the right and the duty of the men and women who inhabit the Republic to receive kindergarten and basic education, is recognized, and the State commits to the formation of special education centers, which shall be free of charges for those levels. Article 58 contemplates that “no education center may deny admission to students based on the nature of their parents’ or guardians’ union, or for social, religious, racial or political differences”15.

The country’s educational system has two modes: formal education, which comprises the initial, kindergarten, basic and medium levels and is given in authorized educational establishments, in a regular sequence of collective years or semesters, subject to progressive curricular guidelines that lead to grades and titles; and non-formal education, offered to complement and form in academic/work aspects, without being subject to the system of grades and titles.

CURRENT SITUATION OF EDUCATION IN THE COUNTRY (1998 – 2001 period)

In 1999, the expense allocated to social development increased from 24% to 36% of the total expense, and the area of Education was the one that consumed more resources.

Public expenditure in Education in 1994 was 1.9% of GDP, having increased for the year 2000 to 3%. The Ministry of Education has deemed it necessary to increase it to 4% of GDP at least, with the object of attaining universal access in basic education and to achieve a good environment in the learning process16.

The Education Budget reached US$ 334,972.34 in the year 2000; however, in the Education system’s current conditions, said budget does not guarantee the conditions necessary for the attention of the student population.

In 1997, the average investment in each girl/boy was less than US$ 8.00.

In 1997 there were 8,218 public Education Centers nationwide:

Pre-school education 37.55%

Basic education 53.22%

Night basic education 2.25%

Basic education for

Adult persons 4.23%

In 1997 school attendance in the Urban area was 91.1% boys and 92.2% girls.

In the rural area it was 76.2% boys and 76.0% girls.

The decrease in the enrollment of basic education students in the period 1997 to 2000, from 1’191,208 to 1’015,000, is worrisome. Since there is no data disaggregated by sex, it has not been possible to pinpoint if this phenomenon affects girls specially.

In 1999, 29% of the rural population over 10 years of age was illiterate, almost tripling the urban area percentage. In both areas the feminine illiteracy rate was quite larger than that of men. Of the total illiteracy rate of 18.1%, the masculine percentage was 15.5% and the feminine was 20.4%. In the urban zones the masculine percentage was 8.1% and the feminine was 12.9%, whilst in the rural zones the masculine rate was 25.8% and the feminine 32.3%17.

82.1% of the rural population over 10 years of age had a minimum of primary education, whilst in the urban area more than 50% had surpassed that level of studies.

In the State of the Nation 1999 Report, it is highlighted that more than the gender factor, what has affected the most the schooling level of the population was the geographical location and the income level. Thus, the differences in the rural area were minimal; 3 years of study for men and 2.8 for women, whilst in the urban area the difference was almost one year of schooling: 6.9 for men and 6.3 for women.

In the year 2000 a program to decrease illiteracy was implemented, in coordination with six universities, aimed at 78,000 persons of the urban/rural marginal zones. The goal was to reduce to 12% the illiteracy rate that was 17.2%. Literacy for girls and women was not proposed as a priority.

STEREOTYPED VOCATIONAL ORIENTATION

The Report of the Literacy and Basic Education Program for El Salvador Adults informs that the Education for Work Project was designed as a non-formal alternative of educational continuity for the recently-literate population, establishing courses planned in the so-called “Adults’ Integrated Basic Education Centers”.

Among the occupational areas designed are the following:

Dressmaking, metal mechanics, civil construction, food, hotels and tourism. Within these programs, the implementation of policies tending to favor the participation of women, and the promotion of the insertion into non-traditional areas, was not established.

EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT IN THE CITY AND IN THE COUNTRY. DIFFERENCES

In 1999, 29% of the rural population over 10 years of age was illiterate, almost tripling the urban area percentage. In both areas the feminine illiteracy rate was quite larger than that of men. Of the total illiteracy rate of 18.1%, the masculine percentage was 15.5% and the feminine was 20.4%. In the urban zones the masculine percentage was 8.1% and the feminine was 12.9%, whilst in the rural zones the masculine rate was 25.8% and the feminine 32.3%18.

82.1% of the rural population over 10 years of age had a minimum of primary education, whilst in the urban area more than 50% had surpassed that level of studies.

There are no coordination actions between the Ministry of Education and other State dependencies such as the Ministry of Public Works, in charge of the road maintenance, in order to improve or open new access routes in the most faraway places, with the purpose of facilitating the attendance of the male and female students to the education centers. This is one of the obstacles that prevails in the rural zones and that contributes to the students’ absenteeism.

On the other hand, there is no territorial distribution policy of the education centers, due to the disperse manner in which the houses in the rural zones are built. Likewise, in those zones, the education centers generally attend population levels of the first two school grades, having to travel great distances to be able to continue with the following grade, thus undermining the students’ possibilities in those rural zones of raising their education level.

SCHOOL DROPOUTS, CAUSES. ALTERNATIVES ON THE PART OF THE GOVERNMENT

In 1998 the total number of dropouts was 125,713.

In the URBAN ZONE: 21,113 WOMEN and 31,131 MEN

In the RURAL ZONE: 33,064 WOMEN and 40,400 MEN

Of the total dropouts, 58% correspond to the RURAL AREA. The largest number of dropouts is found in the basic and medium levels, which are the periods in which women initiate their reproductive functions, a circumstance that promotes the abandonment of studies.

The discriminatory practices towards the pregnant adolescents persist, and they are forced to abandon their studies. One of the causes is that the staff of the different education levels has not been duly trained, in a permanent and coordinated manner, on gender equity, sexism expressions inside and outside the classroom, the “hidden curriculum” and other forms of discrimination.

The lack of follow-up mechanisms and evaluation policies does not allow pondering on the non-sexist attitudes and practices of male and female school teachers.

STEPS TAKEN FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION REGARDING HIV/AIDS AND PROGRAMS OF FIGHT AGAINST AIDS

In the period reported, information was given on family life, reproduction biology, and sexuality. Nevertheless, starting in 2000, within the framework of the educational reform, the Program “EDUCATION FOR LIFE” is consolidated. This program comprises an integral approach that from the intention of human rights, develops formation programs for teachers and students, HIV, violence, sexuality, developing also campaigns under the slogan: DECIDE TO WAIT, USE YOUR INTELLIGENCE, in coordination with the Ministry of Health. In 2001, the Ministry of Education, responding to pressures from conservative sectors, withdrew from the whole educational system a Manual titled “By Adolescents for Adolescents”, which contained information on sexual education, which has been worked in coordination with the Ministry of Health, cooperation organisms and women’s movements.

VI. ARTICLE 11 – WORK RIGHTS OF WOMEN, WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION

1. THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION AND THE SALARIES IN El SALVADOR

The situation through which the Salvadorian labor market is going through is not unrelated to the group of measures aimed at the modification of the economic policies with the purpose of achieving a greater liberalization of the economy, by reducing the State’s role, the privatization of public enterprises, the elimination of commercial barriers, de-regulation of prices and opening to foreign investment; i.e., with the application of the PAE/PEE starting in 1989.

It is important to highlight that the Salvadorian governments during the twelve years of adjustment and stabilization, have not had a well-defined employment policy regarding purposes and instruments. Therefore, employment has been conceived as a variable, subject to the activities related to foreign trade, to small and medium-sized businesses and to the farming and agricultural sector.

The implementation of a well-defined employment policy is vitally important, one that analyzes the causes of discrimination against women, which are translated into discriminatory treatment in labor rights: work contracts, remunerations, rest periods, work schedules, social benefits, since the absence of such a policy has had repercussions on a labor market scenario not too favorable for women.

Evolution of employment and unemployment during the 90’s

During the 90’s employment did not improve significantly: in 1992 the persons employed represented 90.7% of the Economically Active Population (EAP) and for 2000, 93%, a non-growth year with respect to 1999. On the other hand, the model boosted by means of the application of the PAE/PEE, has not been able to generate the necessary jobs according to the growth of the work supply; between 1992 and 2000, 569,550 jobs were created and the work supply increased to 972,728 (population in working age). Therefore, approximately 40% of the population in working age was not absorbed, which has repercussions in the informalization of employment and in the migration of Salvadorian labor towards neighboring countries.

One of the most dynamic sectors in employment generation has been the informal sector, which from the start of the past decade has increased its participation within the EAP. During the year 2000 the employment in the informal sector in the urban area grew by 5.6%, whilst the formal sector grew by 0.5%. The formal sector’s loss of dynamism in the employment generation is partially explained by the results of the economic adjustment and stabilization measures.

The reduction in public spending and the modernization of the State has eliminated a significant amount of labor (for 1999, only 9.2% of the population employed worked in the public sector; this percentage for 1998 was close to 16%), which the formal sector has not been able to absorb; therefore, the unemployed of this sector are forced to work in informal activities. On the other hand, the reduction of jobs in the formal sector is also explained by the low sales turnover of the large and medium-sized companies, which has translated into a low labor demand on the part of these.

Where the economic sectors are concerned, important changes have also been observed, which has led to outsourcing and a decline of employment in the productive activities. At the beginning of the 90s the farming and agricultural sector was the principal sector in employment generation: in 1992 it employed 34.8% and for the year 2000 only 20.9% of the total employed, whilst business absorbed 26.3% and the industrial activity maintained its participation around 18%. Although the manufacturing industry sector has been one of the more dynamic ones due to the adjustment and stabilization measures, regarding employment generation its results have had little significance; during the decade, employment in this sector has remained around 18.3% of total employment.

During the 90s, sub-employment has been reduced (urban sub-employment divided by total EAP), going from a rate of 19.5% with respect to the country’s EAP for 1992 to 14.9% for 2000. In spite of the good results, most of the sub-employed are concentrated in the invisible category; for the year 2000, 86% of the sub-employed received income lower than the minimum salary and worked through their resting periods, which indicates that they did not have any labor rights.

It must be noted that the sectors with larger sub-employment levels are farming and agriculture, fishing and trade; and most of these are concentrated in the invisible category. The situation of the farming and agricultural sector is quite worrisome since 60.6% of the urban employed are sub-employed and if we take into consideration those of the rural area, the percentage would be even higher. In business, the percentage of unemployed amounts to 31.2%, being women the ones that are at a disadvantage with respect to men in spite of the fact that the majority of workers in the sector are women (58%).

The excessive concentration of sub-employed in the invisible sub-employment reveals the precarious condition of the Salvadorian employment market, the impossibility of the economic reforms to reduce the gaps between both categories (visible and invisible) and between men and women. It is the women, in most sectors, the ones that receive income lower than the minimum salary and are forced to work more than 40 hours per week, without considering the domestic work.

The lower-than-minimum-salary income received and the excessive working hours do not contribute to an efficient restoring of the working strength, specially of women, for whom the work schedule is considerably longer than men’s.

For the year 2000 the unemployment rate for men was 9.1% and for women 3.7%; throughout the decade, women’s unemployment rate has remained below the national and men’s average and with a tendency to broaden the gap between both rates.

The reduction of feminine employment could be explained by the dynamics of the economic activity that has been fostered within the framework of the PAE/PEE, specially the “maquila”. Since one of the principal strategies presented by the programs is the attraction of foreign investment and the promotion of exports, cheap labor turns out to be the essential element so that the country is attractive for the investors and to improve the competitiveness of the exports. In this sense, since the application of the programs, the feminine-labor-intensive activities (textile “maquila”) have begun to develop dynamically, due to the fact that it is cheaper and more flexible to hire women than men and consequently more attractive for investors trying to reduce their costs.

Another indicator that is a proof of the feminization of employment is the Employment Market Survey of FUSADES, which reveals that feminine employment in the textile, confection, and shoes industries grew by 48.7% between 1993 and 1996 in the metropolitan area of San Salvador, whilst that of men grew by 11.8%. On the other hand, a study performed by the Work Studies Center (CENTRA) informs that 83% of the labor force employed in the “maquila” is feminine.

The reduction of women’s unemployment rate does not necessarily contribute to an improvement of their conditions due to the fact that (1) the majority of women are employed in the informal sector and/or in activities of the formal sector where their labor rights are recurrently violated; (2) the income received is not enough to cover their needs and take them out of poverty, due to the salary differences between women and men; and (3) more and more, they have less time to restore their strength and for leisure, since they are also responsible for domestic work, as well as the care and education of their children.

The salary differences between men and women are still present with the structural reforms, even though a reduction of the gaps has been observed; for example, for 1992 the gap between sexes was 44% and for 2000 it fell to 26%.

On average, from 1992 to 2000, men have earned US $52.1 more than women, which is explained in part by the fact that women are employed in low-remuneration activities such as the “maquila” and small businesses, and under the same cultural patterns of the Salvadorian society, which to a certain extent have marginalized the role of women in production.

Social Security

Article 50 of the Constitution establishes that “social security constitutes a public service of obligatory nature”. In this sense, the workers have the right to be affiliated in the Salvadorian Institute of Social Security (ISSS) to enjoy the medical/hospital services. Social security is important to get to know the living conditions of the labor sector since it is a system that seeks that the working population and their family count with enough services for the conservation of their health.

Social security is an indicator that can bring us up close to the precariousness of the jobs generated in the Salvadorian economy, since the existence of large portions of the population without social security services would mean that the jobs that the economy is generating are of low quality, lacking social protection and consequently not complying with the labor rights.

In Latin America, El Salvador is located among the economies with the lowest unemployment rates. Nevertheless, the reduction of the unemployment rate has been accompanied by a reduction in the employed population’s access to social security. For the year 2000 the percentage of employed workers covered by ISSS was reduced by 5.6% and it has been with women that the social security coverage has been significantly reduced (the reduction in coverage for women in 2000 was 6.4% and that of men 4.7%); whilst the employed not covered increased by 5.2% with respect to 1999.

Right to Safety and Hygiene at work

According to the Maquilas and Fiscal Resorts Monitoring Report of the Ministry of Work for the year 2000, one of the workers’ indications is the bad quality of human consumption water, which presents a bad taste, appearance, color and odor. Furthermore, periodic studies that certify water’s physical/chemical and bacteriological status, are not being performed. Finally, the physical environment is not adequate, the facilities have little ventilation and in some cases they do not have the ideal safety equipment such as gloves, masks, etc. 19

SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Sexual harassment is typified in the Penal Code, in Article 165. It does not expressly refer to the labor cases, but this is the norm that comprises the situations presented in the labor sector.

DOMESTIC WORK

Only in the family legislation, Article 38, it is mentioned that when one of the spouses does not have goods or does not earn a salary, the performance of the domestic work or the care of the children shall be taken as her contribution towards expenses, with the same significance as the other’s contribution.

VII. ARTICLE 12 – THE RIGHT TO HEALTH WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION

1. GENERAL CONTEXT

The Constitution of El Salvador contemplates, in Article 65, that health constitutes a public good, assigning to the State and to all persons, the obligation of conserving and reestablishing it. Likewise, it establishes that it shall be the State the one that determines the national health policy, controlling and overseeing its application.

The political, economic, and social situation that the country is undergoing, in which an economic model that proposes cutting social expenditure prevails, provokes a situation that hits the already precarious economy and impacts negatively on health, specially that of girls and women.

Women’s health is still being approached from the point of view of the binomial mother/child, ignoring them as individual subjects, not going beyond their reproductive capabilities. Women constitute the population group with the highest risk, together with the rural population and the population in poverty situation. There are difficulties in accessing the first level of attention services and even more in those of specialized medicine of the second and third levels. A great percentage of the poorer population does not have access to adequate drinking water, which is an element that determines the health results.

The rendering of the health services is in three levels: 1. Health education and preventive actions; 2. Ambulatory and hospital attention; and 3. Rehabilitation or recovery. The health providers act in an uncoordinated manner among themselves, which translates into duplicity of efforts in certain zones and to lack of access in others. The resources are concentrated in the urban area, leaving unattended vast rural zones20.

The public sector institutions that provide health services are: the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance, which theoretically attends 80% of the population. It has 30 hospitals and 547 peripheral centers of first and second-level attention, with an average of 19,747 agents, of which approximately 18% are male and female medics; and the Salvadorian Institute of Social Security (ISSS), which grants health coverage to the working population of the public and private sectors, their spouses, their children under 6 years of age and to the retired and pensioned persons. It has close to 44 establishments concentrated in the metropolitan area21.

SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

The Women’s National Policy, approved in 1997, states in Strategic Objective 3.3, the State’s commitment to “promote the attention of women’s sexual and reproductive health, her sexual and reproductive rights and the risk practices that affect her health, applying the gender approach”. The State entity in charge of the application of the health norms is the Ministry of Health22. Since 1999 there is a project awaiting approval in the Legislative Assembly for a new Health Code that contemplates norms regarding sexual and reproductive rights.

The Salvadorian society maintains deep-rooted philosophical and religious foundations, which are based on sex-phobic beliefs and values, and there is a tendency to believe that sex is taboo. Procreation has been fatalistically related to the fact of being a woman, making the feminine identity “complete” when women assume their role as mothers, influenced by the messages they receive through the mass media, at school, in church, at home, which are limited to the reproductive role, within the framework of reality and chastity, without any self-realization alternatives.

There are no policies aimed at educators, health personnel, and public officials that show them the way of self-knowledge and self-study, which is indispensable in order to realize and comprehend their own sexuality; this would allow them to isolate their myths, as well as any false concepts of human sexuality, in such a way that they may be able to better understand the attitudes and behavior of the rest of the people.

The persons in charge of the family planning services do not relate the aspects related to the sexual pleasure behavior with the teaching and supply of birth-control devices to regulate reproduction. Contraception methods are provided without any orientation on the enjoyment and sexual responsibility.

The institutions responsible for the Family Planning Program are: the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance, which comprises 47.1% of the services throughout the country; the Salvadorian Institute of Social Security, with 18.2% in the urban area and the Salvadorian Demographic Association, with 15.5% in the rural area23.

The last Family Health National Survey, FESAL 1998, indicates that of the total of women in fertile age (15 to 44 years old), 38% uses a contraceptive method, of which 59.7% are married, 33.9% are separated, in non-marriage union or divorced, and 2.9% are single. As of 1998 the preference towards the temporary methods was greater among married women, women in non-marriage unions and under 25 years of age; however, in women from 40 to 44 years old, the most used method is sterilization24.

The Ministry of Health provides contraception methods to 68% of the population without formal education and to 62.6% of women in the low socioeconomic levels. The Salvadorian Demographic Association provides health care to 18% of women with less than 7 years of schooling and 19% of low socioeconomic level. This indicates that the rate of utilization of contraception methods on the part of rural area women is minimal, which can be attributed to the lack of a dissemination policy about reproductive health and to the lack of resources to access said methods.

Women’s health

The percentage of the national budget assigned to the Health sector is 9.6%. Such percentage limits the capacity to provide services, taking into consideration that out of a total of 6’031,326 inhabitants, 52.4% are women; 27.8% are children under 10 years of age; 22.3% are adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 years and the women in reproductive age represent 31.7% (1’911,061) of the population25.

Out of the 30 hospitals, only one is specialized in reproductive health: the Maternity Hospital, located in the capital. In it, the demand of births is attended, as well as the external and hospital attention specialized in the detection and treatment of cervical and breast cancer.

The conceptual limitation of the health programs is reflected in the services that are promoted: pre-natal control, birth, maternal breastfeeding, puerperium and family planning.

Regarding the maternal mortality rate, there are great differences among the data provided by the FNUAP: 300 x 100,000; the Ministry of Health: 62 x 100,00; the National Health Survey FESAL 1998: 120 x 100,000. The institutional maternal mortality for the year 2000 was reflected in relation to the socioeconomic level: in the Department of San Salvador, where the capital of the country is, it was 33.3% with a rate of 31.3% of the total of the population and a public investment of 32.6%; in the Department of Cuscatlan it was 123%, counting with a population rate of 3.3% and 0.4% of the public investment (Ministry of Health)26.

Cancer mortality in women, in the metropolitan area of San Salvador, between 1997 and 2000, was located in the uterus neck and in the breasts in 2002 women of which, in 1998, 524 died of breast cancer, increasing to 616 in the year 200027. One of the most effective early-detection methods for cervical-uterine cancer is the Papanicolau test. However, economic factors influence in the treatment, making it difficult to access the service specially to the women of the rural zones28. Among the main hospital maternal morbidity diagnosis in 1998 was incomplete abortions, numbering 1,130, and having been reduced to 1,119 in the year 2000. the number of births in 1998 was 19,409, being reduced to 16,087 by 2001; that year, in the months of January to June, 2,549 births were of mothers in the age range of 20-24 years old, 2,200 in the 15-19 years old range and 120 in the 10-14 years old range, among others29.

One of the main problems to determine the number of maternal deaths in the abortion cases, is due to sub-registering, since the causes of death are reported in many cases on the basis of diagnosis that do not reflect the reality of the occurrence.

Adolescent pregnancy and maternity

In El Salvador, the increase of adolescent pregnancies has reached alarming proportions. The Ministry of Health reported that in 1998, 17,260 adolescent hospital births ranging from 10 to 19 years old, were registered; this meant 22% of the total births attended. In 1999, the number was raised to 26,240; in the year 2000 there was a decrease to 23,217 and in 2001, 22,090 were reported. It is in the 10 to 14 years old range, that the frequency varies, since out of 945 births registered in 1999, these increased in 2001 to 1,088. In the first five months of the current year, the National Maternity Hospital has registered 194 births in the 10 to 14 years old range and 3,985 in the 15 to 19 years old range30.

The National Family Health Survey, FESAL 98, notes an adolescent fertility rate of 87 x 1,000 for the urban zone and of 150 x 1,000 for the rural zone, informing that 75.8% of the population has access to sexual education. However, the official data only reflects that the beliefs based on taboos, on prejudices and religious concepts that do not contribute to the prevention of pregnancies, infections of sexual transmission or HIV/AIDS, persist.

In the year 2000, a manual that contained information for adolescents regarding sexual and reproductive health was withdrawn from the educational system, thus limiting the actions performed by the Ministries of Health and Education.

Abortion

Abortion is part of reality, together with fertility, maternal mortality and contraception. In the Salvadorian society, the spaces where the causes and consequences can be openly approached with the goal of seeking viable alternatives from the viewpoint of the reproductive rights, are very limited, because the conservative groups immediately react, based on the alleged protection of the rights of the unborn, ignoring the rights of women, the paternal irresponsibility, sexual violence, the risks for the health and the lives of women. Likewise, some of the sponsors act from double moral standards, since on the one hand they speak publicly against abortion and on the other they limit women’s access to employment, demanding that they prove that they are not pregnant31.

In El Salvador, since 1998, abortion is typified in the Penal Code as a crime against the life of a human being in formation, and is penalized under any circumstance32. This situation prevents from knowing the real figures, having only the entries registered at the hospitals, which are systematized by the Ministry of Health.

In 1999, a petition was presented at the Legislative Assembly to de-penalize therapeutic abortion, but it was rejected, having generated that conservative groups propose a constitutional reform that was approved, regarding Article 1 “acknowledging as a human person every human being from the instant it is conceived”33.

It has been reported that in 1998, 7,436 hospitalizations of induced abortions were registered nationwide, and in the first semester of 1999, a number of 3,766 had been registered, something that can only be taken as an indication of the prevalence of abortion, since the data lacks precision and it does not contribute to grasp the magnitude of the problem34.

The indicators of the Ministry of Health’s Attention to Adolescent Women Program point out for the period between January and March 1999, 1,830 induced abortions; for 2001 the Ministry of Health registered 2,701 abortions attended in its facilities.

Due to the complications that arise of a badly practiced abortion and taking into consideration penalization, women avoid going to Hospitals for fear of being denounced. This situation contravenes the spirit of Recommendation 24, point 14, that the CEDAW Committee made in 1999, in reference to the fact that women’s access to an adequate medical attention must not be restricted, considering that there exist obstacles, such as the laws that penalize certain medical interventions as well as the women that subject themselves to said interventions35.

HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases

In El Salvador, the first case of AIDS was detected in 1984. This has increased substantially since for the year 2000 the Ministry of Health registered 3,481 cases, of which 26.7% (931) were women and 73.3% (2,550) were men. The age group of greater prevalence was the 15 to 24 years old group; since 1984, 194 AIDS cases have been registered in boys and girls between 0 and 14 years of age and from 1991 to 2000 the register of HIV between ages 0 and 12 identifies 101 girls and 92 boys. The relation man-woman in general regarding AIDS is 2.7 men to 1 woman; however, in the last year a more worrisome change has been observed in the group comprising ages 12 to 24, with a total of 630 cases, of which 434 were men and 196 were women; HIV(+), 415 women cases. The HIV relation between the ages of 10 to 19 is 1.2 women to 1 man and in AIDS rate in that same range is 1:1. Of the cases identified, 80% corresponds to the urban area and 19% to the rural area. The transmission mode is heterosexual in 78.4% 36 of cases.

There is a sub-registry between 40 and 50% due to the fact that private institutions do not report in a timely manner, as well as due to the lack of a sole attention Protocol and the consolidation of effective contingency plans37. Until June 2001 the number amounted to 3,934, those originating in the rural zones were 774 and in the urban zones 3,151 with 9 cases not documented38.

The Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance published in 1999 a study on the actions developed and the institutional and inter-sector level, with the objective of sensitizing the population on the forms of prevention and control of HIV/AIDS. The actions consisted in developing programs and executing projects aimed at different sectors of the population, providing educational and training material39. Campaigns have been developed, with the limitation that there is no coverage in the rural zones.

The “Prevention and Control of the Infection caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus” Law was approved in October 2001, considering that “it is the State’s obligation to give free assistance to the sick that lack the resources and to the inhabitants in general, when the treatment constitutes an effective means for the prevention of the dissemination of a transmissible disease”. However, there are no specific policies of attention and distribution of the Retroviral Therapy within the National Health System, arguing financial reasons, which has meant an interruption of the treatments for the persons that live with HIV/AIDS. A protection case has been presented before the Supreme Court of Justice40.

The incidence of HIV/AIDS in girls and adolescents is alarming, therefore it is indispensable to take all the necessary measures to guarantee an organized, timely, and efficient response in its promotion, prevention, healing and rehabilitation.

The information about safe sex is considered as improper for women. Condoms have a low level of use as a method for the prevention of the Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs); cultural patterns that rely upon unequal power relationships prevail.

The Family Health National Survey, FESAL 98, found that 77.6% of the women subject of the survey have never used condoms in their sexual relationships; 40.6% would be willing to use it if their partners would propose it, and 45.4% consider that their partners would be upset or would treat them badly if it were them who proposed it.

The larger number of sexually transmitted infections is detected in the sexually active population (15 to 44 years of age), considering it a priority risk. The incidence since 1992 is constituted by the urogenital trichomoniasis with a rate of 184.5 in 199841.

Tuberculosis is still an important health problem. During the 1997 - 1998 period, the incidence rate was, for 1997, 28.1 and for 1998 of 26 x 100,000 inhabitants. Applying the WHO criteria, we would have an estimate of 10,700 cases per year of which only one third are being diagnosed. The incidence of tuberculosis cases increases every day, specially in sexually active persons, and it constitutes, within the pathology associated with HIV, the second cause of infection in El Salvador. In 1998 there were 1,564 cases, of which 6 were positive. In the new AIDS cases for that same year, 26% of them were observed associated with tuberculosis42.

Children’s Health

There is no defined policy to attend girls in a special manner and with priority, because they are made invisible within the apparent neutrality in terms of gender. In the Women’s National Policy, there are no goals or actions tending to favor the girls’ situation and condition either.

The Children’s Attention Sub-program, of the Salvadorian Institute of Social Security, Health Division, reported for 2001 that the main causes of infantile morbidity from 1 to 4 years of age, were: acute rhino-faringitis with a total of 32,938 cases, followed by diarrhea and gastroenteritis, with 13,755 cases. In the ranges of 5 to 6 years of age, the first cause prevails, with 7,452 cases, and acute tonsillitis takes the second place with 3,652 cases. It is noted that diarrhea takes the sixth place out of a total of 10 causes. Among the principal diagnosis of infantile mortality for 2001, the National Maternity Hospital reports: born ahead of time, bacterial sepsis of the newborn, intrauterine hypoxia, multiple congenital malformations, and lung hemorrhage. The Ministry of Health’s Information and Monitoring Unit registers that in 1998, 33% of the cases of hospital mortality in children 1 to 4 years old were due to diarrhea/dehydration and 41% due to acute respiratory infections.

The immunization levels have been increased; the complete vaccination scheme until the age of 5, comprises 4 vaccines: tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, diphtheria-tetanus-whooping cough and measles.

Regarding AIDS, until December 2000, 86 cases of children under 1 year of age have been registered, 70 cases of ages 1 to 4 years and 38 cases of ages 5 to 14 years. HIV (+) in the same period: under 1 year, 92 boys and 101 girls; 1 –2 years, 23 boys and 31 girls; 3 – 4 years, 3 boys and 10 girls; 5 – 7 years, 2 boys and 4 girls; and 8 – 12 years, 2 boys and 6 girls.

Regarding the nutrition level, FESAL 98 does not report data disaggregated by sex, indicating in its registry that the anemia due to deficiency of iron is the cause of malnutrition in minors.

ARTICLE 14 – WOMEN OF THE RURAL AREAS

LEGAL NORMS AND PUBLIC POLICIES IMPLEMENTED TO SATISFY THE NEEDS OF WOMEN OF THE RURAL AREAS

The United Nations’ Convention on All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979) ratified by the Salvadorian government in 1981, in its Article 14, points 1 and 2, emphasizes the priorities that the State, as signatory, must contemplate in order to take into account the special problems of women in rural areas, as well as the adoption of measures to combat and solve them.

According to the priority that the State assigns to the rural area, there is a great barrier between the attention it grants to the latter and the urban area. For example, the access that women have to basic services is strongly marked and with obvious disadvantages for the women of rural areas.

The Salvadorian Institute for Women’s Development (ISDEMU) was founded in 1996 and the following year, together with the Women’s Movement, it formulated the National Policies, aimed at sponsoring respect for women’s rights. The latter contained activities performed by the governments, specially in rural zones, which were minimal and of short range. ISDEMU had proposed in the Women’s National Policy 1997 – 2000, the revision of a draft of the Agrarian Code, but it never went through with this action and furthermore, it did not promote it before the Legislative Assembly.

A proposal of the Agrarian Code with Gender Focus was presented in 1998 to the Legislative Assembly, with the purpose of introducing norms that would facilitate the ownership of the land for women, within the framework of the transfer of land affected by the Agrarian Reform and by the Peace Agreements43.

Most of the initiatives to favor women of the Rural Sector have been promoted by the women’s movements: Proposal to Reform the Agrarian Code from a Gender Focus; Proposal to create a Financing and Guarantee Fund for Poor Urban and Rural Women (FOGAMUJER)44.

The non-government organizations that promote rural women in El Salvador are twelve. The projects they execute are diverse and they do not arise from a common State program, but rather they constitute unified efforts of women’s organisms and others of the civil society, which boost women’s development in rural areas.

The areas in which these projects develop are several; among them there are training projects, literacy, credits, home vegetable gardens, productivity and marketing, improved furnaces, environmental training, agro-ecology, small businesses, organization of women’s committees, technical assistance, health and midwife training, local development, non-violence, health and non-sexist education, farms, natural medicine, education in gender, technician’s training, training for production45.

100% of the attention granted by one of the “Isis Dagmar” Clinics in San Nicolas Lempa, Department of Usulutan, goes to rural women with emphasis on preventable diseases caused by poverty and diseases associated with women’s reproductive role46.

Differences in Access to Benefits of Rural and Urban Women

In El Salvador, women have limited access to social services such as health, education, housing, drinking water, and energy. In spite of their growing participation in the economy of the country –with their work at home and outside it- they do not enjoy the “benefits” of the male agricultural producer.

In the rural area, aside from the traditional tasks assigned to women –adult, young or girl- such as preparing food, cleaning the house, and washing clothes, two characteristics not shared by the urban feminine population: the first one is that the women of the rural areas have to achieve self-realization in precarious or lacking conditions, since most of the rural homes do not have running water in them or close by; they do not have electricity and over two thirds of their houses possess earth floors.

In 1994 the World Bank evidenced how more than 75% of women are in charge of providing water for their homes daily, having to walk between 0.5 and 1.5 kms., averaging approximately two hours. The same is true for the collection of firewood, that although it corresponds to men in a larger proportion than to women (74% versus 44% respectively), she performs that activity every two days, whilst he does so once every 15 days.

The second characteristic not shared by rural and urban women is that the former, when they perform productive tasks per se, they are only catalogued as “support” or “helpers” of the male productive work. The fundamental difference is that when the urban women also performs tasks, these are remunerated economically and can be distinguished from the ones performed by urban men. Rural women perform a good part of their productive work through tasks that, in appearance, are a continuation of the remunerated activities undertaken by men.

On the other hand, rural women focus their productive work in activities that have already been classified as within the domestic environment, even though in the end they turn out to be sources of income: raising poultry or cattle, elaboration of articles of straw, mud or of any other accessible material; and growing home vegetable/fruit gardens. Furthermore, they participate contributing to the family economy as agricultural producer with small parcels which production is oriented to the family’s self-consumption, or to a lesser degree to marketing. They own mid-sized lots that contract labor, administrating production as well as benefits, in the cases in which there are temporary salaried female agricultural workers.

Rural Women: Access to Land and Property Rights

In El Salvador, the issue of access to land in general and for women is a long story, which we shall not delve into, but we will mention key aspects related to women’s access to land.

The Agrarian Reform, in its first phase of expropriation with compensation, was initiated in 1980. The third phase started in 1983 under the principle that the land belongs to he who works it.

An evaluation performed in 1991, stated that 81,799 homes had benefited during phases I and III, a figure that represents approximately 3% of the economically active population. In gender terms, women constituted 11.7% of the beneficiaries during Phase I and 10.5% during Phase III.

The female members of the cooperatives have not done as good as men regarding the enjoyment of the benefits offered when participating in these organizations. The vast majority of the cooperatives assign parcels to their members with self-supplying purposes. A survey on cooperative homes done in 1983 revealed that 82% of homes headed by men had access to an individual parcel, compared to 65% of the homes headed by women. Furthermore, when women were assigned parcels within each cooperative, they tended to be land of bad quality and smaller than men’s.

The equality criteria, with respect to gender, in the Laws of the Agrarian Reform, have developed at a very slow pace in El Salvador, since there are still discriminatory biases such as the selection of beneficiaries according to sex, (producing women are very seldom considered as such, self-excluding themselves and making their contribution invisible; agriculture is still being considered socially as a predominantly male activity), marital status, introduction to the possibility of joint granting and entitling of lands to couples, for example; measures that could have a proactive effect, in case they were considered.

Salvadorian women curr