21st Century

In the early 1990s, female labor force increased effectively as Peru reformed its laws that limited women’s right to work, access banking and financial services, and own and inherit assets. Although women were hired largely because employers were able to pay them less than men, the change was positive and increased women's rights in Peruvian society (Cfr, 2022.) However, the following decade, from the 1990s to the 2000s, was not as upswing as during the reign of President Alberto Fujimori, women faced shocking human rights violations. Peruvian authorities launched a program of forced sterilizations against women, especially the poor with an indigenous background. It is estimated that more than 200,000 women were forcibly sterilized (Dahl, 2019.) These terrible crimes against humanity still speak and evoke great emotions among the people, and the victims continue to suffer mentally and physically from the surgeries that often failed (Collyns, 2016.)

During these years, things were looking really good for women. New paths unavailable to the past generation were opening for them, delaying marriage and children, pursuing higher education, joining the workforce, and assuming independence. Everything seem like it was progressing for women. But, in 1996 indigenous women, whose identity represented the intersections of a marginalized gender in a patriarchal society, neglected from wealth, and ethnic group excluded from power and discriminated from the colonial era, underwent a program launched to “promote, prevent, cure, and rehabilitate reproductive health to the highest quality.” the Reproductive Health and Family Planning Program implemented during Fujimori’s administration via the Health Ministry. Supposedly to increase access to maternal health services and provide women information about family planning and access to contraception. Months after the implementation, irregularities manifested. Human rights lawyer Giulia Tamayo investigated and found program officials had sterilized thousands of women against their will. The majority were poor, rural, Indigenous, Quechua-speaking women who suffered medical complications and even died. 

References

Cfr. (2022.) Peru's legal reforms effectively increased female labor force participation. https://www.cfr.org/womens-participation-in-global-economy/case-studies/peru/

Dahl, Å. (2019.) Changing the public narrative: The case of forced sterilizations in Peru. CMI. https://www.cmi.no/publications/6827-changing-the-public-narrative-the-case-of-forced-sterilizations-in-peru

Collyns, D. (2016.) Women vow to fight on in Peru after Alberto Fujimori absolved over forced sterilisations. The guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/aug/03/women-vow-to-fight-on-in-peru-after-fujimori-absolved-over-forced-sterilisations

Carranza, Ñ.(2021) Forcibly sterilized during Fujimori dictatorship, thousands of Peruvian women demand justice. https://theconversation.com/forcibly-sterilized-during-fujimori-dictatorship-thousands-of-peruvian-women-demand-justice-155086