Liz Ramos, Honduras In-Country Coordinator, depicted on the far right.
I grew up in small town in western Honduras with “machismo” as part of our culture. Fortunately, I was lucky in having a mother who was strong, and a leader in the community, as well as a manager at home though my father lived with us. I moved to the capital, Tegucigalpa, when I was 15 years old, and had new opportunities and another view of life. However, when I was 20 years old I got pregnant, and my son’s father did not have an education, nor the opportunity of living in a big city with new ideas when he was teenager. In the small town I grew up in, we had a taboo about using contraceptives, and when I got pregnant, he wanted to get married but I did not. My son was born (he is now 18 years old), and we have never had any support from his father. After I became pregnant, my self-esteem went down, but thankfully my mother was always pushing me to have a better life. By working hard, being responsible for myself and my son, she was always there to help me regain my self-esteem. Working for the Peace Corps also helped me do this.
I have now been working with INGENAES since January, 2016. With all the research that we have done between August and November, I now know more about my own culture, how women in the rural areas are living and behaviors they show in their homes and communities. On one hand, I am happy to know more about my own country, but on the other hand, it is sad to know how the women live, think and behave. These behaviors make me remember my childhood and my life in school, with the exception of my mother’s behaviors. Women have to like everything they do at home, and their husbands have to agree with what they want to do or it is not allowed. When they finish school, women usually have to get married or have a partner, they can’t speak openly or disagree publicly with their husbands around, and the man always has the last word.
Something else that I realized for the first time in my life, has being during my time with INGENAES. Behaviors don’t depend on the level of education, but on the customs in the communities and homes. In one of the communities we researched, most of women had no schooling, but the women were a little empowered, so they were more willing to talk and act. It was the opposite situation in another community where most of women completed primary school, but they weren’t empowered in their life in general. I also learned how sensitive it is talking about “gender”. It is better to use a different word or phrase, for example talking about the “distribution of activities”.
Now, I know how important INGENAES is in this country and around the world. I am thankful for having INGENAES in Honduras and in my life.