Copyright is owned by the Author of the thesis. Permission is given for a copy to be downloaded by an individual for the purpose of research and private study only. The thesis may not be reproduced elsewhere without the permission of the Author. Gendering Trauma and Healing in a Post? Conflict Environment: Las Dignas, Mental Health, and the Empowerment of Salvadoran Women A dissertation presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Massey University, Turitea Campus, Palmerston N01th, New Zealand Helen Margaret Leslie 1999 11 Abstract There i s no doubt that the experience of war, be i t war between nation states or c iv i l war, varies considerably for both male and females. The twelve year c iv i l war i n E l Salvador was no exception. Salvadoran women who worked in various sectors as combatants, urban col laborators, home-makers, nurses, cooks or radio operators for the guerr i l l a forces, experienced the war and now experience so-cal led peace, i n ways that relate d i rectly to the construction of the female sex in Salvadoran society. As a result of these gendered experiences many Salvadoran women are suffering trauma despi te the cessation of the war in 1 992 . This trauma acts to d isempower these women and to prevent them from act ively part ic ipating in the important processes of post-confl ict reconstruction current ly taking place in Salvadoran society This thesi s aims to analyse the approach taken by one Salvadoran organisation for femin ist pol i t ical action, Las D ignas, i n heal i ng the trauma of Salvadoran women . Reviewing relevant l iterature on gender and development theory and gender and confl ict theory, and drawing on femin ist methods in the fieldwork context, i t wil l show how the heal ing process employed by Las D ignas i s empowering Salvadoran women at both personal and socio-po l i t ical levels . The concl us ions derived from th is research process are as fol lows. F i rstly, by incorporat ing mental health i nto their gender and development programme, Las Dignas has recognised the importance of a gendered approach to hea l i ng in the post-confl ict context. This form of approach has the potential to empower women to reconstruct their gendered i dentit ies so that they are able to act ively part ic ipate i n efforts to eradicate the machismo, i nequali ty and poverty that conti nues to plague Salvadoran society. Secondly, because it is evident that a gendered approach to heal i ng has been successful i n empowering women i n post-conflict El Salvador, there i s a need to i ntegrate the concept of empowerment i nto mental health i nterventions for women i n the numerous post-conflict environments that also exist in today 's world . 111 Preface Coming from a country that has no relat ions with El Salvador beyond the trade of dairy products, I am often asked why I chose El Salvador as a topic for my thesis . To answer this I am compel led to relate the course of events that led me to become interested in a country so far away and so removed pol i t ical ly from the country of my origin, New Zealand. The cycle of events began. when, after returning from a period of overseas travel from 1 989- 1 993 , I experienced a form of pol i t ical awakening and deci ded to undertake post? graduate study in development studi es. In some ways this reflected a desire to understand the i ssues of development and underdevelopment I had observed during my travels, but in others, i t was a search to do something about the appal l ing state i n which the majori ty of the peoples of our world l i ve . I n finding that studying development ful fi l led only a percentage of this desire, I sought also to become i nvolved with development practice. In this vein. I began worki ng as a volunteer for a progressive New Zealand j ustice and development organi sation by the name of CORSO. Through CORSO I had the privi lege of meeting a number of development practi t ioners from around the world, i nc lud ing Ofe l ia Lopez. Ofe l ia came to New Zealand from El Salvador in 1 995 as a representat ive of Las O ignas Mujeres por La Dignidad y La Vida (Women for D ign ity and L i fe) . As CORSO had been i nvolved with funding some of Las Dignas' programmes from the early 1 990s, we, along with several other New Zealand international development Non Governmental Organi sations (NGOs), hosted Ofel ia ' s v is i t . This i nvolved organis ing publ ic meeti ngs and media coverage to rai se awareness of the development i ssues faci ng El Salvador fol l owing the signing of the peace accords which ended the c iv i l war in 1 992. When Ofel ia came to stay wi th me in Palmerston North l was s imultaneously shocked and i nspired by our meeti ng. Here was a woman with a recent h istory of i ncredib le IV suffering. Hav ing been i nvolved with the opposit ion movement both before and during the c iv i l war, Ofel ia and her family were subjected to cont inuous repression at the hands of the Salvadoran mi l itary. Ofel ia' s husband, father and four brothers were assassinated by the m i l itary and Ofel ia hersel f was incarcerated for 26 months. Whi le in prison, Ofel ia gave b irth to one of her daughters and endured constant physical and psychological torture. Ofel ia 's commitment to her people and in part icular, the rights of women in El Salvador, d id not end, however, with her eventual release from prison and her four year exi le in Austral ia. After act ing as a representative of the Committee of Mothers and Relat ives of Polit ical Prisoners, Disappeared and Assassinated of El Salvador (COMADRES) in Austral ia, she returned to El Salvador fol lowing the signing of peace accords to begin assist ing Salvadoran women, ?to change things for themselves and then for others ' (Ofel ia Lopez, c i ted in The Age, 1 9 August : 1 992) . This commitment saw her become i nvolved with the newly formed Las Dignas and Ofel ia spent the next few years training traditional midwives and promoting women ' s partic ipation in the local democratic process. Of a l l the act ivities of Las Dignas Ofel ia spoke of during her t ime with us in New Zealand, it was perhaps their mental health programme to assist women with heal ing the trauma of the war, that 1 found most inspiring. I t seemed to me that here was a programme that not only recognised women's gendered experiences of war, but also, assisted women in reconstruct ing their gendered identities i nto ones that would see them as strong and capable c i tizens of Salvadoran society. As it has been wel l estab l i shed that women's active part ic ipat ion is essential to the sustainable development of a nation, I fel t that the potential of such a programme was enormous. Whi le I had v iewed the study of development as a departure from my background i n nurs ing, i t was, perhaps, my nursing background that lead m e t o focus on Las Dignas' mental health programme. I had worked previously as a mental health nurse and I fel t that my years of sitt ing next to patients' beds l i stening to the stories of their l i ves, would place me i n good stead for undertaking a research proj ect that required empathy, adaptat ion and the abi l i ty to relate to women from a d ifferent culture to my own. V Thus, after keeping in contact with Ofe l ia and gaining permi ssion from Las Dignas to conduct research in El Salvador, I enrol led in a PhD programme in development studies. My j ourney of d iscovery had begun . Acknowledgments The completion of this thesis has been made possible through the support and assistance of many people. VI In particular I would like to thank my supervisors, John Overton, Regina Scheyvens and Robert Gregory for their constant enthusiasm and careful guidance; the Ryoichi Sasakawa Scholarships Commillee for providing me with the generous .fimding needed to conduct my research; Ananda Millard, O.felia Lopez, Christina lhiu?ez and a!! the staff of Las Dignasfor 1relcoming and caringfOJ? me during my time in El Salvador; A lex Quintanilla, Natalia Ramirez and Alicia Garciafor their patience, friendship and assistance with Spanish language, transcription and translation; the members of the Wednesday and Berlin groupsfor teaching me about their lives; my colleagues in CORSO forfacilitating my interest in the work of Las Dignas; Marie Leslie . .loan Morre/1 and Anne Kellyfor their help )llith proofreading; and my friends, near andfar, whose interest and supportfOI? my research has been unfailing. I would also like to thanks my parents, Marie and Arnold, and my brothers, Paul, Dcn?ron, AndreH' and Michael 1rhose beliefin me has enabled me to become the most qualified Leslie!. Lastly I would like to thank my partner, John Morrell for being prepared to fend off cockroaches for me in El Salvador and. for your constant love and support throughout the thesis writing process. VII Table of Contents Title Page Abstract 11 Preface Ill Acknowledgments VI List of Figures and Tables XIII List of Photographs XIII List of Acronyms XV Table of Contents VII Chapter One- Introduction 1 Background to the Thesis 1 E l Salvador: The Country and i ts Pre-War Hi story Contribution to Knowledge 7 Gender and Confl ict 7 Gender and Development 1 3 Outline of Thesis 15 Chapter Two- Theoretical Approaches to Women and Development in the Third World 1 8 I n troduction 18 The 'Women's Question' enters the Development Arena 19 Before Women i n Development Women as Economic Actors : Ester Boserup and WID Alternative Thought on the 'Women Question' in Development From WAD to GAD Postmodem Chal lenges to Gender I ssues i n Development Empowerment and Gender Issues in Development Defining Empowem1ent Disempowerment Summary Chapter Three- Women Organising for Change in Latin America : v i i i 1 9 22 24 26 30 32 3 3 44 47 Empowerment/Disempowerment in Practice 49 I ntroduction 49 Women's Organisations and New Social Movement D iscourse 50 Forms of Women's Organisations in Latin America 57 Defining Women ' s Organi sations 5 7 Mother 's Movements: Working Class Urban and Human Rights Movements 58 Indigenous Women's Organisations/Peasant Movements 62 The Femini st Stream 67 Revolutionary women 70 Women's Mobil isation 's for Change in Latin America as Empowerment/Disempowerment? 72 Can Women' s Empowerment Outl i ve Revolution/Democracy? 73 Gender-related Violence as Disempowerment 78 Rape in Lat i n America 79 Torture i n Lat in America 80 Los Desaparecidos/ The Disappeared 83 Violence against Women Refugees/C iv i l i ans 84 Summary 86 IX Chapter Four- Psychological Impacts of Gender Related Violence: Trauma, and Gender-Specific Approaches to Healing in Post-Conflict Latin America 87 I ntroduction 87 Psychological effects of Gender-Related Violence 88 General is ing Psychological Effects 88 Post Traumatic Stress Di sorder 92 Gender and Development in Post-Conflict Environments 98 Heal i ng the Wounds of Gender-Related Violence 99 An Approach to Heal ing 1 03 Summary 108 Chapter Five- Method in the Madness 1 10 I ntroduction 110 Feminist Research 111 What is Femin i st Research? 1 1 1 H i storical Roots of Feminist Research and Ways of Knowing 1 1 4 Feminist Cross Cultural Research 1 1 8 Research Techniques: 'Tools of the Trade' 1 22 Empowering Research Methods 1 27 Research in Practice 134 Entering the F ield 1 34 Doing Femin i st Research i n E l Salvador 1 40 Empowering Research or Damage Contro l? 1 49 Summary 152 Epilogue 153 Thesis Participants 154 X Chapter Six- El Salvador's Civil War and Contemporary Context 159 I ntroduction 159 The Pre-War Setting 160 Popular Movement and the Impact of L iberation Theology 1 60 A Society at War: 1980-1992 164 The Final Offensive 1 64 L iving Rural I nsurgency 1 65 The United States Occupies Centre Stage 1 70 The FMLN Re-Groups 1 75 The Peace Process 1 77 Contemporary Salvadoran Society: Wi l l Peace Endure? 180 Violence and Mental Health 1 80 Elections and the Pol ice Force: The Nev,; Players 1 85 Economic I nequal ity and the Battle for Poverty Al lev iat ion 1 86 The Femin isation of Poverty i n Contemporary E l Salvador 1 89 Summary 192 Chapter Seven - Women's Experiences of Conflict in El Salvador 194 Introduction 194 Women's participation in the Civil War 195 Fonns of Part ic ipation 1 95 Participation as Empowerment/Discmpowerment 203 Fl ight and Movement 208 Motherhood 2 1 3 Sexual ity 2 1 7 Peacetime 22 1 The Impact of the Civil War on Women's Mental Health 225 Genera l i s ing I l l ness Experiences 225 Mental Health of Part ic ipants Summary XI 228 230 Chapter Eight - The Work of Las Dignas 232 I ntroduction 232 Women Organising for Change in El Salvador 233 H istorical Review 233 Organi sing in 1 997 236 Women for Dignity and Life (Las D ignas) 241 Herstory of Las Oignas 24 1 Las Dignas - Structure and Programmes 245 The Mental Health Programme 254 The P i lot Programme 255 The Work of the Mental Health Team 258 Self-help in San Salvador and Berl in 260 Summary 267 Chapter Nine - Mental Health As Empowerment?: Analysing the Empowerment Potential of Las Dignas' Self-help Groups 26 8 I ntroduction 268 Empowerment Revisited 269 Important considerations 269 Empowerment and the Theoretical Model 27 1 Empowerment in the Wednesday Group 273 Conscient isation/Reconstructi ng Gender Roles 273 Personal Empowerment 278 Soci al/Pol it ical Empowerment 280 D isempowering Outcomes 283 Empowerment in the Berlin Group 285 Conscientisat ion/Reconstructing Gender Roles/Identity Personal Empowerment/Social/Pol i t ical Empowerment D isempowering Outcomes Summary Chapter Ten - Conclusion Summary of Thesis Findings Implications for Future Research Bibliography Xll 285 287 288 289 290 290 293 300 302 Xlll List of Figures and Tables Figure 1 : Context Map of El Salvador __________________ 5 Figure 2: The Women's Movement During the Return to Competitive Electoral Politics (Peruvian, Chilean and Argentinian Examples). ------------------------ 76 Figure 3: An Approach to 1-fea/ing.for Women in Post-Conflict Latin America __ 1 06 Figure -!:Organisational Chart ofLas Dignas ______________ 253 Table 1: lane Stein's FrameH?ork of individual Le1?el Empowerment 36 ------- Table 2.? Five Member Orwmisations of the FMLN ___________ _ 1 6 1 Table 3 : The Chapultepec Accord _________________ _ 1 79 ' List of Photographs Photo 1: El Salvador has a relatively ethnically homogenous population 6 Photo: 2: San Vincente volcano: one of El Salvador 's numerous volcanic peaks 6 XIV Photo 3: Poor housing in rural El Salvador 138 Photo -1: Typical poor housing in the capital, San Salvador 138 Photo 5: Defending wealth and privilege: security guard in upper-class suburb San Salvador 139 Photo 6: Signs of War: remnants r4 FMLN bombing campaign in San Salvador 139 Photo 7: They have not died, they are ?rith us, l l 'ith you, and with all ofhumanity: inscription on memorial plaque at El Mo:::ote 169 Photo 8: Monument to the dead at El Mozote 169 Photo 9: ' 'Please lem?e your gun in the entrance": sign outside supermarket, San Salvador 182 Photo 10: Mara graf]itti on city market 182 Photo 11: Activities on the International Day Against Violence Against Women 2-10 Photo 12: "We have the right to decide in the counfly, in the community, in the home, in the bed and about our bodies: Las Dignas banner at the International Day Against Violence Against Women 2-10 Photo 13: "For your health and traquillity buy.from the market ": Las Dignas local development programme, Suchitoto 251 Photo 1-1: Training in non-traditional occupations: Las Dignas cmpent1y workshops, San Salvador 251 Photo 15: Central Office of Las Dignas, San Salvador 251 ACISAM AMES AMIS AMPRONAC ANESAL ANIS ARENA CEF CEMUJER CIA COM COMADRES CON AM US CONAVIGUA COPAZ DAWN ERP FAES FOR FMLN FPL FUN DE FUN DO IMU MAM MSM ONUSAL OR DEN ORMUSA PPL RN UNESCO UNHCR UNICEF URP US A ID XV List of Acronyms Association of Training and Research for Mental Health Association of Salvadoran Women Association of Ind igenous Salvadoran Women Assoc iat ion ofN icaraguan Women Confronting the Nations Problems Salvadoran National Securi ty Agency National Association of Indigenous Salvadorans National i st Republ ican Al l iance Centre for Feminist Studies orma V irgin ia Guirola Herrera Centre for Women ' s Studies Central Intel l igence Agency Coordination of Women's Organi sations Committee of Mothers and Relatives of Pol it ical Pri soners, Disappeared and Assassinated of El Salvador National Coordinating Committee of Salvadoran Women National Coordi nator of Widows o f Guatemala National Peace Commi ssion Development Alternatives With Women for a New Era Revol utionary Army of the People Salvadoran Armed Forces Democrat ic Revolutionary Front Farabundo Marti National L iberat ion Front Popular Forces of L iberation National Development Foundation Fund for the Protection of War Wounded and D isabled Institute for Research, Train ing and Development of Women Mel inda Anaya Montes Women's Movement Salvadoran Women' s Movement United Nations Observer M i ssion in El Salvador ational Democratic Organi sation Organi sation of Salvadoran Women Local Popular Power National Resistance United Nations Education Science and Culture Organisation United Nations H igh Commissioner for Refugees United Nations Chi ldren 's Fund United to Reconstruct Plan United States Aid for International Development