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Leilani Reyes

Professor Encinias

CAS 115

16 November 2023

Fighting for human rights in El Salvador

Shaw, Laura. “Fighting for Reproductive Justice in El Salvador.” The Dialogue,

Inter-American Dialogue 1155 15th Street NW Suite 800 Washington, DC 20005, 14 July

2022,

www.thedialogue.org/blogs/2022/07/fighting-for-reproductive-justice-in-el-salvador. This

source is an article written in July of 2022.

The Author is Laura Shaw, who joined the Inter-American Dialogue in Spring 2022. She

is the Office of the President Intern. She graduated from Dominican University in River

Forest, IL, with a bachelor’s in international relations and a minor in Spanish. Laura

Shaw has also worked in civil rights advocacy at the League of United Latin American

Citizens and on the executive board for the Johns Hopkins SAIS Black Student Union. In

this article, Shaw touches on the fight for reproductive rights in Latin America,

specifically El Salvador, which now has some of the harshest rules and regulations

regarding reproductive laws. El Salvador stands out as having the most aggressive

abortion ban under all circumstances. Even a miscarriage is seen as a self-induced

abortion (alleged) and seen as a prosecutable offense. Since the year 2000 to the year of

2011, precisely 129 women were prosecuted for abortion-related crimes. Laura Shaw has
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no bias; she is from Washington, and therefore, all the information in her article is

credible and unbiased.

Menjivar, Cecilia. “Religion and Immigration in Comparative Perspective: Catholic and

Evangelical Salvadorans in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Phoenix.” Sociology of

Religion, vol. 64, no. 1, 2003, pp. 21–45, https://doi.org/10.2307/3712267.

Cecilia Menjívar is currently a professor of sociology at the University of California, Los

Angeles, where she is the Dorothy L. Meier Social Equities Chair. Her article Religion

and Immigration in Comparative Perspective: Catholic and Evangelical Salvadorans in

San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Phoenix. This study examines the role of religious

institutions in the lives of Salvadoran immigrants in three U.S. cities. The focus is on

Catholic and Evangelical churches and their effects on the lives of immigrants. Religious

rituals infuse prime events in the immigrants' lives with metaphysical meaning, but

religious institutions also respond in practical terms to the immigrants' needs and

afflictions. The article highlights the significance of religious institutions in the lives of

Salvadoran immigrants and acknowledges the assistance received from various

individuals and institutions. Menjívar presented earlier versions of this article at the

Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California-San Diego, and

Arizona State University. Data from various sources will be used to thoroughly examine

the role of religion in the lives of Salvadoran immigrants.

Kim, C., Vasquez, L., & Rajah, V. (2023). “The Effects of Polyvictimization by Intimate

Partners on Suicidality Among Salvadoran Women.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence,

vol. 38(15-16), 8991-9014. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605231162654.|

This source is credible because one of the authors, Doctor Valli Rajah, served as an

Executive Officer of the Criminal Justice Ph.D. program at John Jay College/ The

Graduate Center for several years. Doctor Rajah also engaged in various forms of

professional service to promote diversity and inclusion in the discipline. Dr. Rajah

co-chaired the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the American Society of

Criminology's Division of Women and Crime (DWC) and received the 2021 Sarah Hall

Award, which recognizes outstanding service contributions to the DWC and professional

interests regarding feminist criminology and women and crime and more successes.

Currently, Women in El Salvador are facing physical, sexual, emotional, and economic

abuse. This violence is stated to be the lead to severe mental health issues, including

suicidal thoughts and attempts. A study found that experiencing more than one type of

violence is "polyvictimization." There has been a large wave of Salvadoran women who

have gone through poly victimization, which has significant associations with suicidal

thoughts and attempts. Psychological and economic violence, along with physical and

sexual violence, were found to increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts.

Effective intervention and research are recommended to address IPV and mental health

problems in El Salvador. The recognition of this issue is essential, and what makes this

article so good is that it was assessed, and with proof, we can say that there is a problem

that can be addressed and treated with the work of everyone around us.

Pallitto, Christina C., and Victoria Murillo. “Childhood Abuse as a Risk Factor for

Adolescent Pregnancy in El Salvador.” Journal of Adolescent Health, vol. 42, no. 6,

2008, pp. 580–86, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2007.11.148.

https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy.csun.edu/science/article/pii/S1054139X0700649

Victoria Murillo, a Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at Columbia

University in New York City and director of the Institute of Latin American Studies, and

Christina C. Pallitto, a Scientist of Female Genital Mutilation at the World Health

Organization who completed her Doctor of Philosophy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg

School of Public Health and her Bachelor of Arts at the American University School of

International Service, co-authored this article. The study in this article claims to

determine if childhood abuse increases the risk of adolescent pregnancy in El Salvador

and if intimate partner violence during adolescence has any effect on the association.

Data was collected from a survey of 3753 Salvadoran women aged 15-24. The study

found that women who suffered childhood abuse had a significantly higher risk of

adolescent pregnancy. The risk was even higher for those who were sexually abused

(48%), physically abused (42%), or experienced any abuse (31%). These findings

underscore the need for increased efforts to detect abuse, promote sexual and

reproductive health, and advocate for greater rights and social protections for Salvadoran

children and adolescents. El Salvador's priority should be the welfare of its citizens, who

are shaping the future. Neglecting this matter would be unwise, as Nayib Bukele's efforts

to address gang issues. Although the gangs may seem to have vanished (for now), their

victims still live in fear of what may happen when Bukele's term ends.

Thompson, Randal Joy, and Sofia Figueroa. “MeToo and LGBTQ+ Salvadorans: Social

and Leadership Challenges.” Gender in Management, vol. 35, no. 4, 2020, pp. 373–89,

https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-05-2019-0078.
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The following source was written by Dr. Randal Joy Thompson Fielding, a

scholar-practitioner who has been involved in international development for many years.

Sofia Figueroa, a Central American University Jose Simeon Canas graduate, also wrote

the article. The purpose of this paper is to argue that due to the social forces in El

Salvador, it is challenging for the LGBTQ+ community to publicly declare their sexual

orientation and use the #MeToo hashtag as a strategy for their movement. Adding on to

that, the paper identifies the social forces that diminish the use of #MeToo in El Salvador

and some positive indications of the movement's influence. It proposes directions for

LGBTQ+ leaders and citizens to empower LGBTQ+ Salvadorans to speak out and

provides areas for further research into leadership theory. State terrorism has become a

way of life and is integrated into the national culture. The state has been used to maintain

the dominance of the elite and prevent the inclusion or rights of excluded groups,

including LGBTQ+. It is not noted that the state-sanctioned police violence against

"undesirables" dates back to the colonial era, "first to control rural workers, then leftists

and unionists in the first half of the twentieth century - and to LGBT people today." After

explaining the social imaginary in El Salvador and the study methodology, this paper

highlights the discriminatory environment and violence experienced by LGBTQ+

Salvadorans, their lack of access to justice, and the leadership approaches used by the

LGBTQ+ movement.