The Evolving Identity of the Salvadoran Woman: A Narrative of Strength, Survival, and Feminism

Abstract

Salvadoran women were directly involved in political action leading up to the civil war which plagued El Salvador from 1979 until 1992. Grassroots women’s movements claimed the streets of El Salvador as their battleground; women hosted marches, sit-ins, hunger strikes, and public speeches to condemn the atrocities committed by the Salvadoran government. The dawn of civil war and high numbers of male fatalities forced the opposition guerrilla movement, Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front to enlist women into various roles. The FMLN promised liberty and equality for women within the movement and in the aftermath of war. However, postwar statistics indicate feminicide and domestic violence are rising yearly in El Salvador. This research project reveals the nuance and complexity of the lives of Salvadoran women in the prewar, wartime, and postwar periods and the failure of the Salvadoran government to protect its female citizens. The high level of violence and murder of women in the postwar years leads to the core question of this research: what did the Salvadoran civil war achieve for women?